Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 266 posts

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#181

Post by reycharles »

icanhackit wrote: post #44
aphextron wrote: post #26

What is it with first-world vegans/vegetarians wanting to eat these extremely processed imitation meat frozen foods? There is an entire tradition of vegetarian cuisine around the world from Rasta Ital, to Hindu Sattvic, Afghani, and Thai which you could learn with just a tiny bit of effort.

As a vegetarian who regularly makes curries from scratch, from soaking the lentils to grinding my own spices from whole seeds/pods and grilling paneer in tandoori paste, I can say it doesn't hurt to have the option when you've feel like having a burger, and it's a good way for people who want to make the switch to vegetarianism to know that their favourite junk foods are still an option.

Why do you soak the lentils?

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#182

Post by Luc »

petre wrote: post #147
nostromo wrote: post #42

I'm happy to see that fat and protein are the main ingredients. http://impossiblefoods.com/images/faq/nutrition-facts.png A lot of veggie imitation meats are low on fat and protein and extremely high on processed carbs.

If you add up the percentages the total amounts to 40%. I wonder what's the rest.

Water

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#183

Post by Luc »

reycharles wrote: post #181
icanhackit wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a vegetarian who regularly makes curries from scratch, from soaking the lentils to grinding my own spices from whole seeds/pods and grilling paneer in tandoori paste, I can say it doesn't hurt to have the option when you've feel like having a burger, and it's a good way for people who want to make the switch to vegetarianism to know that their favourite junk foods are still an option.

Why do you soak the lentils?

Dried lentils need some time to absorb water.

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#184

Post by dEnigma »

acomjean wrote: post #158
ceph_ wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People enjoy eating certain foods. Having options that allow you to replicate a certain taste without having to kill something is desirable to people who have gone veg. There's also the aspects of food as a culture or social participation. People want to be able to participate in things like BBQs or eat out at restaurants with friends.

>without having to kill something I think even vegans/vegetarians have to acknowledge they are killing plants to eat. I suspect the better for environment/health argument is more prevalent (why I eat little meat). At some point somethings going to have to die to feed yourself (until we can gene edit photosynthesis into humans..). I take some consolation that I'll be feeding bacteria when I'm gone.

For many people there is an ethical difference between killing animals and killing plants. Most of my vegetarian/vegan friends actually abstain from meat because they don't want to be responsible for the killing of animals, not because of environmental or health concerns (though they acknowledge the added bonus)

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#185

Post by dEnigma »

steanne wrote: post #159
acomjean wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>without having to kill something I think even vegans/vegetarians have to acknowledge they are killing plants to eat. I suspect the better for environment/health argument is more prevalent (why I eat little meat). At some point somethings going to have to die to feed yourself (until we can gene edit photosynthesis into humans..). I take some consolation that I'll be feeding bacteria when I'm gone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inedia

Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruitarianism

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#186

Post by aedron »

adrianmonk wrote: post #130
resf wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, do nutrition labels in USA generally not show figures per 100g?

It's per serving. Obviously, it's easier to compare if they are all relative to 100g, but arguably per-serving is more useful when making eating decisions. When I'm buying a food, I'm not trying to do science; I'm trying to figure out how much of a particular nutrient I'm personally going to get when I eat that item. For example, if I have soup, there's no way I'll have as little as 100g of it. If I have tea, there's…

Why not both? Which is what is used in Europe.

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#187

Post by jinjin2 »

shanev wrote: post #128
L_Rahman wrote: post #9

I remember reading the original impressions of the Impossible Foods ground meat and thinking it was just media buzz. I promise you it is not. At Momofuku's Ssam Bar in the East Village of NYC, you can order an off menu item called Spicy Pork Sausage and Rice Cakes. It's not really off the menu - the item has simply been around so long and is so well known to regulars that they left it off to make room for new dishes.…

How do you know for that sure it will reduce the number of animal lives and reduce CO2? Farming the plants needed to produce this fake meat takes up land, potentially (and most likely) more land needed to produce equal amounts of meat. Unless they are running a completely solar operation and managing their farms using a system of rotational grazing that sequesters CO2, they most certainly are emitting it. I see this…

> Farming the plants needed to produce this fake meat takes up land, potentially (and most likely) more land needed to produce equal amounts of meat.

And it will often take up land that is more fertile, and as such has a higher biodiversity cost, than what is needed for grazing animals (which can be done on land more barren or harder to farm).

It is often forgotten that you can herd animals in ways that coexist with the rest of the ecosystem, while farming plant based food (especially products like grains or soy) requires you to raze all existing life in the area you wish to use for farmland reducing it to a monoculture with no room for diversity.

(But it should be made clear that this only counts for grazing animals. Industrial meat production where you feed the animals grains gives you the worst of both worlds).

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#188

Post by jeeva »

hug wrote: post #81
corysama wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the goal is more to transition omnivores away from meat. There is a consensus that the meat industry in unsustainable as is. But, there is also a strong belief that trying to convince the world they don't want meat via rational arguments is futile. Thus, we need work-arounds via either plants that mimic meat or changing the meat industry over to vat-brewed meat.

> trying to convince the world they don't want meat via rational arguments is futile Of course it is, because it should be pretty obvious that they do want meat. If they didn't want meat you wouldn't be having the argument in the first place, right? I've never tried a real honest to god direct replacement for meat that I actually was fooled -- even for a moment -- into thinking might actually be meat. I've had some d…

> Which isn't to say that I'm not open to the idea of having a 1:1 lab-made replacement for meat that is indistinguishable from the real thing. I most definitely am. If you could provide me with lab-meat at even just a small premium I'd probably go vegetarian where that option was available.

Question: does that count as going vegetarian? To me that's just going techno-carnivore.

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#189

Post by Broken_Hippo »

aphextron wrote: post #26

What is it with first-world vegans/vegetarians wanting to eat these extremely processed imitation meat frozen foods? There is an entire tradition of vegetarian cuisine around the world from Rasta Ital, to Hindu Sattvic, Afghani, and Thai which you could learn with just a tiny bit of effort.

I do eat some of these foods. And foods from elsewhere. the truth is this: Sometimes I want a different texture. Or something my mother made growing up. It already takes a bit of doing (immigrant, so different ingredients). Artificial meat helps me make the texture more similar to what I remember.

Also, more options for variety and stuff.

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#190

Post by icebraining »

seanwilson wrote: post #176
adrianmonk wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's per serving. Obviously, it's easier to compare if they are all relative to 100g, but arguably per-serving is more useful when making eating decisions. When I'm buying a food, I'm not trying to do science; I'm trying to figure out how much of a particular nutrient I'm personally going to get when I eat that item. For example, if I have soup, there's no way I'll have as little as 100g of it. If I have tea, there's…

The UK labels generally show per serving and per 100g together. Generally I find the serving sizes so low you're best to completely ignore them.

The UK labels generally show per serving and per 100g together.

In fact, I think that's now the norm in the whole of the EU.

Post reply on HN