Plant-based startup Emergy Foods makes whole cuts of steak and chicken from mushrooms! The company is set to debut its Meati Foods brand early next year in steakhouses and other restaurants in Colorado.

Emergy brews mycelium, the fast-growing root structure of mushrooms, in fermentation tanks and blends mycelium’s high-protein fibers, similar to those in chicken and steak, with other ingredients to form delicious, minimally processed plant-based meat.

Emergy CEO Tyler Huggins told Fast Company:

At scale, we could produce the meat equivalent of nearly 4,500 cows overnight using a process that’s over a thousand times more efficient per acre as far as resource use. And even compared to something like soy, which has had tons of money and time to develop the most efficient process they can, we’re well over 20 times more efficient at producing protein per acre using significantly less land, water, and energy.

Meat made without animals is rapidly growing in popularity. In fact, a report by The Good Food Institute and the Plant Based Foods Association shows that sales of plant-based meats are growing five times faster than sales of animal meats. Caroline Bushnell, associate director of The Good Food Institute, told Inverse: “This is not a bubble or a fad. It’s a real change in consumer behavior.”

According to a third-quarter earnings report released this month, the plant-based Impossible Whopper drove 5 percent of Burger King’s comparable sales in the United States, the brand’s strongest growth since 2015. Restaurant Brands International CEO Jose Cil said the Impossible Whopper was one of the most successful launches in Burger King’s history! And last month, Future Meat Technologies, an Israeli startup dedicated to developing affordable cultivated meat, raised an incredible $14 million in funding.

Animal agriculture accounts for the daily suffering of billions of factory-farmed animals. Fortunately, with so many innovative companies building a better, kinder food system, choosing delicious plant-based foods is easier than ever. For fantastic vegan meal ideas and recipes, order a FREE Vegetarian Starter Guide today.