This Plant-Based Pork Alternative Is Officially Hitting Hong Kong
Growing pork consumption around the world, especially in China, has created an increase in carbon emissions and has made the country cut back on half of its intake.
Updated May 20 2019, 6:06 p.m. ET
A new vegan startup, Right Treat, has an important goal. They want to cut back on pork consumption in China. Their first product is “Omnipork,” a new meat that provides the same flavor of traditional pork, but is much more sustainable. It follows other meatless products like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, who are both on the rise.
It’s estimated that China will eat roughly 56 million tons of it alone, though there is a push to phase out this much consumption. Back in 2016, the government wanted to cut China’s meat consumption in half to lower greenhouse gas emissions and developing health problems.
Right Treat hopes to step in by offering an alternative that not only helps the environment, but is healthier. Founder David Yeung, who also invested into Beyond Meat, tells Live Kindly that it contains around a third of calories and saturated fat than in traditional pork. Higher amounts of fiber, calcium, and iron are in the product, and no antibiotics or hormones were added.
“The philosophy behind Right Treat is that we believe achieving long-term win-win-win among the planet, mankind and animals is possible,” Yeung states on the company webpage. “There should be no trade-off between food enjoyment and personal well-being. Consumption and enjoyment of this generation should not become liability and suffering of future generations and other beings.”
Like other sustainable food choices, Omnipork is plant-based and is meant to easily replace traditional ground pork. Consumers can still prepare the meat in any way, whether they like stuffed meatballs, frying it in pans, or steaming it. Sherisse Pham of CNN Money noted in a blind trial taste of Omnipork Soup Dumplings that it tasted different from standard pork, but they “were still tasty.”
Omnipork will be making its debut in Hong Kong in June at the Cantonese Ming Court in Cordis Hotel and JW Marriott Hotel restaurants. Traditional pork dishes will be replaced with the new product, creating Sweet & Sour Omnipork and Steamed Omnipork Patties. Later in the year, other dishes will be available through Yeung’s Green Common stores.
Yeung founded Green Monday, a vegetarian menu that‘s in hundreds of restaurants in Hong Kong and has made its way to the United States in numerous universities. It provided a way to cut back on consuming traditional meat for a day, instead of completely cutting it out. He followed it up in 2015 by launching a plant-based grocery store, Green Common.
Meat consumption has rapidly been on the rise, jumping 20 percent in the last decade alone. For a lot of people, completely cutting out meat by going vegan or vegetarian simply isn't appealing. But plant-based options like Omnipork make it easier to cut back on your meat consumption, no matter your lifestyle.
