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FOOD AND DRINK

‘Worse than broccoli, better than pork’: France’s beloved lardons go veggie

Vegan bacon sizzles on a pan in the office of a French startup whose quest to produce the "holy grail" of the growing plant-based meat industry gained the financial backing of Hollywood star Natalie Portman.

'Worse than broccoli, better than pork': France's beloved lardons go veggie

Paris-based company La Vie recently raised 25 million euros ($28.3 million) from investment funds and climate-conscious celebrities like Portman, an avowed vegan.

If not the first to bring plant-based bacon to the market, La Vie’s founders are banking their success on mastering imitation pork fat, setting it apart from other brands.

“We’re the only ones in the world today to have succeeded in developing a vegetable fat that cooks, fries, infuses and browns” like animal fat, enthused the company’s chief executive and cofounder, Nicolas Schweitzer.

After several minutes on the frying pan, the rashers of La Vie’s imitation smoked bacon were golden brown, crunchy and similar in taste to the real McCoy.

Next up are lardons. The chunks of meat and fat also brown up nicely, but are a bit salty.

“We have a reduced salt version as well,” said Vincent Poulichet, 32, the company’s scientific expert and other cofounder.

The lardons received a C rating on France’s “Nutri-Score” food health rating scale — a middle score on the A to E ranking.

“Worse than broccoli, but better than pork lardons,” the company notes wryly on its website.

La Vie’s CEO, Nicolas Schweitzer (R) and Chief Technology Officer Vincent Poulichet (L) cooking some veggie rashers. Photo: Eric Piermont/AFP

Startups and established food manufacturers alike have been rolling out a variety of products that aim to replace beef, chicken and pork with plant-based ingredients.

But making faux bacon taste like the real thing is another challenge. Ethan Brown, the head of industry leader Beyond Meat, told the Wall Street Journal last year that making bacon, steak and raw chicken were all the “holy grail”.

A growing number of consumers are seeking to reduce or eliminate meat from their diets over concerns including animal rights and the industry’s impact on the environment.

According to a 2021 report by market research firm Euromonitor International, more than one in four consumers globally say they are trying to limit their meat intake, in addition to the 10 percent of people who are vegetarian or vegan.

London-based market research firm Fairfield expects the market for plant-based meat to grow by nearly 19 percent annually between 2021 and 2026, to hit $13 billion.

 5,000 trials

La Vie’s founders, who created their company in 2019, believe conquering consumers on taste is the real key to success.

“After three years of research and 5,000 trials we succeeded in the somewhat crazy challenge of reproducing the taste of pork,” said Schweitzer, 34.

The fat in La Vie’s imitation bacon and lardons is made mostly from sunflower oil and specially-treated water.

The meat part contains soy protein, salt, natural colourants derived from radish skins and tomatoes, and natural flavours.

It was after testing La Vie’s products at home in the United States that Portman joined the company’s financial backers.

“It was by giving people a taste of our products that we managed to put together this extraordinary round of financing,” said Schweitzer. “Right away, investors said, ‘Oh, yeah!'”

Venture capitalists like Oyster Bay, Seventure and Partech joined the funding round, as did the owners of several successful European startups such as Oatly, Vinted, Back Market and BlaBlaCar.

British and US markets

In addition to taste, La Vie believes its bacon is healthier for people, the planet, and of course pigs.

The company says its products contain less than a tenth the saturated fat of real bacon, and their production has fewer carbon emissions and uses less water.

La Vie’s imitation lardons are already on sale at Carrefour shops, and it aims to get them on the shelves of all major supermarkets in France in 2022.

It also sees vegan and vegetarian restaurants as key to getting more potential clients to taste its products.

La Vie aims to get its products on British shelves by April and then rapidly enter the key US market as well.

La Vie, which has partnered with an established cold cuts and prepared foods manufacturer, plans to quickly double its staff to 60 employees.

Member comments

  1. not one tiny little mention of cost….and there’s the rub. while many of us would like to support these companies, we find it difficult to do so because of the cost….if the real motivation is in helping the planet, perhaps pricing products out of reach for normal people isn’t the answer…i will guarantee you that if these products were cheaper than meat products, people would buy them and the companies would still make their exorbitant profits…

  2. How many E numbers and additives are mashed up in a pulp to imitate the taste of lardons, what damage is that doing to your health?

    If you want to go vegan, or veggie, that’s fine but don’t eat unhealthy chemical mixtures pretending to be good for the planet, these veggie companies just want to make profits, they are not philanthropic.

    Choice is ok, but it needs to be “informed “ choices.

  3. It is a fantastic step forward but I do agree with shoe regarding pricing. Until these alternatives are cost affective for everyone they will remain niche products.

    Now the day they can come up with a naturally cultured plant-based cheese that can melt I will be happy (in the world of plant-based cheeses this is an either/or situation – melty cheeses are not naturally cultured as they require tapioca starch to achieve the stretch and that requires heat to activate, nullifying the inclusion of cultures/moulds to produce the cheese).

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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

No French fries but lots of lentils for Paris Olympic athletes

There will be no French fries but plenty of lentils on offer to athletes attending the Paris Olympics, with organisers unveiling a Games menu that combines eco-minded recipes with French gastronomy.

No French fries but lots of lentils for Paris Olympic athletes

The 3,300-seat restaurant at the Paris Olympic village, which will welcome athletes next month, was given its first test-run on Tuesday by a hungry crowd of sports figures, officials and journalists.

Based in a vast former power station, the food hall includes six dining areas offering meals from around the globe, with half of the 50 dishes available each day being 100 percent vegetarian.

“People are going to meet here in France, with its culture, its heritage but also its gastronomy and so there are expectations,” chief Paris 2024 organiser Tony Estanguet told reporters.

Although many athletes would stick to their usual nutrition before competing, they will also be offered the chance to discover France’s famed food, with several Michelin-starred chefs taken on as advisers.

“We’ve allowed ourselves to put French gastronomy in pride of place so that curious athletes from around the world can try French culinary excellence,” Estanguet added.

The giant warm-food buffets will not include French fries, however.

McDonalds, a long-time Olympics sponsor, had its own fast-food restaurant in the Olympic village until the Rio Olympics in 2016, but athletes wanting a hit of junk food will have to look elsewhere.

“For technical reasons, we can’t offer fries,” said Estelle Lamotte, deputy director of village catering at food group Sodexo, told reporters.

She explained deep-fat fryers were not allowed in the temporary kitchens at the site, which is usually used as a film studio.

Gregoire Bechu, head of sustainable food at the Paris organising committee, stressed the quality of the ‘delicious’ lentil dahl recipe that has been developed for athletes.

“One of the major commitments by Paris 2024 was offering vegetarian meals in order to halve the carbon footprint of each meal on average,” he said. “We wanted vegetarian meals everywhere.”

At sports venues, 60 percent of food offered to fans will be vegetarian and the temporary stadium hosting skateboarding, BMX and breakdancing at the Place de la Concorde in central Paris will be entirely meat-free.

In a further bid to lower carbon emissions, only two of the six restaurant areas at the village will be air-conditioned, with the rest in outdoor courtyards sheltered by fabric sun shades and ventilated with overhead fans.

Tuesday’s test event, held under fierce sunshine and in 27C heat, saw some people visibly sweating.

“I think we’ve found a good compromise between offering the right temperature but also reducing our carbon emissions,” Estanguet said. “It’s one of the main challenges of the Paris 2024 edition.”

In a break from Olympic tradition, the 2,800 apartments at the village do not come with air-conditioning as standard.

But many Olympic teams have decided to install portable coolers at their own cost.

Paris has suffered a number of record heatwaves in recent years with temperatures peaking above 40C in July and August, but 2024 has so far been wet and cool.

The Paris Olympics run from July 26th to August 11th, followed by the Paralympics from August 28th to September 8th.

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