Niki Bezzant: I have tasted the future of protein

The main component of the Beyond Burger is pea protein. Photo / Supplied

COMMENT: If food futurists have it right, the other day I ate the future of protein.

The Beyond Burger looked, disconcertingly, like raw sausage meat. Its package featured many food safety warnings, just like real meat (don't re-freeze; cook to an internal temperature of 75 degrees, etc). It sizzled when it hit the pan, and browned and charred just like a beef patty would.

On cutting into the cooked burger, the inside looked mince-like and slightly pink (as the packaging warned it would). And in taste and texture, it was not at all unlike a basic beef mince patty; not hugely flavoursome, but then neither is the real thing, honestly. I suspect if you popped it on a bun, loaded it up with sauces and condiments and salad, and fed it to a meat lover, they would be hard pressed to tell the difference between it and an animal-based patty.

There is a difference, of course. The Beyond Burger is technically made from plants; the main component being pea protein (17 per cent). There are also 19 other ingredients. They include some I recognise - water, coconut oil, potato starch, yeast extract - and some with which I'm a lot less familiar, including expeller, cellulose from bamboo and methylcellulose.

As a plant-based eater who happens to also eat animal products (a statement I've been challenged on before, but I stand by; who says plant-based has to be plant-only?), I'm not sure this is what I want in my meat-free meals. I think I could put together a pretty delicious meat-free burger using whole ingredients; I'd probably go for beans or chickpeas and loads of fresh herbs and spices; maybe a bit falafel-like. I don't particularly want to eat something that resembles meat, but isn't.

I understand, of course, that for a growing number of people this is exactly the kind of meat-free meal solution that works. It might make the switch easier for people who are transitioning to being vegetarian or vegan, or people who want to have a go at eating less meat - which is definitely recommended for health and planet - but don't want to scare the family. I think there's a place for these foods in that context.

I'm a bit less sold on the argument that these are more sustainable foods for all.

The Beyond Burger is manufactured in America. If I lived there, with its factory farming system; grain-fed animals and vast acres of subsidised monocultural crops grown for animal feed, I think I would be inclined not to eat meat at all. As well as being unsustainable, that meat is not particularly healthy. Maybe there, I'd be a Beyond Meat convert.

But here in New Zealand, with our grass-fed animals and relatively efficient and sustainable farming system, it feels like a sensible amount of quality meat is not a terrible thing. I'd rather stick to that, along with locally grown and made tofu - than a highly processed faux meat import.

For a video of my Beyond Burger experience, see @nikibezzant on Instagram.

• Niki Bezzant is editor-at-large for Healthy Food Guide www.healthyfood.co.nz