10 most popular plant-based products in the Czech Republic revealed

The most popular plant-based products in the Czech Republic have been unveiled according to a new survey.

The Czech-made ManaBurger came out on top in the poll, called Plant Product of the Year, and conducted by Rostlinně, which monitors the development of plant products in the country. 2020 was the third year of the poll, with around 8,500 people voting in total.

ManaBurger is from Heaven Labs, a research start-up specializing in the production of functional food that launched a “food drink” in 2014. The burger took three years of trial and error to create.

"The ManaBurger is popular not only among customers of our e-shop, but of Czech online supermarkets. And by this summer, we plan to make it available in all retail supermarkets in addition to Globus, where you can already buy it, as well as through all burger delivery services,” he added.

It is the second year in a row that a meat-replacement product has taken the top prize with the Next Level burger from Lidl picking up the top spot last year.

Demand for plant-based products is growing every year, according to Smart Protein project data collected using Nielsen MarketTrack in 11 European countries. The most popular category is meat alternatives, whose sales have increased by more than two-thirds (68%) in two years.

“Interest in plant products is also skyrocketing in the Czech Republic. Indeed, almost a third of Czechs want to eat fewer animal products and more plant products. This is due to the fact that more and more of the population is becoming flexitarian, or trying to reduce consumption of animal products for ethical, ecological, health, or other reasons,“ says Marianna Slováková, manager of Rostlinne.cz. 

Next Level cutlets from Lidl finished in second place in the poll with the Absolutely Coconut yoghurt from the Alpro brand finishing in third, followed by the vegan Bologna sauce Lunter from the Slovak Alfa Bio.

A recent survey by the company Mint named the Czech Republic as one of the most vegan and vegetarian-friendly places in Europe, looking at the number of restaurants that cater for people following meatless or plant-based diets against the size of the population. Meanwhile, data from Eurostat showed that meat prices in the country were below that of other European Union countries.

A total of ten products were nominated for the survey, voting took place from Feb. 17 to March. 17, 2021 on the Rostlinně.cz website.