The following is a short overview of existing alternatives to meat:
Wheat Gluten / Seitan
Wheat gluten is also known as seitan. It consists
of the protein components gliadin and glutenin which are isolated
from wheat by rinsing the wheat dough until the starch and bran have
been washed out. It is the most cost effective and most simple raw
material for producing vegetarian sausages, burgers, nuggets, schnitzel
as well as minced meat. In addition, wheat is a crop that is native
to a majority of countries, the production of seitan is possible on
a regional level. The simple production method gives rise to a consistency
which is remarkably similar to the stringy fibres that make up the
consistency of meat. Seitan can be seasoned and prepared in a huge
variety of ways.
Wikipedia
articles about seitan
Seitan
recipes
Websites with
uses for seitan
General
information about seitan
Tofu
Tofu is a traditional Asian foodstuff and the
basis for meat replacements made from soya. It is made by adding a
coagulant to soya milk and compressing the resulting protein solids
until the required consistency is achieved. Tofu is easily digested
and contains all essential amino acids. Unlike seitan, tofu does not
have a meat-like consistency, it can be seasoned in many different
ways and is delicious smoked.
Wikipedia
once again
Tofu,
one of the healthiest foods in the world
Soya Meat
Soya meat, or to be exact; “textured vegetable protein”
(TVP), is produced from soya beans in many Asian countries. The production
method is somewhat laborious but, the end product has a fibrous consistency
which is very similar to meat. With different seasonings a great variety
of flavours can be achieved. Soya meat is extremely rich in protein,
protein content is over 50%.
Wikipedia
Information
about soya meat
Tempeh
Tempeh is a traditional fermented
food from Indonesia, it is made by the controlled fermentation
of cooked soya beans with a Rhizopus mold. The tempeh fermentation
by the Rhizopus mold binds the soya beans into a compact white cake.
Tempeh is not fibrous like meat. It contains, amongst others, many
B vitamins, has a high protein content and is very versatile.
Information about
tempeh
Wikipedia
What
is tempeh?
Quorn
Quorn is an innovation from the English company
Marlow Foods. It is made from a fermented
fungus which is processed and textured
to produce a food which can be easily mistaken for meat. Quorn products
include steaks, burgers, chicken breasts as well as sliced meats and
ready meals such as lasagne. Quorn is available from supermarkets
in many European countries and in parts of the USA. However, Quorn
is not animal-free as egg white is used as a binding ingredient.
Quorn-Home
Wiki
Quorn
OTHERS
The seeds of sweet lupines can be used for vegetarian meat production,
too. Meatless
for example is made of 100% vegetable fibres, made from lupine or wheat.
The fibres are produced in different shapes, flavours and colours.
Meatless is used for meat-substitute products as well as for developing
“hybrid products”, which are meat-products in which a huge portion
of the meat is replaced by Meatless.
Another option for producing vegetarian meat alternatives can be
algae, Remis Algen shows such an approach.
Sprouted soybeans can also be basis for meat replacements,
an example is Yaso.
Another innovative approach is using fresh mushrooms like the company
Fresh'shrooms does.
Rice protein or pea protein is also already in use for the production of vegetarian
as well as vegetable fibres by the companies ProViand and
Wiefleisch.
Furthermore Neat uses nuts (pecans) and garbanzo beans as main ingredients.
And Impossible Foods is breaking new grounds with their
mission to create the perfect plant based "beef burger" with heme (haem) from plants
as "bloody juice".
The Dutch team of Atze Jan van der Goot promises plant based steaks with perfect texture using their so called "shear-cell technology".
3D-printed meat made from plant based ingredients is a promising technology, too - check out NovaMeat or Redefine Meat.
General Links
Bill
Gates promotes Future of Food - meat and egg alternatives
GFI
Report on plant based meat, eggs and dairy, 2020
Remarkable intermediate products for the production of vegetarian meats:
Meatless, vegetable
fibres, made from lupine or wheat (Meatless, NL)
Plenti (Beeter),
soy based intermediate products (Ojah b.v., NL)
Syral
vital wheat gluten for vegetarian meat analogues (Tereos Syral, F)
Proteins
from wheat, soy, potato, rice, pea, lupines, ... (Agridient, NL)
Wheatex,
textured wheat protein (MGP Ingredients, US)
Guanxian Ruixiang
wheat gluten from China (CN)
Sinoglory - soy proteins from China (CN)
Wachsen - soy proteins from China (CN)
Ultra-Soy
and Imagic (CHS, US)
Soy
protein isolates / concentrates (Danisco)
Sonic
Biochem - Indian soyameat-producer (IN)
Vippy Industries -
Indian soyaproducts (IN)
Mahakali Foods -
Indian soyaproducts (IN)
America
Pampa - (texturized) soy proteins (AR)
Machinery for the production of vegetarian meats:
Mase, innovative tofu machines
(also on youtube)
Dingrun -
textured soy protein machines (CN)
Shengrun -
textured soy protein machines (CN)
Jinan Tainuo -
textured soy protein machines (CN)
Highly remarkable vegetarian meat products (alphabetical):
Amy's Kitchen - various veggy foods (US)
Au Lac -
vegetarian meat products (Vietnam)
Beyond
Meat - vegetarian "chicken meat" (US)
Cauldron - various meat alternatives (UK)
CKfoods -
Taiwanese soyameat-producer
Field
Roast Grain Meat (US)
Fry's - burgers, nuggets,
schnitzels, .. (South Africa)
Gardein - innovative garden
grown protein (USA, Can, UK)
Impossible Foods -
"Bloody plant-based burgers" (US)
King - Australian tofu,
veggie-meat, soy-cheese, soy-milk
LikeMeat -
nuggets, schnitzel, steaks (Germany)
Linda McCartney Foods -
sausages and burgers (UK)
Match
Premium Meat Alternatives (US)
Moving
Mountains - burgers and more (UK)
Omnipork / Right Treat -
plant-based pork for China (CN)
Quorn - the totally different meat alternative (UK, intern.)
Redwood/VBites -
beef-, chicken-, fish-, pork-style (UK, intern.)
Sojaprodukt - Slovak Vegetarian
Meat (SK)
This
(Isn't Chicken, Isn't Bacon) (UK)
Turtle
Island Foods / Tofurky (US, Canada, UK)
Valsoia
Italy - vegetarian meat
Vantastic Foods (AVE) - various meat alternatives (Germany)
Vegetarian Butcher -
meat alternatives from the Netherlands
VegieVegie Premium
Meat Alternative (Thailand)
Vivera - "Vish"sticks, steaks and much more
(Netherlands)
Wheaty (Topas)
Germany - prim. wheat-based vegetarian meat
Yaso -
sprouted soybean-based meat replacement (Hun)