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Steaks, aiguillettes, vegetable nuggets… so meat without meat, is it good?

2020-10-07T08:35:44.296Z


Alternatives to meat are coming out of specialty stores. The New Farmers brand notably offers a vegetable steak of good quality.


Chic setting for an improbable tasting, Guillaume Dubois, 32, and Cédric Meston, 26, the creators of New Farmers were offering a taste at Dassaï, restaurant in the 8th arrondissement of Paris run by Joël Robuchon, their new meatless meat recipe ... but well of with us.

Such is the promise and the marketing argument is onion… "Les Nouveaux Fermiers" announces the opening of a production line for its meat made from wheat, chickpeas or soya in France while its competitors American Beyond meat steaks promise a European factory in the Netherlands, the Swiss-Spanish Herta produces his "good vegetable" in the Czech Republic.

“From packaging to the logistics chain, we work in France,” says Guillaume Dubois, one of the brand's founders.

The next step is to get supplies entirely from French farmers, which is already the case for wheat or peas, on the other hand soybeans are produced partly in Franc, partly in Europe.

"Our objective is to develop a French plant sector", insist the young entrepreneurs.

Guillaume Dubois (left) and Cédric Meston are the co-founders of Les Nouveaux Fermiers./LP/Valentin Cebron  

The location of the factory where steaks, nuggets and aiguillettes are made is kept strictly secret.

“We are awaiting patents, discretion is important at this stage, especially since a competitor has already tried to obtain information from our partner,” adds Guillaume Dubois.

We will just know that 60,000 steaks come off production lines every day.

Three million euros raised in 2019

The vegetable meat market is no longer so anecdotal.

The small start-up that is rising raised 3 million euros last year.

Among the investors, Xavier Niel's fund, boss of Free and known for his animalist commitment.

This created the fury of the FNSEA, the first agricultural union: “On the one hand, [Xavier Niel] advocates stopping breeding.

On the other hand, it is positioning itself on a new market which would be well helped by the end of breeding.

This mixture of genres is terribly embarrassing for our democracy, ”the union lashed out in a press release.

The two creators of New Farmers defend themselves against being anti-breeding.

"My grandfather was a farmer, in the field nobody opposes animal and plant production, breeders often do both depending on the season", remarks Guillaume Dubois.

Nonetheless, a few days ago, breeders' unions Interbev (interprofession of cattle and meat), Anvol (interprofession of broiler poultry) and Inaporc (interprofession of pork) announced that they were going to sue the company for spoofing meat terms and codes.

The nuggets contain a lot of protein from peas, the aiguillettes (here in photo) from soybeans, and the steak from wheat and beans. / LP / Valentin Cebron  

Steaks, nuggets, and mince are sold in 150 restaurants and 350 outlets.

In the Dassaï restaurant, chef Eric Bouchenoire says that many customers demanded 100% vegetable dishes.

“Scalded by previously tested fake meats, I didn't believe in the concept.

Finally, the two young people did well to insist, when we tested their product on a frying pan, I was amazed, it really behaves like meat ”, assures the chef with the tricolor collar of best worker in France.

These new products are also distributed at Monoprix nationally and at Carrefour Market in Ile-de-France.

"Our alternatives emit eleven times less CO2"

“We are not targeting vegans, but those who love meat and who, for environmental reasons, want to reduce their consumption.

Compared to a beef steak, our alternatives emit eleven times less CO2 ”, insists Cédric Meston.

The brand's ecological commitment is also a clever strategy: when vegetarians represent 1 to 2% of French people, flexitarians (those who reduce their meat potion) weigh up to 40% of the population.

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VIDEO.

We tested the steak ... without meat

What about the nutritional quality of these necessarily ultra-processed products?

While the consumer association CLCV has denounced the nutritional balance of vegetable steaks, entrepreneurs are defending their recipe.

“The nuggets contain a lot of pea protein, the aiguillettes soya, for the steak, we had to mix wheat and beans.

Each time we monitored the amino acid profile of each meat, ”says Cédric Meston.

A long-term research work: "We organized steak fights in total we tested 401 versions," says the manager.

In fact giant testings with 70 guests who were forbidden to speak to each other, the winning recipe passed a round and was then compared to the next version.

The founders insist on the use of "natural flavors": mushrooms and fermented herbs for the taste of meat, beet juice to give the sensation of flowing blood.

Our opinion ?

We tasted the fake duck aiguillettes, the texture and taste are very convincing.

No way to tell the difference with real ones.

Too much water in vegetarian and vegan products?

According to a recent study by the CLCV, these products are mainly composed of water rather than vegetable proteins, "which represent on average only 39% of the recipe".

The rest is made up of fats, salts, spices and additives.

Moreover, the association warns: "Eight out of ten products contain at least one additive".

For the Group for the Study and Promotion of Vegetable Proteins (GEPV), to say simply that these products are mainly composed of water, “is to ignore a very simple fact: vegetable proteins are in reality flours […] which must necessarily be rehydrated to form food products ”.

As for the additives, the GEPV indicates in a press release that they are "used for particular functions, in particular to give a pleasant texture", and that they meet the "strict standards" of the European Food Safety Agency.

Source: leparis

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