2022年经济学人 植物性蛋白质越来越受到食客的欢迎（1）

（单词翻译）

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 bakers¹, 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 foam² 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 hacking³ 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 assortment⁴ 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 prawns⁵.

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 foodstuff⁶.

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 investors⁷ 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 debut⁸ 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 rumoured⁹ 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 nutritious¹⁰, 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 texture¹¹, additives¹² boost taste and a pinch of specially¹³ engineered peas and beans adds nutrients¹⁴.

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。