不假肉有腿？The business case for alt-proteins

最近，两位美国厨师被要求烹制牛排和土豆的一顿饭。但是，当他们到了超市，没有一个是在视线内。

听起来难以置信的？诚然，荒芜的过道被食品网电视节目制作上演。而短缺几乎没有后果。没有牛肉？他们煮熟的鸡肉哈瓦那代替香肠。

Less than 40 years from now, however, food shortages could become serious. By 2050, the world’s population could reach 9 billion. Environmental pressures will put a squeeze on farmland, water and fisheries, making it harder to feed everyone using current practices, according to a June报告by the United Nations’餐饮and Agriculture Organization(FAO).

这意味着对于那些谁指望坏消息资源密集型蛋白质如牛肉。

相反，在危困图定位的，但是，企业家有大浪已抓获了公众的注意与其他蛋白的产品，似乎是更可持续的。在菜单上是食用昆虫，植物为基础的仿鸡蛋，假肉“schmeat” - 就像马克邮政的发现是，在试管肉牛干细胞汉堡包。

Go ahead and giggle at the term “schmeat” -- yet, as Oxford Dictionary’s今年的亚军字, the concept has legs. Will the emerging industry have a market for mainstream growth?那是一个板球你吃？我会采取两种

食用昆虫是低成本，低碳发射和充分的蛋白质，维生素，纤维，矿物质和脂肪，根据FAO报告。其研究人员还得出结论，通过提高他们的食品将提供生态效益，如与植物授粉帮助，提高土壤肥力和控制有害生物助推昆虫种群。

昆虫的人消费 - - 2001年以来“有，三年前是不存在之前行业，”大卫Gracer，罗德岛居民谁一直对教育的entomophagy市民说。

Gracer，谁开始eating insectsout of curiosity in 1999, has traced mention of the practice in the media and academic journals. In the last four years, he has counted 1,200 articles about entomophagy in the media and 800 technical articles about the subject -- a tremendous difference over prior years.

But the public's mindset about entomophagy, shown via the comments on articles in American media, he says, shows a lot of disgust and mockery of the practice, which is commonplace in parts of Latin America, Asia and Africa.

What would it take to change these mainstream attitudes and increase market viability in America? “If things get scary out there in terms of climate change and food production and food stability, and [there's] not complete mayhem, that’s going to be something that will change the game in terms of people’s perceptions,” he said.

Nevertheless, he continued, "When I got started, there were only a few people, and now there are domestic manufacturers for insect foods. There’s a much bigger community than there was five to six years ago.”

Tiny Farms

Berkeley, Calif.-based Andrew Brentano, wife Jena and friend Dan Imrie-Situnayake decided a little over a year ago to startTiny Farms，一个企业，将支持对开发食用昆虫的稳定供应，个人和企业家。他们的想法是不是太古怪。

毕竟,湾区已经看到了of edible insect food truckDon Bugito，击中旧金山的街道在2011年那么在这之前，旧金山California Academy of Sciencesand the city zoo served samples to the adventurous. [In years past, I've sampled edibles at Don Bugito and the Academy of Sciences, along withchapulines(grasshoppers) in Oaxaca, Mexico].

Tacos from San Francisco food truck Don Bugito (image credit: Don Bugito)

微型农场的共同创始人认为，没有足够的供应，以满足新业务的需求使得昆虫食品，如外板球酒吧在资助Kickstarter。

“It’s really tricky to get food-grade insects,” Brentano said. “That’s also an issue overseas because of import regulations and food safety issues.” In addition, most insects overseas are wild harvested and as a result likely will have accumulated metals and pesticides.

营利性公司的新兴核心产品将围绕基于Web的管理工具，使个人和企业，以跟踪他们的昆虫，接收警报，并进行数据分析。

“现在，有没有为我们的大规模计划的一个市场，”布伦塔诺说。“但需要有一个饲料项。......希望我们能和他们一起成长，所以我们可以用技术问题提供帮助。”

在步骤有需求，那么，微型农场第一款产品将是错误的农场开源家组装成套。布伦塔诺预计，该试剂盒将在2014年第一季度上市。

除了肉类

森·布朗，创始人兼首席执行官除了肉类，力求开发一个版本基于植物的肉，这是无缝与真实的东西。他合作过的生物工程教授傅雄谢和研究员哈罗德·赫夫在密苏里大学，谁曾在由大豆制成的假鸡产品开发。该产品在2012年以超过肉类的哥伦比亚，密苏里州工厂下了地。

公司的投资者包括明显的公司启动孵化器和风险投资公司Kleiner Perkins Caulfield的＆Byers公司。

Hampton Creek Foods

在2011年，约什Tetrick成立Hampton Creek Foods在完美的植物为基础的蛋替代物的追求。他的动机，以提供在不安全的铺设，污染环境的工业设施（他解释说在上面的视频），鸡蛋的替代品。

“Since one-third of those eggs end up in food products, we focus on the products these caged chicken eggs end up in,” he said.

领导了R＆d是约翰引导，谁离开他的岗位作为全球R＆d的头联合利华加入Tetrick。在早期的研究，汉普顿河的生物化学筛选了超过2000种植物的分子结构。随后，该公司的董事烹饪和食品科学家接任。十一植物是“高功能”作为蛋替代物，Tetrick说，因为他们可以通气，乳化，凝固，就像真实的东西。其结果是除了蛋，可以代替鸡蛋在焙烤食品中使用的粉末。

汉普顿河食品公司也已经开发出从豌豆制成的蛋黄酱。它可在120个全食超市和将推出全国性的12月5日饼干面团和scrambled “egg”products are in the works.

等大公司已经显示出了总部位于旧金山的初创公司工作，这计数科斯拉风险投资公司，比尔·盖茨和吉泰勒的新兴影响基金投资者的兴趣。Tetrick说汉普顿河食品公司目前正在与三家财富500强企业合作。虽然他说他不可能由于保密协议很多关于这次谈话，没有与通用磨坊的联合研究项目。

“These companies see the prices of caged chicken eggs going up because they’re fed massive amounts of corn and soy,” he said. “They’re watching the problem, and it’s a natural way for them to save money.”

Top image of eggs and Beyond Eggs via Hampton Creek Foods