The Future is Fat: The Startups Looking to Fatten up Vegan Food – vegconomist
Research shows vast swathes of the global population are turning to plant-based for a healthier diet, with vegan food associated with a wide array of health benefits. On the other hand, however, researchers have concluded that many consumers simply find processed animal-based foods too tasty to give up.
According to Phil Morle from plant-based industry investor Main Sequence; to “unlock the mysteries of fats and create animal-free fats” is “essential for the future of the industry”. Fat holds the key to flavour, and creating viable, healthy and tasty vegan fats is the latest innovation frontier.
With this in mind, vegconomist takes a look at the fattiest players in the alt meat sphere:
77 Foods
After being named by Unilever as the winner of its Innovation Challenge, French startup 77 Foods has continued to develop its plant-based fat using sunflower oil to create an adipose tissue that closely resembles pork fat. Through this development, 77 foods have created a “mind-blowing” plant-based bacon which 92% of participants in a blind test preferred to conventional pork bacon, according to the brand.

Hoxton Farms
Hoxton Farms, the UK’s first cell-cultured fat startup, raised £2.7 million of seed round funding this year. Combining cell biology and mathematical modelling, Hoxton Farms is making cruelty-free and sustainable fat to replace conventional vegetable fats used by plant-based producers.
“We wanted to bring together our skills to address a pressing problem: how to satisfy a growing demand for meat without compromising on