Actor Robert Downey Jr. has invested in a US plant-based start-up creating vegan bacon from mycelium.
Bacon made from mushrooms? That’s exactly what Robert Downey Jr. has just invested in!
The award-winning actor has backed Atlast Food Co, a vegan start-up creating bacon from mycelium – the fibrous root structure of mushrooms.
MyBacon is made from just six relatively natural ingredients: mycelium, coconut oil, cane sugar, sea salt, beetroot juice and smoked flavours. This should encourage meat-lovers who claim that vegan alternatives contain a long list of unknown ingredients, and are ‘unnatural’.
Using his investment fund Footpront Coalition Ventures, Downey Jr. has become one of several investors in the start-up, which has secured $40 million.
This investment will fund a commercial-scale production of mycelium in the world’s largest aerial farm, planned for erection in New York.
Mycelium has so far only been used to replicate leather in vegan alternatives to shoes, clothing and accessories, so this venture into the plant-based food market is significant.
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‘A tastier alternative to animal proteins’
Writing on Instagram, Atlast Food Co. President Stephen Lomnes explained: “This investment will allow us to meet the incredible demand we’ve felt for our product.
“We are building the largest mycelium production facility in the U.S. to provide consumers nationwide with a tastier alternative to their favourite animal proteins.”⠀⠀⠀⠀
‘It fries like bacon’
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, Eben Bayer, Atlast’s chief executive officer added: “We’re trying to get the people who are not going to go full vegetarian to choose this over bacon.
“You can’t just be better for the planet. The Atlast MyEats looks like bacon, it fries like bacon, it crisps up like bacon, it crunches in your mouth like bacon and we think it tastes a lot like bacon.”
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The Footprint Coalition
Earlier this year, Downey Jr. invested at least $10 million of his own money into the Footprint Coalition, an environmental initiative that aims to save the planet.
The actor formed the Footprint Coalition back in 2019 with the mission of building the world’s most sustainable paper, ending global deforestation, and finding plastic alternatives.
Moreover, the venture supports companies developing sustainable business models and technologies which aid in combatting climate change.
The purpose of the Coalition is to bring together donors, investors and innovators needed to create solutions such as cellular agriculture (lab-grown meat), and sustainably grown bamboo.
We love that the Footprint Coalition has now invested in vegan bacon, and we can’t wait to see what’s next from the environmentally-conscious actor.
Fancy making your own vegan bacon at home?
Here are 11 Smoky Vegan Bacon Recipes That Taste Better Than Meat
