From Burger King to Wall Street, plant-based meat alternatives are shaking up the market

From Burger King’s introduction of a vegetarian version of its uber-popular Whopper burger to the much-celebrated Wall Street entry of vegan start-up Beyond Meat, companies selling meat alternatives have the wind in their sails.

Here is an overview of non-meat alternatives.

Plant-based products

Soy steaks have been around for a long time and are a point of reference for organic stores. But several companies have spent recent years developing products further by using advanced technologies to imitate the taste, texture and even blood of conventionally raised animal meat.

They use beets, chickpeas and coconut oil, among others, to make “burgers”, “sausages” and “steak”.