McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu • Hacker News Board

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#101

Post by dragonwriter » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:48 PM UTC

ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #89

Nbox9 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The meat (and dairy) industry receive massive subsidies from the the US federal government, and they have massive externalized costs. Some externalized costs are greenhouse gas emissions, downstream downstream pollution, reduced health outcomes in consumers, heavy fresh water usage. The meat & dairy industry received the majority of the benefit from the $867 billion farm bill passed in 2019.

>The meat & dairy industry received the majority of the benefit from the $867 billion farm bill passed in 2019. No, they didn't. The majority of the 10 year funding bill went to SNAP (food stamps). [1] I do hate how I have to waste my time researching your ridiculous claims, I do wish such extreme takes could just be out right deleted before they cause any damage. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/11/massive-867-billi…

> The majority of the 10 year funding bill went to SNAP (food stamps).

That would only rebut the claim being made if there was an analysis that SNAP spending + other subsidies did not result in a majority of the total ending up with the meat and dairy industry. Its worth noting that even before they were configured into a poverty support program, food stamps were conceived of, and have always been (hence the involvement of USDA) an agricultural subsidy program. So what goes into SNAP is not separate from industry subsidies.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#102

Post by Someone1234 » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:50 PM UTC

xnx wrote: post #41

belltaco wrote: post #2

>somewhat unsurprisingly, will be called "McPlant." Is it just me that didn't find the name obvious, and perhaps not a good one? Many people have an aversion to something if it's called plant, healthy or natural. I think Impossible Foods was right in marketing their products for meateaters rather than vegans.

Remember all the mockery around the name "iPad"? First impressions are often wrong.

The mockery was mostly about how obvious/lazy/predictable people felt the name was. I don't understand why you think that disproves anything? The iPad was a success, but the name can still be obvious without the product being bad.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#103

Post by antpls » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:52 PM UTC

falcolas wrote: post #11

I had a "Beyond Burger" the other day. It was larger than you'd ever get from either BK or McD's, but it was still a licensed product. The flavor was pretty good (if a bit too "meaty" as it were), but the texture was very wrong. There were sizable globs of rubbery material in them which was a bit disturbing (think Pearl Tea style tapioca, only 2-3x more resilient). It was as if globules of gristle had made it into th…

I bought a frozen "impossible burger" (although I don't remember if it was beyond burger or impossible burger). It was not a good experience. When uncooked it looked like cat can food, when cooked it still smelled like cat food.

I have a feeling those are the same ingredients than cat food.

I would rather eat an official and assumed vegan burger rather than one of those "fake" meat burger

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#104

Post by notRobot » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:53 PM UTC

I traveled to India last year for a business trip. Indian McD has apparently had vegetarian burger options for decades, including the McVeggie (vegetable patty), McSpicy Paneer (cottage cheese patty) and McAloo Tikki (potato-based patty).

The Indian population is about 40% vegetarian, so this makes sense. Personally, I think the vegetarian burgers tasted incredible, and I wish we had them here.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#105

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:53 PM UTC

foxhop wrote: post #81

Plants can taste great without using mad science to change them to taste similar to animals. Vegan eggplant India curry comes to mind, so good.

While true, those of us who liked the taste and texture of meat but became vegetarian for other reasons really appreciate how hard companies are trying to imitate meat with plants.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#106

Post by kall » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:56 PM UTC

amanzi wrote: post #62

belltaco wrote: post #2

>somewhat unsurprisingly, will be called "McPlant." Is it just me that didn't find the name obvious, and perhaps not a good one? Many people have an aversion to something if it's called plant, healthy or natural. I think Impossible Foods was right in marketing their products for meateaters rather than vegans.

"McPlant" is a fairly horrible sounding burger! Burger King here in NZ have plant-based burgers called the Rebel Whopper which is quite a catchy name. Technically, it can't be classified as vegetarian though, because it's cooked on the same grill as the beef burgers. Not sure if the McPlant will be cooked on different grills or not?

I think the Rebel Whopper branding is really spot on. It‘s like the opposite of the McLean problem described in another comment: it‘s not the reasonable choice.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#107

Post by cavisne » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:57 PM UTC

fullshark wrote: post #33

belltaco wrote: post #2

>somewhat unsurprisingly, will be called "McPlant." Is it just me that didn't find the name obvious, and perhaps not a good one? Many people have an aversion to something if it's called plant, healthy or natural. I think Impossible Foods was right in marketing their products for meateaters rather than vegans.

Mc something it had to be. The question is what is the something. McVeggie doesn't work, because veggie burgers became synonymous with the last generation of plant based burgers. McPlant does sound awkward right now but with the full backing of mcdonalds marketing / their resturant footprint it will roll of the tongue within a few months of launch.

It's probably because they will sell it as "plant based" vs vegan/vegetarian as it'll be on the same grills as real burgers.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#108

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:57 PM UTC

Arcuru wrote: post #46

nxc18 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some vegans. If you care about the environment at all you’re not going to be demanding every restaurant buy additional grills, expand footprint, or alternatively not serve vegans at all. Demanding separate grills doesn’t have any impact on animal suffering either. The only vegans I could see caring about that are the purity test vegans or the vegans who are convinced meat is physically dangerous to human health, and…

I have also heard that some people that are on strict vegan diets can develop an intolerance to animal products. So I guess it's possible they could have issues with cross contamination. Disclaimer: This is pure, third-hand speculation. I am not in a position to know if developing an animal products intolerance is possible.

I can confirm having developed some intolerance to animal fats since becoming vegetarian. It isn't usually a problem if my fake-meat is cooked on the same surface as real-meat, but every so often I will experience some stomach discomfort. Pig fat seems to be the most likely to cause it.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#109

Post by elif » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 7:58 PM UTC

Nbox9 wrote: post #58

I think it’ll be a big win when plant-based burgers are cheaper than animal based burgers. From a raw ingredients standpoint plant based food should almost always be cheaper than animal based food because the costs associated with farming plants is lower than the costs associated with farming animals. Hopefully, with McDonald’s scale and with their vertical integration they can make affordable, tasty, and comparably…

The price of animal agriculture products is artificially lowered by direct subsidy, price controls, and indirectly lowered by the unaccounted ecological costs. It is largely a matter of policy rather than a reflection of market forces.

On a level playing field, the cost competitiveness is there. For instance, in New Zealand, one of the largest dairy export markets, I can buy a vegan pizza for the same price. In fact, I can buy it from Dominos, a US brand that doesn't even offer it in the US.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#110

Post by lhorie » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 8:01 PM UTC

Nbox9 wrote: post #58

I think it’ll be a big win when plant-based burgers are cheaper than animal based burgers. From a raw ingredients standpoint plant based food should almost always be cheaper than animal based food because the costs associated with farming plants is lower than the costs associated with farming animals. Hopefully, with McDonald’s scale and with their vertical integration they can make affordable, tasty, and comparably…

> From a raw ingredients standpoint plant based food should almost always be cheaper than animal based food

Genuinely curious: is it though? I can certainly see the strength of the argument if we're merely comparing 1 lb of soy vs 1 lb of beef, but my understanding is that veggie burgers require quite a bit of processing to become "meat-like". It'd be interesting to keep track of cost and environmental impact differences between a low-tech soy-tasting patty vs an impossible burger.