Yes, you read that correctly, the Grand Hyatt Singapore is leading the charge and becomes the first to serve Beyond Burger in Singapore and South East Asia. This 100% plant-based, gluten-free and soy-free burger patty is made from Beyond Meat and is your answer to a meat-free, impact light burger.
Why is this such exciting news? Typically a beef burger has a big carbon footprint, according to Nat Geo for every pound of beef nineteen pounds of greenhouse gases are released. Consuming less beef can reduce your carbon footprint. In the making of this burger, not only were no animals were harmed, it also allows us vegans, vegetarians and climatarians to still enjoy a good old juicy burger.
If you haven’t already come across Beyond Meat, it’s been designed to look, taste and pink up the way a beef would. While some longtime vegans and vegetarians don’t have a desire to eat ‘fake meats’ – if you’re new to the flexitarian diet or want to lighten your plates load – this is for you.
What’s the Beyond Burger made of?
Plants of course. Think pea protein, beetroot, potatoes and coconut oil all coming together with no cholesterol, no hormones, no antibiotics and no animals harmed. It looks, cooks and satisfies like meat. The founders of Beyond Meat believe there is a better way to feed the world and we couldn’t agree more. They’re on a mission to replace animal protein with plant protein and doing that on a mass scale. Beyond for the health and planet win!
Why the Grand Hyatt?
The Grand Hyatt has been leading the plant-based cuisine movement in Singapore for a while now thanks to the very charismatic F&B Director Jerome Pagnier. This is not the first step – they are already serving a plant-based Italian Lunch Buffet at Pete’s Place with vegan and gluten-free pizzas, and have a full selection of in-house vegan cheeses. If you’re looking for a special dining experience, they do that too – like their sold out Vegan Valentines Day Dinner.
What’s on the menu?
You can get a Classic Cheese Burger or a Modern Asian Burger at mezza9, crafted by Executive Sous Chef Martin Satow. You can even make it a set with kombucha or local craft beer and a fair-trade chocolate beetroot vegan brownie. Eat good and feel good – inside and out.
Jerome Pagnier shares “The introduction of Beyond Burgers to Grand Hyatt Singapore allows us to reinforce our position in the market. It strengthens our efforts of consistently having plant-based options in our venue to allow for an all-inclusive dining experience for vegetarians, vegans or diners who simply want to minimise their meat consumption.”
Why we should all go Green on Mondays.
Big advocate of the vegan movement in Singapore, Rebecca Cappelli of Let Us Be Heroes connected Jerome to the team at Green Monday in Hong Kong as the first step for this exciting collaboration. Jerome shared that it took 8 months to finalise the smaller details before the Beyond Burger finally arrived on our sunny shores.
We were curious after a very successful launch of Beyond Meat in Hong Kong, why David Yeung, Founder of Green Monday, decided on to bring Beyond Burger in Singapore as the next market. “Singapore and Hong Kong are similar in many ways. Both cities are international. Both cities are trend-setters in the region. Both cities are so dense that trends can catch on and get viral very easily. So while we have been receiving overwhelming inquiries from all over Asia regarding Beyond Burger and other rapidly-growing plant-based brands such as Gardein, Daiya, and Omnipork, the demand from Singapore has been particularly keen and persistent. It also has to do with a strong yet latent demand for plant-based food due to dietary requirements of various religions and ethnics groups.”
Could we see a billion vegans and vegetarians?
Singapore based entrepreneur Vikas Garg certainly thinks so with his startup abillionVeg. Their whole mission is to change the equation so that more restaurants offer veggie and vegan options and that more consumers are empowered to find the food that they want no matter where they are. Since launching abillionVeg app they’ve “Seen conscious people around the world reviewing delicious and sustainable products like the Beyond Burger, which is a game-changing product that’s entering restaurants and grocery stores around the world! We’re so excited to see the growth in these and many other plant-based products.”
According to Jerome Pagnier “The landscape does look promising but there is still much work to be done. There is a strong and growing vegan presence in Singapore however too few venues offer plant-based options so it will definitely take time. If more venues took up the opportunity to offer more plant-based options, the awareness of a plant-based diet naturally increases and that will continue to build the vegan community.”
Why 2018 is the tipping point.
If you haven’t already felt the #beatplasticpollution movement you’ve clearly been living under a social media rock. Is the next big wave plant-based? David Yeung chimed in to say “There is NO question that 2018 is a global tipping point. Depending on the country, we are talking about 2X, 3X even 10X growth. Supply isn’t catching up to demand. It is surreal and extremely encouraging to see such a massive change in market behavior and diet shift.” Hear hear.
Other reasons we’re crushing on The Grand Hyatt.
- By installing an in-house machine that converts 100% of their food waste into organic fertiliser – they have saved over 55,000 trash bags a year.
- By producing 30% of their own electricity needs, and using the heat for hot water, they have reduced their carbon emissions by nearly 1,200 tonnes per year – which is like taking 300 cars off the road.
- By transitioning from physical newspapers to digital, they have got rid of 450,000 printed copies – saving 10 hectares of forests per year!
Little Green Steps you can take to reduce the footprint on your place:
- Vote with your dollar and skip that burger!
- Green It Yourself (GIY) by going green on Mondays – every little bit counts.
- When you have an amazing vegetarian or vegan dish share it on abillionVeg so more people can enjoy it.
There is power in numbers. We can be the change! Check out the Beyond Burger in Singapore at the Grand Hyatt, 10 Scotts Road today.