‘Fake meat may not prove a big hit in China’

New trend: A food outlet worker displaying burgers made of fake meat at a shopping festival in Hangzhou. — China Daily/ANN

WHEN Hey Tea – one of China’s most popular milk tea brands – launched a new burger containing fake meat in late May, social media influencers scrambled to sample it, record videos and tell their followers how it tasted.

The Future Meat Burger, the tea maker’s first plant-based meat substitute, released in partnership with Chinese food tech company Starfield, caused a sensation when it hit the market.