The future of plant-based food

Food & Farming · 2026-06-17 · 7 min read

By Ravi Patel, Sustainability & agriculture

After the hype correction, the category is settling into the parts that actually work: dairy alternatives and food built from plants rather than imitating meat.

The first wave sold a substitution: an identical burger without the animal. Trial was enormous, repeat purchase was not, because the product cost more than the thing it replaced and did not quite match it.

Dairy alternatives tell a different story. Plant milks succeeded because they are used in a context — coffee, cereal, cooking — where the difference is small and often preferred, and because the price gap narrowed.

The more durable direction is ingredient-first cooking. Dishes built around pulses, grains and vegetables have been the default in much of the world for centuries, taste good on their own terms and cost less than any engineered analogue.

Cost and processing are the two remaining obstacles. Products carrying a premium and a long ingredient list face resistance from exactly the health-motivated buyers the category needs, so simplification is where the engineering effort is going.

Foodservice is the quiet growth channel. Canteens, airlines and chains shifting the default option move far more volume than a retail shelf, and they do it without asking anyone to change their identity.

Tags: food, consumer, innovation

Ravi Patel — Ravi reports on agriculture, food systems and sustainability for ESPYCRUX, with a habit of following the money before the technology. He grew up around a family farm and it shows in the questions he asks.