Less “buchada de carneiro”, made from offal, “feijoada”, made from beans and pork, or “carne de sol”, a meat dried in the sun… Brazil, however the largest exporter of meat in the world, is becoming more and more vegetarian, says the New York Times.
According to a survey conducted by Ibope, 14% of Brazilians declared themselves vegetarians or vegans in 2018. This is much more than in France, where their share is estimated at 2%. The newspaper met Luiza de Marilac Tavares, who provided vegetable food for an ashram before the pandemic.
A market of 30 million people
The Covid-19 having closed the place of worship, she turned to individuals to make ends meet. Unknowingly taking advantage of the exponential demand for vegetarian dishes, orders for Luiza de Marilac Tavares have exploded. While she believes that a “change of consciousness is underway,” the demand goes far beyond Hindu circles.
In order to benefit from this attractive market of more than 30 million people, traders have adapted. Supermarkets now sell plant-based protein foods, and popular restaurants offer vegetarian dishes that are just as innovative and delicious as their meaty neighbors.
Changing demand has become an innovative power. Food start-ups using plants are multiplying and growing. This country of 212 million inhabitants, originally known for its meat and its specialties based on meat products, is indeed changing. Many players in the food industry are looking, like Beyond Meat, to create steaks made from chickpeas, beets and potato starch to replace them with steaks of animal origin.
A revolution “
“We are in the middle of a revolution,” said New York Times Bruno Fonseca, co-founder of New Butchers, one of those companies that aim to disrupt the food market. The meat which seemed essential to a country whose national dish (the “feijoada”) is composed of loin, sausage, bacon, and sometimes even pig’s trotters, is declining.
The bad press of meat products both for health and for the environment – mainly because of deforestation – has led Brazilians to reduce or eliminate animal products from their daily diet. Many public schools have agreed to reduce animal protein in their menus by 20%, a sign of a change in mentality that has started to disrupt the Brazilian culinary landscape.
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