I’m not actually sure ‘vegetarianism’ is a word, but on the bright side, according to Wiktionary, the collective noun for a group of meat-avoiders is apparently ‘a sprig of vegetarians’, which is quite cool.

Either way, I was intrigued by coverage earlier this week of Modern Meadow, which in shorthand summary will use 3D Printing to create a meat product. And I’d heard about food database companies like Foodpairing, but what caught my eye in this GigaOm report was the news that only is there a company making a plant-based meat substitute, but that it’s already on sale!

That’s right, apparently Beyond Meat is already in selected stores, such as Whole Foods, across America.

Apparently ‘These delicious plant-based strips have all of the convenience, taste, and tenderness you expect from real chicken’, with the listed ingredients ‘Water, Soy Protein Isolate, Pea Protein Isolate, Amaranth, Natural Vegan Chicken Flavor (Maltodextrin, Yeast Extract, Natural Flavoring), Soy Fiber, Carrot Fiber, Expeller-Pressed Canola Oil, Dipotassium Phosphate, Titanium Dioxide, White Vinegar’.

I’ll have to refer back to school chemistry to go through the ingredients, although Titanium Dioxide is used as a whitener in toothpaste, for example. And Dipotassium Phosphate is a food additive to prevent coagulation, apparently.

But more importantly – they’re growing freaking meat plants!

 

Now, how long do I have to wait before I can have a ‘steak tree’ growing in my garden? Or a ‘Taco with extra hot sauce bush’?