Euroviews. No matter how hard you try, you just can't beat real meat

2021 saw a strange and short-lived celebrity phenomenon. Out of nowhere, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey Jr, Katy Perry, Serena Williams and other A-listers announced personal investments in plant-based foodtech startups alongside venture capital funds and philanthropists.

They were on a mission to save the planet, and the hype was real. 

It was part of a huge uptick of interest in the neo-meat category; Beyond Meat launched a spectacular IPO. Oatly spent gazillions on a Superbowl TV spot — “Wow, no cow”.

Supermarkets cleared shelf space for plant-based burgers, sausages and mince, and fast-food brands offered vegan alternatives next to Whoppers and Big Macs. Entire foodtech “impact” funds were launched based on novel proteins.

Environment and justice warrior George Monbiot wrote a bestseller on how precision fermentation would fix climate and “feed the world”. It was the vegan moment; the decline and fall of the meat industrial complex looked inevitable.

Fast forward to 2024. Beyond Meat is a penny stock, and the company is in danger of failure. The meat substitute category in the US is shrinking by a double-digit percentage. VC-funded plant-based startups are announcing bankruptcy at record rates.

Shelf space devoted to animal-free meat alternatives has shrunk to pre-frenzy levels. Finally, Downey Jr has fallen off the wagon and, according to his new book Cool Food (subtitle: “Erasing your carbon footprint one bite at a time”), now eats fish.

The motivations behind the weirdness were noble, if misplaced and slightly holier-than-thou. Meat, especially beef, was portrayed as cruel, inefficient, and, through methane emissions and land over-use, a climate killer.

We now understand the science better, know there are ways of