Yellowstone is Serving Plant-Based Meat Made From Microbes Found in the Park's Hot Springs

EAT

May 20

A Chicago-based food company is using its innovative fermentation technology to produce sustainable and ‘meaty’ fungi protein developed from microbes found in Yellowstone.

Yellowstone National Park is adding plant-based meat and dairy-free cream cheese made using an innovative fungi protein that's grown from a microbe found in Yellowstone’s own hot springs.

Nature’s Fynd, the Chicago-based company behind the innovative new foods, originally started out as part of research conducted for NASA on microbes with origins in Yellowstone.

Now, the company’s breakthrough fermentation technology is using those microbes to grow a new protein, called Fy. Developed in a fermentation process similar to how beer and bread are produced, Fy is a nutritional fungi protein that contains a similar nutritional value to meat, and has already been used to create meaty breakfast patties as well as a dairy-free cream cheese alternative.

And Fy’s low-impact production process means that it’s significantly kinder to the planet, using a fraction of the water, land, and energy required for traditional agriculture.

As the world’s oldest national park, Yellowstone is now partnering with Nature’s Fynd to bring its sustainable, vegan foods to millions of visitors, which will help support the park’s climate change mitigation efforts, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and protect Yellowstone’s resources for the future.

“We’re truly having a full-circle moment here at Nature’s Fynd. Feeding our growing population in the face of the climate crisis is crucial, and without our initial research with Yellowstone National Park, we wouldn’t have been able to become part of the solution with Fy Protein,” Thomas Jonas, Co-Founder and CEO at Nature’s Fynd, told VegNews. “It’s quite remarkable that now our delicious, vegan foods made with Fy are available at the Park—it truly speaks to the power of nature and science coming together to nourish people and the planet for generations to come.”

Visitors to Yellowstone will be able to find Meatless Maple Breakfast Patties made with Fy Protein on the breakfast menu in the park’s seven lodges: Canyon Lodge, Roosevelt Lodge, Mammoth Hot Spring Hotel, Grant Village, Old Faithful Snow Lodge, Old Faithful Inn, and Lake Yellowstone Hotel. And Nature’s Fynd dairy-free cream cheese along with Meatless Original Breakfast Patties will be sold in the park’s general stores too.

For those that can’t visit Yellowstone this summer, Nature's Fynd Meatless Breakfast Patties are also now available in stores across the country, including select Whole Foods Markets in ten states across the West and Northeast.

The Future of Food: What Is Microbial Fermentation?

Based on the centuries-old method of fermentation, microbial protein is produced in steel tanks by feeding sugars and other nutrients to microbes in a process similar to how beer and bread are developed. The end result is a nutritionally-rich food that can taste and feel like meat, all while requiring far less land and water, and emitting fewer greenhouse gases. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a microbial protein meat alternative (mycoprotein) as safe back in 2002.

More than 85 companies are now exploring microbial proteins, according to a 2021 report on the fermentation industry by the Good Food Institute (GFI). With 1.96 billion dollars raised by dedicated alternative protein fermentation companies in 2021, the industry is rapidly attracting attention from investors who see its potential in alleviating the environmental strain caused by conventional animal meat.

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