The Future of Meat Analogues

Since the early 2010s meat analogues, vegetarian or vegan products that mimic meat as closely as possible, have become an important part of the meat alternative assortment. In this chapter I consider the future of meat analogues. To do so, the timeline of meat analogues and competing alternatives is sketched. I then consider success and potential pitfalls of the meat analogue approach from the point of view of several consumer theories and approaches before arriving at the conclusion that meat analogues successfully address some consumer demands, in particular convenience, and the opportunity to use existing routines, but also hold some latent problems in regard to perceived naturalness and quality. I then outline three scenarios where meat analogues might be superseded, might remain the dominant meat alternative, or be relegated to a more modest role in a larger portfolio of alternatives. Regardless of the future, the role of meat analogues as catalyser for transition towards normalisation of eating meat alternatives cannot be denied.