Plant-based steak made from pea protein

ETH Pioneer Fellow Martin Hofmann has developed a method to produce high-quality plant-based meat alternatives. His research on the flow properties of soft materials enables him to imitate the marbling of real steaks.

Meat alternatives are becoming so popular that it's now difficult to imagine a supermarket without them. So far, however, plant-based alternatives for high-quality meat products such as steak have not been readily available.

Martin Hofmann is confident that this is about to change. The material scientist has developed a method to produce plant-based steak from fat and pea protein. These products are aimed primarily at people like him: non-vegetarians who intend to reduce their meat consumption and switch to a more plant-based diet.

Hofmann's plant-based alternative substitutes the fat tissue that characterizes steak with a simple oil in water emulsion to which additives such as vitamins and trace elements can be added. Since the emulsion's fat content can be reduced significantly, the plant-based steak is not only more eco-friendly than the animal-based original, but healthier as well.

"I'd like to help launch a healthy, environmentally and animal-friendly substitute for high-quality meat that tastes like the animal-based original," Hofmann says.