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Beyond Meat: the madness of meatless steaks

2020-06-20T01:07:20.169Z


These industrial cereal and legume dishes are conquering supermarket shelves. A trend calibrated to meet


He sits enthroned at the entrance of the fresh department, between two yellow trays of very red organic minced steaks. It is slightly paler, but its packaging promises (in English) "20 g of protein per serving". Vegetable proteins, of course: the "beyond burger" of the American brand Beyond Meat, marketed since February in the 500 Monoprix, Franprix, Casino de France, and this week in the Carrefours of Île-de-France, is the latest born of a movement that is running at full speed: that of "meatless" meat. So much so that the firm is about to settle down on the Old Continent. At the end of the year, it will open a production site in Enschede, the Netherlands.

In the trendy PNY burgers chain, where millennials come to lick their fingers in front of enameled steel plates, these juicy chickpea steaks are already a classic. “Customers are often amazed. It's a product that works well, better than our other vegetarian burger where the meat is replaced by a large breaded mushroom, ”says the waitress.

In the hypermarkets too, plants disguised as cutlets or bacon are leaving like hotcakes… "The vegetable fresh market has quadrupled in five years", informs Catherine Pétilon, Herta's marketing director.

Bread blessed for flexitarians

Can the chickpea be as big as the beef? The American brand Beyond Meat, which goes so far as to display on its logo the silhouette of a bovine on a tender green background, will take up in its first factory outside the United States the techniques of "texturing of vegetable proteins" which make it possible to imitate minced steaks and sausages ... but she will have to ban the name. The bill on the transparency of information on food products, adopted on May 27 in the National Assembly, has just banned animal names for products based on vegetable proteins. The packaging should therefore change soon.

Many brands, like Herta, already offer meatless steaks or nuggets./LP/Jean-Baptiste Quentin  

Not the content. For now, Beyond Burgers are still made in the United States from imported peas… from France! "In terms of carbon footprint, it can be improved," conceded Casually Casino, partner in France of the start-up listed on Nasdaq. Herta's “raw to cook” range takes the road to the Czech Republic, before filling the company's Alsatian warehouses.

The destination of these products? The refrigerators of flexitarians, "that third of the French who say they want to reduce their meat consumption," explains Corinne Aubry-Lecomte, director of innovation and quality for the Casino group. Some people think it's better for their health, others are concerned about animal welfare or the environment. The reasons are various, but it is indeed a basic trend. "

"Products that don't upset habits too much"

Sandrine Monnery-Patris, researcher at the National Institute for Agricultural Research (Inrae), sees a return to an old standard. "A century ago, pulses were the first source of protein before meat took over," she explains. Today there is an increasingly important concern to rebalance the balance, if possible with products that do not shake habits too much. "

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In the land of pears and spiders, so many chosen pieces that the National Butchers' Confederation is trying to inscribe on the Unesco heritage, the rare pavement, enthroned in the middle of a green setting, remains a pillar that 'you don't replace with a magic spatula. We still consume on average 1 kg of meat per week, according to the study by Credoc, the center that examines the habits of the French. A declining quantity: it has dropped by 12% in ten years.

"The vegetarian comes out of the sad and dull rut"

"If these products can nibble a bit more on supermarket meat shelves, I will be happy!" "Rejoices Brigitte Gothière, co-founder of the association for the defense of the animal cause L214, happy to note that" the vegetarian comes out of the sad and dull rut ". This activist, who has not touched meat for 24 years, gives in from time to time to the sirens of a vegan burger, accompanied by a lactose-free tiramisu "too good".

If these “vegetable” products are multiplying, meat consumption is still very high in France./LP/Jean-Baptiste Quentin  

Élodie, a 25-year-old lawyer met in the aisles of a Parisian Monoprix, still slides organic chicken into her basket, next to her favorite chocolate mousse. "But for the past three years, I have reduced my consumption to twice a week," she says. Attempting meat without meat? "Why not ... Visually, it looks real, and it gives me the impression that it tastes the same," she says in front of the kebab-like soybeans.

Behind his Breton counter, Jean-François Guihard, president of the National Confederation of Butchers, sees red. For him, these ersatz are "a deception" orchestrated "by listed companies that do nothing but business". Tremble forks! The meat industry is waiting with appetite for the decree to fall, which will soon ban vegetables from being "cutlets" for good.

Source: leparis

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