For those who want to cut down on animal meat, Ukrainian and international brands offer a variety of plant-based alternatives: from world-famous burgers with juicy Beyond Meat patties to vegan sausages, meatballs and tacos made of locally-produced ground meat.
In June, the Ukrainian company Go Green entered a crowded vegan food market, introducing the first plant-based steak produced in Ukraine. According to the company’s website, the steak looks and tastes like real marbled beef meat.
Different from other brands that sell vegan patties or ground meat in Ukraine, Go Green has carved up a piece of soy and wheat proteins, colored with liquid caramel, beet juice and fermented rice in the form of a 960-gram steak.
“Globally, there are almost no equivalents of this steak,” according to Stanislav Lutskovych, co-founder of the company West Mills that distributes plant-based meat in Ukraine.
Although vegetarian food is becoming more popular in Ukraine, plant-based meat is still an exotic and thus expensive option. One kilogram of Go Green’s steak costs over $52 on West Mill’s website. To compare, one kilogram of the traditional steak costs nearly $20.
Go Green said that its vegan steak “is an exclusive product,” that will only be available “in select restaurants.”
The company also sells other popular plant-based products like vegan ground meat and patties that taste and smell like real beef or fish. In the future, Go Green plans to introduce soy-based cheese and vegan meatballs.
According to its founders, the company wants to make plant-based products popular among all Ukrainians, not only vegetarians.
“But there has always been one problem: the products are not tasty enough, and thus not very popular among consumers. We want to change that,” Go Green said.
