The possibilities of replacing animal products with plants are endless. For example, jackfruit has a similar texture to meat and is increasingly being used as a meat substitute. Plus, a jackfruit farm can produce around 8 times more food than a cattle meat farm of the same size, according to a recent report from the Northern Territory Department of Primary Industry.

As the report says "Interest in meat substitutes is growing as people are becoming increasingly aware of the social and environmental costs of traditional meat products." Plant based alternatives offer great opportunities for the growing meat substitute market.

Australian grown and processed jackfruit are high quality and high value. This could become a booming industry, as there is still a lot of suitable land to create new farms.

The report emphasises the benefits of jackfruit over animal farming: "Mature trees can produce over 100 kg of fruit per year with ~200 trees/ha. This equates to a total yield of 20 t/ha/year, with a potential processing yield of 40% or 8 t/ha/year of edible fruit. This compares favourably to the production efficiency of beef which is typically < 1 t/ha/year. The potential of jackfruit as a meat substitute stacks up to traditional meat products from both an efficiency perspective and that it provides superior social and environmental benefits."

For more on jackfruit and the growing Australian jackfruit industry. see the article Jackfruit, do you want fries with that?.

And to create your own delicious jackfruit meals at home, check out these 16 mouth-watering vegan jackfruit recipes.