There’s a perception that cooking creatively with plant-based meats is tricky because the products and the way they react to different cooking processes might be different to what we’re used to. With 21% of Australians reducing their meat intake and 79% going meat-free at least one day a week, it’s important for cooks and chefs to master these modern meat alternatives.
This is why Food Frontier partnered with Australia’s largest culinary school, William Angliss Institute in Melbourne, to host a demonstration day for culinary educators. The event showcased how plant-based meats can be incorporated into menus, with live demonstrations from manufacturers v2food, Simplot, and Harvest B. Fable Food Co ingredients were also part of the cooking experiences. The ingredients were unseasoned and uncoloured, allowing foodservice chefs to adapt them to a wide range of familiar dishes. That first step of being able to translate experience with conventional ingredients into dishes incorporating plant-based substitutes for animal protein is essential for building confidence in chefs that they can provide their customers with a good culinary experience.
Chef and public speaker Adam Moore facilitated and presented insightful sessions. A passionate advocate for using more plant-based ingredients in foodservice for health and environmental reasons, he emphasised the importance of training chefs to work with these products. “Plant-based food is the next generation of food. And what we love about that is that there are so many great products in the market. Some of the things we need to learn about are why we need to use them, how we need to use them, and what the differences are in plant-based food. Plant-based food is not something to be scared of. It should be something people are passionate about, and it should be just like any other protein that you use.”
Incorporating plant-based meats makes it much easier to cater for a table of 10 that includes a non-meat eater. For example, a base sauce can be used to separately incorporate a plant-based substitute. It makes it easier for chefs to swap out conventional meat without sending the kitchen into a spin and making a new dish for just one or two people.
The day combined presentations on alternative proteins and behavioural economics, hands-on cooking demonstrations, and a mystery box challenge where chef educators created dishes using plant-based meats. Teams of chefs came up with dumpling, wonton, meatball, skewer, and fried dishes—many cooking with these products professionally for the first time. As a result, 83% of surveyed participants said they feel more confident cooking with plant-based meats in the future.
Renowned chef and consultant Ian Curley oversaw the kitchen and, alongside Adam, judged the standout dishes of the day. Following the judging, Ian encouraged participants to taste the products in their raw state and throughout the cooking process to become more familiar with them. He said, “This is the future. Get used to it—you’re going to have to learn to work with it.”