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Impossible Foods has set the bar high for plant-based meat products, especially its burger, which has since 2016 changed the way people think about faux meat. Now the company is bringing its entirely plant-based pork to the masses and it has a big-name chef convinced that it can replace pig meat in one of his signature dishes
David Chang was one of the first celebrity chefs to put his weight behind Impossible’s plant-based revolution, when his Nishi restaurant became the first to offer the burger on the menu. Now, with the plant-based pork product rolled out by the California food innovator, Chang’s New York restaurant Momofuku Ssäm Bar will be using it as one of the main ingredients in its popular rice cake dish, a 'Sichuan pork ragù with whipped tofu'.
The dish, which temporarily disappeared from the menu, makes a welcome return, and according to the restaurant’s Instagram, will now come with Impossible Pork for a limited time.
A plant-based alternative to pork has been seen as a key market driver, which may allow the company to crack the Asian market, especially China, just as its beef burger product was seen as the driver in the western and US markets.
According to CNET, faux pork is about to be made available in over 100 Hong Kong restaurants, staring this October. In an interview from 2019, Impossible Foods’ CEO Pat Brown, told CNET that “pigs are the single most popular source of meat globally and particularly in Asia,” and said that when it came to creating a product that would have an impact in Asian markets, “pork is kind of a no-brainer.”
Recent outbreaks of swine flu in China have seen the government enforce mass culls of the national swine herd, causing shortfalls in the supply of the key ingredient in so many Chinese dishes. A sustainable, regular and disease-free alternative to augment the supply chain in Asia could establish Impossible as a global food giant.
