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Bloody Plant Burger Smells, Tastes and Sizzles Like Meat

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301–310 of 464 posts

Re: Bloody Plant Burger Smells, Tastes and Sizzles Like Meat

#301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the same camp as you. Vegetarian since 1989, vegan since 1999. I can certainly say that the quality of fake meats has drastically improved in the past 10 years (see https://gardein.com/ , http://fieldroast.com/ , and http://beyondmeat.com/ as examples), but the stigma surrounding them persists. Short anecdote: There's a donut shop in my town that sold vegan and regular donuts in adjacent but separate displays.…

You've also got the issues with processed food: Butchering a critter and cooking it up is a lot more natural than a highly engineered mixture from a group of chemical engineers. It may be that all the processing involved in making the plant compounds look/smell/taste/feel like meat are harmless, even beneficial, but it's perfectly reasonable to withhold trust for some time - especially to those of us who grew up with…

The chemicals they use to keep the animals foodstuffs free of pests and weeds, along with the antibiotics pumped into them to keep them healthy while in packed conditions?

Its all chemical engineered now, unless you can afford to buy a piece of land and DIY.

-Avid Meat Eater.

Re: Bloody Plant Burger Smells, Tastes and Sizzles Like Meat

#302
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not true anymore. Beyond Meat has a Beast Burger with 7g carbs and 23g protein (vegan, no soy, gluten-free, no gmo).

7g is much more than 0g, especially for a keto diet (as an extreme example)

The number of people who need to be on a keto diet is incredibly tiny though. Most people who are on them do not need to be, all evidence shows low carb diets are equally effective regardless of ketosis or not.

Re: Bloody Plant Burger Smells, Tastes and Sizzles Like Meat

#303
post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Decent imitations of highly processed meat exist already I am a meat eater and I can tell you that, in my experience, this simply isn't the case. Your opinion is colored by the fact that you really, really, want it to be a decent imitation because you're a vegetarian. Every imitation meat product I have ever tasted has been immediately recognizable as such, and was almost inedible. Unfortunately, the idea of fake me…

With all due respect we can agree on your factual observations, yet while you're pessimistic about replacing a top quality perfectly grilled London Broil steak, I'm feeling optimistic about replacing a mcdonalds hamburger, which also is immediately recognizable as almost inedible. How about that stick of beef jerky I carry when I go out hiking ... replacing something that artificial with something plant based doesn't…

> How about that stick of beef jerky I carry when I go out hiking ... replacing something that artificial

Artificial? Where the heck are you buying your jerky? Jerky is one of the least artificial mass produced foods you can find - a big hunk of solid beef, dried, and flavored with some salt and salt-relatives. If at anything else it's not jerky.

Re: Bloody Plant Burger Smells, Tastes and Sizzles Like Meat

#304
> And because it's plant-based, this "meat" has no cholesterol.

This statement is loaded with judgment. In response, I'd love if the author could provide some good data that shows a link between dietary cholesterol and blood serum cholesterol, let alone between dietary cholesterol and mortality.

Re: Bloody Plant Burger Smells, Tastes and Sizzles Like Meat

#305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a marketing perspective, I'd suggest the way to shift perceptions would be to run taste test challenges similar to the ones Pepsi ran back in the day. If the burgers are as close to meat versions as they say then it could be good to have people who are reluctant to try it to at least give it a go. Even if they can still tell the difference, the difficulty in telling them apart may be enough to change the percept…

ones Pepsi ran back in the day Werent those shown to be flawed? My source is Gladwells books, but the pepsi vs coke taste test favoured pepsi because it was sweeter. But in drinking the full can people found pepsi overwhelmingly sweet and coke was more popular. My guess would be a similar thing would happen. You could optimise to appeal to low-quantity taste tests. but as a full proper meal a lot needs to be done (im…

What's funny about those is I always chose the coke, and the employees would always be awkward about it.

I think they're flawed in the sense that they were put on by the company itself.

Re: Bloody Plant Burger Smells, Tastes and Sizzles Like Meat

#306
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing the real reason the company's not marketing to vegans because there's essentially zero need to market to vegans, and good reasons not to. Vegans are a relatively night-knit lot. As long as it contains no animal products and tastes good, all they'll need to do is pass out a few free samples at a single vegan meetup and then sit back and wait. Every strict vegetarian on the continent will be talking about…

Great points. There is a restaurant in my city that serves exclusively vegan food, from lunch and dinner entrees to bakery sweets. It's actually one of my favorite restaurants (despite not being vegan) but it's very difficult to convince my non-vegetarian/non-vegan friends to go try it with me.

There seems to be a weird mental block for a lot of people. I've seen non-vegetarians be genuinely surprised to be informed that peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are vegan.

Re: Bloody Plant Burger Smells, Tastes and Sizzles Like Meat

#307
post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or the subsidies that hide the facts. Beef is very expensive in the sense of TCO, but not that expensive at the grocery store. See: http://michaelpollan.com/profiles/the-high-price-of-cheap-fo... for a good read on the matter. a snip: "The industrial food chain does produce food more cheaply, in terms of the price you pay at McDonald’s or the supermarket,” replies Pollan, “but the real cost of cheap food is not refle…

$20 billion comes up under $100 per person per year in the US. Even giving it a generous x4 multiplier to account for the people subsidizing the industry without being consumers, at $400 per year, given the $3 and $7 prices by parent, you would need to eat under 100 pounds of meat for meat replacements to be viable. The average American allegedly consumes close to 200 pounds of meat[0] per year, so it ends up still b…

Sure if you're willing to exclude the externalities. What's the societal cost of antibiotic resistant escherichia coli?

Re: Bloody Plant Burger Smells, Tastes and Sizzles Like Meat

#308

I've been a vegetarian for the last decade and change, and I simultaneously think that finding a cheaper, appealing alternative to meat is both a fantastic opportunity for the world and a really difficult thing. I used to love meat when I was a meat-eater, and I'm a fairly picky eater that dislikes many vegetable options. (Green peppers are nasty and food-destroying in my opinion, which immediately removes over half…

My wife is vegetarian, so more often than not, I'm eating that way. Boca and Morningstar taste awesome, but my problem is that I truly continue to feel quite hungry by foregoing meat in the meal. So even if these veggie options "behave" as they should, I think the bigger problem is that, for people like me, the lack of animal protein propagates as hunger, and I never feel fulfilled, and consequently am irritable.

Are you eating enough? Faux meats tend to have fewer calories than the meats they are replacing. Boca burgers only have 70 calories each (according to Google... I never eat those). That is hardly anything!

Re: Bloody Plant Burger Smells, Tastes and Sizzles Like Meat

#309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the same camp as you. Vegetarian since 1989, vegan since 1999. I can certainly say that the quality of fake meats has drastically improved in the past 10 years (see https://gardein.com/ , http://fieldroast.com/ , and http://beyondmeat.com/ as examples), but the stigma surrounding them persists. Short anecdote: There's a donut shop in my town that sold vegan and regular donuts in adjacent but separate displays.…

Huge problem with the vegan meat replacements is that they're a lot more expensive than beef, around $7/lb vs ground beef at $3/lb. Like with coal vs solar, for imitation meat to win the market it needs to get less expensive than real meat (and taste as good).

I wonder if Asia might be a good target market. Beef (particularly imported beef) costs a lot more in Asia.

Re: Bloody Plant Burger Smells, Tastes and Sizzles Like Meat

#310

For those of us looking for something similar that's actually in the market right now , what's the closest alternative?

I haven't tried Gardein's burgers, but their faux chicken products are excellent so I would expect their burgers to be good too.
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