根据联合粮食及农业组织、经济合作与发展组织，2019年中国消耗掉全世界近50%的猪肉，2016年，中国平均每人每年吃掉63公斤肉。尽管在人均肉类消耗上，中国远不及美国、以色列、阿根廷等前十的国家，但中国对动物肉需求的日益增长敲响了警钟。2016年中央政府计划要减少50%的肉类消耗，如此巨大的削减反映了这个行动的紧迫性。如果目标达成，到2030年，中国畜牧业二氧化碳排放量将减少10亿吨。但一个爱吃肉的国家如何完成这个巨大的转变呢？目前国内外正在壮大的植物肉产业有可能帮助达成这一目标。
四年前，总部位于加利福尼亚的人造肉公司不可思议食品（Impossible Foods）推出了现在闻名的“不可思议汉堡”（Impossible Burger），用植物蛋白做的人造牛肉制成汉堡肉饼。有别于以往的素食汉堡，该产品通过复制真实牛肉饼的味道、质感和烹饪方法，赢得了顾客的好评。不可思议食品公司不仅成功进入诸如鲜味汉堡（Umami Burger）这类高端的汉堡连锁店中，也打入了快餐市场。2019年，汉堡王（Burger King）在美国市场推出了“不可思议皇堡”（Impossible Whopper），是其招牌汉堡的素食版，用不可思议汉堡的肉饼替代牛肉。该合作获得了巨大的成功：4月1日，在美国圣路易斯59家分店推出该新品后获得积极反馈，汉堡王决定将“不可思议皇堡”推向全国市场。
从2018年进入香港市场以来，不可思议食品公司在香港、澳门和新加坡超过500家餐厅推出他们的产品，但还没进入内地。如果不可思议食品公司进入中国内地，将面临日益激烈竞争，有超过六家中国植物肉类公司和初创公司已经在争夺“中国胃”。一些来自美国的竞争对手也开始进军中国内地市场：上个月，星巴克与Beyond Meat、Oatly联手在中国门店推出了新的“Starbucks GOOD GOOD”运动，鼓励中国消费者探索新的、对地球有益的饮食选择。
2019年8月，中国植物肉行业首次出现在人们视野中，当时有媒体报道称，北京工商大学已与深圳一家可替代肉类品牌Starfield合作发布了几款用豆蛋白制成素肉馅的月饼。据了解，Starfield现在生产冷冻肉馅、肉丸和肉饼，虽然这些食品都是以牛肉为灵感来源，但不一定要做成牛蛋白的口感。Starfield的研发总监表示，“我们不一定是模拟猪肉或者牛肉的味道，而是想要打造可口的味道。”
实现大幅减少全国肉类消费量目标很大程度可能取决于中国人转向植物肉和其他危害较小的蛋白质来源的能力。尽管教育和宣传也将同时发挥重要作用，但植物肉想要打开更广阔的中国市场将取决于公司能否准确地复制食用猪肉和其他红肉的经验。
中国内地的许多餐馆已经开始对植物肉类产品表现出极大的兴趣。Starfield的研发总监说，Starfield已与在广州和深圳拥有160个分店的餐饮连锁店“红荔村”合作，推出一种使用植物肉沫的肠粉。在中国有144家分店的美国餐馆棒！约翰（Papa John Pizza）也对Starfield的产品表现出了兴趣，上个月首次使用深圳公司的植物肉制作了披萨。
New Meat： Is China Ready for a Plant-Based Future？
According to statistics from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development， China consumed nearly 50% of the world’s pork in 2019. In 2016， the average Chinese person ate 63 kilograms of meat per year.
Despite lagging behind over 10 countries， including the United States， Israel and Argentina， in per capita meat consumption， China’s growing appetite for animal flesh has triggered alarm bells. A tacit acknowledgment of this trend came from the Central Government in Beijing in 2016， when a plan was outlined to cut citizens’ meat consumption by a whopping 50%. If the target is met， China’s animal agriculture sector would see a 1-billion-metric-ton reduction of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 2030. But how is such a feat accomplished in meat-loving China？ The answer， it turns out， may lay with plant-based ‘meats，’ and an industry is rising both domestically and abroad to help China achieve this goal.
Four years ago， California-based Impossible Foods debuted the now-famous Impossible Burger， a hamburger patty made with a plant-based imitation beef. The product received heaps of praise and set itself apart from the veggie burgers of yesteryear by replicating the taste， texture and cooking experience of an actual beef patty. Evidence of Impossible Food’s success is found not only in the high-end burger joints that use their plant-based patties–such as gourmet burger chain Umami Burger， but also in the fast food industry. In 2019， Burger King in the US rolled out the Impossible Whopper， a version of its signature burger that utilizes Impossible Burger patties instead of beef. Stating that the collaboration was a hit would be a colossal understatement： A positive reception after launching in 59 Burger King locations in St. Louis on April 1 led the company to roll out the Impossible Whopper nationwide.
Since arriving in Hong Kong in 2018， Impossible Foods now has products in more than 500 restaurants across Hong Kong， Macao and Singapore， although they’ve yet to enter the mainland market. When Impossible Foods does arrive on the Chinese mainland， though， they will be entering an increasingly competitive market， with over half a dozen Chinese plant-based meat companies and startups already vying for Chinese stomach space. A number of American competitors have also penetrated into the market on the Chinese mainland： Last month， Starbucks joined forces in China with plant-based innovators Beyond Meat and Oatly to launch the new ‘Starbucks GOOD GOOD’ movement in its stores， encouraging Chinese customers to explore new dietary options that are good for the planet.
China’s plant-based meat industry first popped up on our radar in August 2019， when media reports emerged that Beijing Technology and Business University had teamed up with Shenzhen-based alternative meat brand Starfield to release a variety of moon cakes filled with vegan-friendly meat made of bean protein. Starfield now offers frozen plant-based mincemeat， meatballs and patties. All three of the company’s current products are beef-inspired， but are not intended to taste the exact same as bovine protein.
“We want to create something that is really， really tasty， which does not necessarily mean that it resembles beef or pork，” says Liu Shuman， the R&D director at Starfield.
A big part in achieving Beijing’s goal of drastically reducing national meat consumption may hinge upon the Chinese population’s ability to switch to plant-based meats and other less-harmful sources of protein. The success of plant-based meats in the wider Chinese market will certainly rely on how accurately companies are able to replicate the experience of eating pork and other red meats， although education and advocacy will also play an important role.
Many restaurants on the Chinese mainland have started to show considerable interest in plant-based meat products. According to Liu， Starfield has partnered with Hong Li Cun， a restaurant chain with 160 locations in Guangzhou and Shenzhen， to release a version of Cantonese cuisine’s famed changfen that uses its plant-based mince. Papa John’s Pizza has also shown interest in Starfield’s products， with 144 of the American chain’s China locations debuting a pizza using the Shenzhen-based company’s plant-based meats last month.
By Matthew Bossons
Additional reporting by Ryan Gandolfo
From That’s Guangzhou
编译：南都记者 张伊欣 图片：CFP
原文节选自That’s Guangzhou，有删减