cALL LADY GAGA...

​Call Lady Gaga the meat war is on, and I need my meat costume battle dress…
 
The food industry is no stranger to making a synthetic version of a natural food. We have endured butter substitutes for 150 years with the last 50 being a continuous carousel of brands to which we are more than familiar. Butter is reclaiming its rightful place as a health food ( I make no apology for its role as a superfood) after a concerted effort to justify its place in our diet. I could go on but suffice to say I get very nervous if my supply dwindles at home. My food insecurities kick in big time.
 
Now to the fake meat industry which has galloped into the arena in recent years. From lab grown and 3D versions it is staggering the technology that has been employed to create a fake version of the real thing in the name of saving the environment. It would seem there were hundreds of companies getting in on the game. After all, creating a fake version of a chicken nugget is perhaps not that much of a stretch. Investors wrote big cheques with promises of a sure thing. The returns were in sight. Initial sales were very promising. Stock prices rose excitedly... but then guess what…the repeat sales were disappointing. Shock! Maybe real people liked real meat after all…
 
Beyond Meat is one such company that has been, well, beyond failure. Serious losses, a share price that has tanked... I would like to think they would all just give up on the idea. But no fake meat has too much invested in it. How to make this more acceptable to the masses? Remove the competition! 
What if real meat becomes prohibitively expensive? Fake meat becomes readily available. 
 
Watch this space. There are ways of making you eat it…
 
Anne Maher