Global food marketplace trends reflect how vegan food could be on track to become a standalone section, just like the gluten-free aisle today
Food manufacturers have been working on alternatives to many of the products that vegans are currently deprived of. Image: Shutterstock
Paris is home to the world's largest wholesale market for fresh produce at Rungis. Now, the French capital has also been transformed into a giant supermarket for the SIAL international food fair, which runs until October 19. Highlighting upcoming trends, this edition of global food marketplace reflects how vegan food could be on track to become a standalone section, just like the gluten-free aisle today. From ingredients and packaging to recipes and even commercial commitments, manufacturers have developed new strategies to shape this growing offer.
Vegans are consumers (almost) like any others. While the Gourmey start-up hopes to treat them to a lab-developed synthetic foie gras by 2024, the companies present at the world's largest food trade show are visibly working to offer vegan alternatives to other culinary classics. In Italy, the De Angelis brand has teamed up with the famous American company Beyond Meat to make vegan ravioli and uses cauliflower to make fresh pasta. Even the nation's prized mozzarella now has a vegan version, made with oats and almonds, according to a recipe from a Swiss company called ZĂ¼ger Frischkäse. Meanwhile, a Danish firm called Leighton Foods is catering for Mexican food lovers by preparing tortillas made with carrots, beet and rapeseed oil.
Indeed, food manufacturers have been working on alternatives to many of the products that vegans are currently deprived of. In Slovenia, for example, there is a vegan honey that the brand Narayan Foods plans to launch next January. Plus, the German brand Veganz uses vegetable and fruit coloring concentrates—notably carrot and blackcurrant—as well as carnauba wax to satisfy candy cravings with products shaped like teddy bears or cola bottles. All such products serve to underscore the fact that brands have no other choice than to find new ingredients in order to widen the range of the vegan offer.
Soy, lentils and peas are already widely used to make plant-based patties free from animal protein. The latest report by the American firm Grand View Research, Inc. predicted earlier this month that the market for vegan products should grow by 10.6% each year until 2030. And the SIAL food fair shows how manufacturers are finding the means of realizing this bright future. They are notably turning to new ingredients, such as varieties of fava beans. Gluten-intolerant people may already be familiar with such foodstuffs, which can be processed into flour, among other things. Next January, the Occitan wholesaler Senfas plans to market its plant-based pĂ¢tĂ© that reproduces the texture of a classic French pĂ¢tĂ© de campagne, preferring to use these beans to pork loin and bacon. And the recipe relies on another ingredient that other brands are using to create vegan alternatives: jackfruit. Visible at all Asian markets, this large fruit with its rough green skin has been an age-old alternative to meat. Its fibrous flesh and fruity flavors reminiscent of mango and banana are also used in a barbecue sauce developed by this French company. In Germany, the same ingredient is found in a vegan bolognese sauce developed by LPP Lotao Pack, which unveiled its vegan line last May, including a take on chili con carne that's ready to eat in three minutes.
Also read: Barley enters the arena of making vegan meat