Four percent of people in Germany feed completely meatless. Another 28 percent call themselves a “flexitarian” and eat meat a maximum of twice a week. With the increasing demand, the supply of meat replacement products is also growing. What options are there? How healthy are the alternatives? And what options are there if you don’t want to fall back on finished products?
The market for meat alternatives is diverse and always invents new products. It continues to include traditional vegetable foods such as tofu that neither look like meat nor taste. In the past few decades, however, the technology for the production of meat replacement has developed greatly, so that other products were added that were increasingly reminiscent of meat.
This similarity helps that western people are more willing to forego meat, as shown by scientific studies. The meat waiver causes less animal suffering, relieves the climate, consumes less water and surface. Because vegetable meat alternatives are more environmentally friendly compared to animal products, even if you take processing, sales and storage into account.
Which vegetable proteins are used?
The proteins for the meat replacement come from a wide variety of plants today. For example, Tofu was made in the Chinese Han Dynasty from soy milk 2000 years ago. At that time, the Chinese still used Tofu simply as a vegetable protein source and not yet as a meat replacement. Consistence, taste and appearance of tofu therefore hardly resemble meat, in contrast to other meat replacement products from soy. This includes, for example, the Indonesian specialty. Whole soybeans with mushroom cultures are fermented to the production of Temph. Soy protein can also be processed in textured form, for example as a replacement for minced meat or for finished products like burger patties
Another popular product for imitation of meat dishes is Seitan, which, however, does not consist of soy, but from wheat gluten. This plant protein is obtained by washing out the thickness of wheat. The texture and binding properties of the gluting are advantageous. This gives the food a meat -like structure.
Recent meat alternatives also rely on the pea base products. The vegetables can be easily grown in Germany, is inexpensive, easier to digest and, less frequently, arouses allergies than other plant proteues such as soy and wheat. Another option is products from sunflower seeds. These vegetable proteins are created as a by -product of oil production. They are therefore particularly sustainable and contain hardly saturated fatty acids. Other alternatives are products based on green core, lupins, oats or potato protein.
Are meat replacement products healthier than meat?
How healthy meat replacement products are depends less on the protein source than on the processing and the specific ingredients. Plant alternatives such as soy and lupins naturally contain no unhealthy saturated fatty acids, but many meat replacement products available in stores are highly processed. These products can contain considerable amounts of salt, sugar and saturated fatty acids. The ingredients are intended to improve the taste and texture of the meat replacement, but are health risks.
For example, too high consumption of salt can lead to increased blood pressure, while too many saturated fatty acids burden the cardiovascular system. Binders such as carrageen are often used to achieve meat -like consistency. Carrageen is made from red algae and in some cases is associated with irritation and inflammation in the intestine. Vegetable replacement products contain healthy amounts of iron and zinc, but their bioavailability can be lower. This means that the body sometimes absorbs the minerals worse.
How healthy meat alternatives are cannot be said in general. It is better to illuminate the ingredients in individual cases. For example, a study from Italy compared the nutritional values of a commercially available plant burger and a beef burger. The result: the fat and protein content was quite similar. However, in some cases the vegetable proteins had a lack of certain essential amino acids such as lysine or methionine. This can be easily compensated for by consuming grain. The vegetable burgers performed better with a lower cholesterol. They also contain more carbohydrates and fiber.
Make meat replacement yourself: green seed batties
It is usually best for your own health to be dishes based on unprocessed vegetable foods such as vegetables, fruit and legumes. Instead of buying finished and highly compared meat alternatives, you can also make the meat substitute from fresh ingredients. This is a healthy and sustainable choice.
For example, how about green patties for burgers? To do this, you first cook scraped green core in vegetable broth until it is soft and slightly sticky. Then let the mass cool down and mix it with finely chopped onions, garlic, fresh herbs and grated vegetables such as carrots or zucchini. In order for the brats to stick together well, eggs or linen flour and some breadcrumbs are added. After seasoning, flat patties are formed. These are then fried in a pan with a little oil from both sides until golden brown.
