Singapore lab cooks up Asian favourites, minus the meat

From faux-chicken satay to imitation beef rendang, a high-tech Singapore laboratory is replicating popular Asian dishes with plant-based meat alternatives to feed the region's growing appetite for sustainable food. Flavour specialists and food scientists in white coats work with plant extracts at the newly opened facility to create vegetarian versions of traditionally meaty dishes that taste like the real thing.

Demand for sustainable foods in Asia, while small compared to the West, is rising in tandem with greater awareness about healthy eating and concerns about the environmental impact of meat consumption.

Plant-based burgers and chicken nuggets have already found their way to the region, but US food processing giant ADM is focusing its efforts on dishes with more local appeal. The ADM lab has cooked veggie versions of satay (grilled meat skewers served with a peanut sauce) and rendang (a beef curry slow-cooked in coconut milk and spices). It hopes to perfect the base ingredients for such delicacies and market them to consumer firms and supermarkets.

The scientists use cutting-edge technology to fuse nutrition, texture, aroma and flavour to create protein-rich, vegetarian meat alternatives, mainly using soy and pea beans. Their products mimic beef, pork, chicken and seafood and can be used in a wide variety of finished dishes. They also recreate processed meat products, such as faux ham and sausages.

While demand for meat alternatives is growing in Asia, companies like ADM still face challenges, ranging from persuading consumers to change age-old eating habits to stiff competition.