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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

#251

Post by Rapzid »

markdown wrote: post #141
elif wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

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

I can't speak for vegan pizza, but turkey bacon is legit. No pigs were killed either.

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

#252

Post by Broken_Hippo »

lhorie wrote: post #110
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 differe…

I don't know about the ones that are meat-like - that is never my goal (and impossible burgers seem too fatty for my tastes). But I can make something good tasting at home - one of the better ones has brown rice and chickpeas as the main ingredients.

I'm going to guess McDonald's veggie burgers will have a decent amount of processing: I don't know how that compares to processing hamburger patties. We are, after all, comparing hamburger patties to pucks of veggie material instead of veggie burgers vs steak.

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

#253

Post by wortelefant »

markdown wrote: post #141
elif wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

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

I tried some great vegan cheese substitutes but these days I just heat soy cream/soy milk with nutritional yeast,a bit of miso and a bit of tapioca starch and pour it over the pizza. For the mouth feel of "something cheesy on top" this is more than enough

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

#254

Post by vram22 »

creaghpatr wrote: post #174
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/ ].

Godspeed to the marketing team that has to go to market with "modified e-coli".

Ha ha, yes, wonder how many people know Escherichia coli is a bacterium found in feces. Often quoted in the context of polluted / unhygienic water sources. Source: a relative, who was a biologist / chemist dealing with public water supplies.

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

#255

Post by philipkglass »

ben_w wrote: post #232
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

The company is Solar Foods: https://solarfoods.fi/

It's an approach to growing single cell protein (e.g. products like Quorn) that uses hydrogen oxidizing bacteria with hydrogen from renewable-powered water electrolysis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-cell_protein

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

I have more detailed links in this old comment of mine from when Solar Foods appeared on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18355483

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

#257

Post by firethief »

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.

It couldn't be that stupid-sounding by accident. I think the name is a defense against people feeling like it's a pretentious thing to order at McDonald's.

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

#259

Post by howlgarnish »

mike_d wrote: post #244
boruto wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should visit india. Vegetarian food is always a bit cheaper than meat and poultry.

Over half of under-5 child mortality in India is the result of malnutrition, and half the children under 3 are below a healthy weight. The WHO has citied not only insufficient food, but also a substandard diet.

That's due to poverty, not vegetarianism. If anything, being vegetarian in India is (loosely) associated with wealth and the higher priestly castes.

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

#260

Post by taffer »

spacephysics wrote: post #172
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…

Not so fast with the health talk. Vegetable oils are most likely carcinogenic, amid other health issues (GI, heart) [0]. Red meat is not [1] Further, these fake meats, Impossible Burger namely, have been linked to kidney failure in mice studies [2] (one commissioned by the Impossible Foods manufacturer). In particular: " * A rat feeding study commissioned by the manufacturer Impossible Foods found that rats fed SLH […

> Vegetable oils are most likely carcinogenic, amid other health issues

Strange. Why do I only ever see this claim from esoteric websites and blogs and never from serious organizations? E.g. "No need to avoid healthy omega-6 fats"[1]

[1] https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/no-need-to...

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