In an era where sustainable food choices are becoming more critical, Fable Food is at the forefront of culinary innovation.
Co-founded by Michael Fox and Jim Fuller, Fable Food is transforming the landscape of plant-based proteins with its mushroom-based products. With a commitment to redefining the way we think about meat alternatives, Fable Food is not only championing mushrooms as the new center-of-plate, but also paving the way for a more sustainable future in food.
In this interview, Michael shares insights into what sets Fable Food apart from other mushroom-based proteins, their mission to combat industrial animal agriculture, and their exciting expansion from Australia into the U.S. market.
From the unique blend of fine dining expertise and scientific innovation that drives their research and development to the practical benefits their products offer chefs, Michael provides a comprehensive look into how Fable Food is making waves in the culinary world.
Tell us about Fable Food and what sets it apart from other mushroom-based meat alternatives?
Shiitake mushrooms are the core of our mushroom products. We’re reimagining mushrooms by improving their texture and elevating their natural umami flavors and nutrients to become a succulent, umami-rich culinary protein.
We wanted to keep our ingredients list short and keep it as clean, natural and as minimally processed as possible.
My Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer, Jim Fuller, is a fine dining chef turned chemical engineer and mycologist (mushroom scientist), so he is no stranger to the properties and chemical composition of mushrooms and the best way to cook and leverage them to bring out the flavors, aromas and textures that we want for our mushroom-based products.
Shiitake mushrooms in particular have been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years and they have long been lauded for their nutritional and medicinal properties.
In a culinary context, shiitake mushrooms are very flavorful with their natural umami flavors, they are a slow-growing mushroom so they naturally have the fleshy fibers that you typically get from animal proteins, and have the right chemical composition that when cooked allow us to taste flavors that are found in animal products.
On the evolutionary tree, fungi are more closely related to animals than they are to plants, and they share many similar characteristics with animals. Mushrooms contain glutamates and meaty, umami flavors. Their chitin cellular structure can be cooked in ways that mimic the texture of animal meats.
And they’re incredibly healthy. Shiitake mushrooms are the most common ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine and for good reason – they’re high in fiber, iron, vitamin D (when exposed to sunlight which our mushrooms are), vitamin B12 and they have a higher protein-to-calorie ratio than beef.
They’re also incredibly efficient to grow using very little land (1,000 times less land per calorie than beef) or water and their carbon emissions are low. These efficiencies make mushrooms cheap to grow at scale.
There are other fungi-based meat alternative brands that ferment mycelium to make their meat alternative products. Mycelium is the body of fungi which has the appearance of thin, white fibrous roots. In nature, mycelium grows through the soil or wood.
Mushrooms are then the fruiting body of the fungi which are what we’re used to seeing and eating as humans. The brands that use mycelium ferment the mycelium in liquid in large stainless steel tanks and turn the mycelium into their products.
We love what the mycelium-based companies are doing and we cheer them on, but at Fable we use agriculturally grown shiitake and agaricus mushrooms. We’re using the fruiting body of the fungi as opposed to the mycelium.
Humans have eaten mushrooms for tens of thousands of years and we’ve farmed them for thousands of years. They’ve evolved to be highly nutritious and delicious because the fungi want us to eat them to help spread their spores. We take these delicious, healthy mushrooms and turn them into delicious, natural umami-rich culinary proteins.
Please simply state your mission.
Our mission is to help end industrial animal agriculture globally.
We want to inspire the world to make more sustainable food choices. We truly believe that eating more delicious food made from mushrooms will help the world reduce global meat consumption.
We’re really excited about exploring different mushroom varieties and harnessing their power to bring more of our delicious, clean label, and sustainable mushroom products to every market in the world.
You are the co-founder of Fable Food with Jim Fuller. Do you both have specific responsibilities? How do you work together to meet your mission?
My co-founder, Jim Fuller, is a fine dining chef turned chemical engineer and mycologist. Combining his unique knowledge of mushrooms, chemical engineering, nutritional science with his expertise as a chef and a mushroom farmer, Jim heads up research and development at Fable.
We’ve invested heavily into our R&D, including exploring new species of mushrooms we can turn into delicious food, new ways of cooking mushrooms to amplify their umami flavors and texture and make their incredible nutrition even more bioavailable to us. Like a scientist in his lab or cook in his kitchen, Jim looks after that side of the business.
Together with our Fable team, I look after the customer and business side of things. I work closely with our restaurant and supermarket customers as well as the end consumers of our product to understand what they’re looking for and how we can best meet their needs with our products.
Our team and I then work with our fantastic farming and production partners to produce our products, deliver them to where they’re needed so our customers can eat delicious, healthy shiitake mushrooms in lots of amazing restaurants and at home.
What prompted your decision to move to New York with your family from Australia? What do you hope to accomplish with your move?
My family and I are moving to New York City to help bring our delicious shiitake mushrooms to more U.S. customers. This is take two for me personally. In 2015 my wife and I moved from Sydney to Los Angeles together with 23 team members as we took Shoes of Prey to the US market.
We had an incredible partnership with Nordstrom and grew our sales in the U.S., but ultimately our consumer insights were wrong, the mass market consumer didn’t want to design her own shoes. We ended up closing the business in 2019. It was a humbling experience, and I learned a lot.
So here we are five years later. In some ways, food is simpler – taste, price and health are the three key drivers for consumers for our product. That said, we have the challenge of our shiitake mushroom products being new to consumers.
They love it when they taste it and repeat order rates are great, so we’ve invested heavily in consumer insights to understand what drives trial of our product in restaurants – and our learnings work.
We’ve had an incredible 2024 so far in Australia. We’ve launched into Zeus Street Greek, re-launched into Guzman y Gomez Mexican Kitchen and grown with our amazing existing customers including chains like THISBOWL FISHBOWL, BrewDog, Sushi Izu, Fonda Mexican, caterers like Compass Group, meal kit creators Marley Spoon as well as incredible independent restaurants like La Tortilleria, Bad Hombres, Tacos Muchachos, La Bodega Taqueria, Vandal Taqueria, Calle Rey, El Loco, Nativo, Mission District, and so many more.
You may have noticed many Mexican restaurants in that list. It’s a cuisine that our Pulled Shiitake product suits incredibly well and there are over 80,000 Mexican restaurants in the United States making up ~10% of all US restaurants. This opens up a huge opportunity to bring shiitake mushrooms to more US consumers.
Our US team is off to an amazing start partnering with PLANTA Restaurants, Just Salad, Mendocino Farms, CookUnity, Purple Carrot, Compass Group USA, Moxies, JuiceLand and many more.
So the time is right. I am very excited to join them to connect with more US chefs and restaurants. It’s going to be a massive change for our family. From our beautiful 41 acre property with fruit trees and our big veggie garden to the beating heart of New York City!
What benefits would chefs gain by using Fable Food products?
Our first two products in the market are our Meaty Mushroom Burger Patty and our Pulled Shiitake Mushrooms, which have the taste and texture of succulent slow-braised pulled meat. Our pulled product seamlessly fits into any dish where you’d traditionally use meat or mushrooms.
It’s particularly exceptional in Mexican cuisine, perfect for dishes like carnitas, but it also shines in a variety of other global cuisines. Whether it’s beef brisket burgers, braised meat curries, stir-fries, or Italian classics like ragu, bolognese, and lasagna, our Pulled Shiitake Mushrooms can be used as a protein across all these dishes.
Beyond culinary versatility, our products offer significant operational advantages. With a 100% yield and zero waste, our products are a cost-effective solution that reduces labor and prep time in the kitchen.
Unlike other vegetables where you might need to trim or peel, our mushrooms come ready to use, allowing chefs to focus on creativity and flavor without the added time and waste. In an environment where efficiency is key, our products provide a practical, delicious, and sustainable option for chefs.
Fable is more than just an ingredient – it’s a culinary innovation that redefines the art of cooking with mushroom-based proteins. Our focus on culinary creativity, combined with our commitment to sustainability and natural ingredients, positions us in a unique segment that goes beyond being a mere alternative. It’s in a category of its own – it’s simply mushrooms, but better.
Where can chefs purchase Fable Food?
In the United States, Fable is currently available through a robust distribution network with a strong presence on both the West and East Coasts. We’ve partnered with national distributors such as Sysco and US Foods, ensuring our products are accessible to a wide range of QSRs, chains and independent restaurants.
We also work with regional distributors like Baldor, What Chefs Want, and Wasatch Gourmet, among others. As we continue to grow, we are excited to expand our partnerships, making our flavorful shiitake mushroom products available to even more chefs across the country.
For more information, visit Fable Food’s website.
