Unveiled at the inaugural SXSW Sydney, founder and CEO of Nourish Ingredients, James Petrie, told the audience Tastilux was a quantum leap forward in delivering authentic, meaty flavour in plant-based meats as well as the cooking performance of products without animal ingredients or artificial chemicals.

The breakthrough fat, derived from nature and scaled through precision fermentation, is designed to provide global food and ingredient makers with a fat that cooks, smells, and tastes just like traditional meat.

“We saw an opportunity to revolutionise plant proteins by focusing on the power of fat. Most alternative fats simply can’t replicate the rich, authentic flavour of cooked meat. So rather than take a plant-based approach, we analysed the most flavourful animal fats in their uncooked state. Then identified where we could find these in nature, without the animal.

“By fermenting only the most potent fats, we’re able to recreate the authentic meat experience. Our unique process unlocks new possibilities for plant protein foods to deliver the satisfying taste and texture consumers crave,” Petrie said.

Petrie explained that the current food system is unsustainable because there isn’t enough land or resources for it to scale to meet future demand from a growing population, forecast to exceed 10 billion by 2050.

“Plant proteins are a crucial and growing part of our diets, but many have failed to convince consumers who enjoy meat, mainly because they don’t deliver the taste and experience consumers want.

“To succeed, plant proteins must deliver a step-change in the authentic, natural and animalic flavours they crave,” he said.

Tastilux took Nourish Ingredients’ scientists more than three years to create, using lipids found in nature to recreate the most flavoursome animal fats.

As well as flavour and smell, the proprietary fat also cooks like animal meat when using plant-based chicken, beef, pork, and other proteins.

Petrie said the ingredient was created to enable global commercial scale and the company was already working with global food and ingredient leaders to incorporate Tastilux into a wide range of products.

At SXSW, Nourish Ingredients head of culinary innovation, Ernesto Vecilla, demonstrated Tastilux by cooking a realistic plant-based chicken wing. He showed how Tastilux transformed the existing plant-based experience into a tastier and more natural alternative for plant-based meat producers to consider.

A select group from the audience tasted the wing, with edible bones made from calcium, to experience the impact of Tastilux.

Nourish Ingredients was on stage with v2food, both unveiling new products while showcasing the potential for plant-based meat.