The Changing Market for Plant-Based Meat: A Twenty-Year History
Throughout history humans have depended on plant-based foods for survival. Hunter-gatherer communities—although they preferred meat—relied on nuts, tubers, and fruits for up to 70 percent of their annual caloric intake; and once farming took hold twelve thousand years ago, domesticated grains, like barley, sorghum, corn, rice, and millet were cultivated in vast quantities to support the first early civilizations and their rapidly growing populations.
Fast forward a few thousand years, and plant-based foods are once again changing the world. Unlike during the time of our ancient ancestors, meat is now plentiful, and its mass production is depleting the planet’s natural resources and doing irreversible damage to its soil, rivers, rainforests, and wildlife. Research also suggests that a diet heavy in red and processed meat can increase an individual’s risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. In response to these concerns, there’s been a recent shift away from meat and other animal products towards more sustainable plant-based alternatives.
Today, supermarkets and grocery stores offer a range of plant-based products, from milk, yogurt, cheese, and ice cream to ground beef, sausage, fish filets, and chicken nuggets. But such variety is a relatively new development. To celebrate twenty years of Meatless Monday, we’re looking back over the past two decades at the retail-landscape to see just how much things have changed in the world of plant-based food products…
The year is 2003…the South Beach and Atkins Diets have Americans watching their carbohydrates and eating more red meat. Only a handful of meat-free brands have a national foothold. Recently, Kraft Foods \ purchased Boca Burger and Kellogg’s acquired Morningstar Farms, two monumental deals that significantly change the plant-based food landscape. Quorn makes its way from the United Kingdom into US freezers, promoting their mycoprotein-based nuggets and patties. A new company, Gardein, is born.
The year is 2007…Michael Pollan has recently published his seminal text, Omnivore’s Dilemma, which encourages local and sustainable food production and consumption. The term “locavore” has become popular vernacular.
The year is 2009…Gardein starts selling plant-based frozen food products in stores around the country, using familiar forms, shapes, and flavor combinations—like chick’n scallopini, meatless meatballs, and beefless tips— to reach a wider audience. Beyond Meat is founded with the stated mission of combating climate change.
The year is 2011…Impossible Foods begins working on their first meat analogue using heme, the molecule that gives blood its red color and helps carry oxygen in living organisms. At the same time an emerging company, Sophie’s Kitchen, introduces US consumers to plant-based seafood.
The year is 2013…JUST Egg makes its debut. The liquid egg replacement uses mung bean protein to recreate the texture, look, and flavor of scrambled eggs. Lightlife Foods relaunches their plant-based hot dog, Smart Dogs, to include pea protein.
The year is 2016…Plant-based seafood is taken to the next level thanks to an emerging start-up, Good Catch. The company uses a blend of legumes and algae oil to create fish-free tuna products and frozen seafood alternatives such as crab-free cakes, fish-free sliders, and fish-free burgers.
The year is 2017… Nestle has recently acquired plant-based food producer Sweet Earth Foods, significantly expanding the brand’s reach and distribution. Sweet Earth unleashes a slew of plant-based products for any meal of the day, ranging from bacon and burritos to pizza and deli slices. Amazon acquires Whole Foods Market. Beyond Meat releases their line of Beyond Sausage.
The year is 2019… Impossible Burger makes its grocery store debut in the meat department and is an immediate sensation. At one grocery store in Southern California, Impossible Burger outsold all brands of ground beef from cows. In April of the same year, Burger King starts testing its Impossible Whopper, before making it available nationwide a few months later. KFC tests plant-based chicken in Atlanta stores. According to a study conducted by Ipsos Retail Performance, between 2004 and 2019, there was a 30-fold increase in vegans in the United States, from 290,000 in 2004 to nearly 10 million in 2019.
The year is 2023…The number of meat-free alternatives has exploded. Estimated plant-based meat dollar sales in U.S. retail have tripled over the last ten years, according to Euromonitor data. Shoppers can now find hundreds of different plant-based food options—jerky, burgers, shrimp, chorizo, bacon, crab cakes, deli meat, nuggets—in supermarkets around the country. Public awareness campaigns, like Meatless Monday, have helped broaden the category, so much so that, today, 93% of households that buy plant-based meat also purchase conventional meat.