Beyond Meat is a brand famous for their trendy and innovative vegan products, including Beyond Burger (a vegan beef alternative) and Beyond Sausage (a vegan pork alternative). Last week, they revealed that a new groundbreaking recipe is coming this summer — vegan chicken tenders.
On July 8th, the faux-meat company announced that they are rolling out Beyond Chicken Tenders to 400 restaurants across the US, mostly smaller regional chains and independent eateries.
This came as a surprise to many, as the stringy fibers within chickens are notoriously difficult to imitate. Beyond Meat tried to scale this mountain back in 2012 by launching frozen chicken strips, but were faced with mixed reviews, and in early 2019, the company decided to discontinue the chicken strips in order to focus on its more popular Beyond Burger. Now, after nearly two years of studying and experimenting, it looks like they’re ready to try again.
The new, improved recipe is chiefly made up of fava beans, which their science team discovered could mimic the taste and even smell of chicken. In the lab, they used an e-nose to sniff out the aroma molecules of different plant candidates and find the best match.
But there are other things on the plate to consider besides taste. These plant-based chicken tenders are free of cholesterol and antibiotics. They also have 40 percent less saturated fat than their animal counterparts, which makes them a promising alternative for those looking to control their blood pressure and blood lipid levels.
Plus, opting for chickenless chicken helps to reduce the number of real chickens that are slaughtered every day to satisfy human appetite.
“We call it hedonistic altruism. If we can provide a delicious sensory experience for the consumer and they can also feel really great about what they’re doing for the Earth — it’s a win.”
— Ethan Brown, the founder and CEO of Beyond Meat
Today, about 99% of America’s chicken come from factory farms— huge industrialized facilities where animals are tightly packed together and live under harsh and unsanitary conditions. These numbers are not only cruel, but also potentially dangerous, since past lessons have taught us that overcrowded environments and lack of fresh air and sunlight are major risk factors for pandemics.
While experts have yet to discover the secret formula to replicate chicken in all its forms, hopefully, these tasty chicken tenders are the first step for us to turn our backs on this deeply problematic system.
Click here for a full list of restaurants that will offer the Beyond Chicken Tenders.