Welcome to Talking Plant Protein. I'm Joey Thurman and this is what's trending now in the plant-based market. Farmers markets give consumers a perfect opportunity to connect with local food producers, making healthy options more accessible to the community. The People's Food Co-op is teaming up with vegan Kalamazoo to step it up a level.

This past weekend, they hosted their first ever plant-based party in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a farmer's market with vendors, food trucks and demonstrations featuring only, you guessed it, vegan products. This is just one way that plant-based foods continue to penetrate the market on a more targeted level. Another company targeting new plant-based consumers in a unique way, Heura Foods.

They teamed up with international streamer Elisa Waves to announce their latest burger through the popular video game Minecraft in a series of mini games called Heura City. The games included five stages highlighting the benefits of plant-based eating, all leading to a search where players were tasked with finding the ingredients to create their own high protein vegan burger. Yum.

A new plant-based partnership entering the fast food world. Taco Bell and Beyond Meat will be running their first market test for their Beyond Carne Asada Steak at select locations in Ohio, beginning October 13th. In a recent statement, Taco Bell's global Chief Food Innovation Officer Liz Matthews said, "At Taco Bell, we've long believed that anyone should be able to choose plant-based menu items without compromising the flavors that they crave."

This comes after several of the restaurant sister brands, including KFC and Pizza Hut testing and launching menu items, including Beyond Needs ingredients. From Talking Plant Protein, I'm Joey Thurman and those are the current trending headlines in the plant-based market.