The Fort Worth Press - Natalie Portman, French firm bring home the faux bacon

USD -
AED 3.673006
AFN 67.000311
ALL 92.449862
AMD 387.650577
ANG 1.803609
AOA 912.000072
ARS 998.1981
AUD 1.540618
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.706465
BAM 1.839835
BBD 2.020546
BDT 119.582702
BGN 1.851502
BHD 0.376887
BIF 2898
BMD 1
BND 1.337466
BOB 6.915139
BRL 5.806962
BSD 1.000762
BTN 84.395861
BWP 13.578807
BYN 3.274884
BYR 19600
BZD 2.01714
CAD 1.39948
CDF 2865.000212
CHF 0.885795
CLF 0.035513
CLP 979.90972
CNY 7.2244
CNH 7.244355
COP 4479
CRC 511.011392
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 104.849946
CZK 23.9373
DJF 177.719992
DKK 7.06055
DOP 60.375024
DZD 133.998993
EGP 49.3251
ERN 15
ETB 122.049964
EUR 0.94655
FJD 2.27125
FKP 0.786951
GBP 0.78699
GEL 2.730338
GGP 0.786951
GHS 16.093319
GIP 0.786951
GMD 71.000122
GNF 8629.999871
GTQ 7.732613
GYD 209.3638
HKD 7.781365
HNL 25.060257
HRK 7.133507
HTG 131.582908
HUF 386.059763
IDR 15845.9
ILS 3.754225
IMP 0.786951
INR 84.42365
IQD 1310.5
IRR 42092.500584
ISK 139.430268
JEP 0.786951
JMD 158.431955
JOD 0.7091
JPY 155.550045
KES 129.495865
KGS 86.200902
KHR 4049.999849
KMF 466.350132
KPW 899.999851
KRW 1402.789736
KWD 0.30764
KYD 0.833937
KZT 493.231612
LAK 21944.999787
LBP 89550.000237
LKR 292.48469
LRD 183.999896
LSL 18.249631
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.869392
MAD 9.95797
MDL 18.032417
MGA 4655.000074
MKD 58.249992
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3397.999858
MOP 8.017648
MRU 39.875002
MUR 46.889881
MVR 15.450612
MWK 1735.999923
MXN 20.534202
MYR 4.459733
MZN 63.899729
NAD 18.250197
NGN 1677.460255
NIO 36.78002
NOK 11.139895
NPR 135.035137
NZD 1.70113
OMR 0.384979
PAB 1.000724
PEN 3.80195
PGK 3.93475
PHP 58.837965
PKR 278.049733
PLN 4.10935
PYG 7810.118723
QAR 3.64055
RON 4.7105
RSD 110.736994
RUB 98.498646
RWF 1365
SAR 3.75755
SBD 8.383555
SCR 13.638838
SDG 601.502988
SEK 10.984375
SGD 1.343089
SHP 0.786951
SLE 22.814981
SLL 20969.507172
SOS 571.500104
SRD 35.279997
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.756103
SYP 2512.530016
SZL 18.249869
THB 34.941496
TJS 10.662352
TMT 3.51
TND 3.147501
TOP 2.3421
TRY 34.35113
TTD 6.800373
TWD 32.450501
TZS 2659.999506
UAH 41.343769
UGX 3672.521001
UYU 42.190719
UZS 12825.000122
VES 44.996698
VND 25345
VUV 118.721975
WST 2.812855
XAF 617.092513
XAG 0.033008
XAU 0.000389
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.753908
XOF 616.50203
XPF 113.349685
YER 249.80406
ZAR 18.240398
ZMK 9001.201813
ZMW 27.374927
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    -0.8500

    59.34

    -1.43%

  • CMSC

    0.0700

    24.61

    +0.28%

  • CMSD

    -0.0200

    24.73

    -0.08%

  • SCS

    -0.3000

    13.37

    -2.24%

  • NGG

    -0.7800

    62.12

    -1.26%

  • AZN

    0.1000

    65.29

    +0.15%

  • RIO

    -0.5800

    60.62

    -0.96%

  • GSK

    -0.4100

    35.11

    -1.17%

  • RELX

    -0.4700

    46.12

    -1.02%

  • BP

    0.4100

    28.57

    +1.44%

  • BTI

    0.1800

    35.42

    +0.51%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0500

    7.11

    -0.7%

  • BCC

    1.4200

    142.55

    +1%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.24

    +0.15%

  • BCE

    -0.4800

    27.21

    -1.76%

  • VOD

    0.2800

    8.75

    +3.2%

Natalie Portman, French firm bring home the faux bacon
Natalie Portman, French firm bring home the faux bacon

Natalie Portman, French firm bring home the faux bacon

Vegan bacon sizzles on a pan in the office of a French startup whose quest to produce the "holy grail" of the growing plant-based meat industry gained the financial backing of Hollywood star Natalie Portman.

Text size:

Paris-based company La Vie recently raised 25 million euros ($28.3 million) from investment funds and climate-conscious celebrities like Portman, an avowed vegan.

If not the first to bring plant-based bacon to the market, La Vie's founders are banking their success on mastering imitation pork fat, setting it apart from other brands.

"We're the only ones in the world today to have succeeded in developing a vegetable fat that cooks, fries, infuses and browns" like animal fat, enthused the company's chief executive and cofounder, Nicolas Schweitzer.

After several minutes on the frying pan, the rashers of La Vie's imitation smoked bacon were golden brown, crunchy and similar in taste to the real McCoy.

Next up are lardons. The chunks of meat and fat also brown up nicely, but are a bit salty.

"We have a reduced salt version as well," said Vincent Poulichet, 32, the company's scientific expert and other cofounder.

The lardons received a C rating on France's "Nutri-Score" food health rating scale -- a middle score on the A to E ranking.

"Worse than broccoli, but better than pork lardons," the company notes wryly on its website.

Startups and established food manufacturers alike have been rolling out a variety of products that aim to replace beef, chicken and pork with plant-based ingredients.

But making faux bacon taste like the real thing is another challenge.

Ethan Brown, the head of industry leader Beyond Meat, told the Wall Street Journal last year that making bacon, steak and raw chicken were all the "holy grail".

A growing number of consumers are seeking to reduce or eliminate meat from their diets over concerns including animal rights and the industry's impact on the environment.

According to a 2021 report by market research firm Euromonitor International, more than one in four consumers globally say they are trying to limit their meat intake, in addition to the 10 percent of people who are vegetarian or vegan.

London-based market research firm Fairfield expects the market for plant-based meat to grow by nearly 19 percent annually between 2021 and 2026, to hit $13 billion.

- 5,000 trials -

La Vie's founders, who created their company in 2019, believe conquering consumers on taste is the real key to success.

"After three years of research and 5,000 trials we succeeded in the somewhat crazy challenge of reproducing the taste of pork," said Schweitzer, 34.

The fat in La Vie's imitation bacon and lardons is made mostly from sunflower oil and specially-treated water.

The meat part contains soy protein, salt, natural colourants derived from radish skins and tomatoes, and natural flavours.

It was after testing La Vie's products at home in the United States that Portman joined the company's financial backers.

"It was by giving people a taste of our products that we managed to put together this extraordinary round of financing," said Schweitzer.

"Right away, investors said, 'Oh, yeah!'"

Venture capitalists like Oyster Bay, Seventure and Partech joined the funding round, as did the owners of several successful European startups such as Oatly, Vinted, Back Market and BlaBlaCar.

- British and US markets -

In addition to taste, La Vie believes its bacon is healthier for people, the planet, and of course pigs.

The company says its products contain less than a tenth the saturated fat of real bacon, and their production has fewer carbon emissions and uses less water.

La Vie's imitation lardons are already on sale at Carrefour shops, and it aims to get them on the shelves of all major supermarkets in France in 2022.

It also sees vegan and vegetarian restaurants as key to getting more potential clients to taste its products.

La Vie aims to get its products on British shelves by April and then rapidly enter the key US market as well.

La Vie, which has partnered with an established cold cuts and prepared foods manufacturer, plans to quickly double its staff to 60 employees.

J.P.Cortez--TFWP