Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

usatoday.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 577 posts

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

#271

Post by taffer »

spacephysics wrote: post #168
ChrisArchitect wrote: post #155

purely driven by curiosity, not vegan or health-concerned or anything, it still took me a very long time (years) to one time take a chance and try an Impossble burger somewhere (think it was A&W). One night I just decided to take the plunge. It was 'fine'. But nothing is really incentivizing me to have it regularly. I kind of want to be mislead -- don't tell me it's a plant-based burger. If the studies are consistent…

No, I'd rather have them tell me its fake meat. The 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 t…

Do you just copy and paste this text in different places?

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

#272

Post by redisman »

gonehome wrote: post #25
petra wrote: post #19

From what i've read, the impossible burger is pretty close to meat, unlike other plant based burgers. On the other and, burger king already sell those. So i'm curious, why doesn't McDonald's sell those too ? Is the supply restricted to burger king ? or do they think it's not woth the more expensive price, and and meat eaters will still prefer to eat a McD burger, while plant easters don't care that much about closene…

I'd guess because vertical integration is way better for margins at scale. Why be dependent on another company if you don't have to? It's way better to own your own product. McDonalds partnered with Beyond briefly probably to test demand in the market. They're better off investing in their own recipe if they're able to pull it off. I'd guess they can afford to pay the people they need to do it. When I first had an im…

What's weird is McDonalds is a huge food corporation and the process Impossible and Beyond (and 50 other plant-based meats use) are pretty much open secrets. Why don't they just make their own? They're very good at making tasty stuff. I think some of the earlier players like Morningstar that use seitan etc. are actually much closer to what McDonalds wants - especially for breakfast sandwiches.

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

#273

Post by andreilys »

PretzelPirate wrote: post #242
NewOrderNow wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

But vegans want burgers, they just don’t want to kill an animal for that burger. This is no different than someone making a turkey burger because they don’t like beef. For some reason, only vegans get called out for making substitutions.

But they do want to kill plants, which can feel pain and hear themselves being eaten [1]

https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/24473/20191218/a-group...

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

#274

Post by throwaway3699 »

vram22 wrote: post #254
creaghpatr wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think most people know this.

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

#275

Post by redisman »

wincy wrote: post #52
dehrmann wrote: post #8

Let's see if they take beef flavor out of their fries.

I wish they'd start using beef tallow again. I recently made a few batches of store-bought fries deep fried in tallow and it was one of the best things I've ever tasted. There's something primally satisfying about the taste of animal fats vs plant-based fats.

There are some "gastropubs" that use it and it is very decadent tasting.

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

#276

Post by adtac »

thefounder wrote: post #270
adtac wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>2. You've purchased free range dairy products Free range or not, cows still need to be artificially inseminated (read: industry term to fancy dress "cow rape"), the calves still need to be weaned off after only a few weeks with their mothers (once the colostrum part is over) and/or be given formula milk substitute while humans drink what's rightfully the calf's. Leaving the calf with the cow is absolutely not profit…

You almost make a religion out of this. Make the lion vegan to complete the circle. That would end the misery on this world, right? Some animals are abused and we can work on regulation to prevent that and promote sustainable development (in EU they already have some laws about this) but I don't think making sure cows die by old age should be the end goal.

>Make the lion vegan to complete the circle.

1. Lions are obligate carnivores, we're not. We do not need meat to survive (evidenced by several cultures around the world living off a nearly entirely plant-based diet for centuries), lions do.

2. What animals do isn't a good moral compass. Animals rape each other, steal, kill their children, and do all sorts of morally reprehensible stuff.

>Some animals are abused and we can work on regulation to prevent that

The best solution to stopping animal abuse is to not breed the animal in the first place. Can't abuse something that doesn't exist now, can we?

>I don't think making sure cows die by old age should be the end goal.

I never proposed that. I said we shouldn't have bred them into this miserable existence in the first place.

Why do we get to decide how long a cow should live? Why do we get to artificially inseminate a cow that cannot possibly give consent? Why do we get to take away the newborn child of a defenceless creature? Come on.

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

#277

Post by redisman »

dmurray wrote: post #45
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…

The "pure" vegans may be a minority, but will have a disproportionately loud voice.

Sure but I don't think they'll be exactly in McDonalds target audience here. Their dietary habits are on the polar opposite end.

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

#278

Post by elihu »

dstick wrote: post #212
creaghpatr wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

E Coli Flower You’re welcome!

If they can use a similar trick to make wheat gluten, then you'd have E Coli Flour.

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

#279

Post by howlgarnish »

motives wrote: post #128
azinman2 wrote: post #126

> “ McDonald's had been running small tests of plant-based options in Canada since as early as last year, and was reportedly canvassing customers in the UK recently for their thoughts on vegan options at the Golden Arches” In 2001 I had a vegetarian (vegan?) burger at McDonalds in the UK. McDonalds in India already has plenty of unique veggie items on their menu. I’m confused by these statements.

India is a more unique market due to the extremely high number of Hindus, who do not eat beef due to the revered status of the cow. This has a significant impact on the provisioning of products, as McDonalds would not be able to survive on beef alone.

McD in India doesn't sell any beef products, period. The menu is entirely chicken and vegetarian options. (They tried a lamb-based Maharaja Mac earlier, but pulled it in favor of the current chicken version some years ago.)

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

#280

Post by manishsharan »

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…

>>Humans have been eating meat for 10s or 100s of thousands if not millions of years.

Technically that may be true but humans only ate meat when the hunt was successful. Most of the time , they had a plant based diet. Meat has always been unaffordable luxury for most peole. The farm grown , tax subsidixzed, growth hormone loaded meat industry is a rather new phenomenon.

Post reply on HN