‘Most Realistic’ Vegan Steak Revealed

The “most realistic” plant-based steak mimicking the appearance and texture of real meat, was revealed today.

The vegan steak has a firm, fibrous texture and meaty appearance of the real thing. Its ingredients include pea, seaweed and beetroot juice. All the ingredients were extruded into fine fibres to recreate real meat’s muscle tissue. 

The steak is produced by a Spanish company Novameat using a patented 3d printing manufacturing technology. 

The innovating micro-extrusion method produces fibres between 100 and 500 microns in diameter. This allows the complex structure of real meat to be replicated with muscle fibres and fat entwined. 

The company says the steak will be available in some restaurants in Spain and Italy this year.

Giuseppe Scionti, founder of Novameat said: “I started with the steak I think because it is the holy grail of plant-based meat.”  “It is the most difficult,” he added. 

The startup claims its meatless product is the “most realistic” plant-based steak to date.

At the moment, it costs $1.50 (£1.15) to make 50g of steak, similar in price to current supermarket steak in the UK. The cost will drop when Novameat starts scaling production in 2021. 

The company also plans to licence the technology to other food manufacturers so they can develop their recipes.