The French touch
France’s veggie market may not be as developed as neighbouring Germany’s but it is growing.
Food analyst at Euromonitor told FoodNavigator there have been several high profile vegetarian product launches in France recently, such as Nestlé’s range of Le Bon Végétal, which includes frozen burgers, vegetarian nuggets and dumplings.
“The choice of launching a range under the Herta brand, which sells meat sausages, highlights that the company sees the new range as targeting meat eaters rather than vegetarians,” says Moreau. “Nestlé cited some research according to which 30% of the French population are becoming flexitarians and actively attempt to reduce their meat consumption, the majority of them citing health reasons as a main motivation for this choice.”
Retailers are also joining in the growing flexitarian movement.
Last year Carrefour teamed up with the Vegetarian Association of France for what it said was the country’s first ever private label vegetarian range which contains 16 products.
Meanwhile, La Boucherie Végétarienne, or The Vegetarian Butcher, in Paris sells its products in stores around the capital and in its fast-food snack
outlet as well as online.
Inspired by a trip to the Netherlands, where they were served up meat alternatives they mistook for the real thing, founders Isabelle and Philippe are on a mission to raise the profile of meat substitutes.
The range doesn’t contain any soy-based snails or meat-free frogs’ legs but one of the best-selling products is a cordon bleu.
La Boucherie Végétarienne put its range to the ultimate taste test by giving their products to actual butchers duringa France 4 radio broadcast who believed they were eating actual meat.
Main image: iStock / Nayomiee