Dutch discovery: a substitute for meat with a bite

60 kilos of meat every German citizen eats on average annually - and rising. Dutch researchers have now developed a bite of real meat imitation. The coincidence helped.

By Ralf Lachmann, ARD-Studio in Kleve

meat imitations have been around for longer. Tofu, for example. However, the compressed mass has a rather flabby-labbrige consistency and reminds, therefore, hardly any real meat. The not particularly well, according to a market research of the University of Wageningen.

"people eat meat, Meat-Lovers, would like to change over to meat, if the taste, but, above all, the structure would have to be as attractive," says Birgit Dekkers, a researcher at the Dutch University, near Arnhem. Here is finally managed the breakthrough. Also luck was in the game, she says, and points to a high-tech Mixer in your laboratory.

"the Texture of The meat. Chewing leads to the specific taste experience. This Texture we imitate. With this Mixer here," explains Dekkers. "He was actually designed to deform different materials. Only by coincidence we came to the conclusion that the apparatus can also restore the textures."