The Meatless Wonders of the World

Plant-based meat products are now no longer the impossible and unattainable meals since companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have broken into the market, making their plant-based meat alternatives readily available both in supermarkets and at many fast-food joints across the nation. While reducing actual meat consumption links back to our impact on the environment, finding substitutes for food goes beyond environmental impact for many. For them, it is potentially a life or death situation. According to FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education), the top food allergies are shellfish, milk, and peanuts in the United States. In a bid not only to address environmental impact but also to allow the gourmet to enjoy foods they never could before, these companies have focused on plant-based alternatives beyond the meat.

Grounded Food and Miyoko’s Kitchen, both headquartered in California, offers plant-based cheese alternatives for the lactose intolerant. The former offers gruyere and camembert cheese alternatives made from cauliflower while the latter focuses on artisan cheese and spreads that are fully vegan and readily purchasable in supermarkets. 

Meanwhile, in the plant-based beverages industry, competition is a bit tougher. Swedish-owned Oatly and American-owned Califia Farms are the major players with their products easily accessible at many supermarkets as well as coffee shops. Oatly focuses on products made from oat and has since diversified from milk alternative beverage products to spreads, yogurts, and ice cream. Meanwhile, Califia Farms features a diverse range of milk alternatives such as coconut, almond, and oat but solely focuses on beverage variations, changing it up with seasonal drinks and coffee variations. Another contender, Ripple Foods, headquartered in California, offers a plant-based beverage and ice cream lineup made from the protein of yellow split peas which allows them to have higher protein content than other plant-based alternatives. 

Lastly, these wild cards seem to have the market for themselves (at least for now). Good Catch Foods is a Pennsylvania-based plant-based seafood alternatives seller, selling tuna and boxed apps from crab cakes to fish burgers, but all made with their proprietary legume blend. Right Rice, headquartered in San Francisco, sells a vegetable-based rice alternative that is said to add more protein while reducing the carbs intake. 

Even though plant-based options may be more of a choice for most of us, for the allergy-prone, it is reassuring to know that there continues to be an expanding list of companies looking to revolutionize with plant-based ingredients, expanding our taste buds while still helping the environment.