Via a blind taste test for its plant-based meat, Redefine Meat revealed Israel’s population finds it comparable to conventional meat.
Redefine Meat, a plant-based startup in Israel, conducted the world’s largest blind taste test for alt-meat with a high-quality meat distributor. The results were overwhelmingly positive for veganism, with a 90% acceptance rate from the public.
Partnering with meat distributor Best Meister, Redefine Meat launched a food truck entitled ‘There’s a new meat in town’, distributing staple Mediterranean food with 3D-printed plant-based meat. It was served with few condiments or extras, intended to focus consumer senses on just the meat’s taste, texture and appearance.
Branded as a carnivore food truck in a small suburb of Tel Aviv, it targeted up to 200 taste tests over two days. But the response was beyond expectations, as 600 customers attended the food truck, which sold out in less than five hours with almost 1,000 servings.
When consumers were told that it was in fact plant-based meat, the feedback for the blind tasting showed that it was comparable to conventional meat in terms of flavour, texture and mouthfeel, with over 90% acceptance rate. All the revenue from the alt-meat taste test was donated to restaurants badly affected by the pandemic.
“We initially only expected 100 visitors a day, as the event was held in a small village due to Covid-19 restrictions,” said Eshchar Ben-Shitrit, CEO and co-founder of Redefine Meat. “But through word of mouth, we ended up receiving over 600 customers in one day — with queues as long as 50 minutes. What this has shown is that meat lovers can enjoy our alternative meat because it tastes and feels like meat — not solely because it is better for the environment or animals.”
Redefine Meat, which launched the world’s first 3D-printed vegan steak, has formed a strategic partnership with Best Meister, who will distribute its plant-based alternatives commercially to Israel’s restaurants and high-end butchers in the first-half of 2021. It will also provide the alt-meat company with go-to-market infrastructure and the reach to launch in the Israeli culinary sector.
Best Meister CEO Ori Zaguri said: “Redefine Meat’s technology will also provide us [with] the scale to create a wide variety of quality meat cuts for our customers on-demand from one single source. We believe the mass meat-eater market is ready for alternative meat of this quality and we are excited to be the first to deliver it to them.”
