Faux meat innovation is booming, with the Bay Area serving as its creative hub. But beyond vegetarian burgers that bleed, more chefs are experimenting with cooking applications traditionally reserved for meat and applying those methods to fruits and vegetables.

Perhaps blame it on Alain Passard, who for decades has been known to turn earthy beets into steaks and tartare. Or perhaps fellow vegetable lover Alain Ducasse,who has been credited with inspiring a modern vegetable-based revolution in France through dishes like his root vegetable stew.

More recently, at Copnehagen’s Noma, Rene Redzepi has been playing with experimental vegetarian dishes like a plant-based shawarma (made of celeriac and truffles), strawberries and fava beans served “ceviche style,” and cured quince and plum creations that Redzepi describes as being reminiscent of chorizo and salami .

These high-end European chefs aren’t alone in their innovations, though.

Earlier this summer, Ducks Eatery in Brooklyn, N.Y., showcased a smoked watermelon “ham” on YouTube and Instagram that earned thousands of clicks and practically broke the internet. (The restaurant also serves a smoked cantaloupe burger.)

Watermelon has become a trendy meat stand-in; Bay Area cookbook author Heidi Swanson uses it in a recipe for a vegan poke. (See recipe for watermelon steaks.)

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As its name implies, San Francisco’s Southpaw BBQ serves meat, but it nonetheless considers itself to be a vegan-friendly restaurant, thanks in part to a smoked pulled jackfruit sandwich (see recipe). The fruit, which is found in dishes throughout India and Southeast Asia, has been touted as a viable meat substitute for several years now.

“People think barbecue and vegan don’t pair together, but I would beg to differ,” says Southpaw chef and co-owner Ben Thorne, who points out that the fruit works especially well with barbecue because it “has a good texture to it and good bite.” When smoked, pulled and smothered in a tangy barbecue sauce, unripe jackfruit becomes an uncanny textural mimic of Southern-style pulled pork or chicken.

Thorne started playing around with jackfruit about a decade ago as a way to satisfy his vegan friends, while he was running a Carolina-style barbecue pop-up named Sneaky’s. He was also tired of smoking tofu and seitan, so it was a chance to get more creative.

“There are a lot more interesting things you can get flavor-wise out of fruits and vegetables,” says Thorne.

Bay Area plant-based organic food and juice company Urban Remedy has made a name for itself in re-creating bacon by using eggplant (which is technically a fruit) for its vegan version of the BLT sandwich. It’s one of the company’s top-selling items.

“Everybody loves the taste of bacon. I think it’s undeniable,” says founder Neka Pasquale, who adds that using plant-based ingredients to re-create the same type of “sensual eating experience” of eating bacon is not only about making something that’s satisfying to eat, but also better for your health and the environment. (See recipe for coconut bacon.)

Concern for the environment is a key motivating factor for many. While visiting world famous Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, New York chef James Corwell found himself wondering how the earth’s oceans could possibly sustain such a high demand for tuna. The answer was simple, he believed: They can’t.

In 2016, Corwell founded Ocean Hugger Foods in an effort to develop a plant-based alternative to raw tuna. Made from tomatoes, which are naturally high in glutamic acids, the tomato Ahimi can be used for dishes like nigiri, ceviche and poke. (See recipe for tomato lox.) It can now be found at Whole Foods’ sushi counters around the country, including in the Bay Area. An eggplant-based eel alternative (called Unami) and a carrot-based salmon alternative (Sakimi) are in development.

“It’s always a joy to watch consumers try our product for the first time, especially folks who eat seafood. Many times, if we don’t tell them, they don’t even know that what they’re eating is not tuna,” said Corwell via email. “And they’re both surprised and delighted to find out that it isn’t.”

Sarah Fritsche is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sfritsche@sfchronicle.com Twitter/Instagram: @foodcentric