Plant-based lifestylers are in the eye of an innovation
storm; stand by for some exciting updates...
WORDS: ANNA BLEWETT10 TRENDS
THAT WILL ROCK YOUR 2019
1
FISH 2.0
This year will belong to
food tech; US factions of
which have eyes irmly on
the lucrative European
market. Witness: soy lour ‘tuna’- tuno – which hits UK stores this
year as Nashville-based brand
Linda Loma spreads its wings.
Then there’s pea protein and konjac
‘smoked salmon’ and ‘prawns’ from
Californian vegan seafood brand
Sophie’s Kitchen, in a Sainsbury’s
freezer cabinet near you. You can
even chow on banana blossom
marinated in seaweed, as served
at vegan chippy Sutton & Sons in
Hackney. Could tofu’s time as a
seafood stand-in oicially be over?
(^2)
BLUE AGAVE
The spiky motifs of
desert plants may
have had their time
in the sun (you
know you’re at Peak Cactus
when Wilko gets in on the
action with a range of artiicial
succulents) but blue agave is
just getting started. Tequila,
fermented and distilled from this
elegant Mexican succulent, is on
the up, with sales increasing 37%
last year. What’s more, a project
led by students in Mexico City
is turning agave waste into
a high-ibre functional lour.
Tequila muin, anyone?
3
PLANT PLASTICS
The race to replace conventional plastics derived from fossil fuels with
biodegradable alternatives made from plant starches is on. Algae-based
plastics are a hot category for innovation, and will become increasingly visible
as the year wears on. Be warned: many technically compostable plastics
need the specialised conditions of a commercial digester to do their thing.
Fostering an eicient compost bin is a step in the right direction – heat is
a good sign that active decomposition is going on inside – but reducing your
reliance on plastics, ‘bio’ or otherwise, is a more sustainable goal.