The meatball matchup: Plant vs. animal proteins on campus
Skyler R. St. Pierre, Aeneas O. Koosis, Nancy Zhang, Ellen Kuhl · 2026
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Description
St. Pierre and colleagues stage a meatball matchup in a university dining hall, comparing how patrons rate plant-based and animal-based meatballs, in 2026 food science research. Diners (116 patrons) tasted two plant-based meatballs, soy and soy-wheat, and two animal-based ones, beef and beef-mushroom, rating qualities while instruments measured texture in parallel. The study asks whether plant products reach sensory parity in a dining setting, and what drives students' food choices at the counter.
Animal meatballs won significantly on moistness, meatiness, fattiness, and tastiness, each at a significance level below 0.001. The meatiness gap was largest, at 1.40 points on the 5-point scale used by the tasters. Instruments found animal samples harder and chewier, yet diners perceived no chewiness or hardness difference, a disconnect between machine and mouth. Flavor and texture dominated choice; sustainability and animal welfare ranked lowest. Savoriness fell short in every product, including beef.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Skyler R. St. Pierre, Aeneas O. Koosis, Nancy Zhang, Ellen Kuhl |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 45 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |