World Vegan Day: Celebrating 80 Years of Veganism with a Spotlight on Plant-Based Cheese Innovations – vegconomist

The Vegan Society, the world’s oldest vegan charity, is celebrating its 80th anniversary today, marking World Vegan Day. The society was founded in 1944 by Donald Watson and five other non-dairy vegetarians, who sought to create a movement distinct from vegetarianism and coined the term “vegan.”

Over the past 80 years, the vegan movement has grown significantly, with veganism now recognized as a protected philosophical belief in the UK. Vegan options are available in supermarkets, restaurants, fashion, and cosmetics in Europe and North America, and the offer is slowly increasing in other continents.

To celebrate its 80th anniversary, the charity is launching a virtual reality campaign, “The Future is Vegan.” The campaign features an AI-created avatar of co-founder Donald Watson, guiding users through a virtual world to explore the implications of a vegan future, including the fate of formerly farmed animals and environmental improvement.

Claire Ogley, Head of Campaigns, Policy, and Research at The Vegan Society, shared, “Eighty years ago, veganism was a bold vision shared by a handful of people who believed in a more compassionate way of living. Today, millions in the UK are embracing plant-based diets, with this shift being led primarily by younger generations.”

Honoring the “non-dairy-vegetarian” on WVD

Consumers have more options than ever to replace milk and cheese and not contribute to the inhumane treatment that cows receive in small, medium, large, and factory farming exploitations.

Honoring the vegan movement’s initial motivation — a non-dairy vegetarian diet — we look at the latest innovations in plant-based cheese aimed at improving products.

Bolder Foods

Belgium’s Bolder Foods, a company using biomass fermentation to produce plant-based cheese, has developed a technology that blends mycoprotein with fermented vegetables.  The mycoprotein is said to deliver creamy, buttery, and elastic textures and umami flavors. The company’s cheese was praised for its creaminess and taste at an event hosted by Givaudan.

Formo

German startup Formo has launched Frischain, an animal-free cream cheese crafted from koji, a fungus traditionally used in soy sauce, miso, and sake and traditional dairy cheese production methods.

Formo uses microfermentation to make the koji fungus secrete its “own” proteins. The process is similar to precision fermentation; the difference is that koji is not genetically modified to create other foreign compounds or proteins. Frischain is said to be almost indistinguishable from dairy cream cheese.

Armored Fresh

Armored Fresh,  a South Korean food tech based in the USA, produces plant-based alternatives to cheese using traditional cheese fermentation. The company has developed almond and oat-based products that are said to replicate the taste and texture of dairy cheese and are infused with nutrients to provide a comparable protein content. Since its launch last year, Armored Fresh has significantly expanded its retail footprint in the USA.

The company’s success relies on a patented technology that allows plant-based milk to go through a natural fermentation process with the help of lactic acid bacteria.

Applewood Vegan

UK brand Applewood Vegan reformulated the recipe of its products to enhance the texture and more closely replicate the sensory experience of dairy cheese.

“Over the past five years and since the creation of Applewood Vegan, we have witnessed significant advancements in plant-based food technologies. Through rigorous experimentation with numerous base recipes, we have successfully crafted a foundational recipe that closely emulates the richness of dairy. Our refined manufacturing process now mirrors that of our well-established Applewood dairy brand, contributing to a remarkable enhancement in texture,” explained the brand.

FÆRM

Danish plant-based cheese startup FÆRM licenses a patented method that mimics dairy fermentation to produce flavorful, high-quality, and clean-label plant-based cheese. Dairy or plant-based cheese companies can integrate the process without significant investments to make tasty products for the growing vegan cheese market. 

FÆRM’s technology uses bacteria, enzymes, and legume-based plant matrices with specific protein, sugar, and fat ratios to make its vegan cheese. The fermentation and mechanical treatments give the products structure and authentic dairy flavor without requiring coconut oil, binders, and additives.

Planteneers

Germany’s Planteneers, a leading developer and provider of customized plant-based products, introduced solutions for dairy-based desserts including, tiramisu (mascarpone), cheesecake, fermented oat dessert, pudding, and soft ice cream. The new formulas based on starch, plant proteins, plant fibers, and pectins are said to deliver “healthy but indulgent” alternatives to help manufacturers cater to the growing demand for dairy alternatives.

The future is vegan

According to the Good Food Institute’s latest analysis, plant-based food sales in six European countries — Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK (where 3% of consumers follow a vegan or plant-based diet) — reached €5.4 billion in 2023, up 5.5% from 2022.

Plant-based milk and drinks lead the sector, comprising 41% of total plant-based sales in 2023. Plant-based meat follows at 36.8%, while cream and cheese have the most rapid growth. Plant-based cheese was the fastest-growing category, even in cheese-loving countries such as France, Italy, and Spain. Meanwhile, plant-based cream was the fastest-growing category in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK.

Meanwhile, in the USA, the plant-based milk category reached $2.9 billion in sales in 2023. Plant-based creamers experienced significant growth and had the second-highest market share among plant-based categories, behind plant-based milk. Interestingly, conventional creamer sales dropped by 1% in 2023 and 2% since 2021, indicating a shift toward plant-based alternatives in the creamer market.

Ogley added, “We see a future where veganism is a part of everyday life and we’re proud to lead the way, inspiring a future that is sustainable, ethical, and vegan.”