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The “most realistic” faux-meat is almost here. The fake beef steak is made with pea protein, seaweed and beetroot juice and mimics the fibrous texture of steak.
Spain-based Novameat has been working on the world’s first plant-based steak for years now, developing the technology to use bioprinting strategies and adapt them to generate a meat substitute with similar protein content and fibrous consistency of meat.
The market in recent years has been bombarded with numerous plant-based meat products, with 2019 seeing the surge in popularity of faux burgers, faux sausages, faux eggs and faux sushi even.
The exciting difference here compared to other plant-based meat companies, such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Food, is that Novameat’s steak aims to mimic not just the taste but also the meaty texture of beef, with muscle fibres and fats included.
We had first featured Novameat and its founder Giuseppe Scionti back in 2018, at which point he was reaching out to top chefs Ferran Adria and the Roca Brothers in developing the flavour of the bio-printed steak.
According to the interview with The Guardian, the company is still experimenting with the final taste, but that they can use the current ingredients of the faux steak to “create convincing burgers from plants”, and “expects a final formulation in the next few months.”
The plant-based steak may be hitting the market as soon as 2021 when Novameat is planning to commission a pilot plant that can produce quantities of up to 50kg an hour.
