Pulled Oats are here to stay!

What is it?

Pulled Oats? Like pulled pork or chicken? Well.. kind of! Finnish oat-pioneer Maija Itkonen and food-scientist Reetta Kivelaä decided to take a deep dive into developing a both sustainable and tasty alternative to meat. Something with great nutritional value: Proteins, fibres, minerals and antioxidants but also something that would excel in flavour and texture. A plant based and low-footprint option that would not be "just like" chicken, but even better.

After quite some time of research and development, Maija and Reeta decided to test people’s opinions by selling their product in a select number of local supermarkets. What happened then was way beyond their expectations: a large department store in Helsinki sold out in only 11 minutes, social media exploded: people loved it.

So, they went searching for a bigger production location and proper machines to quickly react to the oat-loving people’s demand. And by now, their innovative product even gained more traction due to the winning of multiple awards.

Why is it cool?

Ok… hold on! First of all, Pulled Oats are cool because they’re oats. And we love oats. In fact, we just wrote this article about the use of this great ingredient in our own product.

Secondly, we’re loving this product because it helps change the current food system into a more sustainable one. Oats as a source of protein means a considerably lower amount of agricultural land and energy needed when compared to animal products as meat and dairy.

Also, despite the fact Pulled Oats are not the same as their meaty opponent, this product could be prepared, processed or added to any dish in exactly the same way. Making it an easy and accessible option for whenever you’d like to experiment with lowering your meat-intake

Maija and Reetta now form ‘Gold & Green Foods’ (which we think is a very cool company name) and will go on with researching and developing ‘meat from oats’. They share a lot of useful stuff on their website: Extensive info on how their product came to be, where the ingredients are sourced from and a million tasty recipe suggestions, yum!

Does it have future growth potential?

Yes it does. And we do not only say this because of the personal excitement we feel when finding out about like-minded companies. Finding ways to improve the way people eat - like this company does, but also in a more general way - can be stated as a crucial and highly important mission.

As mentioned on our sustainability page, changing how and what we eat is one of the most effective ways in which individuals can have great positive impact on the environment. A crucial positive impact to be exact. Just last week, an important UN landmark report, in which scientist urgently warn there are just a dozen years left to keep global warming under 1,5 Celcius, came out.

Stated by these world-leading scientists, dietary- and technological changes are mentioned as the most important ways in which we can help and make a change. And with more and more individuals gaining insights in the right ways to go, we believe demands for these kinds of earth-friendly alternatives will keep on rising.

Way to go, Maija and Reetta! Let’s hope Pulled Oats will also be available in countries outside of Finland and Sweden too.