Will the quest for plant-based meat take us to jackfruit? It very well might, according to a recent article in Forbes.
“Jackfruit is the new tofu,” suggests writer Brian Kateman, “something that people have been eating for ages that’s recently hit the plant-based scene in a big way.”
Although the huge fruit is unwieldy and hard to cut, it has become a fixture of many produce departments these days. What are people using it for? In its fully ripe form, for the most part as another tropical fruit option. The narrator of a video on how to cut jackfruit said that most of the one he was cutting was destined for cocktails.
But some chefs are opting to put jackfruit into main courses. In 2017 actress Felicia Means (who appeared in the movie Friday), opened a Jackfruit Café in a Los Angeles location that she improbably shared with a doughnut shop. The restaurant is due to reopen in a new location in West LA in September, according to its website.
The LA Weekly review of the Jackfruit Café was enthusiastic. “The Thai green curry jackfruit is rich with coconut milk and garlic and galangal [a gingerlike root]. There are Jamaican jerk flavors and plays on Korean barbecue. If you’ve never had jackfruit, know that, despite the name, it doesn’t have to be sweet. When canned and brined, it’s perfect for savory dishes and shreds very much like pulled pork or crab. . . . You can get the jackfruit in tacos, slathered in hot sauce and slaw, or with rice and beans and collards.”
Karana, a company dedicated to promoting and supplying the fruit, touts its nutritive package: “As a whole, unprocessed plant food, jackfruit’s nutritional profile can’t be beat by animal meat or processed plant-based meats.”
You might not associate jackfruit with purpose-based marketing, but much of the impulse for it comes from environmental concerns. Both Karana and the Jackfruit Company (another company formed to promote and distribute the fruit) say that sustainability is central to their goals. And Kateman, author of the Forbes article, is president of the Reducetarian Foundation, “a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing consumption of animal products.”
But meat alternatives aren’t ideal. Most of them are heavily processed and have no nutritional advantage over conventional meat.
One man who isn’t excited about meat alternatives is John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods BB #:147784. “Some of these that are extremely popular now that are taking the world by storm, if you look at the ingredients, they are super, highly processed foods,” Mackey recently said, adding, “I don’t think eating highly processed foods is healthy. I think people thrive on eating whole foods.”
Mackey is a model consumer for the produce industry, eating, he says, fifteen fruits and vegetables a day.
Retail Editor Pamela Riemenschneider has written that some Whole Foods have had problems merchandising it. She says for it to succeed, it may need to sold in value-added form.
Jackfruit can be tasty. A friend of ours prepared some and brought it over to our house. My wife liked it, saying that it reminded her of seitan.
But our friend lived in Southeast Asia for many years. For the typical American cook, jackfruit presents difficulties of its own. As Kateman admits, “it can be cumbersome to work with. It’s heavy, spiky, slimy, and pungent, and if you don’t have the know-how of its various common preparations, you might mistakenly think it’s pretty useless.”
It’s obvious why the fruit’s most ardent promoters are targeting chefs rather ordinary consumers.
Jackfruit is not the new tofu, if ease of use is a factor. If the fruit does go from fad to standard fare in homes, it is more likely to be in some processed form (“canned and brined,” as the LA Weekly suggests?), while the fresh ingredient may find a permanent home in restaurant kitchens, especially ones highlighting vegan fare.
Will the quest for plant-based meat take us to jackfruit? It very well might, according to a recent article in Forbes.
“Jackfruit is the new tofu,” suggests writer Brian Kateman, “something that people have been eating for ages that’s recently hit the plant-based scene in a big way.”
Although the huge fruit is unwieldy and hard to cut, it has become a fixture of many produce departments these days. What are people using it for? In its fully ripe form, for the most part as another tropical fruit option. The narrator of a video on how to cut jackfruit said that most of the one he was cutting was destined for cocktails.
But some chefs are opting to put jackfruit into main courses. In 2017 actress Felicia Means (who appeared in the movie Friday), opened a Jackfruit Café in a Los Angeles location that she improbably shared with a doughnut shop. The restaurant is due to reopen in a new location in West LA in September, according to its website.
The LA Weekly review of the Jackfruit Café was enthusiastic. “The Thai green curry jackfruit is rich with coconut milk and garlic and galangal [a gingerlike root]. There are Jamaican jerk flavors and plays on Korean barbecue. If you’ve never had jackfruit, know that, despite the name, it doesn’t have to be sweet. When canned and brined, it’s perfect for savory dishes and shreds very much like pulled pork or crab. . . . You can get the jackfruit in tacos, slathered in hot sauce and slaw, or with rice and beans and collards.”
Karana, a company dedicated to promoting and supplying the fruit, touts its nutritive package: “As a whole, unprocessed plant food, jackfruit’s nutritional profile can’t be beat by animal meat or processed plant-based meats.”
You might not associate jackfruit with purpose-based marketing, but much of the impulse for it comes from environmental concerns. Both Karana and the Jackfruit Company (another company formed to promote and distribute the fruit) say that sustainability is central to their goals. And Kateman, author of the Forbes article, is president of the Reducetarian Foundation, “a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing consumption of animal products.”
But meat alternatives aren’t ideal. Most of them are heavily processed and have no nutritional advantage over conventional meat.
One man who isn’t excited about meat alternatives is John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods BB #:147784. “Some of these that are extremely popular now that are taking the world by storm, if you look at the ingredients, they are super, highly processed foods,” Mackey recently said, adding, “I don’t think eating highly processed foods is healthy. I think people thrive on eating whole foods.”
Mackey is a model consumer for the produce industry, eating, he says, fifteen fruits and vegetables a day.
Retail Editor Pamela Riemenschneider has written that some Whole Foods have had problems merchandising it. She says for it to succeed, it may need to sold in value-added form.
Jackfruit can be tasty. A friend of ours prepared some and brought it over to our house. My wife liked it, saying that it reminded her of seitan.
But our friend lived in Southeast Asia for many years. For the typical American cook, jackfruit presents difficulties of its own. As Kateman admits, “it can be cumbersome to work with. It’s heavy, spiky, slimy, and pungent, and if you don’t have the know-how of its various common preparations, you might mistakenly think it’s pretty useless.”
It’s obvious why the fruit’s most ardent promoters are targeting chefs rather ordinary consumers.
Jackfruit is not the new tofu, if ease of use is a factor. If the fruit does go from fad to standard fare in homes, it is more likely to be in some processed form (“canned and brined,” as the LA Weekly suggests?), while the fresh ingredient may find a permanent home in restaurant kitchens, especially ones highlighting vegan fare.
