wagyu

Millennial Flavor Town debuts waygu beef steak in Europe at London Expo.

© Millennial Flavor Town
Products & Launches

Wagyu Beef Steak ‘Masterpiece’ by Korea’s Millennial Flavor Town Premieres at PBWE Europe

Korea’s Millennial Flavor Town, a food startup aiming to redefine barbeque with fermentation and plants, is introducing its wagyu beef line — MM Beef — at the Plant Based World Expo Europe in London. The range includes two products: marbled wagyu beef steak and shredded beef, in soy sauce and truffle flavors, which have been featured in media outlets, including The New York Times. Described as “a masterpiece boasting a rich heritage and a fusion of flavors that redefine the essence of beef,” the products have been crafted by co-founder, food technologist, and chef Bakrin Ahn and her team. Traditional Korean fermentation Millennial Flavor Town uses a patented method based on traditional Korean fermentation and a blend of ingredients: soybeans, hedgehog and button mushrooms, rice koji, …

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Ivy Farm and Finnebrogue partner to bring cultivated Wagyu beef to the UK  

Image courtesy of Ivy Farm
Cultivated Meat

Ivy Farm and Finnebrogue Partner to Bring Cultivated Wagyu Beef to the UK  

Cultivated meat company Ivy Farm Technologies and UK food producer Finnebrogue have announced what they claim is a “world-first” partnership to develop and sell cultivated Wagyu beef burgers in the UK — once cultivated meat gets the regulatory green light. The collaboration aims to address the growing demand for meat with a sustainable alternative. Finnebrogue, renowned for its artisan pork products, will explore Ivy Farm’s cultivated process, which significantly reduces the carbon footprint of meat production since it does not require land or animal agriculture.  Diversifying protein production Jago Pearson, CSO at Finnebrogue, says: “Our task is always to make food that is nutritious, delicious and sustainable for food-loving consumers up and down the land – and so we are excited to strike a partnership with Ivy Farm that will …

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Wamame Foods + Panago Pizza

©Panago Pizza
Food Service

Wamame Foods Launches Plant-Based Waygu Beef at Canada’s Panago Pizza

Wamame Foods announces its Waygu™ teriyaki beef strips are launching at Panago Pizza locations in Ottawa, Ontario. Wamame’s plant-based “Sukiyaki Style” strips are now available on two innovative pizzas — the Kansas BBQ and Korean-Style BBQ — and mark the brand’s first major market test with a pizza chain.  Panago, one of the largest pizza chains in Canada, has long supported sustainable ingredients, introducing plant-based options in 2008 and dairy-free cheese in 2014. Panago also offers a large plant-based menu of specialty pizzas and appetizers.  The new Waygu pizzas can be made fully vegan by substituting mozzarella and cheddar with Daiya cheese. They include: Kansas BBQ – Plant-based Waygu® beef alternative, Kansas BBQ sauce, jalapeños, caramelized onions, fire-roasted corn, mozzarella + cheddar. Korean-Style BBQ – …

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Wamame Launches 'Waygu' beef at Germany's biggest sushi chain

Waygu © Top Tier Foods

Products & Launches

Wamame Launches ‘Waygu’ Beef at Germany’s Biggest Sushi Chain Eat Happy Group

Canada’s Wamame Foods announces the launch of its ultra-premium Waygu plant-based meat at Germany’s largest sushi concept, Eat Happy Group, marking its debut on the European market. The introduction of Wamame’s Waygu will begin as a limited store trial with the potential for a larger rollout across Europe; Eat Happy operates as individual restaurants or independent kiosks within major grocery store chains in over 2500 locations across six countries. Showcasing Waygu at TED2023 Waygu’s launch in Germany coincides with Wamame Foods’ partnership at next week’s TED2023 flagship conference in Vancouver.  After a hugely successful introduction at last year’s TED2022 (where Elon Musk and Al Gore tasted Waygu), the world’s top business leaders, tech innovators, and A-list celebrities will be able to try Waygu beef’s plant-based alternative at this year’s TED event, …

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Blair Bullus headshot

Blair Bullus © Wamame Foods
Interviews

Wamame Foods: “We Believe Alternative Proteins Must Be Of a Higher Quality Than Their Animal-Based Counterparts”

Wamame Foods is the Canadian innovator behind Waygu™, a plant-based alternative to wagyu beef that has been highly praised by renowned chefs. Just this month, Waygu arrived at 7-Eleven stores in Canada, with its plant-based steak strips now featuring in several ready-to-serve menu offerings such as the Southwestern Plant-Based Steak Wrap and Mexican Plant-Based Steak Wrap. Since its launch in 2021, Waygu has seen incredible success, securing millions of dollars in funding and being served at the Ted2022 Conference attended by Bill Gates, Al Gore, and Elon Musk. The beef alternative has now expanded across the US and Canada, with the help of online marketplace GTFO It’s Vegan and other notable partners. Following the 7-Eleven launch, Wamame president Blair Bullus spoke to us about the …

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7-Eleven Waygu Steak Wrap

Southwestern Plant-Based Steak Wrap ©7-Eleven Canada
Products & Launches

Wamame’s ‘Waygu’ Beef Launches in 7-Eleven Canada Plant-Based Steak Wraps

Canada’s Wamame Foods announces it is launching its ultra-premium Waygu™ plant-based meat strips in 7-Eleven Canada locations nationwide. Now available for a limited time, Waygu is featured in several items on the chain’s “ready-to-serve” menu, including the Southwestern Plant-Based Steak Wrap and Mexican Plant-Based Steak Wrap. According to Wamame, its products were chosen as 7-Eleven Canada’s top choice to help drive the chain’s mandate to offer more “ready-to-serve” vegan and sustainable options. Wamame states it worked directly with 7-Eleven Canada for six months to develop the new offerings.  Every 7-Eleven across Canada “We are excited that Wamame products are now available in every 7-Eleven location across Canada,” says Mr. Jarrett Malnarich, CEO of Wamame Foods Inc. “Being able to develop, launch and support 7-Eleven Canada’s …

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Waygu Beef

©Top Tier Foods
Company News

Wamame Foods Welcomes New Partners to Expand Plant-Based Waygu Beef Across Canada and US

Canada’s Wamame Foods, which produces the world’s first plant-based wagyu beef, welcomes Teja Foods and Sierra Meat and Seafood as new consortium partners.  Along with innovation partners Merit Functional Foods, Wismettac Asian Foods and Crush Dynamics, and a co-investment from Protein Industries Canada, the plant-based consortium seeks to develop and distribute Wamame’s plant-based alternatives to wagyu beef. The companies’ efforts will build on the early success of Wamame’s Waygu brand by investing in research and development through partnerships with the University of British Columbia and the Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre.  According to Wamame, the research process will help create a suite of products that can compete against the best beef brands in the world. These offerings would be sold under both the Waygu brand and …

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Wamame Launches 'Waygu' beef at Germany's biggest sushi chain

Waygu © Top Tier Foods

Retail & E-Commerce

Plant-Based Waygu Beef Launches on GTFO It’s Vegan Across US 

Canada’s Wamame Foods has launched its plant-based Waygu branded beef products across the US with online retailer GTFO It’s Vegan. The vegan version of Japanese wagyu steak is claimed to be the world’s first premium plant-based alternative and will now be available via eCommerce.  Speaking to vegconomist on the launch, founder Blair Bullus said: “What GTFO It’sVegan offers Waygu is an avenue to reach all customers across the US and Canada with an internet connection. Now anyone interested in purchasing a truly premium plant-based meat has a great way to order, via GTFOit’sVegan.com” The new partnership will start with Wamame’s Waygu Premium Sukiyaki Style “Beef” Teriyaki strips, which the company claims have the same tenderness and aroma as conventional wagyu beef, and is made in …

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Wagyu Japanese plate from above

©Top Tier Foods
Company News

Vegan Wagyu Steak to Be Served to Elon Musk, Bill Gates & Al Gore at Exclusive TED Conference

Wamame Foods, a subsidiary of Top Tier Foods Inc., is best known for its leading brand Waygu – creators of alt wagyu steak which the company describes as the “world’s first premium, plant-based beef alternative.” Top Tier announces today that its flagship product will be served at the Ted2022 Conference in Vancouver later this month. The news follows a string of successes for the Canadian producer which last November raised $7.6 million for global expansion and this February announced its launch into Advanced Fresh Concepts, the largest sushi franchise in the US. Musk, Gates and Gore to try? Speakers at this year’s TED2022 Conference in Vancouver will include Elon Musk, former Vice President Al Gore, and Bill Gates. It could be assumed that Gates is …

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Wamame Launches 'Waygu' beef at Germany's biggest sushi chain

Waygu © Top Tier Foods

Investments & Finance

Canadian Alt Wagyu Beef Company Wamame Foods Secures $7.6M to Expand Globally

Canada’s Wamame Foods – the plant-based food producer known for creating Waygu, the world’s first plant-based wagyu beef – forms part of an international collaboration to expand its product line. The $7.6 million project will use ground-breaking plant-based research to create a suite of high-quality meat alternatives with beef textures to be sold under the Waygu brand.  A subsidiary of Top Tier Foods, Wamame Foods will lead a consortium of companies including Protein Industries Canada, Merit Functional Foods, University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems, and Wismettac Asian Foods – one of the largest Japanese food distributors in North America.  Through honoring traditional Japanese cooking and fermentation techniques, Wamame will use the funding to focus on research and development in taste and …

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©Top Tier Foods

Printed Technology

How Would You Like Your Wagyu Beef? 3D-Printed, Cell-Cultured, or Plant-Based? 

Scientists from Osaka University claim to have created the world’s first 3D-printed wagyu beef in Japan this week, using bovine satellite cells and adipose-derived stem cells isolated from Wagyu cows to 3D-print a realistic steak piece containing muscle, fat, and blood vessels. Wagyu can be translated literally to “Japanese cow,” and is famous around the globe for its high content of intramuscular fat. Known as marbling or Sashi, this fat provides the beef with its distinctive flavors and texture. As Wagyu beef has become an interesting and vibrant niche in the alt meat innovation landscape, vegconomist takes a look at the biggest alt Wagyu developments to date.  Alt Wagyu – 2018 to present December, 2018: Eat Just, producer of JUST Egg, was one of the …

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Top Tier Foods by Brice Ferre Studio
Interviews

Top Tier Foods: “Chef Toju Thought He Was Eating Real Wagyu Beef, Not Something Made of Plants”

Based in Canada, Top Tier Foods produces a vegan Wagyu beef called Waygu – a product so authentic that a renowned master chef reportedly could not tell the difference between the two. We spoke with founder Blair Bullus on what sets this vegan beef apart and makes it “not just another plant-based ground beef company.

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