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New Deli-Style Restaurant Hops On Plant-Based Trend New Deli-Style Restaurant Hops On Plant-Based Trend

Cure Delicatessen and Provisions features plant-based food.

By Kayla Miller

KAYLA MILLER: In food news, plant-based foods are becoming the latest trend in America. One-third of Americans are reducing their meat and dairy consumption. Restaurants all over the country are switching to alternative meal options to enhance the consumer experience. A new deli shop in Syracuse hops on this trend in hopes to bring people together over their love of food.

KAYLA MILLER: That sizzling meat can be found at Cure Delicatessen and Provisions on Westcott street. A new restaurant that combines three businesses in one: a deli, retail market, and a place for to-go meals. What makes this restaurant unique from other deli shops? Co-owner Tere Martini says they use local ingredients from the area including plant-based products.

TERE MARTINI: We just wanna be a space where anybody can come regardless of their dietary preferences or needs. Also we just kind of wanna promote alternatives if somebody wants a healthier option we have that for them. We just want to have something available for everybody.

KAYLA MILLER: Those alternatives include their plant-based pastrami. That’s right, meatless pastrami. So why choose plant-based? The Plant-Based Foods Association says the top reasons are taste, health, and environmental impact. Dr. Rick Welsh specializes in nutrition and food studies at Syracuse University. He says you can hardly tell the difference between plant-based and regular meat.

DR. RICK WELSH: A burger made from the impossible burger meat or beyond burger feels like a burger in your mouth and when you have cheese on it and a bun and ketchup and mustard it’s hardly distinguishable from a hamburger.

KAYLA MILLER: A recent Acosta study says about 80 percent of millennials are already eating plant-based foods. Dr. Welsh says the younger generation became more mindful about what they put into their bodies.

DR. RICK WELSH: Want more control over your life, more transparency, want to know where your food is coming from, and want to have a beneficial and ecological and economic impact. All the things that drive people’s consumption behavior in this area.

SYRACUSE, N.Y.  (NCC News) — Plant-based foods have become the latest food trend in America with  product sales growing by 24%, according to a 2018 Nielsen study. Fast-food franchises around the country have taken on the alternative option by transforming their original recipes with plant-based meat. The trend is even hitting local restaurants such as the new deli shop on Westcott Street, Cure Delicatessen & Provisions.

The deli-style restaurant recently opened in the place that formerly housed Picasso’s Pastries & Cafe. It combines  three businesses in one: a deli, retail market, and a place for to-go meals. Its menu has several options to satisfy customers’ tastes, including vegan and plant-based options.

“We just want to promote alternatives, if somebody wants a healthier option, we have that for them,” said Tere Martini, co-owner of Cure.

Cure Delicatessen & Provisions focuses on using locally sourced products such as cured meats, cheeses, and beer from the Upstate New York area.
Cure Delicatessen & Provisions focuses on using locally sourced products such as cured meats, cheeses, and beer from the Central New York area.
© 2020 Kayla Miller

Cure Delicatessen & Provisions focuses on using locally-sourced products such as cured meats, cheeses, and beer from the Central New York area. One of its popular menu items is pastrami, which also comes plant-based. A plant-based diet consists mostly or entirely of foods made from plants,  including vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, grains and fruits,  with little to no animal products.

According to The Plant Based Foods Association, about 30% of Americans identify as “flexitarian,” meaning they try to eat less meat, dairy, pork, chicken, etc. The association also said many people adopt a plant-based diet because they like the taste, find it better for their health or they know it’s less harmful for the environment.

Several health benefits include reducing inflammation in your body, supporting your immune system, and lowering your risk of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, according to the M.D. Cancer Center in Texas.

A 2018 Acosta study said the meatless food trend has become popular among millennials. About 80% of millennials already eat plant-based foods. Dr. Rick Welsh, a local nutrition and food studies expert, said he believeed the younger generation were aware of the health and environmental effects.

“They have been raised in an environment where meat and the way we produce meat has been critiqued over and over,” Welsh said.

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