New food modeled on Indonesian tempe
New food modeled on Indonesian tempe
LONDON: A meat substitute made from a grain eaten by the Incas and a 2,000-year-old Indonesian mould is being developed by the European Union.
The high-protein rival to tofu, a soya bean curd eaten in the Far East, is being produced by British scientists and should be on supermarket shelves by the end of the year. The European Commission, conscious of the demand for meat substitutes following the BSE (mad cow disease) crisis, is funding research by a group of small organic food companies and European farmers.
The new food, yet to be named, has a squashy consistency and strong mushroom taste. It is low in fat and can be fried, baked or used in processed foods.
It relies on the 2,000-year-old technique for manufacturing tempe (still a staple of the Indonesian diet), which involves bonding a mould to soya beans, but the new product will use quinoa, a hardy grain grown in the Andes.
Quinoa is used because the plant, which looks like a dock leaf, can be grown in the most arid climates, where it will boost the income of small farmers in remote areas. The first crop is to be grown this year in the Greek hills and sent to Britain for processing with the mould.
Trial batches have been produced by food scientists from the University of Westminster in London and Leatherhead Food Research Laboratory in Surrey, south of London. "The final result has a very strong mushroomy taste," said David Williams of Plas Farm Ltd, part of the consortium and a producer of vegetarian foods. "The EU is funding it partly because it's the ideal crop for mountainous areas in Italy and Greece."
Demand for meat substitutes has grown following health scares over beef, but many rely on soya beans for their base, and the use of genetically modified soya from the United States is causing concern in the UK. The European Commission has provided a $585,000 grant, and development of the food will be paid for by farmers and organic food companies.
-- Observer News Service