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Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘chicken’

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Re: Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘chicken’

#131

Post by nightski »

roywiggins wrote: post #109
nightski wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watch when it has zero impact on climate change because the extensive ingredient list on the beyond meat burger which requires a huge supply chain shipping products all around the country along with a complicated manufacturing process requiring energy ends up having a similar environmental impact to simple animal farming.

The supply chain on meat is pretty extensive. Modern animal farming is basically an industrial process that happens to use flesh-and-blood as host organisms for meat.

No doubt. But until we quantify it throwing out baseless assumptions is ridiculous either way. It can't just be said "Beyond Meat" is better for the environment without any numbers or data to back that up.

Re: Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘chicken’

#132

Post by zrail »

acollins1331 wrote: post #122
tptacek wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've invested money in a local butcher in Chicago and source pretty much all of my protein from another one closer to me. I'm familiar with the locavore argument and agree that the quality is higher. There are still higher levels of quality to be reached by sourcing heritage birds, and you can optimize for flavor even more by sourcing game birds. Where do you draw the line? I'd rather eat a local farm chicken than a…

The term "barely meat" as used in the parent was definitely talking about the ground beef you get at fast food restaraunts. Which has been shown in lots of cases to contain additives, notably taco bell etc. You brought up chicken because it's harder to call it barely meat, but fast food chicken is still shittier.

(Point of order: tptacek probably brought up chicken because TFA is about KFC, a purveyor of ... chicken.)

Re: Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘chicken’

#133

Post by wil421 »

Why do American (and presumably westerners) vegetarians want to replace meat? I hated vegan and vegetarian food for song long until I ate meat free Indian food. It was always the meat replacements like veggie patties and tofurkey type products that turned me away.

Indian food doesn’t have some weird mystery replacement I find on almost every vegan or veggie dish. I had a conversation with and Indian colleague who lives in the states and she agreed a lot of veggie/vegan food is just plain weird.

Re: Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘chicken’

#134

Post by _bxg1 »

tptacek wrote: post #84
_bxg1 wrote: post #2

I think it's fascinating how all these fast-food chains are jumping on artificial meat. It makes perfect sense: meat is expensive and difficult to work with, so low-cost chains like these have been serving really disgustingly low-quality meat for quite some time now; in some cases it could barely even be called meat. Plant-based meat, on the other hand, can be both cheaper and less gross at the same time, and it migh…

Can you make a clearer, better-cited case for "low cost chains serve meat that could barely even be called meat"? KFC serves (primarily) whole muscle chicken†, and the general US appetite for "dark meat" chicken is so low that we've been accused of "dumping" it on other countries and messing up their markets --- KFC seems to have no trouble sourcing its inputs effectively. KFC's suppliers include all the major chicke…

I'm only speaking anecdotally, but I have in mind Taco Bell's ground beef and McNuggets, for example. Cane's chicken, by contrast, always seems surprisingly high-quality.

Re: Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘chicken’

#135

Post by dmix »

tptacek wrote: post #84
_bxg1 wrote: post #2

I think it's fascinating how all these fast-food chains are jumping on artificial meat. It makes perfect sense: meat is expensive and difficult to work with, so low-cost chains like these have been serving really disgustingly low-quality meat for quite some time now; in some cases it could barely even be called meat. Plant-based meat, on the other hand, can be both cheaper and less gross at the same time, and it migh…

Can you make a clearer, better-cited case for "low cost chains serve meat that could barely even be called meat"? KFC serves (primarily) whole muscle chicken†, and the general US appetite for "dark meat" chicken is so low that we've been accused of "dumping" it on other countries and messing up their markets --- KFC seems to have no trouble sourcing its inputs effectively. KFC's suppliers include all the major chicke…

Do you know why people think it's bad meat compared to the supermarket? Is it just the general attitude society has developed towards fast-food and big business?

I don't mind KFC but Taco Bell meat always seemed a bit...off and low quality.

Re: Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘chicken’

#136

Post by gizmo385 »

zodiac wrote: post #124
ghaff wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ground meat is almost certainly the lowest bar for substituting. I'd argue the artificial meat is already pretty close (although probably at a higher cost, at least at the low end). There are probably gourmet burgers that are still better--though high-end meat cuts are at least somewhat of a waste in a burger. Somewhat amusingly, I first had an Impossible Burger not knowing that it was not real "meat." I didn't find…

Impossible Burger isn't lab-grown meat

What would you consider Impossible Burger, if not lab-grown meat?

Re: Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘chicken’

#137

Post by hervature »

tobtoh wrote: post #85
hervature wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know why you are being down voted. As a vegan, one of my biggest gripes with the recent movement is the marketing of new products and the obsession of replacing meat with vegetables. To further illustrate your point, imagine trying to replicate carrots using only veal and calling it something like "calf-rots", it absolutely makes no sense. Your issue is primarily with the false representation, my issue is that…

> my issue is that we're intentionally making it harder to sell vegan/vegetarian alternatives by trying to replicate something unachievable instead of coming up with entirely new products. Except they are achieving it. I've eaten Beyond Meat patties and they are close enough and good enough. As a 'vegan-curious' eater, products like Beyond Meat are a halfway point which eases the transition to a vegan diet (or at lea…

That's the general line of reasoning. I don't really buy it since a well cooked meat burger is going to be better than the beyond meat at a much lower cost. For perspective, the price per lb is more than a sirloin steak.

Very few people eat sirloin steak everyday and so Beyond Meat isn't going to do much for the in terms of transitioning people who primarily eat cheaper meats.

On the other hand, Margarine (invented in the 1800's) converted tons of people from a purely animal product to one that doesn't need animal products without marketing it as "plant based".

Re: Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘chicken’

#138

Post by uncletaco »

Djvacto wrote: post #72
VectorLock wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you give it a name that alludes to it being meat you're setting the product up for failure because people will ofcourse compare it to meat and since its not meat they will judge it as "worse."

So, what could we call Turkey Burgers?

Better question: What do we call veggie burgers that predate impossible and beyond meat?

Re: Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘chicken’

#139

Post by Kaveren »

I can't understand how people enjoy this fake food. It just can't match the original taste. This sort of food is extremely unhealthy, and vegans will never be able to get the protein they need to survive. We should not encourage the appeasing of certain niche markets, the radicals must be made to realize that normal KFC is just a fact of life.

Re: Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘chicken’

#140

Post by tptacek »

acollins1331 wrote: post #129
tptacek wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Shittier" how? Chick-Fil-A's fast-food chicken is likely better than the median supermarket chicken (it's all supposedly antibiotic-free now). I'd like to see a better grounded argument, one that doesn't depend entirely on the premise that "fast food meat must be shitty because we disdain fast food".

You literally agreed with me two comments ago that Tyson chicken is worse than locally (read not mass) produced chicken. Don't try to turn it around again just so you can win an imaginary argument I'm not trying to have.

Did you read the first half of that comment and not the second? Local chicken is generally "better" than supermarket chicken. That doesn't make supermarket chicken "shitty"; supermarket-grade chicken is necessarily what most people are going to eat, most of the time. It has for more than half a century been our standard, and our standard is better than what preceded it.

You can always do better. But I'd like to see a well-grounded argument that KFC-grade chicken is somehow "shitty". I think it's possible that there is one (I think the argument that all fast-food chicken is necessarily shitty is much harder to defend) --- but I haven't seen it yet.

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