1/24/2024 Future of food

From omnivores to meat lovers: The countertrends to plant-based food

“Vegourmets”, “real omnivores” and “carneficionados”: What’s behind these food trends and how are they being picked up by the restaurant trade?

Vegan lentil curry with vegetables, top view. Healthy vegetarian food background

Every successful trend generates countertrends that offer alternative solutions for the problems perceived. The main drivers of the major food trends are the climate crisis, environmental problems, loss of biodiversity, personal health, and animal welfare. People’s concerns are reflected in the major trend towards plant-based food with its sub-categories veganism, vegetarianism and flexitarianism. The currently emerging countertrends identified by food trend expert Hanni Rützler are what she calls “vegourmets, “real omnivores” and “carneficionados”. What’s behind these countertrends, and how are they influencing the hospitality industry?

In Germany, around 12 percent of people follow a vegetarian (9 percent) or vegan diet (3 percent). This was one of the insights from a representative Forsa survey commissioned by the BVLH (Association of German Food Retailers) on the topic of plant-based nutrition¹. Another 41 percent of respondents described themselves in the survey as flexitarians, i.e. they consciously restrict their meat consumption.

However, the resulting increase in the popularity of plant-based meat alternatives is also triggering counter-movements². In the Forsa survey, 65 percent of respondents cited a high content of fat, salt, sugar or additives as a reason for not buying vegan meat alternatives. This scepticism is also shared by proponents of the food trends “vegourmets”, “carneficionados” and “real omnivores”, who avoid meat from standardized industrial production chains as well as plant-based substitutes.

Ricky Saward, Michelin-starred chef at the vegan gourmet restaurant Seven Swans

Vegourmets follow a vegetarian or vegan diet and forego meat substitutes because they are highly sceptical in principle about industrially processed food products. The dishes served by plant-based gourmet restaurants also have nothing to do with meat-substitute products. In these establishments, the point is not to imitate the taste of meat, but instead to focus on creating original dishes from vegetables, fruit, grains, legumes and herbs that taste so good that nobody misses the meat. As is the case in the Seven Swans in Frankfurt am Main. In 2020, it was the first vegan restaurant in the world to be awarded a Michelin star. Award-winning head chef Ricky Saward explains how they implement the vegan gourmet concept in the restaurant: “It’s important to us to demonstrate how versatile a vegetable can be, and we want to show the amazing range of possibilities that allows us to produce a wholesome and complex dish from just a single vegetable.”

Ricky Saward is not alone: Increasingly, vegan chefs are being awarded Michelin stars. The introduction of the Green Star³ by the Michelin Guide, which recognises restaurants for their sustainable practices, is evidence of the shift in thinking in the fine dining segment.

Oliver Kühler, Managing Director and Head Chef of “Misnik – the meat restaurant”

“Carneficionados” eat meat, but are conscious of the ethical, ecological and climate consequences of intensive livestock farming and high levels of meat consumption. They therefore eat responsibly sourced meat from production facilities that are as animal welfare- and climate-friendly as possible. This is also the philosophy of “Misnik – the meat restaurant” in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Managing director and head chef Oliver Kühler explains: “The meat we buy comes mainly from farmers in the surrounding area who attach immense importance to the proper care, health and welfare of their livestock. We work very closely with our suppliers and as a result, can track the exact origin and husbandry of the animals.” For meat lovers, our menu also offers new meat qualities like “dry aged” and meat from older animals. Farmers are extending their offerings by reviving old, rare breeds or introducing exotic animals like yaks, bison, Wagyu and Angus cattle, llamas or alpacas, in other words (“local exotics”). But it is not just a revival of these breeds that is characteristic of the “carneficionados” trend. Kühler explains: “At the Misnik, we use all parts of the animal, from nose to tail, so to speak. I find that cattle should not have to die just for their prime cuts. With the right kind of careful cooking, a braised beef cheek or hanging tender is much tastier and has a better texture than a piece of fillet. We are therefore trying to do our bit to avoid waste and so can also offer more attractive prices to our diners. In the current times, where everything is so expensive, this is yet another benefit.

Andreas Koitz, founder and managing director of Prime Insects

Real omnivores are open to new food technologies like in-vitro meat, insects, algae, and fish from cell cultures, but are still focused on the environment. When they eat meat, they too eat the whole animal so as not to waste resources. One company servicing this trend is “Prime Insects”. Austria’s first organic mealworm farm processes 100 percent of the mealworm into a broad range of products. As founder and managing director Andreas Koitz explains: “Having grown up on a farm I wanted to become a farmer but without the kinds of structural problems like animal suffering, insect mortality or food waste that many – mostly conventional – agricultural businesses have and/or generate.” The company relies on processed products, e.g. protein bars, meatloaf or minced meat to make insects as a foodstuff more palatable to consumers. “I am convinced that insects are going to become established, it is only a question of the form this will take. Customers in the hospitality sector had already been relatively active in this area in the past, but most of them left the project again due to the legal uncertainty that prevailed at the time. But it’s slowly coming back. I don’t think that insects overall have a realistic prospect of becoming accepted as a foodstuff. However, in their processed form, inhibitions are very low. The practical feasibility will be proven in the coming year when we bring some new products onto the market,” says Koitz.

Sources:

[1] Forsa (2023): “Plant-based nutrition. Results of a representative population survey.” (in German) www.bvlh.net/fileadmin/redaktion/downloads/pdf/2023/forsa-Umfrage_Pflanzenbetonte_Ern%C3%A4hrung.pdf

[2] Rützler, H. (2023). Food Report 2024.

[3] Le Guide MICHELIN (2023, 2 April). What is the Green MICHELIN Star? https://guide.michelin.com/de/de/article/sustainable-gastronomy/was-ist-der-grune-michelin-stern