The future is blended! 🍔🥕 Blended products combine animal protein w/ plant-based protein (eg. lentils and mushrooms) to improve nutrition while reducing climate impact of the food. Our CEO attended the Future of Protein Production in Chicago to discuss the next wave of protein production looks like!
Rebalancing protein sales is essential to align with the Planetary Health Diet, the scientific benchmark for a healthy, sustainable diet. Consumers are already making the shift. Now it’s time for retailers to match that momentum with clear protein split targets and real action. 🌱
👏🏽 Plant-based is surging in the UK! Tesco reports +25% sales of plant-based mince, yet the Superlist 2026 shows none of the three major UK retailers (ASDA, Sainsbury's and Tesco) have set a specific target to up the share of plant-based proteins in sales while reducing sales of animal proteins.
Lidl Netherlands is leading again! The supermarket announced its aim for 46% of food sales to meet the “Wheel of Five” by 2030, aligning with Dutch national dietary guidelines. This comes right after Lidl Netherlands was ranked first in the Superlist Environment Europe. Read more: shorturl.at/WNLFA
It’s World Pulses Day! 🫘
Our report Meat’s affordability crisis shows the UK price gap between meat and pulses is widening: meat costs are rising, pulses stay stable. With living costs soaring, pulses are a healthy, affordable protein we should eat more of!
As Madre Brava grows across Europe, we’re grateful for an outstanding Board whose expertise in food systems, business, policy & social change guides our work. With their support, we’re excited for what we’ll build together in 2026 🌱
Madre Brava is excited to welcome Zinnia Chacón as our new Spain Director! 🎉 Her appointment launches our work in Spain. A lawyer-economist and seasoned campaigner (ex-Oxfam), Zinnia will build partnerships to scale plant-based abundance for people and planet.
Madre Brava welcomes Moritz Möller as our new Germany Director! Former Planethic/Veganz CMO & board member, IPO comms lead & award-winning storyteller, Moritz will work with our Germany Associate Director Florian to help German supermarkets expand plant-based choice for healthier people & planet 🌱
Across Europe, great work is helping them deliver healthier, more sustainable food. Madre Brava has joined ProVeg International, World Resources Institute & World Wild Fund for Nature to unite retailers and NGOs under one shared “North Star” of transforming retail food systems.
🌿 In Brussels, negotiators are debating banning terms like ‘burger’ and ‘sausage’ for plant-based foods in the EU. But 600+ organisations, Sir Paul McCartney, and more than 300K citizens argue there's #noconfusion over veggie burgers.
Add your voice:
🇳🇱 The Netherlands just updated its dietary guidelines to include planetary health, joining 36 countries. New advice: shift to 60:40 plant:animal proteins, eat more legumes, less red & processed meat. A big step toward diets that are better for people and the planet. 🌱🌍
🇹🇭 Big news for Thailand’s food future! NXPO, a Thai government agency, is publicly backing a shift to a more plant-rich food system - the first public sector in the country to do so, citing health of people & biodiversity as reasons for this shift. Read: www.nationthailand.com/sustaination...
Our briefing: www.madrebrava.org/latest/price-gap-between-meat-and-plant-proteins-widening---new-uk-data
Read the Times article on our briefing: www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
🚨 Meat's affordability crisis 🚨
New data, analysed by Madre Brava, show meat prices in the UK rising faster than plant proteins.
Our briefing, out today, found:
📉 Fresh meat sales dropped in 2025.
🫘 Beans & pulses stayed relatively affordable.
💷 Tofu is cheaper than most meats
Meat & dairy drive more GHG emissions than planes, trains & cars combined, yet food system change is still overlooked. In an article for Alliance mag, Madre Brava CEO Vicky Bond outlines why fixing our food is urgent and how funders can help. Read here - www.alliancemagazine.org/magazine/iss...
On 10 Dec, EU institutions will debate the proposed “burger ban” - restricting words like "burger" or "sausage" on plant-based foods. 80% of surveyed consumers aren’t confused, which begs the question: is this about clarity or control?
Sign the petition & say #noconfusion 👉🏽
Do you know your country’s dietary guidelines and do you follow them?
Finland updated theirs in 2024 to prioritise health and sustainability, and it’s working. Tofu sales jumped 17%, veggies & beans are up, and meat (esp. cold cuts) is down. What can other countries learn from this?
Great meetings happen over plant-based local meals! 🌱
Our CPO Nico Muzi & Thailand Director Wich spent the week in Bangkok discussing how to boost plant-rich diets and drive protein diversification with partners like WWF Thailand. Excited for Thailand’s leadership in the protein transition!
Plant-based "Healthy Thai Diet" outperformed "Conventional Thai Diet", with participants losing body weight, lowered blood pressure & diabetics reduced medications by 30%. Read more at: he02.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/ra... and www.thelancet.com/commissions-...
🇩🇪🌱 German farmers could become world leaders in plant-based protein! In his TopAgrar op-ed, Madre Brava’s Florian Wall argues Germany can lead in plant-based, biotech & high-welfare proteins - if the sector aligns and supermarkets back farmers’ transition.
Read: www.topagrar.com/management-u...
Our Germany Campaigns Consultant Florian Wall published an opinion piece in TopAgrar, Germany's leading farming outlet! He argues German farmers can become global leaders in plant-based protein production with the right support. Read how 👉🏽
🚀 A historic shift in German supermarkets! According to latest study by ProVeg, a plant-based basket is now 5% cheaper than an animal-based one: down from +16% last year. Lidl leads with 18% savings, followed by ALDI Nord (13%), ALDI Süd (11%) & PENNY (7%). Full study - proveg.org/de/proveg-pr...
Our UK Director Sara Ayech joined the Blue Earth Summit, a 3-days event bringing together sustainability leaders to rethink food, oceans & energy. 🌍
Top takeaways:
🥗 Food innovation is climate action
⚖️ Balance ambition with affordability
🌱 Walk the talk with plant-based choices
🤖 German retailer Rewe pilots AI solution to assess its protein split! Partnering with KPMG, this solution allows them to map its animal vs. plant protein sales in just 10 weeks, a task that could’ve taken a year. 🌱
🚀 Exciting times for Madre Brava in the UK! Our team met in London to welcome our new UK Director, Sara Ayech. We're gearing up to boost plant proteins in supermarkets. Sara will explore how they can hit climate targets cost-effectively. Stay tuned! #Sustainability #PlantProtein
Read our opinion piece about how supermarkets can leverage these same strategies to promote plant-rich options - www.madrebrava.org/latest/the-r...
🛒 Supermarkets: The invisible architects of our diets! They use strategic tactics to control what we buy: eye-level placement boosts sales, product loss leaders draw you in, strategic variety prevents choice paralysis. (read more in thread)
Joe Wicks' new documentary on protein bars has reignited the Ultra Processed Foods debate. Food expert Prof Tim Spector noted that Wick is oversimplifying the complex science and called for less fear and more practical help. Not all UPFs are created equal!
At Madre Brava, we’re proud to be part of global conversations on making food healthier, more sustainable & affordable 🌍🥕 In Sept, our team participated in key events in 🇵🇱🇹🇭🇺🇸 to push for a better food system. But as our CEO Vicky Bond says: we need MORE dialogue about food given its impact!
🌱 At our panel on plant-based proteins during Bangkok Climate Week, we revealed that Thailand's meat & seafood substitutes market is set to grow 43% in 5 years. A big opportunity for major meat producers in the country to ramp up investment in this growing market!
