HIGHER STAKES: A Slovenian start-up is creating the perfect steak, and it’s meat-free
We are not just creating a juicy alternative to meat but also presenting it in a way we find unifying for meat eaters and vegans alike, united under the common desire to live on a habitable planet.
NIKOLA DORDEVIC: As environmental concerns climb to the top of everyone’s priority list, animal agriculture has been identified as one of the primary drivers of anthropogenic climate change. There isn’t a single environmental organisation that isn’t currently calling for a reduction in meat consumption as a way to fight climate change. Unfortunately, far too many people still love meat too much to give it up. Meat consumption remains at a historical high in most of the developed and emerging world.
But what if there was another way? A way to enjoy the flavour and texture of meat, while drastically lowering greenhouse gas emissions while also not harming any animals? A Slovenian start-up, Juicy Marbles, might just have found the answer. The firm has joined the growing movement of plant-based meat analogues, such as Beyond Meat and Incredible Burger, that aim to reduce meat consumption by offering meat-like products made from plant protein…
Where Juicy Marbles differs from similar firms is that the team behind the start-up has decided not to focus on burger patties and chicken nuggets, but instead tackle what Mr Mićković calls a bigger challenge. “The market for the plant-based patties is very saturated. Also, minced meat wasn’t enough of a challenge so we started tinkering with different techniques, trying to attain the texture of a steak,” he explains.
The start-up’s three co-founders, Tilen Travnik, Luka Sincek, and Maj Hrovat, all have a background in food and biotechnology. And they might just have cracked it, using a machine they have dubbed the Meat-o-Matic Reverse Grinder 9000, which mimics muscle texture by layering soy protein into linear fibres. The company says it is a simple and 100 per cent physical process that uses natural ingredients.
The technology is still patent-pending, but in broad strokes, it’s a machine that lets the start-up layer plant protein into the direction of muscles and lets them add colour and the marbling of fat. This should solve the problem of scaling production that plagues meat analogues made by 3D printers or which are grown from cells in a lab…
Vladimir Mićković, the chief branding officer at Juicy Marbles, tells Emerging Europe… “Meat analogues enable a transition to a plant-based diet that doesn’t require a lot of behavioural changes or learning a lot of new recipes”…
When it comes to the taste, Mr Mićković is quick to point out that what the firm is doing is not a “copy-paste” version of meat. Instead, the company calls it an “original masterpiece”. “It’s very close to meat but we would never dare say it’s a copy-paste version. No meat is exactly alike. What we’re trying to do is take the main properties of meat that we like, and improve the rest,” he explains.
Right now, the steaks being sold as a test drive before the official launch this autumn are somewhat pricey (around 80 US dollars for two cuts of filet mignon), but that will change soon… Mr Mićković notes that price parity with meat is a goal of the company within a year of the official launch. He also hopes that within two years, Juicy Marbles could actually beat the price of standard meat. “We want to make luxurious, Wagyu-like, marbled pieces of meat affordable for everybody,” he says…
Interestingly, the firm is not setting out to create a new wave of vegans, at least not right from the start. “I think it’s important to communicate realistic goals. Switching diets completely is like changing your entire molecular composition. I’d be happy with seeing people eat 90 per cent plant-based, even for their own health,” says Mr Mićković.
Still, he, and the company, believe that meat analogues such as Juicy Marbles will be able to help in the fight against climate change, and also allow for a simpler and easier transition to a plant-based diet. “What all of us in the team have in common is a shared concern for the environment.
We are not just creating a juicy alternative to meat but also presenting it in a way we find unifying for meat eaters and vegans alike, united under the same common goal. “The idea is also to be inclusive in our communication and hopefully bridge the gap between two camps that have trouble reaching common ground, despite literally having the ‘most common’ ground – a desire to live on a habitable planet”. SOURCE…
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