Tuna made from tomatoes and eggs made from mung beans are some of the alternative dishes diners may be able to order in restaurants soon.
Gateway services and food solutions provider Sats is in talks with at least eight food technology companies to distribute their sustainable plant-based proteins, as demand for alternative foods grows here.
They will be distributed through Sats' wholly owned subsidiary Country Foods, which already distributes Impossible Foods' meat-alternative products in Singapore.
Country Foods general manager Andre Menezes said such dishes could be available in restaurants here as early as the first half of next year, though he did not say where.
Speaking at a showcase at Grand Hyatt Singapore on Thursday, he said: "We don't see them as a niche product... Of course, there's an adoption curve, but our end goal is definitely to be mass market."
Dishes on display included sushi featuring "raw tuna" made from tomatoes by Ocean Hugger Foods and "beef brisket" made from shiitake mushroom stems by Fable.
At present, prices for alternative proteins are at least 20 per cent to 30 per cent higher than similar meat products, Mr Menezes said.
But food technology firms predict that prices will become comparable in three to five years as adoption rises.
Vegan egg by American food technology company Just, for instance, is currently about four times the price of conventional hen eggs in the US, said Just senior vice-president of global partnerships Matt Riley. But the firm is working to bring the price of the mung bean-based eggs down in 18 to 24 months.
It aims to become the most affordable protein on the market.
"Egg is a ubiquitous protein - it's consumed in huge amounts every day across the globe," said Mr Riley. "Mung beans scramble like an egg and deliver the same texture, and we're constantly working on new versions to make it taste as close to an egg as possible."
According to the Singapore Food Agency, Singapore consumes over three million eggs on average a day.
Sats' executive chef Matthew Yim, whose team developed seven of the 29 dishes showcased, said plant-based proteins can taste almost 95 per cent similar to the real thing.
"Chefs have to educate diners because it won't be exactly like real meat," he said. "But I don't think people who choose this lifestyle would complain that it does not taste exactly like meat."
Leveraging its culinary expertise and tapping Country Foods' sourcing and distribution network, Sats intends to provide sustainable food start-ups a platform for growth in Asia. This is in line with its foray into the sustainable food products sector, which has been identified as a key growth area by Sats, Temasek and the Economic Development Board.
