Lab cooks up Asian favourites, minus the meat

Sustainable option: A worker preparing plant-based food samples during the launch of ADM’s lab in Singapore. — AFP

From faux-chicken satay to imitation beef rendang, a high-tech Singapore laboratory is replicating popular Asian dishes with plant-based meat alternatives to feed the region’s growing appetite for sustainable food.

Flavour specialists and food scientists in white coats work with plant extracts at the newly opened facility to create vegetarian versions of traditionally meaty dishes that taste like the real thing.