Plant-based faux meat has gone mainstream lately and is steadily gaining much more acceptance among consumers, offering a healthy and eco-friendly alternative to real meat. However, whereas ground meats like hamburgers have been easy to recreate, mimicking whole cuts of meats has proven far more challenging.
To fill the gap, Spanish startup Novameat has revealed a new 3D-printed plant-based steak it says is the most realistic so far, and it costs about the same as what you would pay for a traditional cut of beef.
Called Steak 2.0, Novameat’s new product closely resembles the steak you’d find at the grocery store, but it’s entirely made from peas, seaweed, and beetroot juice. The 50g steak costs about $1.50 to make, similar in price to real steak. However, the startup is planning to drop the cost when the process is scaled up.
While the firm has nailed the look and feel of real steak, it still hasn’t locked down the taste – though it expects a final formulation within the next few months. Taken how sought-after the products of like-minded startups Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, which were struggling to keep up with the demand for their meatless meats, it seems that Novameat can expect similar success if they can find a way to improve the taste. In any case, we’ll definitely be keeping an eye out on their development.
