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Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

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Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#131

I look at this as good but cautious news. People really need to be eating more vegetables in their diet, but I just don't think we need to go to such measures simply to mimic meat, when there are so many vegetarian options already exist. Remember that there is a large population of the world that doesn't even eat meat and that Beyond Meat is not serving those people, even though they are in the "vegetarian" market.

Getting someone eating 4 or 5 big macs a week to switch to 4 or 5 big beyond macs, served at the takeout they've been going to for years, is much easier than getting them to switch to traditional Indian dishes made by nobody that lives within a three hour drive of them.

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#132
post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are you comparing nutritional value between meat and plant products? There are literally hundreds of millions (if not billions) of people that have been eating vegetarian diets for their entire lives, and these types of diets have been popular for millennia.

I'm comparing it by ... comparing the nutrients in each. There are lots of examples of nutrients in meat that aren't found in plants (carnitine, b12 etc) and even more where the type found in plants must be consumed in far greater quantities and converted to a form we can use (retinol vs beta-carotene, DHA vs EPA/ALA etc) Millions of vegetarians doesn't mean meat is suddenly less nutritious.

But hundreds of millions of vegetarians does mean that eliminating that meat from our diet is extremely realistic and much more widely affordable.

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#133
post #79
post #55

Impossible is definitely better tasting, but I'm happy to see Taco Bell is included in this deal (though not in the headline here on HN). I haven't been there since they got rid of potatoes, so having a vegan option would make my taco consumption during lunch break skyrocket.

Taco meat [EDIT: in Taco Bell's usage] is a perfect application, since its texture is already squishy and the flavor is dominated by spice. Plus, it's wrapped in a shell and mixed with lettuce and other things. Even a mediocre fake meat is enough to pass. Beyond Meat should have no trouble producing a virtually-indistinguishable taco meat.

Taco meat is a perfect application, since its texture is already squishy and the flavor is dominated by spice

Cheap fast food is a perfect application, There are plenty of higher quality tacos in the world.

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#134
post #105
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The popular crusade against meat is one of the more misguided. Meat provides far more nutritional value than any plant and the environmental impacts have been greatly exaggerated. See below: Regarding carbon: "removal of livestock in the US would only lead to a net GHG reduction of 2.6% in national emissions. Similarly, removing all dairy would lead to a reduction of just 0.7%. At the same time, both transitions woul…

I'm always kinda confused when people argue that 3.3% of literally all emissions produced by every activity we as humans engage in seem like it's a small thing. There's not gonna be some magic bullet that will reduce our national emissions by 45% or anything. It's all the result of a bunch of small things added together. And we're at the point where plant based meats and dairy substitutes are good enough in a lot of…

Here in France, a relatively small country, people often say "yes but China" to reject changes. But China is just the sum of a handful of provinces that make up for the same number of inhabitants than France. Each of these provinces could say "yes but the USA".

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#135
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The popular crusade against meat is one of the more misguided. Meat provides far more nutritional value than any plant and the environmental impacts have been greatly exaggerated. See below: Regarding carbon: "removal of livestock in the US would only lead to a net GHG reduction of 2.6% in national emissions. Similarly, removing all dairy would lead to a reduction of just 0.7%. At the same time, both transitions woul…

Livestock is a real problem. Using US numbers, which has one of the most efficient livestock management in the world make those numbers not too bad at ~4% (that's still a lot, let's be clear), but when you look worldwide the share of GHG attributed to livestock is 14.5%, that's definitely bad [1]. Even if Beyond Meat will have a bigger impact in the US to begin with, this will have a worldwide impact. [1] https://cle…

I think you missed the point -- that if you tried to replace meat with plants providing the same nutritional profile, then the impact is far less than anticipated by most calculations.

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#136

I look at this as good but cautious news. People really need to be eating more vegetables in their diet, but I just don't think we need to go to such measures simply to mimic meat, when there are so many vegetarian options already exist. Remember that there is a large population of the world that doesn't even eat meat and that Beyond Meat is not serving those people, even though they are in the "vegetarian" market.

Ehh I think it’s fair to say that encouraging people to eat more vegetables didn’t work.

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Meat provides far more nutritional value than any plant Completely wrong

Probably exaggerated and imponderable, as it really depends on how you would rank such a thing. But it is really nutritious in that it packs a great density of protein and micronutrients.

Lentils, tofu, peanuts, and seitan are 25%, 20%, 28%, and 80% protein by weight. Meat is about 26%, according to WolframAlpha. Not that you actually need very many grams of protein each day to be healthy.

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#138

Is beyond meat actually healthier than meat? If you search my question you’ll see the results are hardly conclusive. What’s everyone’s take?

Compared to what meat? Which animal, which cuts, which quality? Is it healthier than a really high quality meat, prepared well? Maybe not. Is it healthier than fast food "beef"? Yeah probably. Either way, environmental and moral concerns are just as relevant as health concerns when considering diet.

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I truly don't understand the methane issue. Historically worldwide the # of ungulates is probably well below historical averages. It looks like today we have around 98 million head of cattle in the US. Historically we had bison in excess of conservatively 60 million. This doesn't even begin to count all the animals in Africa. Overall wide life is declining. https://www.statista.com/statistics/194297/total-number-of-c…

It’s not just cow farts. Raising and killing a whole cow is an inefficient way to extract calories from plants. Even chicken would be more efficient.

My understanding is that cooked meat has much higher caloric value than vegetables.

To be honest if it wasn't so good for us we wouldn't have evolved to consume it!

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#140
post #2

This is the best news I've heard all week. The more widely vegan "meat" is available, the more likely it is to be adopted by average people and not just dedicated vegans. Reducing the demand for real beef is probably one of the best things we can do in the short term for the environment, due to the amount of land required for cattle farming, and due to the surprising amount of methane emitted by cattle. (see the docu…

You should research on German Ökotest and beyond meat test. I don't get why things like beyond meat is not more tested. Why is mineral oil in their patties ???
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