GEA CHEF SURVEY ON NEW FOOD

“We chefs have an obligation to offer recipes with these new foods to raise awareness about the challenges we face in the world today. Our restaurant can contribute to educating customers as well as meeting their demands.”

Chef, Brazil

Conducted in August 2022, the GEA Chef Survey on New Food provides a variety of insights into how chefs are navigating the current food transformation. It sheds light on their familiarity and experience with new food products, the current demand among restaurant guests, and what chefs expect to see in the near future. The results help build a more nuanced understanding of the transition towards new food.

Interested and engaged

Considering that chefs not only earn their living via food but, in many cases, define themselves in terms of their devotion to food and culinary traditions, one might expect a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to alternative proteins. Sure enough, our Chef Survey on New Food did uncover some skepticism among chefs: a few were dismissive, some had never heard of alternatives proteins, others showed little interest in learning about them. But these were decidedly in the minority. In fact, the large majority of chefs surveyed are familiar with the various types of alternative proteins and already using them in their kitchens. 

In the case of plant-based foods and beverages only 2 percent of chefs had “never heard” of them. Another 6 percent had heard about them but had no real knowledge of them. The remaining 92 percent were familiar with plant-based foods and beverages, with a majority of these (63%) indicating that they know a lot about them. This is no huge surprise. Plant-based products like soy drinks and veggie burgers have been around for decades; tofu and tempeh for millennia. 

But even in the case of cultivated, cell-based proteins – the most novel of all alternative protein types – a full 80 percent of chefs said they were familiar with them. More specifically, 41 percent of chefs said they know a lot about cultivated, cell-based foods. This is remarkable given that cultured meat is in its infancy, a long way from large-scale production and availability. Yet the survey data suggest that many chefs are keenly aware that cultured meat and similar products might redefine how people will eat in future, and they see the need to closely observe and keep up with such a fundamental trend. 

Most chefs are not only aware of the new food trend, but they are also helping drive it. Roughly 90 percent of chefs are already using meat and dairy alternatives in their daily work to at least some extent, with well over a third of chefs using them to a high extent. Use of seafood and egg alternatives is somewhat less prevalent, but here, too, some 30 percent of chefs are already using them to a high extent. If there is one message to take from the survey, it’s that most chefs around the world are definitely not waiting around; they have begun making the transition to new foods.

Customers want more

Clearly, the high level of awareness and use of alternative proteins by many chefs is partly due to their own professional interest; they want to be well-informed about food developments and stay on top of this growing trend. But as the survey clearly indicates, their interest is also due to rising customer demand. Their own guests, as well as restaurant goers in general, are increasingly asking for alternatives to conventional food. Roughly 90 percent of chefs see increased demand among their restaurant customers for alternatives to conventional meat and dairy, with over 40 percent of chefs reporting a high degree of increased demand. The numbers on seafood and egg alternatives are once again slightly lower, but still indicative of significant growth in demand. 

This is consistent with recent consumer feedback. A 2022 Blue Horizon/Boston Consulting Group survey of over 3,700 consumers worldwide found that more than half of them are occasional users of alternative proteins, 35 percent frequent users and some 13 percent “exclusive or near-exclusive” users. The Good Food Institute’s Europe survey conducted in 2022 found that half of consumers in Spain and Italy already eat plant-based meat on a monthly basis, with 65 percent of Spaniards, 55 percent of Italians, 57 percent of Germans and a third of consumers in France indicating their willingness to buy cultivated meat when it becomes available on the market. Another recent study showed that 80 percent of UK and U.S. consumers were open to eating cultivated meat.

Key drivers

When asked about the primary drivers of growing demand for alternative proteins among restaurant guests, most chefs cited both health and environmental reasons. Some 79 percent of respondents believe that their customers are motivated by environmental concerns, while 74 percent indicated that health reasons are a motivating factor. Fewer chefs (50%) see ethical concerns, such as animal welfare, as a factor.

Chefs in the lead

Three out of four chefs surveyed (75%) consider food in general to be a very important factor in human health, and just under two-thirds (62%) consider food a very important factor in environmental health. In addition, nearly half of chefs (48%) believe that new food alternatives can have a big impact on improving human or environmental health. So how do chefs view their own role in this context? The survey results indicate that many chefs and restaurants are mindful of their personal and professional responsibility to assume a leadership role. For starters, one-third (33%) are significantly reducing the amount of meat they themselves consume for health or environmental reasons. Some 15 percent are fully vegetarian or vegan. Nearly all (96%) say their restaurant is taking steps to lower its environmental impact, with 44 percent working actively (“to a great extent”) on this front. And the majority of chefs (53%) feel that they themselves play a critical role in their guests’ food choices – more so than social media, advertising, friends and family, influencers or food critics.

A look to the future

Chefs around the world clearly believe that the trend towards alternative proteins will continue to gain momentum in the years to come. Nearly 95 percent feel that their restaurant patrons will demand more plant-based proteins over the next decade, with half of chefs seeing a strong increase in demand over that time. The numbers are similar for cultivated, cell-based proteins, with 45 percent of chefs predicting strong growth in demand for them. Even for insect-based proteins and foods, 36 percent of chefs believe that their customers will demand considerably more of these over the next 10 years – a result driven mainly by chefs in Asia.

Nearly one-quarter of the chefs surveyed (23%) expect new food to constitute more than 50 percent of all food in 2040. An additional 43 percent of respondents believe that one-quarter to one-half of all food in 2040 will be made with new food products and ingredients. Taken together, this constitutes a remarkable outlook into the next decades. It suggests that many of the surveyed chefs, most of whom are younger than 40, view alternative proteins as a significant and increasingly essential part of their future jobs.