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

471–480 of 528 posts

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

#471

Post by xenospn »

phil248 wrote: post #227
koolba wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I think the conditions most animals are raised in would be considered gross by virtually any observer who took a close look. Subjective, sure, but the same way that emergency room surgery is only subjectively gross.

If you’ve ever made the trip to Auschwitz, you’ll be able to find many parallels to modern dairy farms and factory farms.

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

#472

Post by idreyn »

anonymouswacker wrote: post #319
idreyn wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did your reasoning about the ethics of eating meat evolve over this time?

I learned more about human biology, how to read research studies, and to self-experiment rather than just "reason". Having low testosterone, constant pain, mental health problems, etc. before and during my vegetarian/vegan experiment seemed like it was "NORMAL". I read a little bit about the foods I was eating causing inflammation, which has a high impact on all of this, and how keto & carnivore diets were low inflam…

Thanks for sharing, I'm glad you found a diet that works for you.

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

#474

Post by anonymouswacker »

SeanBoocock wrote: post #468
anonymouswacker wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am as health and environmentally conscious now as I ever was, only aware that vegetarian & vegan diets in America are atrociously unhealthy. Offering cheap, low quality, fake food is not a technological advancement. And I am not sure meat consumption is the problem. Factory farming and industrialized agriculture are the big issues: the greed of the majority of the food supply causes death, destruction, and misery o…

> only aware that vegetarian & vegan diets in America are atrociously unhealthy That is in contradiction to every major health organization in the US and abroad. Well balanced vegan and vegetarian diets are healthy and appropriate for every stage of life. If you care about the environment and want to make food choices that minimize your impact, don't eat animal products, especially beef.

Yes... but large organizations (“major”) are bureaucratic, political organizations predominately funded by, not healthy consumers or scientists, but governments and food/pharma/tech industries. Follow the money, check the biases, and see that the existence of the organization would be jeopardized by biting the hand that feeds it...

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

#475

Post by lysp »

devmunchies wrote: post #317
tempsy wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think plant-based meats are lower calories than regular meat? IIRC they are pretty similar as far as calories go. There's no evidence plant-based burgers are healthier. Why would eating something super processed and filled with carbs be better than eating meat?

> filled with carbs And that's bad? After working on my property cutting down weeds and dead trees carbs are super healthy. Carbs are only not healthy if you live a sedentary lifestyle. Carbs are our main short-term fuel source. And yes i do intermittent fasting.

> And that's bad?

Yes, because carbs are a non-essential nutrient.

Protein and fats are both required.

Most non-meat products are low on protein and high in either fat or carbs. Very few products actually replace the nutrients of meat.

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

#476

Post by mackey »

tptacek wrote: post #367
mackey wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They haven't used ammonia wash or "lean beef trimmings" since around 2011.

The ammonia is a bad scene, but the idea of using TG to repurpose "trimmings" isn't something we should be demonizing; if you're going to kill animals to feed people, you should be maximizing the yield (of muscle protein, that is). This is just an extension of the idea that if you're going to eat pork chops, you shouldn't be grossed out by the idea of eating offal; however ecologically irresponsible it is to eat meat…

I am totally with you on this one. I feel similar about GMOs. The business behind GMOs isn't always the greatest, but we need all the help we can get.

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

#477

Post by scoot »

ethbro wrote: post #437
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…

For those who don't know various feed conversion ratios offhand: {Type of meat} - {FCR, Edible Weight} - {Conversion efficiency %, caloric} - {Conversion efficiency %, protein} Beef - 36 - 2.9% - 2.5% Pork - 6 - 9% - 9% Chicken - 4.2 - 13% - 21% (specifics vary according to method, but cross species comparisons remain similar) https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/10/1...

I had to look it up, but FCR is "Feed Conversion Rate", or "food in over product out", so lower is better.

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

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

#478

Post by mackey »

shados wrote: post #418
mackey wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with others, get with the times. I am pretty sure all the major national fast food burgers are 100% beef, no fillers, no preservatives. I don't eat a ton of fast food anymore, and when I do its usually McDonalds, but I have always enjoyed the Whopper. I had one a few months ago at an airport and tried the Impossible Whopper last week. It's close, but the beef version is still better in my opinion.

Fair enough, I shouldn't have put the "with filler" part. I still stand by the "low quality" (or at least very mediocre flavor) bit though, which still makes the point stand. When I have a whooper most of the taste is the sauce/bun/toppings with the patty only being responsible for a small portion of the taste, which makes it perfect for a substitute. I've had impossible whoopers a few time, and while eating the whol…

I won't argue with flavor, but again, its cheap fast food, you aren't going to find brisket or short rib blend in a McDonalds burger. The new McDonalds quarter pounder is decent too for what it is.

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

#479

Post by anonymouswacker »

OJFord wrote: post #364
anonymouswacker wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fake meat movement is just a cash grab for those who want to eat like crap but feel good about themselves. Looking at the ingredients list, it's pretty obvious that cancer/heart disease will go up. I've already got a long-term Put Option on $BYND because not even the CEO or big celebrity investors believe it is a good long-term bet -- cashing out at its peak a few weeks back. Given the relative ease of spreading…

> I've already got a long-term Put Option on $BYND What's long-term? I haven't accepted the necessary terms anywhere to see the options (excuse the pun) - but whenever I've seen others' elsewhere the term's not long enough that I'm comfortable enough with it to be interested. Like I might think 'X is over-valued, that won't last', but I could never confidently say how many Y months it will last.

2/21/20 $95 Put is what I got. I already tripled my money earlier in the month on the last fall from its post-IPO peak.

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

#480

Post by papito »

drivers99 wrote: post #117
_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 Definitely not the case at the moment. Last week I went to Del Taco and tried their Beyond Taco. It was $2.49 each compared to the meat one which was $1.49. If I recall correctly, you can switch to an Incredible burger patty at Red Robin for $3 extra .

The one for $1.49 probably didn't have much more meat than the other one. Sorry! Sorry.... Had to do it....
Post reply on HN