How to lower the price of plant-based meat • Hacker News Board

Re: How to lower the price of plant-based meat

#51

Post by ebiester » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 8:19 PM UTC

zionic wrote: post #4

I'm far more interested in cultured/clean meat grown from real cells.

I am interested in both, but we're still a bit away from cultured meat. We are closer than I expected we would be in 2021, though. See this press release from this week: https://www.perishablenews.com/meatpoultry/future-meat-techn...

That said, I think there is room for both. In the hamburger/chicken nugget space, I think plant based is going to keep beating cultured for the next decade - if cultured wins, it needs to figure out fat (afaik it still hasn't.)

Re: How to lower the price of plant-based meat

#52

Post by cccc4all » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 8:20 PM UTC

delibes wrote: post #16

cccc4all wrote: post #6

Cows and livestock eat plants and convert into meat. It’s natural and organic and proven process that’s been around for thousands of years. Ground up plants with food colorings and odd shapes are not meat.

Agreed. Some vegans/vegetarians don't want their food labelled meat either. However please don't compare the modern industrial meat production with anything like farming from, say, 500 years ago, or with ancient hunting. Modern meat production is brutal (for necessary cost reasons) and hugely destructive to the environment.

Please look into these modern industrial plant processing and production for vegans, vegetarians.

They will be much better off eating good quality meats from reputable sources.

Re: How to lower the price of plant-based meat

#53

Post by Falling3 » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 8:20 PM UTC

dabbledash wrote: post #41

avolcano wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really understand this. I've never seen a package of plant-based meat and found myself confused, much in the same way I've never seen a carton of oat milk and thought it contained dairy. What's the concern here?

I don’t know about the meat issue, but I’ve seen women in mother’s groups ask “what kind of milk” people were going to be giving their babies after they were done giving breast milk or formula. Some people seemed to genuinely think that something called almond milk is actually a type of milk in some meaningful sense just because of the name.

Are you implying that children that are weaned shouldn't have non-dairy milk substitutes?

Re: How to lower the price of plant-based meat

#54

Post by hannob » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 8:21 PM UTC

wtetzner wrote: post #40

hannob wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s natural and organic and proven process that’s been around for thousands of years. Which is a good example how "natural" and "been around for thousands of years" does not equal "is good for the environment".

Are we convinced growing these crops are good for the environment? Not to mention how terrible plant-based “meats” are for your health.

> Are we convinced growing these crops are good for the environment?

They don't have to be good, just less bad than producing meat. It is almost impossible to create any food that has a larger impact than beef [1].

[1] https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local

Re: How to lower the price of plant-based meat

#55

Post by maxerickson » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 8:21 PM UTC

zionic wrote: post #3

sparrish wrote: post #2

It really shouldn't be called "meat". It should be called plant-based protein or meat-substitute. The definition of "meat" shouldn't change because you press some soy to look like a chicken leg.

I completely agree. That's one area where europe is much better than the US, they tend to force stuff to be labeled what it is.

The US has lots of those rules.

It's likely enough they would apply to more specific terms, beef/chicken/pork, and so on, though.

Re: How to lower the price of plant-based meat

#56

Post by Layke1123 » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 8:21 PM UTC

shmageggy wrote: post #39

tomcam wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Words are important. Kind of disappointing that you fail to understand that, really.

And language constantly evolves. Also it’s irrelevant to the content of the article.

And that is part of the reason we need to be precise with our language. Last time I checked, we use a dead language in medicine precisely because it is not evolving, and we don't want to have to fight a battle on two fronts.

A similar thing can be observed in programming languages like Python, where it's important to know which version is used, or even in law, as legal English is entirely different than the constantly evolving language of common parlance.

To think definitions that directly relate to the product are irrelevant to a wholistic view of the article is naïve and petulant. If you have a novel insight, add it. If you want to criticize others, enjoy your downvotes.

Re: How to lower the price of plant-based meat

#57

Post by hannob » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 8:21 PM UTC

eznzt wrote: post #34

hannob wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s natural and organic and proven process that’s been around for thousands of years. Which is a good example how "natural" and "been around for thousands of years" does not equal "is good for the environment".

Nobody said it does?

The top poster seems to imply that these are good things.

Re: How to lower the price of plant-based meat

#58

Post by xsmasher » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 8:23 PM UTC

cccc4all wrote: post #37

hannob wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s natural and organic and proven process that’s been around for thousands of years. Which is a good example how "natural" and "been around for thousands of years" does not equal "is good for the environment".

Cows and livestock are great for environment. They eat plants and clear vegetation and the poop converts to nutrients in soil. People should demand and buy better meat from better farms with better practices.

The type of meat production you are talking about is not typical or representative of the industry.

Re: How to lower the price of plant-based meat

#59

Post by Falling3 » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 8:24 PM UTC

cccc4all wrote: post #37

hannob wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s natural and organic and proven process that’s been around for thousands of years. Which is a good example how "natural" and "been around for thousands of years" does not equal "is good for the environment".

Cows and livestock are great for environment. They eat plants and clear vegetation and the poop converts to nutrients in soil. People should demand and buy better meat from better farms with better practices.

There is no way to satisfy the growing demand for meat in a way that is not damaging to the environment. And that's leaving aside any questions of ethics for the animals themselves.

Re: How to lower the price of plant-based meat

#60

Post by wyre » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 8:25 PM UTC

hannob wrote: post #30

Interestingly it doesn't even discuss the obvious solution: Let people who buy real meat pay for the externalities. (Interestingly even in places where there's some form of carbon pricing - like the EU - this often doesn't cover a large share of emissions from meat production, as methane emissions are very relevant here - I'm not aware of any methane pricing scheme anywhere.)

As much as I would love to see subsidies ended on animal products, it couldn’t happen overnight without huge backlash.

Lowering the subsidies over time and eliminating the power that the animal agriculture industry has over politics would do a lot to increase the number of plant-based eaters.