2022年经济学人 植物性蛋白质越来越受到食客的欢迎（1）（在线收听）

Business.

商业。

Foodmaking.

食品制作。

A taste of things to come.

未来事物尝鲜。

Plant-based proteins are increasingly popular with diners.

植物性蛋白质越来越受到食客的欢迎。

A good vegan milk needs to look like milk and taste like milk, whether it's a fatty version, preferred by bakers, or a skimmed one, favoured by the health-conscious.

好的纯素牛奶需要看起来像牛奶，尝起来也像牛奶，无论是面包师喜欢的脂肪牛奶，还是注重健康的人喜欢的脱脂牛奶。

And, for coffee-drinkers, it should ideally foam like the stuff from a cow.

而且，对于喝咖啡的人来说，理想的情况是它应该像奶牛产的奶一样起泡。

For years manufacturers have had trouble hacking this delicate imitation game.

多年来，制造商一直难以破解这种精致的模仿游戏。

Rapidly rising revenues suggest that they are getting much better at it.

快速增长的收入表明，他们在这方面做得越来越好。

In America alone, $2.6bn of plant-based milk was sold in 2021, up from $2bn in 2018.

仅在美国，植物奶的销售额就从2018年的20亿美元升到2021年的26亿美元。

Pseudo-milks are only one category in the growing assortment of passable plant-based alternatives to animal products.

植物性的动物制品替代品的种类越来越多，人造牛奶只是其中一种。

There are now convincing versions not just of meat but of cheese, eggs and even prawns.

现在不仅有令人信以为真的人造肉，还有人造奶酪、人造鸡蛋甚至人造虾。

Burger King and McDonald's sell vegan patties; Chipotle has made a plant-based chorizo.

汉堡王和麦当劳出售素食肉饼；Chipotle制作了一种植物性香肠。

Last year the world's largest producer of canned tuna, Thai Union, launched a plant-based line.

去年，全球最大的金枪鱼罐头生产商泰万盛推出了植物性生产线。

Growing sales show the growing taste for this type of foodstuff.

不断增长的销售额表明，人们对这种食品的兴趣越来越大。

BCG, a consultancy, reckons that global revenues from alternative proteins could reach $290bn by 2035--and that is a cautious estimate.

波士顿咨询公司估计，到2035年，替代蛋白质带来的全球收入可能达到2900亿美元--这还只是一个谨慎的估计。

Eager investors have poured into the business like oatmilk into a latte.

热切的投资者们纷纷涌入这个行业，就像燕麦奶加进拿铁一样。

Alternative-protein companies lapped up $5bn in investments in 2021, 60% more than in 2020.

替代蛋白质公司在2021年欣然获得了50亿美元的投资，比2020年增加了60%。

Oatly, a Swedish firm that makes plant-based milk, raised $1.4bn on its Nasdaq debut last year.

生产植物奶的瑞典公司噢麦力去年在纳斯达克上市时融资了14亿美元。

Impossible Foods, which makes meatless burgers, raised $500m in November, valuing the firm at $7bn.

生产无肉汉堡的Impossible Foods在11月份融资了5亿美元，使公司估值达70亿美元。

In February Nestlé, a packaged-goods giant, acquired Orgain, which makes plant-based protein powder, for an undisclosed sum rumoured to be around $2bn.

包装产品业巨头雀巢在2月份收购了生产植物性蛋白粉的欧根，交易金额未披露，据传约为20亿美元。

Can the feast last?

这样的盛况能持续下去吗？

One reason to be hopeful is that alternative proteins have come a long way since the 1980s, when Quorn, a fungus-based meat alternative, first hit supermarket shelves.

有希望持续下去的一个原因是，20世纪80年代时，真菌制成的肉类替代品--阔恩素肉首次出现在超市的货架上，自那时以来，替代蛋白质已经取得了长足的进步。

Silk, a soya milk, followed in the 1990s.

随后，Silk豆奶在20世纪90年代问世。

Unlike those early products, which were neither terribly tasty nor particularly nutritious, the latest crop are often both.

与既不好吃也不特别有营养的早期产品不同，近期的作物往往两者兼而有之。

Clever processing improves texture, additives boost taste and a pinch of specially engineered peas and beans adds nutrients.

巧妙的加工改善质地，添加剂提升口感，少量经过特殊改造的豌豆和豆子增加营养。