![Innovative meat alts put plants first at Expo West Innovative meat alts put plants first at Expo West](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt09e5e63517a16184/bltbec2288654548ed0/64ff18b27964683a708cf048/plant-based-innovation-1000_1.png?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
Here’s another ground-meat alternative that turns to whole plants—in this case, walnuts—to approximate meat texture. With loads of protein and the health benefits that come with simple walnuts, using this in any dish that calls for ground meat is an easy decision.
The stuff of the best kind of bagel sandwich, only made from carrots? Astonishingly, yes. This nine-ingredient treasure offered the same smoky-fishy flavor as smoked salmon, along with its silky texture. Only the star is carrots, rather than coho. We can’t wait for our next everything bagel sammy, with plant-based cream cheese and the rest of the works.
This gorgeous blend of three mushrooms, along with pea protein, split peas, carrots and other natural ingredients, won a NEXTY Award this year for good reason: it is phenomenal. Whether it’s used for tacos, pizza, pasta sauces, salads, dumpling filling—you name it—this product nailed texture and flavor in winning ways.
This certified organic alt-meat skips over fillers like protein powders, and relies instead on just a handful of whole-plant ingredients, including nutrition-packed South American sacha inchi seeds. We love the ingredients, the commitment to organic and the product.
We’re crazy for a solid Bolognese sauce. Until we tried Good Food For Good’s rendition, though, we wondered if the only awesome versions would involve combinations of ground pork and beef. Now, we’re Good Food For Good converts. This certified organic product turns to pumpkin seeds for its meatiness, and it works.
Organic lentils and grains. Roasted veggies. That’s it. And that’s a win for us, and for you. These veggie burgers won our hearts, and our taste buds.
This plant-based focused food start-up is all about elevating legumes into their rightful place as tasty and nutritional powerhouses. These USDA Organic vegan meals come frozen for simple and wholesome meals in a flash.
This plant-based focused food start-up is all about elevating legumes into their rightful place as tasty and nutritional powerhouses. These USDA Organic vegan meals come frozen for simple and wholesome meals in a flash.
Plant-based meat alternatives have captured the culinary zeitgeist, with new products landing on market shelves every week, media attention rising to a crescendo and consumer interest spiking.
They certainly made a collective star appearance at Natural Products Expo West this month. Every aisle showcasing food, it seemed, supported at least a few brands. Some aisles almost felt like tunnels of alt nuggets, burgers, jerkys, fish filets and sausages.
The volume was so impressive, one New Hope editorial wag declared that we have reached “peak nugget.”
During the course of the five-day spectacle of sampling, networking, camaraderie and leadership, we probably tried every alt-meat on display, flooding our bodies with pea and soy protein, yeast extract, coconut oil and plenty more. The exercise was enlightening and rewarding, but our guts were happy when we hopped on planes and returned to the real world.
One clear takeaway: innovation is ripening with immense speed. Many of the products—especially those nuggets—were indistinguishable from the foods they are trying to replace.
But what was also eminently clear from Natural Products Expo West is that innovation in plant-based is not just about the latest technological application or even a products’ ability to closely mimic the animal-based product it is replacing. Innovation in plant-based foods also comes in the form of truly plant-forward products that focus on real, whole-food, ingredients, such as veggies, grains, legumes, etc.
The following gallery includes just a few of the plant-forward innovations that not only delighted our taste buds at Expo West, but also excited us with a variety of attributes including innovative formats, nutritional profiles, organic certification and clean ingredient lists.
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