Updated:2023/09/26
What is plant-based F&B?
Plant-based foods and beverages are products without animal-based ingredients. Have you tried any yet? My personal feeling is that, unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to become as popular yet in Japan as I expected. So, what is the current status of plant-based products in Europe, where many people are more concerned about environmental issues than in Japan? This is a report from a visit to a supermarket in Switzerland in July 2023.
Swiss supermarket’s plant-based milk section caught my eye!!
COOP, one of Switzerland’s two largest supermarkets, is a cooperative, but compared to another supermarket, MIGROS, it carries fewer private brands and more foods from general consumer goods manufacturers. There are various sized stores, from large stores with several floors selling not only groceries but also clothing and other items to kiosk-sized stores located inside train stations. This time, I visited a medium-sized store in a building in front of the Grindelwald station. The shelf in this photo caught my eye while I was looking for plant-based foods! It’s plant-based milk from the top to the bottom. At the top is Oatly, which has taken Europe by storm with its oat milk. Below that is Alpro, a brand of Danone which is famous for its yogurt. There seem to be many different types of milk, including almond, oat, and soy milk. The store brand COOP below seems to have even more variety, including rice, coconut, cashew nuts, and a mix of five grains. Isn’t it amazing that plant-based drinks are taking up so much space? Yes, this is Europe, I was very impressed.
Plenty of meat substitutes are available
Meat substitutes may be a little harder to differentiate than plant-based milk products, but they are still very impressive and take up a lot of space. At first glance, it’s not clear whether it’s plant-based or not, which is something that needs to be addressed in the future, but if you look closely, you’ll notice that it takes up quite a bit of space. You can see the subtle green leaf design and the words “Plant” and “Alternative to Formaggio” (cheese substitute), etc. Delicorn seems to be COOP’s plant-based brand, and many products with this brand are displayed in the upper right corner. The pasta on the left seems to be a product made with ordinary meat, but the boundaries are becoming blurred.
In addition, in this photo, you can see that plant-based products such as sausages, minced meat (raw meat), and cheese are also lined up. There truly seems to be a plant-based alternative for everything.
Nowadays, various climate changes and natural disasters due to the effects of global warming are being reported, and I sincerely hope that this kind of food will become more popular and help extend the life of the earth.
