This question may already be answered in a few weeks' time at spoga+gafa, the world's biggest garden and BBQ trade fair.

Ulrich Strünck, Commercial Director DACH at Redefine Meat, is already convinced now: The meat alternatives of Redefine Meat have not only earned their place on the BBQ, but also in the meat counter at the butchers.

Mr Strünck, some people out there still don't know exactly what Redefine Meat is. What does the brand entail?
Redefine Meat was founded by two young men from Israel in 2018, who actually and interestingly enough come from the industry. After their children were born they recognised the need to do something for the planet and leave it in a better state for future generations. Due to their technology development backgrounds, they came up with the idea of manufacturing plant-based meat.

It is very important to you not to use the word meat substitute, you consciously talk about an alternative. Why?
The term substitute is so absolute. For us it is important that we provide an alternative to the animal-based product. The animal-based product has and will always have its justification. We are not trying to query that, but instead carry the enjoyment of meat over into the plant world.
We want people to take pleasure in choosing between animal and plant-based products without having the feeling they are having to do without. It is about creating variety so that one can simply alternate between them. This approach is of fundamental importance for us because it is the only way we can achieve the sustainable acceptance and integration of plant-based alternatives.

Please explain to us in a few sentences what this product is exactly.
We use different plant-based proteins as a basis - from soy, wheat, pea and rice, through to potato protein. We implement the corresponding proteins depending on what consistency we want a product to have. To achieve the perfect result we break the overall meat product down into its components: We have 60 people on the team, who exclusively carry out research and development. They analyse the structure of meat and how meat works. The art is combining this hotchpot of ingredients so that one creates the perfect overall product.

We have already mentioned the theme environmental protection. The top theme of spoga+gafa 2024 is Responsibility, with your brand you are a perfect match for the trade fair. But how exactly can your products counteract what is going wrong in the meat industry?
In comparison to the production of beef, our natural ingredients are significantly more resource-saving. We save over 90 percent especially in the case of CO2, water and land usage. That is because we use plant-based proteins, which are mainly implemented as animal fodder, directly for our products. So, we don't have to take the detour via the animal and are thus per se much more efficient. What certainly has to be pushed much more strongly in our industry is local sourcing. The proteins still partly come from regions that are too far away - in other words the transport routes are too long. However, one can definitely say that since the positive effect of using plant-based proteins is so strong and clearly prevails, the logistic disadvantages are not so decisive.

What is the cost situation like, if we take a look at the end customers?
At the moment, we haven't actually reached the position we want to and should be at. Manufacturing the products we make has not yet reached mass production level as is the case with animal meat. We still have a long way ahead of us until we reach that scale. Based on the ingredients and production technologies, long-term these products will have to be either cheaper than the animal-based products or at least the same price. There has, however, been an interesting development over the past months. Especially in Germany, various discounters have decided to drop the prices for plant-based products also to encourage the consumers to try these products. That is definitely a step in the right direction.

And what attracts you to spoga+gafa?
Barbecuing is of course also an exciting theme for us and offers us a potential sales market. At the same time, we all know that our current meat consumption can't continue long-term because the demand can hardly be satisfied, especially not in an environmentally-friendly manner. We are thus bringing products to spoga+gafa that enable people to still have fun barbecuing and enjoying meat, but which are at the same time environmentally-friendly.

Meet Redefine Meat at spoga+gafa on Monday, 17 June and test the meat alternatives in Hall 8 of the Outdoor Kitchen World too.
You can find the entire TV interview in our new magazine.
Click here for the complete event programme of the Outdoor Kitchen World.