如果生物反应器里的发酵真菌液体听起来不像你心目中的美味佳肴，Maia Farms 的工作人员表示，在尝试之前先别急着否定它。
If fermented liquid fungus from a bioreactor doesn't sound like your idea of a delicious meal, the folks at Maia Farms say, don't knock it 'til you've tried it.
这家位于温哥华的公司找到了一种培育和收获菌丝体的方法——菌丝体是真菌隐藏在地下、类似根系的网状结构，也是蘑菇的来源。
The Vancouver-based company has figured out a way to grow and harvest mycelium — the hidden, underground root-like networks of fungus that give rise to mushrooms.
“生物反应器让我们能够控制菌丝体的生长环境，”首席创新官肖恩·拉库西埃（Sean Lacoursiere）说。
"The bioreactor allows us to control the environment in which the mycelium are grown," said chief innovation officer Sean Lacoursiere.
“它能让一切保持动态，还能让我们进行通风，提供蘑菇生长所需的所有氧气。”最终得到的产品可以与不同的蛋白质来源混合，以增加分量并提升餐点的营养价值。
"It allows us to keep everything moving and grooving and it also allows us to aerate and provide all the oxygen that the mushroom will need." The result is a food product that can be mixed with different protein sources to add bulk and enhance a meal's nutritional profile.
该公司认为，蘑菇有助于降低餐厅飙升的肉类成本。虽然蘑菇产品常被用作肉类替代品，但 Maia 的目标市场之一正是肉类行业本身。
Company argues mushrooms could help lower skyrocketing meat costs for restaurants While mushroom products are often used in meat substitutes, one of Maia's target markets is the meat industry itself.
“我们可以在减少肉类用量的同时，增加许多营养、口感和质地方面的优势，”拉库西埃解释道。
"We can add a lot of nutritional, taste and texture benefits while reducing the amount of meat that's required," Lacoursiere explained.
对于那些在肉价飞涨中努力控制成本的餐馆老板和其他食品零售商来说，这一产品出现得正是时候。
The offering couldn't be timelier for restaurateurs and other food retailers, struggling to keep costs down as the price of meat soars.
据加拿大牛肉协会（Canada Beef）统计，4月份零售牛肉平均价格为每公斤28加元，比一年前上涨了15%，接近历史最高水平。
According to Canada Beef, retail beef averaged $28 per kilogram in April, up 15 per cent from a year ago and close to a record high.
Maia Farms 食品科学与创新总监凯伦·麦卡菲（Karen McAfee）表示，菌丝体可以替代香肠卷、肉丸和汉堡肉饼中25%到40%的肉类。“它有助于保持水分……还能提供高水平的鲜味，”她说。
Maia Farms' director of food science and innovation Karen McAfee said mycelium could replace between 25 and 40 per cent of the meat in items like sausage rolls, meatballs and burger patties. "It can help retain moisture… it can also help with the high level of umami flavour," she said.
对地球更友好。将蘑菇“隐藏”在肉类中，其益处不仅限于经济层面。
Better for the planet The benefits of hiding mushrooms in your meat go beyond the financial.
“据我们估算，我们每生产一公斤材料，大约产生两公斤二氧化碳，”拉库西埃说。
"From our estimates, we produce around two kilograms of carbon dioxide per kilogram of material," Lacoursiere said.
根据加拿大可持续牛肉圆桌组织（Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef）2024年发布的一份报告，在加拿大，每消费1公斤去骨牛肉就会产生32.8公斤二氧化碳。同时，生产这1公斤牛肉还需要消耗1,912升水——这一数字几乎是Maia公司所报告的用水量的4倍（Maia公司称其生产过程仅需500升水）。
According to a 2024 report by the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, one kilogram of consumed boneless beef in Canada produces 32.8 kilograms of carbon dioxide. The same amount also requires 1,912 litres of water, almost four times the 500 litres Maia reports in its process. "I don't think people really comprehend just how much of a difference this type of product can make," Lacoursiere said.
“我认为人们并没有真正意识到这类产品（指植物性肉类替代品）能够带来多大的改变，”Lacoursiere说道。
Finding consumers While meat alternatives are readily available in Canadian supermarkets, sales in the sector have been declining for several years.
尽管在加拿大的超市里植物性肉类替代品随处可见，但该行业的销售额近年来一直在下降。美国智库The Good Food Institute的报告指出，过去三年里，美国植物性肉类和海鲜产品的销售额（无论是按金额还是销量计算）都出现了下降；报告称，这种下降幅度甚至超过了传统肉类产品以及整个食品和饮料行业的下降幅度。
American think-tank The Good Food Institute has reported "both dollar and unit sales declines" in U.S. plant-based meat and seafood over the past three years. "These declines were larger than those experienced by conventional meat and the total food and beverage sector," the report said. This week, Canada's Maple Leaf Foods announced it was consolidating its U.S. plant protein production facilities down to just one location.
本周，加拿大Maple Leaf Foods公司宣布将其在美国的植物蛋白生产设施整合到仅一个地点。该公司首席执行官Curtis Frank在公司网站上发布的声明中表示：“由于销量持续下滑，我们的生产网络目前被严重低估利用了。”
"Declining volumes have left our manufacturing network substantially underutilized," CEO Curtis Frank said in a statement posted on the company's website. Lacoursiere is hoping Maia has what it takes to buck the trend. "The whole goal of our company here is to produce mycelium at large scales, at a very cost competitive level.
Lacoursiere希望Maia公司能够扭转这一趋势。他说：“我们公司的目标就是大规模地生产这种植物性产品，并且成本要具有竞争力；事实上，我们已经在实现这一目标了。”
And we're already seeing that," he said. As for the "ick" factor? "It's an oyster mushroom. It's been eaten for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
至于人们可能对这种植物性产品产生的“反感”情绪（即认为它们‘难吃’或‘恶心’），Lacoursiere解释道：“这种植物其实是一种平菇，人类已经食用它数百年甚至数千年了，它非常美味。我们只是找到了在液态环境中培养它的方法而已。”
It's delicious. We just found a way to grow it in a submerged liquid state."