I’ve obtained beef with the meat different merchandise — I sort of need my greens to be greens. And I’m not vegan or vegetarian. Greens are in all probability my favourite meals group, and I believe making an attempt to show them into meat is doing greens a disservice. I got here to this realization whereas being fortunate sufficient to attend the meals occasions at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, final week. 

On Friday, there was programming provided by the Way forward for Meals and on Saturday, Meals Tank hosted panels, film screenings and meals tastings at its All Issues Meals occasion on the Huston-Tillotson College. The tastings included salad bowls from Farmer’s Fridge, pesto comprised of Gotham Greens and different tuna poke bowls from Finless Meals.

That night time I used to be additionally invited to a plant-forward dinner hosted by ADM, the meals processing and ingredient firm. ADM invited high cooks Maneet Chauhan, a decide on “Chopped,” restaurant proprietor in Nashville and James Beard award winner, and Philip Speer, an Austin native and James Beard nominee, to work with ADM’s personal vp of culinary innovation, John Stephanian, to create a delish meal for us on the Commodore in Austin. 

The cooks on the ADM dinner had been letting the greens be greens and celebrating their vegetabliness.

A subtlety I observed when inspecting the menu for the dinner — not a single dish was making an attempt to emulate a meat dish. There wasn’t a plant-based shrimp curry; as an alternative there was an oyster mushroom curry with heirloom masa chochoyote. There wasn’t an Not possible Meat taco with cilantro however a teff kebab taco with cucumber pomegranate raita and a crispy cauliflower taco. There’s completely a job for different meats in a extra sustainable meals system future, however we shouldn’t neglect about how good greens are alongside the best way, particularly for shoppers who would possibly by no means be capable of afford different meats or simply may not need them. Creating amazingly tasty greens can also be a method to open shoppers’ minds to the opportunity of plant-based components.  

The cooks on the ADM dinner had been letting the greens be greens and celebrating their vegetabliness. As an alternative of making an attempt to repeat the feel and taste profiles of beef, fish or poultry, they simply obtained to bask in creativity — one thing all of the cooks stated throughout the brief chats earlier than the dinner was their favourite a part of arising with the meal. And as a non-vegan diner, I wasn’t evaluating the dishes to the normal meat variations however was as an alternative having fun with the implausible issues these cooks had been in a position to create with simply vegetation. 

“There’s a time and a spot for different meats, however tonight we actually needed the greens to shine,” Stephanian stated. 

This was a distinction to how I approached the meals I obtained to style on the All Issues Meals occasion. When Finless Meals got here round with their tuna-less ceviche tostada samples, my first query was “What was the ‘tuna’ made out of?” Reply: a marinated winter melon. And my first thought after taking a chew? “Nicely, it’s tasty, however the texture isn’t fairly proper; it’s somewhat too candy and watery to be tuna, and I can inform it’s melon.” Instinctively and instantly, I used to be evaluating the pattern with precise tuna as a result of it was being positioned as tuna as an alternative of melon. 

Embracing vegetation to assist the alt-protein market

There was loads of speak of the cooling different meat market. In 2021, Past Meat’s inventory slumped 83 %, and retail gross sales of all different meat merchandise dropped greater than 10 %. I believe we’d like a little bit of a shift in mindset to carry these gross sales again. Various meats might be key to unlocking a extra sustainable meals system if we will begin advertising them to hard-core carnivores as substitutes for extremely processed, comfort meats comparable to rooster nuggets, burgers and scorching canines that they mimic fairly properly.

However in the case of the tastiest meals, let’s present shoppers simply how unimaginable greens will be as greens. 

For somewhat vegetable inspiration, right here is one in every of my favourite YouTube movies that highlights all-vegan eating places. It ends with an ideal quote from one of many hosts: “At any time when I take into consideration what I need for dinner, I by no means take into consideration the vegetable element first. That’s going to vary for me.”

Perhaps for you, too?