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

How to lower the price of plant-based meat

us14.campaign-archive.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

401–410 of 679 posts

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

#401

Post by sigmaprimus »

henrikschroder wrote: post #164
WaitWaitWha wrote: post #143

A tangential topic - I really think that in general calling plant-based things "meat", a terrible idea. It does not promote plant-base diet or meat consumption reduction. It is trying to be what is not. I think it pushes away those who are on the cusp of moving towards plant-base foods. Why? Because the consumer is told it is "meat", so they will compare it to meat. They will compare these patties to a real, prime An…

> I think it pushes away those who are on the cusp of moving towards plant-base foods. I think you are completely wrong. People eat meat because they like the taste and the texture, but at the same time everyone knows that meat is produced by killing animals, and that it's much less sustainable than vegetarian food. If you want to get people to switch to meat alternatives, you have to keep everything that's great abo…

>I think you are completely wrong.

Not completely wrong, You mentioned earlier attemps failing and as a person who opened their mind and wallet, I ate at a vegan restaurant in the 90s and can say it ruined tofu and taro root for me.

Also the livestock industry is not all bad, many industrial livestock operations could be considered "bad" but there are still ethical people that raise animals for food just like I'm sure there are unethical vegans out there...some sell drugs. Some commit crime. Some are rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

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

#402

Post by onethought »

WaitWaitWha wrote: post #143

A tangential topic - I really think that in general calling plant-based things "meat", a terrible idea. It does not promote plant-base diet or meat consumption reduction. It is trying to be what is not. I think it pushes away those who are on the cusp of moving towards plant-base foods. Why? Because the consumer is told it is "meat", so they will compare it to meat. They will compare these patties to a real, prime An…

Almond and Oat “milk” industry would disagree with you. They completely disrupted the milk industry by getting away with being a “milk” even though they are not.

I think if Fake meats aren’t classified as meat they wont get the mind share required to shift people’s habits.

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

#403

Post by runarberg »

jfim wrote: post #397
runarberg wrote: post #394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People eat meat because they like the taste and the texture AFAIK people usually don’t like the flavor nor texture of meat. If that was the case, you would see more people boiling the meat and not spice it. But AFAIK meat eaters tend to spice their meat a lot, to an extent where there it is the spice is the primary taste. They then oil the meat and prefer it fried or grilled which alters the texture as well. With p…

> AFAIK people usually don’t like the flavor nor texture of meat. If that was the case, you would see more people boiling the meat and not spice it. If that was true, steaks would not be a thing. A good steak has some coarse salt and pepper for seasoning, but not much else. Boiling meat is pretty much the worst way to prepare any cut of meat, and will ensure that it has a tough and unpleasant texture, strip all of th…

You are just reiterating my point exactly. People like to alter the taste and texture of the food we eat. We do it with our plant based food, and—to a much greater extent—we do it to our meat based food.

Also, salt is a very powerful spice.

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

#404

Post by torgian »

sitharus wrote: post #353
drukenemo wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plant-based food aimed at replacing meat is often a too-many ingredient, industrialised nightmare.

So is the animal industry in the USA, with ammonia-washed meat, wide-scale deployment of antibiotics (which has the knock-on effect of helping create antibiotic resistance), and the use of growth hormones in cattle to increase production. I'm not defending the plant-based industry here, but the way meat is produced in the USA is also a nightmare.

I basically avoid American meat for these reasons, and typically source my beef from Australia , Japan or other countries ( which is easier since I live in Taiwan ).

But honestly I’m not 100% sure how much better aussy and Japanese meats are.

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

#405

Post by chipotle_coyote »

elif wrote: post #370
drukenemo wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plant-based food aimed at replacing meat is often a too-many ingredient, industrialised nightmare.

I'm not sure that tracks. Impossible burger: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% Or Less Of: Potato Protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Mixed Tocopherols (Antioxidant), Soy Protein Isolate, Vitamins and Minerals (Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitam…

For the vast majority of those ingredients, the answer sure looks like "yes." A few are literally standard home cooking ingredients, and nearly all the rest (dextrose, yeast extract, vitamin mixes, etc.) are pretty common in any processed food, which -- let's be honest here -- a lot of us buy pretty regularly. I'm not sure there's anything there that's unique to the Impossible Burger other than the "soy leghemoglobin".

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

#406

Post by Baeocystin »

foerbert wrote: post #393
henrikschroder wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think it pushes away those who are on the cusp of moving towards plant-base foods. I think you are completely wrong. People eat meat because they like the taste and the texture, but at the same time everyone knows that meat is produced by killing animals, and that it's much less sustainable than vegetarian food. If you want to get people to switch to meat alternatives, you have to keep everything that's great abo…

I think you and OP are talking about different things. For most products, and virtually all that aren't particularly modern, they suffer from being set up as direct replacements for meat. Take fake deli meats, for example. There are options that make a good sandwich. But they don't make a good $specific-meat sandwich. If they found a way to position themselves more in the vein of ham vs turkey vs plant-based sandwich…

I agree with you. I know more than one person who would turn up their nose at a 'veggie meat' sandwich, but would happily tuck in to a falafel wrap. Marketing matters!

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

#407

Post by Spivak »

elif wrote: post #370
drukenemo wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plant-based food aimed at replacing meat is often a too-many ingredient, industrialised nightmare.

I'm not sure that tracks. Impossible burger: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% Or Less Of: Potato Protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Mixed Tocopherols (Antioxidant), Soy Protein Isolate, Vitamins and Minerals (Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitam…

Yes and no. All of these are common ingredients in commercial food production. You’ll see these in all sorts of stuff at your local grocery store. Not so common in your kitchen though.

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

#408

Post by tengbretson »

Droobfest wrote: post #263
hamax wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definition of meat by merriam-webster: a: FOOD especially : solid food as distinguished from drink b: the edible part of something as distinguished from its covering (such as a husk or shell) The same as with milk. Nobody had problems with coconut milk until dairy lobby started fearing plant milk competition. And when one buys oat yogurt they know exactly what they'll get and what to compare it with. Or do you think…

So if I say 'We should all eat less meat' you immediately understand this to also include eating less plant patties? Or could this possibly be the wrong definition?

I suppose the phrase "meat is murder" was taking about cabbages then.

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

#409

Post by awillen »

runarberg wrote: post #403
jfim wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> AFAIK people usually don’t like the flavor nor texture of meat. If that was the case, you would see more people boiling the meat and not spice it. If that was true, steaks would not be a thing. A good steak has some coarse salt and pepper for seasoning, but not much else. Boiling meat is pretty much the worst way to prepare any cut of meat, and will ensure that it has a tough and unpleasant texture, strip all of th…

You are just reiterating my point exactly. People like to alter the taste and texture of the food we eat. We do it with our plant based food, and —to a much greater extent—we do it to our meat based food. Also, salt is a very powerful spice.

So what you mean is that people don't like the taste and texture of raw meat, and they're only pretending to like it because it's cooked? If you like steak cooked with some salt on it, that doesn't mean that you don't like steak.

I honestly don't get the point you're even trying to make here... because people do less to prepare vegetables they're somehow superior?

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

#410

Post by tengbretson »

wyre wrote: post #60
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.

So with your plan, if I get rid of the cows in my pasture and a bunch of deer move in to graze it instead do I still get taxed for their farts too?
Post reply on HN