It’s no secret that in recent years, alternative meats and vegan diets have gathered increasing adoption from consumers.
This is for good reason too.
Research shows that without meat and dairy consumption, global farmland use could be reduced by more than 75%. This is an area equivalent to the US, Australia, China and European Union combined.
It is safe to say that the US has been the early adopter when it comes to alternative meats.
Plant-based alternative protein brands like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have become household brands in recent times.
The curious case of Asia
Asia has been late to this party.
This is interesting, as Asia houses the largest vegetarian population in the world. Not counting India and China, even Southeast Asia has a fair population of vegetarians.
For example, Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest country, has a large Hindu and Buddhist population. So why is it that Southeast Asia has been reticent in adopting alternative meats?
The answer is price. It has been the biggest deterrent to plant-based meat consumption in both retail and foodservice.
GDP per capita in Southeast Asia stands just over US$5,000, in comparison to US$63,000 in North America, limiting Southeast Asia consumers’ ability to purchase meat and the new- generation meat substitutes that often carry a high price tag.
However, that seems poised to change due to a number of tailwinds.
SEA’s changing taste buds
Despite price challenges, the Asia Pacific alternative meat market hit US$16 billion in 2020, and is only expected to grow over time. There are some critical reasons for this.
The obvious ones are the increasing limitations of traditional meat. Apart from the environmental concerns, supply chain issues have continued to crop up. First, swine flu continues to wipe out a large number of pigs globally. Second, the COVID-19 outbreak has further dampened the global meat supply chain.
This is especially critical for countries with limited local agriculture like Singapore, which currently imports 90% of its food.
Clearly, the issues of traditional meat paved the way for alternative protein. In December 2020, Singapore became the first and only country in the world to approve the commercial sale of cultivated meat. This is meat that’s produced using animal cells instead of slaughtered livestock.
Apart from traditional FMCG brands, this has given rise to a number of start-ups making a dent in the space in their own way.
Phuture Foods in Malaysia produces a range of plant-based minced meats, while Net Gen in Singapore has seen increasing success with its plant-based chicken Tindle.
Meanwhile, some of the others are taking unique approaches catering to local tastes, unlike Western counterparts.
Karana, for example, produces its alternative meats made of jackfruit, an Asian favourite. Meanwhile, Shiok Meats, was the first in ASEAN to produce cultivated shellfish by extracting a sample of shrimp cells which would then be multiplied into seafood using stem cells.
There are players even going beyond the traditional alternatives of cow milk such as oat and soy.
TurtleTree, for example, aims to tackle the harmful effects of dairy production through cell-based milk. Cells are extracted from fresh milk and replicated in an environment that produces milk similar to that of a cow.
A growing taste
There are several other players also attacking the space in a variety of innovative ways.
The number of start-ups now attacking the space reflect the promise that alternative proteins have in Southeast Asia.
Challenges obviously remain. Full-scale commercialisation and scalability leading to price affordability remains the number one challenge. Another challenge is that of replicating the taste and texture of different kinds of meats. This is particularly important to convince meat loving non-vegetarians.
However, it is safe to say that despite these, the Southeast Asian consumer is finally developing a taste for alternative meats.