Vegan foods: Mimic meat products in the Italian market

Abstract

The current concern about meat consumption tackles many aspects: health, social life, food behaviours, animal welfare, natural resources exploitation. People are more sensitive about these topics and they are shifting individual food habits in favour of a more plant-based diet. Surveys provide a concise view of the increasing percentage of both vegetarians and vegans. The aim of the present research was to develop adequate recipes to prepare food products that mimic the shape and the texture of traditional würstel and Mortadella, focusing on the Italian market. The challenge faced was multiple: firstly, to maintain the similar characteristics of the traditional foods; secondly, to accomplish the consumer's requests; thirdly, to enlarge the market share of the food industries. The results obtained demonstrated that "mimicwürstel" and "mimic-mortadella" were created with vegan allowed ingredients and proteins of vegetal origin. In the case of "mimic-mortadella" the addition of tofu cubes tried to recreate the visual effect of fat globules.

Eating Hamburgers Slowly and Sustainably: The Fast Food Market in North-West Italy

“…Burger King presents a menu that is definitely more simple and standard than McDonald's: proposing products with similar ingredients means less waste of raw materials and at the same time lower sales prices. The far more numerous variants of McDonald's, e.g., in the list of ingredients, as well as in the various seasonal experiments, maybe including local raw materials and ingredients, and the innovation technology, represent the answer of the company to the new trend of the hamburger gourmet to continue to pamper their customers and try to remain an efficient machine [19][20][21]23,25]. Moreover, the gastronomic offer of McDonald's stimulates the perception of "regionality" in the consumer both through the use of European certifications, e.g., PDO, both more recently through the use of testimonials that guarantee the authenticity of the ingredients and the goodness of the recipes, highlighting the importance of marketing for final commercial success [27].…”

“…Place and/or locality are adjustment tools for international food operators adopting the changes in consumer behaviour and attitude regarding assessment of foodstuffs and new models of consumption [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. However, also the place is a fundamental element to create an Alternative Food Network (AFN), a useful tool for safeguarding the environment and biodiversity, improving the quality of foodstuffs and outcomes of local operators, protecting consumers, and enhancing confidence in the food sector [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36].…”

Functionality of Ingredients and Additives in Plant-Based Meat Analogues

“…The addition of those ingredients originates from the fact that it is known already that the presence of plant proteins often leads to a reduction in gel formation/elasticity in cooked emulsion products [ 17 ]. In recent product formulations such as “mimic-würstel” and “mimic-mortadella”, the use of less refined ingredients such as bean protein flour, chickpea flour and wheat flour as well as tofu has been suggested [ 18 ]. Amongst others due to the use of these ingredient combinations, the dry matter content of the products is higher than their meat counterparts.…”

“…This approach can potentially reduce the product's environmental impact [4,278,279], though the nutritional quality and the functionality of highly refined and less refined ingredients (and their byproducts) should be carefully considered in such comparison [280,281]. This means that the subject of the research should be understanding when this switch can be made [18] and what the actual environmental benefit can be.…”

Pro-veganism on Instagram

“…Veganism is “a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose” (Bedin et al , 2018, p. 1). Social media is a major driver of the vegan lifestyle, which partially accounts for the prevalence of veganism among millennials who gravitate toward social media (Meager, 2016).…”