The brainchild behind 'Asia's first plant-based butcher' believes that alternative meats will become a future staple
'Asia's first plant-based butcher', creator and co-founder of Love Handle, 33-year-old Chef Addis Tan, believes that while it is challenging to eliminate eating meat globally, foodtech is growing at a pace where the uptake of plant-based and cultured meats will only increase with improvement in quality. He thinks they will become a staple food of the future while traditional meats will become a premium option eventually.
The ethically and environmentally conscious future generations and the skyrocketing global food demand might very well ensure that his predictions may come true. Chef Addis employs planet-friendly cooking methods for this reason.
Chef Addis Tan
“People in general are drawn to familiarity. Fast food commercials are everywhere. I believe when someone eats a good burger, it does not matter if it is plant based or not.”
What makes Love Handle so attractive is its menu of 'dirty' western and 'junk food'. Chef Addis, the brainchild behind this branding was determined to show that vegan food comes in all varieties and features lots of protein too to appeal to everyone.
“Love Handle has always been community driven. What started as a vegan burger joint evolved into a plant-based butcher because we wanted to have a range of curated products for the community,” he describes.
Love Handle’s menu targets the omnivores among us and Chef Addis remains optimistic about the adoption of the environmentally-friendly plant-based diet due to the positive feedback he has received from his customers, who are both plant-based or flexitarian. Animal agriculture is the one of the largest contributors to global warming.
While research suggests that cultivated meat may never be able to compete with conventional meat on price, Chef Addis believes this may hold true for up to a decade only. He reckons that as soon as the demand meets the supply, alternative meats will become more affordable.
