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

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

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 528 posts

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

#141

Post by shrewduser »

ashelmire wrote: post #62
tehlike wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of the fastfood chains based in united states have much better quality abroad.

That's definitely not true. McDonald's and Burger King were both markedly worse in my experience. A shame in-n-out isn't abroad, and haven't found a Taco Bell or Wendy's yet. Not that I would really go out of my way to eat fast food overseas now that I'm an adult... I don't even eat these things in the US. There's wide variability within the US anyway. I've noticed that affluent suburbs tend to have great fast food,…

depends where you were abroad, i would rank most above USA and a few slightly below.

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

#142

Post by _bxg1 »

kyrra wrote: post #97
_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 be both cheaper ... Impossible Burger patties are actually more expensive. For example, Burger King: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/meatless-fast-food-burgers... > The meatless burger is $5.99, around a dollar more than the regular Whopper with meat.

I would assume the margins are really high. It's a premium product right now because they're still building out a market and because there was a big up-front research investment, but the fundamental sustainability of the raw materials and process must be miles better than raising cattle.

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

#143

Post by ceejayoz »

yters wrote: post #113
ceejayoz wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A quick Google search for "beyond meat" reveals lots of photos of their packaging. Every single one of them has large, all-caps, bright green "PLANT BASED" on the front of the package. They're not hiding anything, and anyone confused by it probably has themselves to blame. For example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074YGZ77H/

All meat is plant based :) I only can interpret that label because I'm now cynically familiar with the deceptive advertising practices currently used. But, to someone not used to how advertisers try to make one thing seem to be another, saying 'beyond meat' is 'plant based' does not communicate this thing is just a bunch of vegetables.

> All meat is plant based :)

This is a bad-faith argument.

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

#144

Post by gdulli »

thomasfromcdnjs wrote: post #10

I think it is a rather toxic movement that we are continuing to label things that which they are not. "fried plant-based ‘chicken’" it makes no sense at all A lot of it is egged on by the vegan/vegetarians and is the definition of false advertising. I saw "vegan" mince in the meat section the other day. I feel sorry for the elderly or learning impaired who might be accidentally buying soy substitutes when their bodie…

I've never been a vegetarian and never been tempted by it. However, if meat can be approximated very well then I'm excited by the idea of displacing much of the environmental impact of producing meat. Even if real meat never goes away fully.

I don't consider myself problematic for eating meat. However, clinging to meat on principle, to the point of getting triggered like this with accusations and insults, is just shitty.

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

#145

Post by nostromo »

impalallama wrote: post #11

I tried a few different varieties of chick'n nuggets, 90% of the taste is just breading and whatever the sauce so its really not a difficult as you'd imagine to have a substitute

The problem with existing meat substitutes is that they are high in processed carbohydrates and low in protein.

The taste has been fairly ok for a while. It's the nutritional value that's the problem.

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

#146

Post by astura »

VectorLock wrote: post #58
dymk wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody is confused when they buy this product that it’s animal based meat. The packaging is very clear about what it is. It’s called meat because it tastes and feels like meat. It’s a perfectly cromulent word to use because it describes what the product is.

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."

Soy milk is an entirely different product than animal milk and they don't taste at all similar, yet I'm ok with it being called "soy milk" because "soy-based beverage that looks similar to milk" just doesn't roll off the tongue.

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

#147

Post by _bxg1 »

koolba wrote: post #40
_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…

> Plant-based meat, on the other hand, can be both cheaper and less gross at the same time, and it might help them cut down on calories and improve their health image. Which is “less gross” is highly objective. > I wonder what impact it'll have on climate change when McDonalds stops buying real beef. Would be a nice longbet, “ McDonald’s will stop selling beef burgers by 20XY ”. I’d be on the “no” side of that bet.

"Gross" being defined as amount of chemicals, likelihood to be spoiled and/or make you sick, etc.

Beef won't go away completely in 20XY; maybe not ever, which is fine. But at the scale and quality standards of fast-food, and with the recent progress in the meatless space, I would bet McDonald's will stop selling it in my lifetime.

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

#148

Post by jakob223 »

jghn wrote: post #110
kyrra wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... can be both cheaper ... Impossible Burger patties are actually more expensive. For example, Burger King: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/meatless-fast-food-burgers... > The meatless burger is $5.99, around a dollar more than the regular Whopper with meat.

Unless I missed it in TFA, it doesn't say that the raw materials (the meat) are more expensive but rather that the product is more expensive. If a fast food chain can charge more for cheaper materials, that's a double win for them.

I imagine that that difference is going mostly to recoup R&D costs at e.g. Impossible right now, who is making the patties.

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

#149

Post by litzer »

wil421 wrote: post #133

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 liv…

I’m a meat eater and want to replace meat. It’s not just vegetarians. The factory farming of animals doesn’t sit well ethically with me, but meat has been a staple of my diet my entire life. If there were a viable plant based alternative that’s indistinguishable, factory farming can die out.

It’s not ready yet, and phase 1 was the really weird stuff. I think Beyond Meat is like phase 2 of “pretty close”. In the near future, you won’t be able to tell the difference

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

#150

Post by ceejayoz »

dragonwriter wrote: post #66
_bxg1 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a lawsuit a few years back when vegetarians discovered that McDonald's was flavoring their fries with beef juice. I do think they've since stopped the practice.

> There was a lawsuit a few years back when vegetarians discovered that McDonald's was flavoring their fries with beef juice. They weren't “flavoring them with beef juice”, they were frying them in tallow. And AFAIK they didn't stop because of a lawsuit by vegetarians, but because of nutrition (saturated fat) concerns, and they now use other flavorings to attempt to simulate the flavor imparted by tallow: https://www…

> They weren't “flavoring them with beef juice”, they were frying them in tallow.

They actually did both.

https://www.thoughtco.com/mcdonalds-french-fries-still-not-v...

> But when they switched to vegetable oil, the fries were no longer as tasty. The solution was to add natural beef flavor to the spuds.

> Admitting that the fries were coated in beef flavoring, McDonald's settled for $10 million, with $6 million going to vegetarian organizations.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mcdonalds-settles-beef-over-fri...

> The vegetable oil used to prepare the fries and hash browns was not pure, but contained essence of beef for flavoring purposes. Many Hindus consider cows sacred and do not eat beef.

Post reply on HN