I have several loves in life, and one of them is eating. Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll tell you that I’m quite a glutton with an under-appreciated skill of sniffing out Happy Hours from afar and gulping down food as if I were a Dyson V25. Another love of mine is technology and startups. But since most of the developments I cover are in the cyber and SaaS areas, I don’t often get to experiment with them. So, when I was given the opportunity to combine these 2 loves and meet dozens of Israeli food tech startups at The Kitchen’s FoodTech IL conference, Strauss’ startup incubator – I had to say yes– and my stomach was grateful for it. So, here are some of the tastier startups I met there.
Next Gen Hummus: Who needs a coffee machine when you can have a hummus machine
Credit: Tamooz
You probably already have a coffee machine in your office. If you’re lucky, you might also have a beer tap or ice cream machine, but do you have a hummus machine? The first thing I saw at the exhibition – that warmed my heart and stomach – was a collaboration between Strauss and the Israeli startup Tamooz who developed a machine called Hummix or Hummus Next Gen (depending on who you ask). You should know that Tamooz, is no stranger to designing technology for the food and beverage industry as they have designed and developed several devices for SodaStream in the past.
Inside this rather massive hummus machine is a container for grinding and a designated place for ground and cooked chickpeas. With the machine, you just choose your preferred hummus-tahini ratio, and in a few seconds, with a very unappetizing effect, you will receive hummus in a bowl. All you have to do is garnish it to your liking. I was skeptical about this machine at first, but it did taste like store-bought hummus. I will say that it is far from feeling like the fresh hummus you might get on a Friday morning, especially because the chickpeas are already cooked and ground, so the hummus comes out cold and not warm. But still, it’s hummus – and hummus has a warm place in my heart.
More Foods: A meat substitute from… seeds?
Credit: Geektime
There are quite a few meat substitutes on the market, and even quite a few Israeli ones, and as someone who eats tofu most of the time, I am waiting for a better meat substitute than those on the market. Currently, on the market, you have a lot of soy and seitan-based substitutes, but More Foods substitute is somehow made from… pumpkin and sunflower seeds. The same snack that you might nosh on while watching TV, or add to a salad, is being used as a meat substitute. The company explained to me that they take the seeds, grind the oil out of them, and then mix them with water – and the result is a meat substitute that reminded me a lot of thinly sliced seitan.
Though seeds may not make you think “high protein”, the company managed to reach 26% protein, with 6% fibre and with very little fat (at least from what I was told). On top of everything, and perhaps most importantly, it was delicious. I will say that the “meat” was covered in sauce, but that’s not a bug, that’s a feature. The company explained to me that the raw …….