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

391–400 of 528 posts

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

#391

Post by dgzl »

_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…

More like they don't want groups of people to exclude KFC from their choices simply because there isn't a vegetarian option.

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

#392

Post by tomjen3 »

szatkus wrote: post #6

Is there any plans to expand Beyond Meat, well, beyond USA?

I can buy either that or the other similar product at my local discount grocer, but it is twice the cost of the real thing, I have no idea what is in it, or how to work with it, so I opted not to purchase it.

I will prefer to wait for the labgrown meat anyway.

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

#393

Post by pacomerh »

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…

Because people want to keep eating things like burgers, hotdogs, tacos, etc. And not everyone knows how to replace the "meat" part. Basically not everyone knows or has the patience to build things from scratch. I'm fortunate that my family has time to cook things from scratch but I do see the market for all those replacements, some of them are good some others are yes weird.

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

#394

Post by phonypc »

flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #376
tptacek wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>Can you make a clearer, better-cited case for "low cost chains serve meat that could barely even be called meat"? Taco bell famously admit a few years ago that their beef filling was only 88% beef. CBC did an investigative report in Canada recently that revealed subway's chicken was only 50% chicken. [0] The rest being a smörgåsbord of fillers. The 4 other chains studied in the tests didn't do much better. [0] https…

As pointed out elsewhere, taco beef shouldn't be expected to be near 100% beef. Adding various seasonings and spices is what makes it "taco."

Your linked article makes the point that other chains hit the expected values for prepared chicken, Subway was an outlier.

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

#395

Post by cr0sh »

skyyler wrote: post #172
_bxg1 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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.

I don't like this definition of gross. If it were true, then cooking something would serve to make it far more gross. Hundreds, if not thousands of new chemical compounds are created via the Maillard reaction. Food that can make you sick isn't necessarily gross tasting. Spoiled food is definitely gross, though.

> Spoiled food is definitely gross, though.

There are probably more than a few foods you eat that are technically "spoiled" - it's just termed differently, like "fermented" or "aged".

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

#396

Post by rayiner »

flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #376
tptacek wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>Can you make a clearer, better-cited case for "low cost chains serve meat that could barely even be called meat"? Taco bell famously admit a few years ago that their beef filling was only 88% beef. CBC did an investigative report in Canada recently that revealed subway's chicken was only 50% chicken. [0] The rest being a smörgåsbord of fillers. The 4 other chains studied in the tests didn't do much better. [0] https…

You’re conflating two different things. One is the meat used in the Taco Bell filling, which is 100% beef. Two is the overall composition of the filling, which you’d obviously not expect to be 100% beef. (If you put onions in your taco filling, by that same math, your taco filling isn’t 100% beef either.)

There is also nothing “gross” about the additives used in the filling, which are primarily there to improve texture. They are widely used and perfectly safe: https://firstwefeast.com/eat/2014/05/tacobell-beef-ingredien.... (For some reason people go “eww” when soy lecithin is used at Taco Bell, but don’t utter a peep when it’s used in some fancy foam in a high end restaurant. It’s all in peoples’ heads, and there is also a large amount of classism involved.)

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

#397

Post by papreclip »

_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…

It makes sense the same way it makes sense for KFC to replace honey with "honey sauce", (main ingredient corn syrup). I personally have no interest in eating plant-based substitutes for my food.

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

#398

Post by 693471 »

tptacek wrote: post #380
flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Can you make a clearer, better-cited case for "low cost chains serve meat that could barely even be called meat"? Taco bell famously admit a few years ago that their beef filling was only 88% beef. CBC did an investigative report in Canada recently that revealed subway's chicken was only 50% chicken. [0] The rest being a smörgåsbord of fillers. The 4 other chains studied in the tests didn't do much better. [0] https…

Unless McDonalds is committing fraud by listing chicken breast fillet (and no other proteins) in the ingredients for its grilled chicken sandwich, this is likely measurement error. I have no idea what Subway is selling. Subway squicks me out, as does Taco Bell.

Little known secret: Subway's Cold Cut Combo is all turkey

COLD CUT COMBO: Turkey Bologna: Mechanically separated turkey, water, contains less than 2% of: salt, corn syrup solids, potassium lactate, dextrose, sodium diacetate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite, flavorings. Turkey Ham: Cured turkey thigh meat, salt, contains less than 2% of: potassium lactate, brown sugar, sodium tripolyphosphate, dextrose, sodium diacetate, sodium erythorbate, smoke flavor, sodium nitrite, water. Turkey Salami: Dark turkey, mechanically separated turkey, water, salt, contains less than 2% of: potassium lactate, sugar, sodium tripolyphosphate, dextrose, spice and flavorings, sodium diacetate, sodium erythorbate, smoke flavor, sodium nitrite

So plant based milks can't be called milk, plant based proteins can't be called meats, but hot dogs can be called hot dogs and have no dog meat in them, riced cauliflower is under attack, Parmesan (cheese byproduct and sawdust) in a can is considered not misleading, a California Port wine is impossible but nobody cares, etc

Subway's Salami, Ham, and Bologna can be made with turkey instead of the cuts you'd expect because money.

It's always about money. They want consumers buying their products in stores and if you buy enough product for your restaurants you can call it anything you want.

America.

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

#399

Post by ghaff »

ceejayoz wrote: post #381
ghaff wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly don't care what people call the different types of meat substitutes. Plant-based meat seems a bit odd to me because it's not, you know, meat. But it seems to be the term in use. Yes, I understand that there is a difference between grown from meat cells and made from plants with components that make it look and taste more like meat.

I haven't seen many offerings saying plant-based meat . I've seen plant-based burger, plant-based sausage, etc.

There are only 579,000 results for that phrase from a Google search.

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22plant-based+meat%22&oq=%2...

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

#400

Post by phonypc »

icxa wrote: post #299
tptacek wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

McDonalds does in fact use 100% USDA-inspected beef, with "no fillers, additives, or preservatives", and explicitly does not use mechanically separated meat. It's not "organic", but then, most beef isn't.

Then I am happy to say I am happy for their recent changes, this certainly wasn’t the case a few years ago when I wrote them off, and even more not the case 10 years ago when I was still in the industry. I think it should be promoted as an example that consumer pressure and expectations can cause companies to change for the better. I will say I remain skeptical on exactly how they can go from the ammonia wash + chemi…

The ammonia (when it was present) was present in such small amounts that it couldn't conceivably have altered the flavor, and they were never using "chemical food flavoring." The only change they've made recently is using fresh instead of frozen for a few products. It has always been just beef.
Post reply on HN