Spirit of Hong Kong Awards: green tech entrepreneur turns desert into farmland with tiger nuts
Co-founder of green tech firm Meat the Next turns previously underrated root vegetable into plant-based milk that secures farmers’ income
Hong Kong entrepreneur Edmund Chan Ka-ming enjoys his milk – not the kind that comes from a cow, but that which is made from a previously underrated type of vegetable: tiger nut.
The co-founder of green tech company Meat the Next was driven to create an alternative non-dairy product with tiger nuts that tackles not just his own digestion, but also issues of sustainable agriculture.
“Tiga Milk was created out of a personal need. Like 90 per cent of Asians, I am lactose intolerant. But we saw an opportunity to create a dairy alternative that was not only nutritious, but also sustainable,” he said.
Contrary to its name, a tiger nut is not actually a nut but a kind of tuber, a nutrient-rich root vegetable about the size of a chickpea that was previously seen as having little economic value. That has changed.
By promoting the cultivation of tiger nuts, Chan has given some farmers in mainland China a reliable source of income while addressing problems caused by climate change in a small but significant area of desert land.
“We’ve unlocked the potential of tiger nuts, not only turning them into affordable, delicious and nutritionally rich dairy-free products, but also using their cultivation to help combat desertification,” Chan said.
