When you think of IKEA, what comes to mind? Perhaps the weird names of furniture pieces? The maze-like store that can leave customers browsing for hours? Maybe it’s the Swedish meatballs they offer. Recently, IKEA announced that they will introduce plant balls that are said to be equally delicious as the famous meatballs people are fond of.
Made of yellow pea protein, oats, potatoes, onion and apple, the vegan plant balls are flavoured with mushroom, tomato and roasted vegetables for rich umami.
“In the development phase of the plant ball our key objective has been to recreate the meat-like taste and texture, only using plant based ingredients. We have tried and tested different ingredients and methods and we are very pleased with the final results,” said Alexander Magnusson, chef and project leader at IKEA Food.
For the same price as the regular meatballs, shoppers can soon enjoy the plant balls plated with mashed potatoes, peas, lingonberries, and cream sauce at IKEA’s restaurants and bistros. However, the cream sauce contains beef stock and butter, making the dish unsuitable for plant-based diets. Alternatively, customers can dine at home by buying the plant balls in frozen packs.
So why is IKEA introducing plant balls? Given the fact that they have been pushing for sustainability in the past few years, it comes with no surprise that they turned their attention to what was being made in its kitchens.
“Unsustainable consumption and climate change remain some of the biggest challenges for humanity,” said IKEA. “We want to make healthier and more sustainable living easy. But it’s more than just offering smarter products – we want to create a movement for a better, more sustainable everyday life.”
“At IKEA we will never compromise on food quality and always aim to offer options that are tasty, affordable, nutritionally balanced and more sustainable. Because food should not only be good for you, it should also be good for the planet,” added IKEA.
Since the plant balls contain no meat, they require fewer resources, water and land to create, making the carbon footprint equivalent to just four percent of a meatball.
“At IKEA, we sell more than one billion meatballs every year,” said Sharla Halvorson, global health and sustainability manager at IKEA. With this in mind, just imagine the positive effects it would have on the environment if everyone started eating the plant balls.
The plant balls are set to become available first in the EU, before coming to North America, the Middle East and Asia in the fall.
All images in this article are courtesy of IKEA.
