Will Alpha’s vegan nuggets turn non-vegans on to a plant-based diet?

Nov 30 , 2019

Vegan nuggets from Alpha Foods are now available in Hong Kong through Green Common and Kind Kitchen. Photo: Instagram

Huge interest in class action lawsuit against Burger King and Netflix series The Game Changers shows how vegans and non-vegans have taken to ‘meatless meat’

Meatless meat knows no bounds these days.

The debacle with Burger King – where a vegan has filed a class-action lawsuit against the fast food outlet in the United States because he claims they cook their Impossible Whoppers on the same grill as traditional meat products, effectively misleading customers as Impossible Meat is well known as a meat-free and vegan meat alternative – has brought plant-based meat into the limelight like never before. It is an indication of how vegans and non-vegans have taken to “meatless meat”. Netflix’s The Game Changers has also stimulated greater interest in veganism.

Beyond Meat contains proteins such as peas, mung beans and brown rice, fats from cocoa butter, carbohydrates from potato starch and natural flavourings. Impossible Foods banks on a special ingredient called heme to make it the “meat that bleeds”. Omnipork uses non-GMO soy and is like pork in texture and taste.

The latest product to land in Hong Kong is the Alpha Foods Nugget Original Chick’n, a plant-based alternative to McNuggets. Alpha’s Original Chick’n nugget is available in Hong Kong through Green Common and Kind Kitchen, although it has sold out on the website at present.

Cole Orobetz, chief operating officer and co-founder of Alpha Foods, is excited about introducing this close-to-chicken-meat texture after a successful launch in the United States. We spoke to him while he was in Hong Kong.

“The proteins we’ve developed are made with a blend of non-GMO soy bean and wheat to create the perfect meat-like texture and taste with no off-flavours,” says Orobetz.

“We learned from our years of working with plant-based proteins [and it has] been clear that this is the best combination of plant proteins for the widest appeal.”

All of Alpha Foods’ products are free of any animal products (including dairy), artificial preservatives and flavours.

“Taste, texture and convenience will win the hearts and minds of all consumers – carnivores and vegans alike. Some options may not be relatable to consumers because of advancements in science and tech, but innovators will continue to push boundaries of what is possible with plant-based proteins,” Orobetz says.