Hungry for More
Design by Alex Povis. Illustration by Frank Norton. Food photography by Matt Seidel.
Sportsman’s Park in Ladue, Missouri, is a classic neighborhood haunt in spite of its tony zip code.
Originally opened in 1974 as Jackie’s Place by NFL Hall of Famer (and St. Louis Cardinal football player) Jackie Smith, along with Norman Probstein, it was renamed Sportsman’s Park in 1980 and today is run by Probstein’s son, Jim. On any given afternoon, it’s buzzy with activity; regulars, families and sports fans alike load up on favorites such as toasted ravioli and the Sportsman’s burger. Todd Boyman, on the other hand, orders Hungry Planet’s MATCH burger with lettuce, tomato, onion and avocado, barbecue sauce on the side and the famous house curly fries.
“MATCH [Meats] was kind of our early stealth brand – used during our testing phase,” says Todd. The plant-based meat company that he began developing in 2004 with his sister, Jody Boyman, will officially relaunch this quarter as Hungry Planet. “If you really want to make a difference, you’ve got to give people what they love to eat, but figure out how to do it from plants,” continues Todd. That was the siblings’ vision almost two decades ago: to find creative, sustainable ways to feed the rapidly growing population, while simultaneously producing products from plant-based ingredients that match traditional meat textures, flavors and applications. And not much has changed.
Jody, who currently heads up sales and marketing from the West Coast, went plant-based around age 12 because of her love for animals – she learned the health and environmental benefits much later. “I would describe myself as kind of a militant [vegan] when I was younger,” says Jody with a laugh. “Now I’m about all-comers – I’m going to build a bigger tent for everybody. I’m all for flexitarians – leaning plant-based once a month, once a week, once a day.”
In 2018, the New York Post reported that “one in three Americans now consider themselves a ‘flexitarian.’” That’s a huge wave of people who want to eat differently, and Hungry Planet is along for the ride.
Todd, a staunch omnivore for years before committing to an entirely plant-based diet, understands how important it is to develop foods that meet the demanding tastes of meat-lovers and culinary professionals in addition to appealing to vegans and vegetarians who choose to exclude meat from their diet for environmental and animal welfare-related reasons. He says the key to Hungry Planet is that it offers a one-to-one swap in recipes that use meat; its plant-based meat alternatives look, feel, behave and taste like their animal-based counterparts. Todd emphasizes how important it is that Hungry Planet’s products be chef-developed and -approved.
“Take our beef [for example],” says Jody. “It has no saturated fat like conventional meat, [and it] has been crafted by chefs for chefs, to use as a one-to-one substitution in any recipe, any cuisine, anywhere in the world.” Besides beef, Hungry Planet also offers plant-based chicken, pork, crab, Italian sausage and chorizo.
To make plant-based proteins that look and taste like the real deal, the Hungry Planet team, with the support of scientists, chemists and chefs, conducted years of research and development before they finalized their formula. More than 15 years ago, they entered the vegetarian space in St. Louis as MATCH Meats. Through food service channels, MATCH slowly infiltrated the menus of local restaurants – Todd explains that once they got owners and chefs to try their products, they were able to convince more and more to put them in their dishes.