Industry pioneer Ben Dotan shares his philosophy on the importance of Israel’s vegan life leadership

Vgarden was my first opportunity to contribute my efforts in the Israeli Food-Tech ecosystem. Coming from very competitive based markets/businesses – It really inspired me to witness the collaborative atmosphere of the food-tech ecosystem in Israel.

An enormous amount of highly enthusiastic, talented people and Companies, working to create a sustainable, healthy, and safe future for this planet and its inhabitants. The vastness of the field (ranging from novel plant-based ingredients, proteins, natural food colorants, and flavorings, novel agriculture, Clean Meat, and Milk technologies; to manufacturing technologies and sustainable packaging) provides a wide enough space for inspiration.

Israel is well known as a destination for vegans, with 13% of its population a self-declared vegetarian; Many top restaurants serve only plant-based foods and a wide variety of ingredients available in grocery stores across the land. Israel is also known as a “Start Up Nation” where inventors and entrepreneurs have thrived for decades (and hopefully will continue to).

This atmosphere creates a win-win situation for fruitful collaboration between many of the companies active in our ecosystem.

Yesterday, Vgarden announced an R&D collaboration with Brevel, one of the prominent companies in this unique ecosystem that seeks to invent cost-effective manufacturing of microalgae-based alternative proteins. Together we will make a genuine bold attempt to invent plant-based foods that are all about taste, texture, and are truly highly nutritious.

Our collaboration with Brevel is another example of how Vgarden rolls. They understand our vision of Vgarden as a full spectrum plant-based solution, and we share many of their values, including a deep commitment to sustainability, responsibility, and service.

One of the major obstacles in our path is high-quality plant-based protein costs. Making a plant-based cheese that is wonderful, at a price most of us can’t afford – is not what we aim to do. This is where Brevel kicks in – Brevel’s inspiring technology preserves the nutritional values of the protein and shows the real potential of future price parity with pea and soy proteins.

Vgarden’s lab and production facility, which has been producing and packaging a full range of high-quality and nutritious delicacies since 2015, is in the heart of Kibbutz Gan Shmuel and serves as a solid basis for market leadership. We’ve recently announced a joint venture in Australia with Cale & Daughters that will result in a new factory there, a state-of-the-art factory being built on an old dairy processing plant.

We also announced we had established a world-class team in the United States and our investment in and commitment to bringing the North American market our proven, successful vegan foods, including a pizza solution that has been embraced by several of the largest pizza chains in the world.

No one can make it alone! The ecosystem in Israel is highly engaged worldwide, with many wonderful partners abroad. Israel is a country with a very successful track record of exporting our best technologies to the entire world. Next week we will be introducing a new range of products on November 1, which is World Vegan Day.

Vgarden has for years been selling our popular range of plant-based cheeses, meat, and fish alternatives in the Israeli market under the label Mashu Mashu (referring to “something special” in Hebrew), and there is nothing we love more than bringing all that is special to our friends around the world.

We are constantly looking for opportunities to build successful, meaningful partnerships – please reach out to me if you’d like to learn more.

Ben Dotan
Head of Innovation and Engagements