Getting creative with meat-free meals

By Caroline Scott-Thomas

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Nutrition

Good flavor, interesting texture, and proper cooking techniques are needed to make successful meat-free entrées on a large scale, according to a presentation at the recent Research Chefs Association conference in Atlanta.

Founder of KOR Food Innovation John Csukor told an audience of research chefs that gone are the days of vegetarian lasagnas made by simply omitting the meat in the original recipe. Consumers are looking for full flavors and interesting textures in vegetarian options, and also want to feel that they have eaten well.

“You really want that multitude of textures coming at you from that toothiness, that bite,”​ he said. “We also need satiety, and texture goes along with that… Flavor is king; second is texture.”

Csukor explained that creativity with texture could involve using protein-rich grains, legumes and nuts, so consumers also get very nutritious products.

“Grains and nuts are a really fabulous way to get the proteins and balance in the diet without going to meat protein,”​ he said.

As for flavor, Csukor said that food manufacturers should consider paying a little more for roasted peppers for a pasta sauce, for example.

“Flavor comes in many forms. Instead of adding salt, flavor’s going to come from the proper cooking techniques, going for roasting, toasting, smoking,”​ he said.

Eric Giandelone, director of research at Mintel Foodservice, added that although only about three percent of the US population is vegetarian, there is increased interest in seeking out meat-free options in general. And for those companies looking to expand into emerging markets, he pointed out that about 31 percent of the Indian population is vegetarian, while the Chinese prime minister recently proposed one meat-free day per week.

In the United States, about a third of Americans consider vegetarian options to be healthier than meat options, and as health becomes a more important driver of food purchases, vegetarian foods are likely to become more in demand, he said.

“Consumers are making healthier purchases in supermarkets than they were a year ago,”​ Giandelone said. “It’s not that healthy doesn’t sell, but that bland doesn’t sell. Consumers are seeing better and nuanced products in retail. They have seen the ubiquitous veggie burger, and they have seen new textures and the ethnic influence.”

He said that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are also set to influence protein choices, with their recommendation to avoid processed and fatty meats.

“They encourage Americans to think about other protein options,”​ he said. “…Substituting things like beans, legumes, nuts and seeds, for some of those animal proteins is going to require knowledge of those new flavors and textures but there is also an opportunity to go beyond those old tired soup and salad options.”

Related news

Show more

Related products

Related suppliers

2 comments

Laurel - vegetarians consume more asparatame and glutamates?

Posted by Chumley,

I think you're confused with people who eat processed foods. Sounds like you've got an agenda and are choosing the wrong topic to post on.

Report abuse

Innovative concept - real food as food additive!

Posted by Laurel,

Hurray for John Csukor for suggesting chefs enhance meals with actual foods - and healthy ones at that - instead of resorting to additives that no one, if they understood what they were consuming, would want in their food.

Vegetarians are, by nature, health conscious. Yet vegetarian food has more, not less of the very food additives that are the most harmful. Studies done on these additives ( aspartame, glutamates, etc) to find out how safe they are for consumers, are selectively done on subjects who are healthy, and they find them to be safe. However, for many people, these amino acids are dangerous, leading to auto-immune and neurological disorders. Studies on people with a large number and variety of illnesses ( ALS, atrial fibrillation, autism, Alzheimers schizophrenia, etc ). find that their bodies lack the protection healthy people have against an overload of amino acid. You will note that all of these disordeers were rare before 1948, when MSG was introduced to the American diet, and they are commonplace - some virtually epidemic - today. These diseases are now being treated with glutamate blockers, a 'revolutionary' new drug. Glutamate blockers are in fact, the only drug that works on ALS (Lou Gehrigs) and one of the few that are effective for schizophrenia. Would it not make far more sense to end the use of amino acids as a flavor enhancer? Would it not at leaslt make sense for medical studies to be consided when determining the safety of food additives? It is not uncommon for people, especially the vy young and the elderly, but also families with gene mutations, to lack enough of an element that protects cells from too much glutamate. This is why the disorders I mentioned typicslly effect the very young and the elderly. But food studies are never conducted on children or the elderly. What is wrong with this picture?

Chefs who are talented enough to stick with real foods are not just great chefs. Increasingly, they are also heros, in the true sense of the world. Have the courage to keep it real, and be a hero.

Report abuse

Follow us

Products

View more

Webinars