People’s decisions when eating out are heavily impacted by the dining environments they’re in – here’s how foodservice operators can nudge plant-based choices.

A host of trials recently have shown the power of behavioural science in the food system’s fight against climate change. Some foodservice operators have chosen to make plant-based the default option, for example; others have moved away from words like ‘vegan’ or ‘plant-based’.

All these interventions have varying degrees of success, but studying different behavioural science techniques can help outline robust strategies that encourage low-carbon eating habits in restaurants, colleges, offices and hospitals, among other places.

In 2020, the World Resources Institute (WRI) neatly distilled 57 of these strategies into a playbook to help foodservice operators nudge diners to pick plant-based dishes. As part of its Coolfood initiative to help reduce foodservice emissions by 25% by 2030, the playbook was used by companies collectively serving eight billion meals a year annually. As a result, the members of the Coolfood pledge have cut per-plate GHG emissions by 10% since 2020 already.

But as more research has come out, WRI has compiled those insights to update its foodservice playbook, which now has 90 techniques. Of these, 18 are ‘priority’ techniques that have been found defective and feasible in trials, and operators can adapt without hesitation.

The new priority list is shorter than the 23-strong list in the first iteration of the playbook. But the latest strategies are organised into six categories, as opposed to five. Price now joins the “6P framework”, which retains the previous segments of product, presentation, people, promotion and placement.

WRI decided to add the price category because the one focused on promotions was overly long, and a distinct subset of approaches involving price modification had emerged. Price techniques involve redesigning the cost of plant-rich dishes, plus new ways to incentivise diners to choose these options or otherwise disincentivise selection of meat dishes,” the report states.

Here are the highlights from WRI’s low-carbon foodservice playbook 2.0.

Blended meat, flavour focus and chef support

Some of the highest-ranking techniques in the new playbook fall into the product category, which involves techniques that involve modifying the food being served. Increasing the variety and ratio of plant-rich dishes on offer has been found effective in over two dozen trials collectively, while enhancing the appearance of these options and arranging them so that the most appealing ingredients are visible are highly effective too.

Improving the flavours and texture of dishes is crucial, too. For most people, while health has become an important consideration, taste still drives consumption habits. “Products tasting great is, I would say, a necessary condition for change to happen,” says Sophie Attwood, senior behavioural scientist at WRI, and one of the report’s authors.

WRI suggests that blending plant-based ingredients into conventional meat to reduce the animal content could deliver some key gains. This is an approach that is becoming increasingly popular in the foodservice sector – Disneyland is using 50/50 Foods’ Both Burger, while US meat purveyor Pat LaFrieda has incorporated Mush Foods’ 50Cut mycelium meat into a beef burger.

“One common option is to replace a portion of the beef content with mushrooms, with the ratio of 70% meat to 30% mushrooms already trialled with success in food service,” the report suggests. “Meat will remain the main focal taste of the dish, and diners will likely not notice the difference, all while a significant reduction in GHG emissions can be achieved.”

One of the highest-rated suggestions comes from the people category (which targets foodservice employees), and involves giving chefs access to tools and ingredients that can help them prepare appealing plant-based dishes. This received a 12.44 expert score out of a maximum of 14 – but it wasn’t one of the promising techniques as there have been no trials to support this theory.

However, there have been two studies where chefs have been trained to cook and prepare plant-rich dishes, which has high potential. “It’s in recognition of the importance of chefs to the sustainable food movement by creating healthy and sustainable dishes the diners actually want to buy,” says Attwood. “This is really the cornerstone of the whole movement.”

Carbon labels and the importance of language

How dishes are labelled and communicated to consumers is a key theme of the playbook. This is highlighted by the promotion category, which includes communication, marketing, advertising and campaign approaches. Using marketing materials to promote the benefits of plant-rich diets across flavour, environment and local touchpoints has high potential, as does creating social media groups for diners to share ideas and reviews.

The messaging focus continues with the presentation techniques too (which involve modifying the language, imagery and layout of menus, signs and labels). One of the most trialled and successful interventions is to add carbon labels on foodservice menus.

“Key considerations when adding environmental labels to menus include ensuring that the labels will be understood by diners, communicate relevant information, and do not misrepresent the true impact of different foods across multiple environmental outcomes (e.g., biodiversity, GHG emissions, land use, water use, etc.),” the report suggests. “At present, there is no frontrunner in terms of optimal label design, although certain characteristics, such as the colour green, are received positively by customers.”

Meanwhile, there’s a spotlight on the type of language used on menus, with WRI advocating to remove unappealing terms like ‘meat-free’ or ‘vegetarian’, and instead use indulgent and selective language to describe plant-based dishes (such as ‘chef’s special’ or words describing umami flavours). Multiple studies have shown that people are discouraged from labels like ‘vegan’, and the foodservice playbook confirms their inefficacy.

“The language that we use to describe food can have a powerful influence on how we subsequently experience it. Research shows that certain language works particularly well to evoke mental simulations (or ‘mental images’) of what a dish will be like to eat. If these simulations are positive, they can tempt diners to change their choices by creating desire for plant-rich options,” says the playbook.

Terms like ‘healthy’, ‘light’ or ‘low-calorie’ aren’t too effective either, but flavour descriptors and indulgent wording go a long way. “Enjoyable, figurative language (i.e., use of wordplay, idioms, rhymes, or metaphor) can also have a similar, positive effect.”

The other two Ps of the framework are placement (food displays and physical environment) and price. In the former category, integrating plant-based meat into the same sections as conventional meat is an effective strategy – but so is introducing a dedicated section for plant-rich foods. In terms of price, the most effective way to nudge low-carbon behaviours is to run cross-product promotions involving plant-forward dishes with drinks, sides or desserts.

“Chefs, culinary directors, marketers, and nearly anyone involved in shaping a dining environment has a big hand in also shaping what foods customers choose to buy, everywhere,” says WRI president and CEO Ani Dasgupta. “In the grand scheme, that can make a significant contribution towards accelerating our transition to a healthier and more sustainable food future.”

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This year’s Met Gala featured vegan products from Impossible Foods, Neat, Stockeld Dreamery and Tindle Foods, showcasing plant-based indulgence to the world’s most influential celebrities.

The Garden of Time was this year’s theme for the Met Gala, and actors, artists, models, influencers and all kinds of celebrities showed up in attires that spanned from gorgeous, to curious, to wild.

But, true to the theme, the garden was also present in a way with the food served at the show. Hopes weren’t high when Anna Wintour banned garlic, onions and chives from this year’s event, presumably so everyone doesn’t have “bad breath”. “Those are three things I’m not particularly fond of,” she said ahead of the event.

It’s been reported that high-end cuisine was the name of the game at the Met Gala on Monday, with a fancy spring vegetable salad to start with, followed by a beef filet for the main, and almond cremeaux shaped like an apple for dessert.

If you ask me, the best bits were before and after the actual gala. At fashion’s biggest show, some of the plant-based world’s biggest brands showed up too. It was out with haute cuisine, in with pure vegan indulgence.

Here’s how vegan food made a splash at the 2024 Met Gala.

Impossible’s indulgent sliders and BBQ nuggets

It was a big night for one of the premier plant-based meat producers, Impossible Foods, which kicked off its latest marketing drive at the Live from E! red carpet. Its new ads were aired during the pre-show broadcast at The Mark hotel, a smart choice given the Met Gala over-indexes on vegans.

But it wasn’t just the ads – Impossible Foods was also serving food to attendees on the red carpet, and it was all about plant-based indulgence.

The clue was in the name, with the brand showcasing its Indulgent Burger, its premium beef patty launched last year, which is thicker, juicier and meatier than its signature burger. Upon launch, the company said 82% of taste-testers found this burger as good as or superior to conventional beef – so it made sense to exhibit the product among some of the most influential people in the world.

The Indulgent Burger was part of a slider that was lined with a brie and truffle aioli – it’s unclear whether this was plant-based, but since the brand’s target audience isn’t vegan anyway, that would be in line with its marketing strategy.

Impossible Foods also served its famous chicken nuggets, but these were also dressed up – in a passion fruit BBQ sauce no less. Both the nuggets and burgers were served alongside what looked like edible flowers to honour the Garden of Time theme, but the former also came in a specially branded green box that read: ‘Garden of Meat’.

After the event, Impossible Foods CEO Peter McGuinness called it an “important opportunity to build awareness as we roll into the summer grilling season”.

Stockeld Dreamery, Neat and TiNDLE turn it up at the afterparty

Met Gala afterparties are some of the most exclusive in the fashion world, and three brands got together to satiate the cravings of the, erm, inebriated attendees at one of the many, many parties.

At Casa Cipriani South Street, fast-food chain Neat was invited to hand out its plant-based cheeseburgers and hot dogs to the guests. Swedish brand Stockeld Dreamery joined in to help out, given its vegan Cultured Cheddar cheese tops the patty on Neat’s burger.

Another one of Neat’s collaborators, Singaporean startup TiNDLE Foods, brought out its vegan chicken tenders. “They went like crazy. We had to keep bringing out trays because they’d be gone in seconds,” the company said in a video montage.

The vegan junk food was served at a party that included Leonardo DiCaprio, Camila Cabello, Lil Nas X, SZA, Lizzo, Jaden Smith, Cardi B, Usher, Serena Williams, and Offset.

“This ended up being a huge win for the plant-based space as celebrities were spotted with Neat Burgers, Stockeld and Tindle flags all night long,” Stockeld Dreamery founder Sorosh Tavakoli said.

“If there’s a better way to make plant-based foods sexy, let me know.”

The post The Me(a)t Gala: Vegan Brands Shine at Fashion’s Biggest Night appeared first on Green Queen.

In the US, some caterers are ramping up their response to climate change, while others are employing greenwashing tactics – a new scorecard ranks the country’s foodservice sector on sustainability goals.

Is your caterer really sustainable, or is it all just a façade? It’s a question that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) contends with in its latest Protein Sustainability Scorecard, which ranks the efforts of foodservice companies to lower their impact on the environment and animals.

“The HSUS Protein Sustainability Scorecard was created to provide the public and customers with a hard look at what companies are actually doing to keep their promises,” said Kate Watts, director of foodservice innovation at HSUS.

The animal rights organisation surveyed 50 catering companies in the US about their purchasing and menu practices, gathering data about their sustainability goals and what they’re doing to meet these targets. The scorecard focused on three key metrics – transparency, goals, and a plan of action – and found that while some foodservice operators boast impressive climate strategies, they aren’t walking the talk and implementing any action.

The food system is responsible for a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, of which 60% is attributed to meat production. This is twice the amount of emissions associated with plant-based foods, and shifting to these is much more impactful than using ‘lower-carbon’ meat. In fact, HSUS notes that a transition to plant-derived food is the “most impactful way” food companies can lower their carbon footprint, water and land usage, prevent deforestation, preserve natural habitats, and improve food security.

This is perhaps why the companies receiving the highest scores are increasing their plant-based offerings and/or cutting their animal protein purchases. A few operators, however, don’t take the issue as seriously or prioritise it at all.

The sustainability winners

For the third year in a row, ISS Guckenheimer ranked top of the sustainability charts, with 51% of its meals being plant-based on average. The company plans to extend that to 55% by next year, and has an additional goal to reduce animal protein purchases by 2027, and cut GHG emissions by a quarter by 2030.

Guckenheimer has developed PowerPlant, a toolkit to help make plant-based foods its core menu element. Moreover, it completed a Virtual Culinary Workshop with HSUS, trialling at least four vegan menu options each week for five weeks, following which, chefs who completed the training became Plant-Based Ambassadors to educate future chefs in plant-based cuisine. It’s also part of the Beans is How coalition, which is aiming to double the global consumption of legumes by 2028.

Metz Culinary Management and Sodexo came joint second in the Protein Sustainability Scorecard. For the former, 31-35% of the dishes it serves are vegan, with the target of reaching 50% by 2025. Similarly, 26-30% of the meals served by the latter are plant-based, with a commitment to have 33% vegan menus by next year, and 50% on its US Campus segment and for its corporate dining service the Good Eating Company.

Next up is HSS, the only other caterer to receive an A+ on the scorecard. Like Sodexo, between 26% and 30% of all its meals are plant-based, with the goal of getting 50% of its retail menus to be vegan. Fresh Ideas (31-35% of vegan meals with a 50% target for 2025) and Elior (21-25% of plant-based dishes with commitments to increase to 30-50% across various segments) round out the top five with a ranking of A.

Creative Dining Services and Whitsons received B+ scores, while companies including Aramark, Epicurean and Southwest Foodservice Excellence earned a B.

The greenwashing losers

Compass Group, the world’s largest foodservice company, received a lowly C+, with the ratio of plant-based to total meals unknown (given it didn’t confirm the 31-35% figure reported). While applauding its marketing initiatives, HSUS said the catering giant refuses to set clear targets on shifting menu practices in line with its climate goals, and recommends it to be more transparent to avoid the appearance of greenwashing.

Fellow C+ graders Café Services and Food for Thought Enterprises receive similar advice. Meanwhile, companies including Pomptonian Food Service and Parkhurst Dining received a D+ score, and Imagine Culinary Group, Taher and HMSHost were among those who got a D.

The list of companies with an F grade was the longest, with 21 caterers failing to make sustainability efforts and being accused of greenwashing. This was largely because none of these companies submitted the reports requested by HSUS, which used publicly available information to compile their scores – these include Thompson Hospitality, Trinity Services Group, OrganicLife, Safe Dining Services, AVI Foodsystems, and Brock & Company.

To its credit, Healthcare Services Group (which also received an F), responded with interest in collaborating with HSUS this year to set and update its sustainability targets, which couldn’t be rolled out in time for this year’s survey.

“The HSUS Protein Sustainability Scorecard was created to provide the public and customers with a hard look at what companies are actually doing to keep their promises,” said Watts. HSUS recommended that all F graders update their websites for full transparency, and implement public and measurable plant-based goals and timelines.

“This scorecard shines a spotlight on the companies that are committed to real change and those that do not or choose to operate without transparency,” said Karla Dumas, a registered dietitian and vice president of farm animal protection at HSUS. “Coming from the industry myself, if I were hiring a food service caterer, I would be paying attention to this list.”

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By David Fechner, research fellow, social marketing, Griffith University; Bettina Grün, associate professor, Institute for Statistics and Mathematics, Vienna University of Economics and Business; Sara Dolnicar, research professor in Tourism, School of Business, University of Queensland

Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that choice, you decide to order a traditional meat or vegetable dish. That’s a common decision.

The Australian plant-based meat industry has grown significantly in recent years and has been projected to become a A$3 billion industry by 2030. Yet most consumers still hesitate to order a plant-based meat dish in restaurants.

In our new study, we asked 647 Australians why they don’t order plant-based meat dishes when dining out.

It turns out not everyone shares the same reasons. We found six types of diner who avoided these dishes.

Type 1: environmentally conscious, plant-based meat eater

The environmentally conscious plant-based meat eater doesn’t have any issues with meat alternatives. In fact, they enjoy experimenting with plant-based meat products at home. They have their favourite brands but also dislike certain products.

To avoid eating a product they don’t like, they prefer ordering traditional vegetable dishes when dining out. They are more concerned about protecting the planet than their own health.

Type 2: health-conscious, plant-based meat supporter

Type 2 is similar to type 1, except type 2 diners care about being fit and healthy. They prefer to “just eat the vegetables they use to make the fake meat”, as one study participant told us, because they think meat alternatives contain too much sodium, soy, fat, sugar and genetically modified ingredients.

Type 3: curious plant-based meat avoider

The curious plant-based meat avoider typically orders a meat dish and occasionally a vegetable option. They sit on the fence when it comes to plant-based meat.

While they are curious to try it, they aren’t familiar with it and don’t want to risk disappointment. As a type 3 diner told us: “If I were offered a sample, I would be more inclined to try it but […] the risk of it being disappointing doesn’t justify the cost.”

Type 4: sceptical plant-based meat avoider

Like the curious plant-based meat avoider, type 4 diners order more meat than vegetable dishes. They believe meat alternatives are unhealthy because “reading the back of plant-based meat packages will typically reveal a plethora of chemicals”. They don’t trust the technology used to create plant-based meat.

They also do not support the idea of mimicking meat with plants and giving these products names similar to animal meat such as burger or steak.

Type 5: indifferent meat lover

The indifferent meat lover doesn’t have any issues with plant-based meat. Yet they wouldn’t consider ordering a plant-based meat dish. Eating meat is an integral part of their restaurant experience and they “wouldn’t know how you’d mimic meat sliding off a bone”.

Although most of their family and friends also order meat dishes, they have no problem with restaurants offering meat alternatives if they are clearly labelled and don’t limit meat options. They believe eating meat is natural, summed up by one who said: “There is a nutritional requirement for animal meat inherent in humans.”

Type 6: critical meat lover

The critical meat lover dislikes everything about plant-based meat. They don’t understand why anyone would replace meat with a plant-based alternative, nor why it is important.

“Several times I have eaten this garbage […] and thoroughly regretted it.”

Why does this matter?

As David Attenborough says: “We must change our diet. The planet can’t support billions of meat-eaters.”

Occasionally ordering a plant-based meal instead of a meat dish can greatly reduce the environmental footprint of the global food system. Animal agriculture accounts for 56% of food-related greenhouse gas emissions but produces only 18% of calories and 37% of protein.

Plant-based alternatives to chicken, pork and beef emit, on average, 43%, 63% and 93% less greenhouse gas emissions.

This means a family of four ordering plant-based meat burgers instead of beef patties saves carbon emissions equal to driving from Brisbane to the Gold Coast.

5 ways restaurants can promote plant-based meat dishes

Restaurants are the perfect tasting ground to introduce diners (especially curious and sceptical plant-based meat avoiders) to meat alternatives. Here are five simple things restaurants can do to promote plant-based meat dishes:

1. hand out free samples to reduce the fear of disappointment
2. serve plant-based meat by default to break meat-ordering habits, as a Brisbane pub has done
3. describe plant-based meat with indulgent words and avoid using unappealing language, such as the word vegan
4. provide health information to overcome the belief that meat alternatives are unhealthier than meat, which is often not true
5. integrate plant-based meat dishes into the full menu rather than listing them in a separate vegetarian section.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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French food tech startup La Vie has expanded its foodservice footprint via a deal with Pizza Hut France, which will see its plant-based ham be available on demand for all of the chain’s menu items for 2024.

When Pizza Hut France tweeted on Monday that it was replacing its conventional ham with La Vie’s vegan version, it felt like another April Fool’s joke. That was the consensus on the social media platform too, until the startup responded with: “It’s not a joke.”

It definitely ruffled some feathers, with one user finding the ‘joke’ not funny and saying they’ll boycott the brand, and another – presumably a ham lover – warning the pizza chain it had just lost a customer.

But there was a catch: while Pizza Hut France did switch out all its animal-derived ham with the pea protein ham, it was only doing so for one day. So if you ordered a dish with ham from the restaurant chain yesterday, you ate La Vie ham.

Starting today, conventional ham is back on the menu, but La Vie’s isn’t going away anywhere, with Pizza Hut making it available as an on-demand option for all its dishes for the rest of the year. And the best part? There’s no extra cost for swapping the hams – Pizza Hut France is offering La Vie without any upcharge.

“Pizza Hut France continues to innovate and doesn’t hesitate to break new ground,” said the company’s regional CMO, Emilie Genty. “Once again, Pizza Hut France is thinking big by collaborating with La Vie, to offer a plant-based alternative to ham on all our ranges: our Pizzas, our Melts, our Pastas, and our starters!”

Jambon végétal on your Pizza Hut order

La Vie says the partnership is built on shared values of conviviality, originality, and deliciousness, and is an extension of the brand’s successful foodservice partnerships. Its flagship bacon rashers and lardons have been a permanent fixture on Burger King menus since May 2022, and the ham was featured in a plant-based version of the iconic jambon beurre by vegan bakery Land&Monkeys.

But this marks the first time La Vie has teamed up with a pizza chain, allowing customers from across the dietary spectrum – vegans, vegetarians, flexitarians and meat-eaters – to integrate a plant-based meat analogue into their pizza orders. Pizza is highly popular in France, one of the leaders in terms of per capita consumption. In fact, in 2015, it tied with the US as the largest pizza consumer in the world.

La Vie’s products have already been available at over 4,600 retail stores and 3,000 restaurants across Europe, and its entry into Pizza Hut’s 126 stores in France continues its mission of a responsible food system transformation. It is already featured as default on menu items like Croq-Monsieur Melts and garlic breads, and pastas, as well as the Queen, Texan BBQ, Jambon Beurre (ham and cheese), and yes, even Hawaiian pizzas.

Its CMO Romain Jolivet cites a 2024 YouGov survey that revealed one in five French youngsters don’t eat meat, chiefly due to ethical and environmental reasons. “Fast food, being a pillar of the dietary habits of this generation, has already started to make the shift,” he said. “The evidence is with Burger King’s veggie offer representing 20% of sales, but that’s not the case in the pizza sector.”

He added: “That’s why we decided to accelerate the movement in our mission to convince the French to adopt a plant-based diet, while fully preserving gustatory pleasure, with our products rich in plant proteins and made in France, with Pizza Hut France taking the bet to offer all its ham pizzas with the La Vie plant-based alternative to meet this growing demand.”

La Vie originally launched its vegan ham in September, on the back of selling 2.5 million SKUs in the previous 18 months. What stood out immediately was the ingredient list, which comprised just seven ingredients: pea protein (making up 90% of the total composition), soy protein, natural flavourings, radish juice concentrate, salt, acidity regulator (potassium acetate) and vegan lactic acid.

Fast-growing La Vie aids Pizza Hut’s much-needed vegan expansion

The vegan ham is a nutritional powerhouse, with one serving offering 19.5g of protein and only 0.7 grams of saturated fat – compared to 21g of protein and 1g of saturated fat for the country’s market-leading conventional ham. This will appeal to French consumers, for whom health is the main purchasing driver for plant-based meat alternatives, according to a large pan-European survey last year where 51% said it was key.

But an even bigger motivation is the flavour, important to 52% of French consumers. Their concerns will be eased by the (favourable) controversy La Vie has attracted – it was the recipient of a cease-and-desist letter by the pork lobby, which accused it of unfair competition, stating that its plant-based bacon lardons were too similar to their conventional counterparts.

The same poll also suggested that 57% of French consumers reduced their consumption of meat last year. It came against the backdrop of France’s factory farming push and anti-vegan labelling law, which has prohibited plant-based companies from using 21 words like ‘steak’ or ‘beef’, as well as 120 other terms such as ‘cooked fillet’ or ‘poultry’, on product packaging.

However, a coalition of businesses led by vegan whole-cut chicken maker Umiami filed an urgent suspension request in late March asking for the decree to be held back, which is set to come into effect within the next few weeks if there are no responses from the government or the courts. La Vie is part of this group.

The Natalie Portman-backed startup has weathered the plant-based meat storm – whether it’s sales declines, negative media coverage or a venture capital drain. It completed an oversubscribed €2M crowdfunding round last September, following a record-breaking €25M in Series A round in January 2022. And, in the first half of 2023, it witnessed a staggering 379% growth compared to the same period in 2022.

Pizza Hut, meanwhile, has expanded its growing vegan footprint internationally by incorporating La Vie’s ham into its menu. The chain uses Beyond Meat’s products and offers Violife’s vegan cheese in the UK, for example (the latter is also available in Germany), and introduced vegan wings in its Australian outposts last year.

That said, an analysis of fast-food menus in nine countries by ProVeg International found that plant-based menu items represent just 8% of Pizza Hut’s overall range, and 5.2% of its mains, placing it fourth on the vegan-friendly list of the Big Five fast-food chains. However, the report did note that the pizza chain is making an effort to offer vegan options, adding that integrating them into the general menu will likely appeal to a wider range of customers, including flexitarians and omnivores.

Offering La Vie’s ham on its dishes is one big step in that direction.

The post ‘It’s Not A Joke’: Pizza Hut France Adds La Vie Plant-Based Ham on All Menu Items for the Same Price appeared first on Green Queen.

University College London (UCL) and its caterer CH&CO have partnered with Reewild, an app that allows users to track and reduce their carbon footprint from food, making it the first university to trial such an initiative for students.

An extension of its Sustainable Food Policy, and part of its 2030 net-zero target, UCL has introduced a dietary carbon-tracking pilot for students to lower their climate footprint via the Reewild app.

It’s the latest in a growing list of moves to decarbonise the university’s food and catering systems. At least half of the food on offer through its caterer CH&CO is vegan or vegetarian, while all food prepared in-house has been carbon-accounted and labelled with emissions information to provide transparent information to students and staff.

The Reewild app will complement these initiatives and, to encourage students to lower their climate footprint, it will incentivise them with a loyalty scheme that rewards them with free coffee and meals if they choose plant-based options.

Vegan diets have been shown to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution and land use by 75%, and research suggests that replacing just half of our meat and dairy consumption with plant-based alternatives can double the benefits for the planet (including halting deforestation and improving food security).

“Whilst we are making significant operational progress in sustainability at UCL, we recognise the importance of empowering our community to make more sustainable choices, and our partnership with Reewild and CH&CO reflects this commitment,” said Jason Clarke, assistant sustainability director at UCL. “Through initiatives like this, we’re fostering a culture of sustainability within our university.”

UCL employs carbon tracking app similar to calorie counting

The app will allow UCL students to discover the climate impact of millions of products. They can log the foods they’ve consumed in a personalised carbon footprint tracker akin to calorie-counting apps like MyFitness Pal. The inspiration from those services is clear, with the app setting a daily carbon budget in line with global climate targets in the form of a Carbon Calorie Goal.

Students will receive recommendations for swaps to more sustainable products. And to incentivise them to continue reducing their footprint, they’re rewarded with exclusive discounts and promotions from eco-friendly partner brands, and free food at UCL cafés and dining halls.

All this will no doubt help reduce UCL’s overall carbon footprint. Prospective analysis by a postgraduate researcher at the university in 2022 revealed that the food-related emissions from its built environment faculty The Bartlett would be nearly halved if it switched from a meat-based to a vegetarian service.

The study noted the importance of communication and education about plant-based eating for staff and students alike, to raise awareness about the impact of their food consumption. “When people understand the impact of their choices and realise that plant-based eating does not mean missing out on flavour and tasty food, they are more likely to choose and welcome food that is not only delicious but is also the best for the planet,” it stated.

UCL’s own interpretation of IPCC data has found that if all its departments – 12 of which contributed to the Lancet Countdown – switched to 100% vegetarian catering, its food emissions would be reduced by around 40%. To enable students to make more informed choices, the university has been using carbon labels on food since 2021.

Its efforts have been recognised through a number of accolades, including the joint one-star Fairtrade University and College Award in 2022, three out of three stars from the Sustainable Restaurant Association Food Made Good award, the Times University of the Year honour for its sustainable East Campus in 2023, and First-Class Honour in the University People and Planet League.

The push for plant-based university catering

The partnership is key to CH&CO’s net-zero commitment for 2040 as well. “Our ultimate goal is to have the customers’ first choice also be the most sustainable one on the menu and increasing engagement between our customers and the environmental impact of the food they eat is integral to that,” said CH&CO’s head of sustainability, Clare Clark.

It’s reflective of the larger movement within the catering industry to lower its carbon footprint. In the UK, public sector caterers introduced the 20 Percent Less Meat campaign in January 2020, aiming to reduce the amount of meat in the billions of meals they serve in schools, universities, hospitals and care homes each year.

French caterer Sodexo – which operates at 476 UK and Ireland sites – has pledged to make 33% of its menus plant-based by 2025, as part of its wider net-zero target for 2040, which it now says is running ahead of schedule. In 2023, 11% of all its meals sold in these markets were meatless. And Compass Group, the world’s largest catering company, has said it will replace 40% of animal proteins with plant-based by 2030.

UCL has been employing a form of choice architecture to nudge more planet-positive eating habits. Vegetarian meals are offered as standard in event catering (with meat dishes available on request), while meatless options – which are priced to be cheaper – are advertised before meat-based meals on campus.

There’s evidence that such initiatives work. In the US, dietary change think tank the Better Food Foundation has developed a DefaultVeg policy, which was piloted by Sodexo with the help of behavioural science non-profit Food for Climate League in three US universities last year. The trial found that this could reduce meat consumption at college campuses by up to 82%, and lower emissions by 24%. The success of the intervention has led Sodexo to roll out the programme to nearly 400 sites now.

UCL’s commitment to carbon labelling also has precedent. In November, Compass Group-owned Chartwells Higher Education announced it had noted an increase in students looking for climate-friendly meals in US universities and colleges since the introduction of carbon labels on its menus. This was done via a partnership with food sustainability research firm HowGood – other such services include Planet FWD, My Emissions, Foodsteps, and Klimato.

Last year, over 650 academics and campaigners penned an open letter to UK universities demanding a switch to 100% vegan catering menus, comparing the shift to fossil fuel divestment commitments by 101 institutes in the country. So far, apart from UCL, the students’ unions of the University of Stirling, Birmingham University, Queen Mary University, London Metropolitan University, Kent University, Cambridge University, and Newcastle University have all voted to introduce 100% plant-based menus.

Partnering with services like Reewild will help this cause. “Through collective action, we’re confident that the Reewild app can instigate the change we need to reduce our impact on the planet, one meal at a time,” said Reewild co-founder and COO Kit Nicholl.

The post Sustainable Catering: UCL to Pilot Food Carbon Tracking App for Students appeared first on Green Queen.

A recent trial revealed that serving plant-based options by default in college and university campuses can present significant benefits for the environment – the people behind the study explain why.

Last year, catering giant Sodexo revealed the results of an intervention study at three college campuses in the US. Led by behavioural science non-profit Food for Climate League (FCL) and dietary change think tank the Better Food Foundation, the trial explored what would happen if cafeterias offered plant-based dishes as a default option over meat-centric ones.

The researchers found that, when only vegan dishes were presented to college students – with a separate sign informing them that they could order a meat-based one instead – there was a significant uptick in the adoption of plant-based foods, a decrease in meat consumption, and an improved climate footprint.

With an estimated 235 million students eating around 148 billion meals each academic year, the greenhouse gas emissions add up. But if you serve them vegan food by default, it can result in as many as 81.5% more students eating plant-based meals in cafeterias, which in turn can reduce 23.6% of GHG emissions.

This is because meat’s emissions are twice as high as plant-based foods, with research suggesting that the latter can reduce emissions, water pollution and land use by 75% compared to meat-rich diets. “Having plant-based foods isn’t a buzz or a trend, it’s a need and a demand that we deliver with creativity and flavour,” Sodexo’s US Campus CEO, Brett Ladd, said at the time.

“We also recognise that reducing our animal-based food purchases is a key part of our carbon reduction strategy,” he added. “Having the plant entrée as the default demonstrated that people are open to trying and enjoying plant-based options with the added benefit of helping the planet.” The caterer has committed to making 50% of its campus menus plant-based by 2025, as part of a wider net-zero strategy for 2040, which it says is running ahead of schedule.

How default plant-based options change eating habits

The trial was carried out in three universities: Tulane University in New Orleans, Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. The researchers assessed one dining hall station, that contained eight pairs of dishes (one plant- and meat-based each): the control day saw both options being presented side-by-side, while on the intervention day, only the plant-based dishes were put out, with students needing to request the meat version if they wanted.

During the design phase of the intervention, Food for Climate League collaborated with Sodexo and the Better Food Foundation to identify test sites with a range of demographics, develop a recipe rotation specifically for the test, and keep the testing timeline to under one semester. “We also opted to test defaults at dining hall stations that already serve entrées containing meat in order to reach the widest number of students,” explains FCL design researcher Stephanie Szemetylo.

The research was the latest in a host of choice architecture studies, but was described as the first of its kind, given it covered multiple universities in an all-you-can-eat setting. In absolute terms, there was a 58.3% combined increase in the number of plant-based dishes served across the three campuses. On average, the take rate of vegan dishes jumped from 26.9% to 57.6% on days when they were the default option, but at Tulane and Lehigh, the change was even more pronounced, with the figure climbing up to 81.5%.

The researchers took into account a spillover effect, which indicates that students who would have visited an intervention station on a control day avoided it on the plant-based default day in search of meat options elsewhere in the dining hall. But even if all of them got a meat-based meal, there would still be around a 21% reduction in meat dishes served overall as a result of the intervention.

Why default plant-based options in cafeterias work

So why does this work? “There are many aspects to our environments that impact our decisions, whether we are aware of them or not. Editing the choices you present to people, and how they are presented, can impact the choices they make,” explains FCL founder Eve Turow-Paul.

Reflecting on the study, she notes: “We showed that a very slight change in the way menu options are offered can have a major impact on food choices, ultimately leading to selections that are better for the planet. In addition, this change was, for the most part, celebrated by both patrons and the serving staff.”

Szemetylo adds: “Most importantly, the success of defaults relies heavily on the proper implementation of the intervention by dining hall operators, line cooks, and servers. With incorrect implementation, the impact of the default on dish choice vanishes.” At Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, for example, there were inconsistencies in implementation, which meant that there was barely any improvement in plant-based intake (it went from 26.3% to 27.2%).

There has also been a lot of discourse around using the term ‘plant-based’ versus ‘vegan’. In 2018, research revealed that for the 2,201 Americans surveyed, ‘vegan’ is the most unappealing descriptor for groceries, chosen by 35%. A year later, analysis showed that terms like ‘plant-based protein’ (56%) and plant-based (both 53%) are much more appealing than descriptors such as ‘vegan’ (35%).

“The goal with any food label is to be as inclusive as possible,” explains Szemetylo. “A very small percentage of the global population is vegan. A larger portion of the population will eat foods that are plant-based. And an even larger population will eat foods considered to be healthy, sustainable, or just plain delicious.”

She continues: “It’s important to consider your audience when labelling foods. At a college campus, ‘plant-based’ may perform well, while in other settings, it may ostracise many… Generally speaking, we recommend focusing on flavour over all else. ‘Vegan’ speaks mostly to those who hold that identity and seek visual cues on menus and food products to identify what is animal-free. Unfortunately, that term may turn off those who are not vegan, as it can signal that the menu option is not intended for them.”

‘Underseasoned tofu’ a thing of the past

Turow-Paul suggested that foodservice and campus chefs are very interested in decarbonising their menus, but there are a few key hurdles. “Often, sustainability advocates – from corporate offices to government agencies – are siloed in their work. We need all staff to see sustainability as their responsibility, whether it’s in their titles or not,” she says.

“Second, while there are many how-to resources on ways to make these changes, the motivation and emotional engagement are often missing, which is a challenge that FCL’s work aims to tackle. Third, the resources are limited, especially on-site staff, so any support we can provide to make this easy for them will help.”

But despite openness from staff and students alike to shift towards plant-forward choices, the study found that eating and serving meat continues to be the social norm in campus dining, signalling an untapped opportunity for interventions – like defaults – to change consumption behaviour. Szemetylo believes that “the myth that sustainable meals don’t taste good” is holding decarbonisation efforts back.

“Often, we speak with chefs who think that in order for their food to be climate-friendly, it has to be less flavorful, and that ultimately, people won’t want to eat it. Nothing could be further from the truth,” she states. “Eating more sustainably means greater diversity in ingredients that are full of flavour. We need to move past this idea that we’re asking everyone to serve under-seasoned kale and tofu.”

Embrace cultures, understand audiences, and educate staff

FCL has developed a follow-up pilot to its research, which comprises motivational training for front-line staff and an implementation toolkit for foodservice operators. “We have already secured some initial funding, but are looking for an additional $80,000 to get this work off the ground, and another $120,000 to run the pilot, analyse the results, and widely disseminate our findings and tools,” says Turow-Paul. “Beyond that, we are always looking for implementation partners, be they foodservice operators, city leaders, consumer packaged goods companies, retailers, and more.”

Szemetylo explains that leaders across business, public policy, and institutions must begin to understand and leverage the role of food in mitigating emissions and improving human health. “We need all kinds of people to understand the success of this simple yet effective behaviour change strategy – from eaters, to plant-based advocates, behaviour change researchers, food industry decision-makers, and anyone who is interested in encouraging sustainable food choices.”

The study identified key opportunities for foodservice operators. Adopting a plant-based default serving approach even at just one station can improve the sustainability credentials of their sites, but engaging staff early to facilitate more accurate implementation, and leveraging their relationship with diners is key. The researchers also confirmed that gender plays a role in meat consumption norms, with women more open to adopting plant-based options – so understanding audiences is key.

Plus, caterers can increase satisfaction with vegan dishes by leveraging local food culture and maximising verbal and visual dish appeal. For example, the meals used in the trial include lentil patties with mushroom Valencia casserole, tofu bulgogi rice bowls, sesame-ginger tofu tikka masala, veggie burritos, and lentil, olive and mushroom spaghetti.

Sodexo has begun implementing a shift to plant-based defaults in its universities, having built the Plants-by-Default model into its core station’s pre-selected menus from the fall 2023 semester, which are provided to over 400 university dining operations. “We undertook this study to help nudge Sodexo’s own operations to adopt plant-based defaults more widely across our operations, and we are already seeing the direct large-scale impact on institutional dining that we set out to achieve,” said Lisa Feldman, director of culinary services at Sodexo.

“Foodservice leaders need to integrate defaults as part of their climate action plans and decarbonisation targets,” says Szemetylo. “To do so – and I cannot stress this enough – we need to support on-site staff in the implementation. Every site has its unique culture and constraints that influence how defaults can translate.

It’s critical to engage with on-site staff to share the purpose of defaults, co-create solutions with them to implement defaults in ways that provide the least amount of disruption to day-to-day operations, and build intrinsic motivation so that onsite staff can become sustained stewards of these strategies.”

The post Serving Plant-Based by Default in Colleges Can Cut Emissions by 24% and Meat Consumption by 81% – Here’s Why appeared first on Green Queen.

Burger King has made all plant-based products and meals cheaper than meat across its German operations to encourage increased vegan consumption. It will develop a new flower-shaped patty with The Vegetarian Butcher to differentiate beef burgers.

Burger King Germany has made a groundbreaking move to make veganism more accessible to customers, with all plant-based dishes now cheaper than those containing meat.

It has unveiled a new motto, ‘Plant-Based for Everyone’, to coincide with the announcement, which will see the markup for its vegan items like the Whopper, chicken nuggets and Long Chicken sandwich be reduced by 10 cents.

It’s a landmark decision: the fast-food chain says it has the largest vegan range in German QSR, with a meat-free (sometimes vegetarian) alternative to almost every menu option. The price cuts play into consumer trends in the country, with a large EU-backed survey last year revealing that 39% of Germans find plant-based alternatives too expensive, making price the biggest purchase barrier.

“Since the mid-1990s, we have been investing in vegetarian alternatives and have shown that fast food doesn’t always have to mean meat. As a pioneer, we offer by far the largest plant-based range in the German foodservice industry – and now even with a price advantage,” said Burger King Germany CEO Jörg Ehmer. “We are thus providing a strong impetus to try out plant-based options. Our goal: to offer guests freedom of choice – without compromising on taste.”

A new flower-shaped vegan beef patty

Alongside the price reductions, Burger King is working with Unilever-owned plant-based meat brand The Vegetarian Butcher on a new flower-shaped patty for its vegan beef burgers, which will be rolled out in the coming weeks. This is meant to help distinguish between the conventional beef and plant-based options, and follows the development of a breading with parsley sprinkles to differentiate between its chicken patties and nuggets.

The Vegetarian Butcher has supplied plant-based beef and chicken analogues to Burger King since 2019. Their partnership exists in multiple markets, including the UK, Indonesia, China, the UAE, Mexico and Costa Rica (in the US, the fast-food chain works with Impossible Foods).

For Veganuary, it launched the Veggie King Deluxe, which the company says was “very successful”, and now, it plans to develop more plant-based products for its menu. It cements Burger King’s vegan leadership in the European fast-food space, with a report last year noting that it has the highest number of plant-based mains across the leading chains in Europe.

“We are the first choice in terms of plant-based options in the foodservice industry, and continue to drive the growing trend towards alternative protein sources in Germany,” added Ehmer. “For this, we are not only developing our products and processes further, but also focusing on greater product variety and easier access.”

The company has established a credo for all its plant-based products: ‘0% meat. 100% flavour.’ This focus on taste is smart, given that flavour is the top motivating factor for choosing plant-based alternatives in Germany, with 55% citing it.

Burger King follows consumer trends in Germany

Burger King Germany’s price cuts for plant-based meat represent a shrewd move, considering that it is the largest vegan market in Europe, and with a growing willingness to cut back on meat consumption. In fact, 59% of Germans reported eating less meat in 2022 than the year before – the joint-highest in the EU.

This makes sense when you realise that Germany has the largest flexitarian population in Europe, with the EU survey putting that figure at 40%. An earlier USDA report, however, says as many as 55% of Germans follow a flexitarian diet. Burger King Germany’s marketing head Klaus Schmäing has previously said that flexitarians are the company’s main target.

“The large group we want to address are flexitarians,” he said. “But beyond that, of course, also vegetarians and vegans.” (The EU poll found that Germany had the second-largest vegan population in the region too, at 4% of the population.) And last year, Burger King Germany revealed that one in every five Whoppers it sells are plant-based, and likewise for nearly one in four Long Chickens.

So the demand is clearly there – and it’s something the government has identified too, having earmarked €38M in the 2024 federal budget to promote alternative protein consumption and a switch to plant-based agriculture, as well as open a Proteins of the Future centre.

“With this decision on the protein transition, the coalition is taking a big step towards the transition to a sustainable food system laid out in the coalition agreement,” said Ivo Rzegotta, senior public affairs manager for Germany at the Good Food Institute Europe, an alternative protein think tank. “The agreed funding measures for research and transformation will put Germany on the path to becoming a leader in this emerging field.”

Burger King isn’t the only company to reduce prices and make plant-based food more accessible in Germany. In October, discount retailer Lidl announced that most of its own-label products from the Vemondo plant-based range would be at price parity with or cheaper than conventional meat and dairy products, explaining that “conscious and sustainable consumption” is only possible if these foods are “affordable and more easily accessible for everyone”.

Lidl’s announcement was swiftly followed by Kaufland, which dropped the prices of 90 vegan products to make them competitive or more affordable than their animal-based counterparts. Rewe Group’s BILLA and Penny have made identical moves, as has Aldi Süd.

With its whopping decision, Burger King Germany has added itself to that list.

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Canadian whole-cut plant-based salmon producer New School Foods has kicked off its New School Culinary Council of industry advisors, starting with vegan chef Matthew Kenney, who will help the brand make its commercial debut later this year.

New School Foods, which produces whole-cut wild salmon from plants, has collaborated with Matthew Kenney to launch the New School Culinary Council (NSCC), an invite-only collective of international chefs and restaurateurs. The advisory hub will help guide the company through its upcoming launch in restaurants.

Members of the NSCC will work closely with the Toronto-based startup to guide product development, recommend recipes, and support the adoption of its whole-muscle salmon. It reflects the company’s positioning of its seafood analogue as chef-led, with the use of plant fibres able to replicate the texture of fish muscle fibres, and recreate the same flavour, appearance and functional attributes.

“From Day 0, we developed this product with chefs in mind,” said New School Foods CEO Chris Bryson. “As tastemakers, chefs and restaurateurs sit at the intersection between product and consumer – they represent a critical piece of the puzzle when it comes to developing a product that consumers crave. If it won’t work for a chef, why would the consumer care?”

Kenney agreed, noting that “there is no more demanding audience” for plant-based meat than professional chefs: “If your product does not look, cook, and taste like the real thing, you are better off in the grocery store, because chefs will not compromise.”

Tapping into Matthew Kenney’s decades-long experience

The partnership will see Kenney develop new recipes with New School Foods’ salmon throughout the year, while highlighting menu flexibility and versatility of the whole-cut filet, which can be cooked in a host of different methods, including baking, roasting, sauteing, smoking and sous vide.

“He’s a true expert in plant-based foods and immediately understood our product – what it can do, and what it could do,” Bryson told Green Queen about the decision to team up with Kenney. “The first time he got the product, he took a series of filets and cooked them each in a different way, managing to take our product to whole new heights. He’s been extremely helpful at providing feedback for further improving the product, both in terms of the customer sensory experience, as well as the chef cooking experience.”

In addition, Kenney will serve as an advocate and consultant for New School Foods, leveraging his experience and network to secure foodservice listings for the vegan salmon, especially in Los Angeles, where he currently lives. He will also provide ongoing feedback during regular sessions with the product development team ahead of its planned launch later this year.

Kenney has been working in professional kitchens for over 30 years, with his company with dozens of restaurants around the world, including Plant Food + Wine, Plant City and Double Zero. A raw food pioneer, he was the founding partner of the infamous Pure Food and Wine vegan eatery in New York City, which was the subject of controversy in the 2010s after failing to pay its staff (Kenney left the establishment in 2005).

However, since September 2022, at least 12 of his restaurants have shut, and investors, landlords and employees have accused Kenney of non-payments, with some paychecks allegedly bouncing even as influencers were given $10,000 worth of free food every year for promoting the establishments. The chef has acknowledged that some checks may have bounced, but denies that influencers would have been given more than $1,000 worth of food.

To his credit, Kenney answered all questions asked of him in a wide-ranging interview with the Los Angeles Times – but the lawsuits and financial controversies give New School Foods pause when opting to work with him? “Not at all,” said Bryson. “We worked closely with chef Kenney for months before partnering, and his passion for both the product and the mission is clear. We believe that passion will carry over to many other chefs who will want to join New School Foods.”

Better-tasting alt-seafood products will win over consumers

New School Foods, which first unveiled its salmon in February 2023, expects to add more chefs to its NSCC. “We have been working with a series of chefs over the last year,” revealed Bryson. “Matthew is our first official member given his deep experience with the plant-based space.”

Adhering to the chef-forward philosophy, the company has no plans to sell its salmon in retail, instead focusing solely on restaurants. As for the pricing, Bryson said it will “depend on the relationship we have with each restaurant”.

New School Foods has also been working with precision fermentation startup Liven Proteins and dehydration solutions provider NuWave Research on an $11.4M project partly funded by the Canadian government, which will combine its salmon production tech with Liven’s animal-free collagen and NuWave Research’s vacuum microwave technology to manufacturer whole-muscle plant-based salmon at scale. “[The collaboration is] to support our core product development and bring it to market,” said Bryson. “Liven is doing some great work that we hope to include in future product versions.”

Its own version is made from a unique scaffolding technology that uses directional freezing to create scaffolds that mimic muscle fibres and connective tissues found in meat and fish. These are then infused with different proteins and flavours that mimic the taste, texture, structure and cooking process of conventional meat and seafood.

The news comes just shortly after San Francisco-based New Wave Foods and German startup Ordinary Seafood were forced to cease trading, highlighting the challenges facing the alternative seafood industry. Despite vegan seafood outpacing the plant-based meat sector in sales from 2021-22, its retail sales only hit $14M, a minuscule 1% of the $1.2B made by the overall meat analogues category. Its contribution to the overall seafood sector is even smaller, representing just 0.2% of total sales.

There have been some success stories too. Fellow Canadian Yves Potvin’s Konscious Foods has its frozen vegan sushi and poke bowl SKUs in over 4,500 retail doors in North America; Nestlé – the world’s largest CPG brand – introduced three plant-based seafood products in Europe and Asia recently; and Sweden’s Hooked Foods expanded into Germany with a listing in 400 REWE West stores in November.

“While the market is going through an adjustment period, long-term, we expect this will be a very exciting sector,” said Bryson. “Customers are still looking for alternatives, and that shows based on the plant-based sector’s growth in Europe and US foodservice. But the products need to be better – in taste, texture, cooking experience, and clear nutritional benefit over meat/seafood. That will require better ingredients, and better processing technologies to more closely meet customer expectations.”

“I speak from first-hand experience when I say that the products New School Foods developed are nothing short of a plant-based miracle,” said Kenney. “I was stunned by how versatile the product was – how it was a product that I could prepare any way I wanted. It cooks and transforms just like the real thing, raw-to-cooked transition and all, while delivering an amazing taste and texture experience.” 

Israel’s Oshi and Austria’s Revo Foods also make whole-cut salmon – the latter was recently involved in a court case against the City of Vienna, which accused it of misleading consumers with its ‘vegan’ label on product packaging. The court has dismissed the suit.

The post New School Foods Ropes in Vegan Chef Matthew Kenney for ‘Culinary Council’ Ahead of Whole-Cut Salmon Launch appeared first on Green Queen.

The Cakery founder Shirley Kwok speaks to Green Queen about her new businesses shaking up Hong Kong’s plant-based scene: vegan cheese brand Cultured and plant-forward bakery Maya.

Shirley Kwok is one busy lady. Under her entrepreneur belt so far: a cakery, a bakery, and an artisanal cheese brand, and it’s not even been a decade!

And oh, her products range from better-for-you, allergen-friendly, vegan-friendly and diet-inclusive to a combination of all the above. The best part, though? The flavour is – some would say – bomb.

What started as a pop-up cake shop at Hong Kong’s famous commercial complex Landmark in 2016 has now evolved into five locations that offer cakes in all shapes and sizes, for all occasions and diets. But about a year and a half ago, The Cakery was no longer enough for Kwok, a mother of two.

You see, there was this local vegan cheese she loved, but the brand was sadly closing down – a fate that many of the city’s plant-forward businesses have suffered post-pandemic. Kwok was going to buy out that business, but that didn’t pan out. So instead, she created her own artisanal vegan cheese brand.

“I was doing a lot of tests at home,” she tells me. After testing a few different versions, she brought the cheese to work. “Everybody tried and they’re like: ‘Oh, it’s really nice. And I can’t stop eating,'” recalls Kwok. That’s when the thought occurred – maybe there was a real business in all this.

It came to fruition at the end of last year in the form of Cultured, a CPG brand offering kitchen staples like spreadable cheese blocks, cream cheeses, superfood crackers and curried hummus – all vegan.

Inspired by nations, powered by fermentation

As the name suggests, Cultured is rooted in fermentation, blending a base of cashews with probiotics and ageing them to unlock depth, complexity and umami notes. Plus, there’s the good-for-you bacteria and enzymes to support digestion and a strong immune system. “Everyone’s talking about gut health,” notes Kwok.

“The reason why I use the word ‘Cultured’ is because I wanted to bring in all sorts of cultures into this new thing. I want the brand to be inclusive, so it’s for everyone to try,” she tells me. The idea was to blend global cultures with fermentation cultures, with product flavours linked to different parts of the world (truffles are a nod to Italy, jalapeños to Mexico, and so on).

Her decision to make blocks of spreadable cheese over grated/gratable versions was part of a conscious move away from ingredients like agar or cornstarch, keeping her products as clean-label as possible. ethos intact. That is evident when you take a peek at the label: the sundried tomato and roasted garlic cheese, for example, has cashews, water, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, sundried tomatoes, garlic, salt and probiotics.

The process of making the cheese starts with a 48-hour ferment at room temperature, followed by another two to three days in the fridge, which will make it good to last for at least two weeks. Kwok has tried plenty of nuts, but cashews just work well with the flavour and texture of her current portfolio. “I’m going to start using other nuts,” she adds. Almonds, macadamias, and the like.

But with nut-based cheeses, cost is always an issue. Cultured’s cashew cheeses range from HK$120-135 ($15-17) for less than 200g, which is quite steep. Having said that, it is artisanal cheese, and the prices aren’t much different from high-end conventional counterparts.

“I feel like people who really understand my product should be able to appreciate that,” she says. “Even for my cakes, some people say: ‘Oh, yeah, your cakes are really expensive. But I can tell you use really good ingredients.'”

From The Cakery to a plant-forward bakery

This brings us neatly to the setting of our chat – we’re sat at the site of Maya in the commercial hub that is Taikoo Place. Borrowing similar principles from The Cakery, Maya is Kwok’s newest brand, a bakery with an almost fully plant-based menu. There are vegan versions of local favourites in egg tarts and pineapple buns, international treasures in pistachio croissants and blueberry muffins, and indulgent treats in peanut-butter-filled chocolate cookies.

My favourite part (aside from the flavour, of course) is the price. The vegan egg tart costs HK$18 ($2.30), the pistachio croissant HK$26 ($3.30), and the pandan-fulled pineapple bun HK$22 ($2.80). For high-quality plant-based products, that is excellent pricing. How did Kwok manage to keep prices so low for Maya, especially when Cultured’s rates are relatively high?

“It’s a new concept, and we’re having the shop in a commercial area,” she explains. She was expecting to get some pushback. “I wanted people to give it a try first, and not have a barrier. So then they like it and come back again. But if the price point is too high, they’ll be like: ‘Why would I want to pay so much for something that I’m not even sure whether I would like?'”

It’s a pertinent point for a region where 20% of the population lives in poverty, and inflation has mirrored increases globally, with things costing 2.4% more in December 2023 than the month before. But despite a spate of post-pandemic closures and collapses for plant-based businesses, the demand for vegan food remains, with a June 2023 survey finding that 86% of locals want to see more plant-based options in public places, while 70% don’t think restaurants offer enough meat-free options.

Speaking of which, you may have noticed I described Maya as a bakery with an almost 100% vegan menu. That’s because the menu has one meat-based option: a turmeric chicken sourdough sandwich. “I was debating whether to use ‘fake’ meat,” says Kwok. “But it’s processed, and we really don’t want to use that.” She acknowledges that the menu does have a sandwich with vegan tuna, which she says is “the most processed food in this café”.

“I was also worried that we’re in a commercial area, where probably most of the people are not vegan – I still want to try to accommodate people who are not vegan, you know?” she adds. Explaining her rationale, she says meat-eaters might come to the store and select the chicken sandwich the first time, but they might like it so much that they’d try something else – maybe one of the vegan sandwiches (which incorporate Cultured’s products), quiches or soups – next time. It’s a working example of how flexitarians hold the key to protein diversification.

Kwok isn’t vegan herself but says she really appreciates good plant-based food. “But it’s quite hard to find in Hong Kong,” she tells me. “Even though they say they’re vegan, they’re heavily processed, and I don’t feel healthy after eating it.” It’s a view held by many around the world, with the heightened discourse about ultra-processed foods (UPFs) associating certain vegan foods with ill health – though not all UPFs or plant-based meats are unhealthy. “I try to eat very clean. I prefer wholesome food, rather than really processed food.”

It’s all about the aesthetics – and family

The other reason why Maya isn’t fully vegan is because the espresso bar serves cow’s milk. Don’t worry though, there’s oat and soy too – and the coffee, sourced from a local roaster, is truly great. There are two options: “nutty” and “fruity” (which I assume are layperson’s terms for washed and natural processed coffee, respectively).

Aesthetics are important to Kwok. There’s an underlying pastel theme running through Maya’s exteriors, serveware and the food itself. The hot drinks come in gorgeous stone mugs with golden spoons, with takeaway packaging sourced from local supplier Sustainabl. For iced beverages, there are plastic-free, starch-based straws.

As for the food, take that pistachio croissant, for instance. The top is meticulously half-covered in a pistachio-white chocolate glaze, lined with pistachio pieces. I ask her why she chose to go with an exterior glaze instead of a filling. “I really appreciate things that look nice,” she responds. “So if I put it on top, it can be very catchy.” Traditional croissants can be “shiny and nice”, but it’s hard to replicate that with a margarine-based vegan croissant. So she wanted something that would grab the attention of people standing afar.

But Maya isn’t just a bakery: it moonlights as a bar, with cocktails like Honeybee Gin Tea, Coriander Blast and a classic negroni, alongside craft beers and organic wines. You can grab a vegan cheese platter too, if you’re into that. It’s a whole package, and it makes sense when you consider how personal the brand is to Kwok.

Maya is the name of her 11-year-old daughter, who helped conceptualise the business’s mascot and logo, a bird also called Maya. The new business is a tribute to both her kids, and signals that she’s in it for the long haul. She’s already deep in R&D for future releases (a not-so-subtle hint: if you’re into kimchi and hot sauces, you may be in for a treat).

While Kwok does want to expand eventually, she’s wary that vegan cheese brands in Hong Kong have come and gone, so education for her is key. In the long term, she hopes people recognise she’s trying to help her own community and normalise veganism. “Right now, people are still asking us: ‘Do you have normal cakes?’ Hopefully, in five years, I won’t get those kinds of customers,” she says.

In the end, for Kwok, it’s about convincing people that it’s okay to eat vegan food: “Just give it a try.”

The post Meet the Entrepreneur Taking Hong Kong’s Vegan Bakery & Cheese Scene to the Next Level appeared first on Green Queen.