Film star joins vegan bacon venture
Natalie Portman backs French company La Vie, which is dedicated to producing the world’s greatest vegan bacon.
You may not see Natalie Portman lining up for facon at Krinsky’s … but like many other Jewish mums, the Israeli-born Black Swan actor is keen – in her own way – in finding an alternative to traditional pork products.
So interested that she has become a financial backer of French company La Vie, which is dedicated to producing the world’s greatest vegan bacon.
The company takes particular pride in “developing a vegetable fat that cooks, fries, infuses and browns” like animal fat, said chief executive and co-founder, Nicholas Schweitzer.
La Vie recently raised 25 million euros ($28.3 million) from investment funds and celebrities such as Portman.
Photo: Eric PIERMONT / AFP
Portman, who has been vegetarian since the age of nine, was inspired to become vegan in 2009 after reading Jonathan Safran-Foer’s Eating Animals, which advocated veganism on the grounds of animal welfare and climate consciousness. Portman has been vegan since, except briefly during pregnancy.
In addition to its populations who eat kosher, halal and/or vegetarian, Israel is reported to have the world’s highest per capita rate of veganism. According to a 2015 study, 5 per cent of Israelis identify as vegans.
No word yet if Portman is making progress on something truly groundbreaking, like plant-based calamari.
WITH TIMES OF ISRAEL
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