Culinary Journey: Visiting Hampton Creek
Usually when I travel, I only visit our LSG Sky Chefs’ facilities around the globe or just see airports and meeting rooms. When I travelled to San Francisco this time, I also had the chance to follow-up on a great idea I found on Facebook.
“What would the world look like if healthier food was affordable?” – A valid question, and I found out that the company Hampton Creek is working on food solutions that answer that exact question. Their products are cholesterol-free, sustainable and just as good as the real thing in taste, look, smell, texture and quality. I wanted to see, taste and touch these products, so I went to see Josh Tetrick, CEO of Hampton Creek, and Jackie Leavitt, International Partnerships Lead. I even had the chance to visit their development kitchen, where chefs, bakers and scientists work on new ideas.
Let’s take an egg as example
Every chef – and to be honest everyone who cooks – uses a lot of eggs. Eggs have a lot of great features and that’s the reason they are part of so many dishes. They give volume, they bind, they make dishes fluffy and of course you have a lot of dishes based on eggs such as scrambled eggs, omelet etc. But besides all these positive aspects, more and more people are allergic to egg protein and on the other hand the production of so many eggs is not always animal friendly. And there is always the aspect of food safety, including a risk of salmonella.
I tried “Just Scramble”, a new product by Hampton Creek which is not yet available on the market. And – believe it or not – taste, texture and quality were 95 percent of an egg product, although “Just Scramble” only consists of plant protein. This was amazing, and I tried more products, which are already available in supermarkets in the US. For example “Just Mayo” – which comes in original, and also is available in chipotle, garlic, and sriracha – uses a Canadian Yellow Pea to emulsify the oil and water instead of a chicken egg.
This was a remarkable stop on my Culinary Journey. Tasting these healthy and affordable products really impressed me and made me think of how we can use them in our operations. I will stay in touch with these guys and exchange ideas. I also would love to bring these new products on board for our customers – let’s see!
Culinary regards
Jörg
About Jörg
Berlin, London, Hong Kong or Sydney – the culinary world will never be big enough for Jörg. He joined LSG Sky Chefs in 2013 to drive culinary ideas, concepts and trends but also to establish a worldwide Executive Chef organization and to create meal standards. Inspired by food, flavors and finesse, Jörg is always looking for attention to detail resulting in perfection. Scouting trends, testing new dishes, Jörg will take on every challenge. At home, he enjoys classic dishes such as Peruvian chevice in the summer or French classics, accompanied by a glass of Champagne.