Future Food Quick Bites: Ikea x Tiny Chef, Oat Milk Livestream & Super Bowl Wings
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Ikea’s Tiny Chef collab, This’s financial milestone, and Kynda’s new mycelium facility.
New products and launches
Ikea has teamed up with The Tiny Chef Show to release three stop-motion episodes of the vegan character inviting viewers into the company’s kitchen to celebrate its new plant-rich falafel ball.
And Japanese travel platform Tabimori has introduced a fully vegetarian omakase option to its sushi interpreting service, Sushi University, which costs ¥16,000 ($102) per person.
Company and finance updates
UK plant-based brand This recorded its first profitable month in December, with an annualised gross revenue of around £24M and a net profit of £56,000.
Meanwhile, French startup HappyVore has overtaken Nestlé‘s Garden Gourmet as the top-selling plant-based meat brand in the country.
Malaysian startup Qarbotech, whose photosynthesis enhancement technology helps plants absorb carbon dioxide and increases yields by 60%, has completed 2,000 hectares of its rice project in Penang.
German food tech startup Kynda, which makes mycelium meat by upcycling food waste, has opened a new 720 sq m R&D hub in Jelmstorf. With 40,000 litres of fermentation volume, it can convert agricultural sidestreams into protein-rich mycelium in under 48 hours, and has the capacity to produce 25,000 tonnes of mycoprotein per year.
Speaking of fungal proteins, there’s change at the top of Scottish firm Enough, whose co-founder Jim Laird has departed as CEO. He will continue at the business in a non-executive capacity.
Research, policy and awards
Shortly after securing $2.8M in funding, Finnish startup Mö Foods has won the Lidl Germany x ProVeg Incubator Cheese Alternative Innovation Competition. It will now stock its oat milk cheeses at the retailer’s stores from this month, starting with the Greek Style flavour.
Animal rights charity Peta India has announced the winners of its 2026 Compassionate Young Entrepreneur Awards, recognising the founders of Canvas V Plant Fwd Kitchen+Bar, Vyakti India, The Bare Bar, Skydrip, and Jiwya.
In the US, Cruncho Chips has become the first company to earn both Vegan and Cruelty‑Free certification under public health organisation NSF‘s newly launched Protocol 543, a science-backed standard for ethical and vegan claims.
Ahead of Super Bowl LX this weekend, a new poll by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and Morning Consult has found that 56% of Americans would consider trying a vegan alternative to chicken wings during the game.
The World Health Organization has published a report on how to create healthy food environments in schools, suggesting that “offering more plant-based options and minimising food waste” can not only promote health, but also broader climate goals.
Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.