Why fungi-based meat could be the latest meatless food fad

Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal joins the Live show to discuss Meati's fungi-based protein products and how mushrooms may be the next big trend in alternate meats.

Video transcript

SEANA SMITH: Well, we're going to stick with alternative proteins because there's another startup out there that's betting big on fungi-based meat. They're saying that this is the next wave in the industry. Alexandra Canal joins us now for more on this. And, Allie, fungi-based meat, I'm not so much sold on this yet. So sell me on it.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: OK, I said the same thing. It's a startup. It was created in 2019. It's called Meati. And yes, you're right, it is meat that's grown from the root of a mushroom. That was the first question I asked him. How do you get people to try this? And he said, you know what, trying is believing. If you taste it, you will notice that it tastes a lot like chicken, a lot like beef. I did have the chance to taste it. I got to say, I was pretty impressed. I think I was more of a fan of the steak option than the chicken cutlet.

The steak option actually went direct to consumer online today, already sold out. Their last round of the chicken cutlet back in April, they put that on its website, also sold out in just 20 minutes. So there's clearly a desire here. You were just talking with your last guest about all the different options right now. And I just think it's really interesting to see what's happening in this space.

The process is pretty simple. It takes four days start to finish. He described it to me as brewing-- a brewing process in the front, cheese processing process in the back. And it produces the same amount of meat as a cow, you know, completely sustainable. So it's an interesting option out there. But I do think people want to adopt less meat in their diet, and they want the options.

SEANA SMITH: So you tried it, and you cooked it yourself?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yeah, I mean, I didn't cook it myself. They cooked it for me.

SEANA SMITH: OK.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: But they said you can cook it the same way you would. You can get really creative with it, the spices. And I was a fan. I thought it was actually pretty good.

SEANA SMITH: All right, well, you sold me on it. I have to at least try it.