Restaurant menus used to be simple – a choice between vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Today, they give Starbucks baristas a run for their money that includes gluten-free, egg-free, vegan, lactose-free, nut-free, and—biggest yet—animal free or as it’s more popularly known, vegan. is included. Nothing has stirred up as much controversy as plant-based alternatives in the past few years.
The data shows that India has one of the lowest per capita meat consumption countries in the world, at around 4 kg compared to the global average of around 40 kg, indicating that Indians have always been largely plant-based consumers. (meat exports are a completely different matter). What then is behind the recent proliferation of plant-based alternative food products that have been occupying supermarket shelves over the past 6 months?
The Good Food Institute, a non-profit working internationally to accelerate alternative protein innovation, gives the short answer – it will help reduce the environmental impact of our food system, reduce the risk of zoonotic disease, and ultimately reduce There is an effort to feed more people with resources.
Simply put, by offering carnivores a plant-based diet that mimics meat, or eating cell cultured meats is an attempt to encourage carnivores to eat less animal-derived meat, as it may harm the environment in the long run. better for.
If the goal isn’t to convert all non-vegetarians to vegetarians, it does little to tell about the announcements that took the culinary world by surprise by one of the world’s most respected and award-winning chefs, Daniel Humm . He switched to a completely vegetarian format since his highly acclaimed New York restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, reopened after the pandemic and recently went on to break ties with his colleagues when he was at his London restaurant Davis End. Couldn’t agree to do so. To suffer.
A cook is entitled to set his or her own parameters for what he wants to offer on the menu, but what’s getting tricky is the execution. In the words of Pete Wells in his latest takedown of Eleven Madison Park’s vegetarian menu—”Beets aren’t very good at pretending to be meat, but their ability to taste like beets is unmatched.”
Most vegetarians or vegans lean towards a 100% diet, and vegetarian or plant-based restaurants are fantastically suitable for them. So a vegetarian certainly doesn’t want something that tastes like minced meat or just a juicy meat burger, but that’s not really because they’ve never wanted it. This is where the disconnect appears – among them also wanting to cater to non-vegetarians in a way that is usually served to vegetarians.
There is an issue of price and information, given that these plant-based alternatives are still at a very early stage of consumption. It’s highly unlikely that we would voluntarily pay more for a plant-based alternative than the original meat version, but that’s the case with most plant-based meats currently available. One can’t help but wonder what’s going on to make these products taste similar to meat.
Animal meat is about taste and texture at the most basic level, but it also has cultural connotations and its own ecosystem. But putting all that aside, as far as restaurants are concerned, one of the biggest concerns with this ‘movement’ towards vegetarianism is the guilt it stems from, while the food has always been is and should always be about pleasure. It should be about what you crave and enjoy, not because you shouldn’t eat anything else.
There is no doubt that with rising production levels, prices are bound to come down and with more education about the ingredients, there will be increasing acceptance, but we are still following in the footsteps of Chef Hum much more than mainstream restaurants in India. are far. , Should the chef try to save the world when all the leaders of COP26 couldn’t? Maybe it’s a start, but restaurants have always been about bringing people together for fine dining, so let’s never lose sight of that.
Disclaimer
The views expressed above are those of the author.
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