Having long been limited to a handful of mostly soy-based products, plant-based alternatives to dairy and meat have made giant leaps forward over the past few years. Thanks to advances in food science, people can now enjoy a creamy oat milk cappuccino, have a tasty burger based on pea protein or even try chicken-free chicken nuggets that mimic the real thing surprisingly well.
And whether it’s due to allergies, intolerances, voluntary diet choices or simply to reduce the carbon footprint of their food intake, many people are enjoying the new variety of plant-based alternatives to dairy and meat. According to the Good Food Institute's State of the Industry report, plant-based foods are a multi-billion dollar market in the United States, with milk alternatives by far the largest category at estimated retail sales of $2.9 billion in 2023. Plant-based meat and seafood remains the second largest segment, despite growth coming to a halt lately.
The Good Food Institute partly explains the slowdown in some categories with higher food prices overall, which may have impacted plant-based alternatives disproportionately. "In an inflation-driven market, many consumers chose to trade down within protein categories, posing salient challenges for plant-based categories whose products often sit at a premium to their conventional counterparts," the GFI notes. The average premium for plant-based meat sold in the U.S. last year was 77 percent compared to conventional meat, according to SPINS data, explaining why consumers on a tight budget might opt against it.
