The Future of Food – Meat the Alternatives

Traditional ideas of vegans and vegetarians often conjure negative stereotypes, but innovation in the meat alternative industry and growing climate change awareness have joined to create a revolutionary and explosive market, and South Africa can count itself as an early pioneer.

- By Yeshiel Panchia

In the shadow of the majestic table Mountain in Cape Town in the confines of the BioCiTi laboratory, scientists of Mzansi Meat are hard at work, making use of stem cells from live, unharmed animals to grow something novel – meat you can eat.

Over a thousand kilometers north in the leafy, upmarket suburb of Parkhurst in Johannesburg, it is a Monday at Hudsons The Burger Joint – and that means half-price on all vegan meals. Well-dressed socialites – many of whom do not count themselves vegetarian – happily munch down on Beyond Meat burger patties and vegan Moroccan-styled fillets.

Meanwhile in the port city of Durban, hundreds of production workers supervise the process and packaging of thousands of sausages, burger patties and mince in the Fry Family Food Co. factory, mixing soybeans, wheat, rice and quinoa into products destined for over 18 countries.

“Ten years ago I was going to retailers with my veggie burgers and nuggets… and now we are being approached by the meat industry,” says Brett Thompson, who formerly worked for Fry’s, and now is the founder and CEO of Mzansi Meat.

Having studied economics at the University of Stellenbosch in Cape Town with a view to becoming an accountant, Thompson’s journey into the meat alternative world was solidified with his thesis submission for his Bachelor of Commerce degree, titled Making An Economic Case For Vegetarianism.