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

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

#231

Post by mike_d »

Nbox9 wrote: post #80
Daishiman wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you priced the externalities, plant-based food is an order of magnitude cheaper, at the very least.

My grocery bill decreased when I started eating exclusively plant based foods. In most meals the most expensive item on the plate is the meat.

Plant based food are cheap because the overwhelming majority of government subsidies go to farmers and not ranchers. (there are some misleading charts on the internet that try to bundle school lunch programs providing milk as a meat subsidy)

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

#232

Post by ben_w »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #176
stronglikedan wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and comparably healthy Every plant-based meat I'm aware of has been processed to hell and back, so I'm dubious of the claims that they are healthier.

Get ready for the future. A Finnish company can make protein from air and electricity now. Once they figure out carbohydrates, oils, sugar, starch, we may give up growing food corn entirely.

Oils and the carbs are the easy ones to make. Do you have a link or the name of the company?

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

#233

Post by whimsicalism »

dariusj18 wrote: post #171
KitDuncan wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I make cashew "mozzarella" for my vegan pizza. Everybody I know absolutely loves it.

cashew is the best method of faux cheese. It has the creaminess and a good melt, but doesn't brown right.

There is no best method of faux cheese - it depends on your usecase.

That said, I do agree that cashew is extremely versatile.

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

#234

Post by whimsicalism »

msandford wrote: post #216
thorwasdfasdf wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, oils are pretty bad for you but Red meat is a class 2 carcinogen. So, neither are good for you.

According to the WHO class 2 is "probably carcinogenic" and what was effectively a meta (or meta-meta) analysis showed that the increased risk was 18%. Do we know how bad vegetable oils are for people yet? Is there any reason to think that they're 100% A-OK? Humans have been eating meat for 10s or 100s of thousands if not millions of years. Humans have been eating highly refined vegetable and seed oils for what, a co…

I think a few hundred years is long enough that if there's any sort of clear signal that they cause cancer, it's going to be visible.

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

#235

Post by nanomonkey »

the8472 wrote: post #162
nanomonkey wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a few groups that are making "real" vegan cheese, ie modifying e-coli or yeast to produce the same milk proteins, and then going through the cheese making process. One such is Real Vegan Cheese [ https://realvegancheese.org/ ].

> are making "real" vegan cheese But are they actually making it? The site looks quite aspirational.

I've tried two of the cheeses. I don't think that one particular group is selling anything yet.

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

#236

Post by whimsicalism »

mike_d wrote: post #231
Nbox9 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My grocery bill decreased when I started eating exclusively plant based foods. In most meals the most expensive item on the plate is the meat.

Plant based food are cheap because the overwhelming majority of government subsidies go to farmers and not ranchers. (there are some misleading charts on the internet that try to bundle school lunch programs providing milk as a meat subsidy)

> Plant based food are cheap because the overwhelming majority of government subsidies go to farmers and not ranchers

And then the ranchers buy the subsidized feed...

74 cents on every dollar a dairy farmer earns is from subsidy.

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

#237

Post by mike_d »

dragonwriter wrote: post #101
ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 involve…

Based on data from 2016 (the most recent I could find a good breakdown for):

Corn $2.1B, Soybeans $1.6B, Sugar $1.5B, Cotton $950M, Wheat $603M, Oranges $435M, Livestock $367M, Hay/Feed $240M

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

#238

Post by NewOrderNow »

dandare wrote: post #214
markdown wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the appeal of a vegan pizza? Is it even pizza without cheese?

The appeal of vegan pizza is that no animals were industrially farmed to make it. If you think your cheese is suffering free you are lying to yourself.

It is more the concept of wanting something you claim to not want by making a fake version of it. Just eat vegan products? It seems like a cognitive dissonance when I see the words vegan and burger together.

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

#239

Post by [deleted] »

nanomonkey wrote: post #157
markdown wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the appeal of a vegan pizza? Is it even pizza without cheese?

There are a few groups that are making "real" vegan cheese, ie modifying e-coli or yeast to produce the same milk proteins, and then going through the cheese making process. One such is Real Vegan Cheese [ https://realvegancheese.org/ ].

[deleted]

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

#240

Post by MiguelHudnandez »

coryfklein wrote: post #217
dandare wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The appeal of vegan pizza is that no animals were industrially farmed to make it. If you think your cheese is suffering free you are lying to yourself.

> you are lying to yourself. Gee well that's a rather bold statement. I find this attitude of "if you're not vegan you're a liar" so insufferable. I can think of at least a few explanations for the parent comment. "If you think your cheese is suffering free..." 1. You may be underinformed 2. You've purchased free range dairy products 3. You know something I don't

For your third suggestion, I'll take a shot: For animals to lactate, they must become pregnant. Dairy cows are repeatedly impregnated, they give birth, and they are separated from their calves. Female calves become dairy cows themselves, male calves are either made into veal or killed promptly. A small fraction may become studs for more dairy calves.

The entire ordeal is very much not natural and not pleasant. And we do it at a scale that is awe-inducing. If you are a compassionate type that sees cows in a similar light to dogs, I'd bet you can understand why someone would feel very strongly that it's not an option.

If you would like to learn more there are a few documentaries that explore the big 3 benefits of veganism--Health, ecology, and animal welfare. I won't link them here as they are easy to find for any that are interested.

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