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

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291–300 of 947 posts

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

#291
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…

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…

Today we are not choosing between raising meat animals and restoring land to its pre-industrialization state. So the original GHG emission rate of ancient animals is not important to our decision. We are choosing between raising meat animals and raising crops. Therefore the GHG emissions rate of modern meat animals is important.

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

#292
post #203

I enjoy eating meat and have no plans of going off of it completely. But we eat so much of it as a culture. And when you add up every hot pocket, frozen pizza, slider, hot dog, or chicken nugget, it's hard to argue that most of meat actually being consumed can't be easily substituted. For something healthier and cheaper too! And I know people blast tech companies for focusing too much on making things flashy and cool…

Beyond Meat is not like tofu or so, it is designed to be unrecognizable from meat by tasting it - so you won't have to give on our beloved meat. I also don't want to go with a vegan diet just because "environment", but having a reasonably priced substituent which does not contain tortured animals and has lower env. impact - then just why not.

I've consumed a lot of Beyond and Impossible, and it's good! But still a far way from unrecognizable.

In fact, one thing they have made me appreciate is how good some of the "traditional" meat substitutes are. I actually quite like Boca and Garden Burgers et al!

Still, the once or twice a year I go to a steakhouse and get a nice medium rare steak - we're a long, long way off from that.

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

#293
post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, neither is red meat. Unclear which is worse, though.

Where are the studies that show grass fed red meat is bad for your health? All studies I've seen concluding red meat is a health concern are using grain finished beef.

There are studies e.g. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sacn-iron-and-hea...

The vast majority of beef cattle in the UK are fed grass from pasture most of the year, then hay/silage over winter when there isn't much grass. The conclusion was the same; red meat isn't great for you, at least in significant quantities (90g+ a day).

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

#294
post #40

Just when you think there is no hope for this planet and for humanity something slowly emerges seemingly out of nowhere. Fridays for future was one of those developments that caught me by surprise. Young people fighting for our planet while „angry white men“ claiming there ain’t no climate change. Or take the sudden surge of interest in everything veggy / vegan. In Germany there is a growing demand for vegan products…

You can buy ethically sourced/farmed meat (albeit at a premium), and farmed fish in particular is quite sustainable.

I would dispute that there are "a dozen" reasons we should not be eating meat. There are perhaps a few practical reasons we should not be eating low-quality mass-market meat (health, environment, animal cruelty), and a few moral reasons we should not eat unethically raised meat. And even those reasons are debatable (what if someone in a 3rd world country can only afford unethically raised meat? etc)

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

#295
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I find seitan and tofu completely unpalatable, and I can’t rely on eating hundreds of grams of peanuts to fill my protein needs. Lentils are fine... I lift heavy, which I believe is integral to my good health (the evidence on the health benefits of strength training is overwhelming). You do need significant amounts of protein if you lift - this is backed by both research and empirical evidence. Designing 3000-4000kca…

Most serious weightlifters in my experience supplement their diet with protein shakes or similar, many vegan formulations exist. It's not super tasty, but I wouldn't call it "highly impractical".

Beyond that in my experience "lifter diet" is not exactly gourmet stuff, unless you really, really like chicken breasts.

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

#296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, Beyond overdoes the fake smoke flavor. But they seem to be better equipped to scale up than Impossible, they've beaten them to mass market in almost every location I've seen.

I bought a package of Beyond Meat. It was right next to the ground beef, and looked like ground beef. I assumed I could substitute it for ground beef in my spaghetti. Big fat nope! I opened the package, and it smelled exactly like dog food. The smell when cooking it was horrible. It completely ruined my batch of spaghetti. I don't know how people are cooking this stuff and enjoying it. Maybe there's some other way to…

put it on a charcoal grill and cook a hamburger. It's definitely not beef but the taste is ok for what it is. I think of it like a veggie compromise, not a perfect burger but not terrible either.

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

#297
post #59
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…

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…

Aside from the questionable source laid out here, the statement that:

> Meat provides far more nutritional value than any plant...

...is pure nonsense. Vitamins, minerals, fiber. Considering you can't get any fiber from meat is just the start of how biased some have been influenced by misinformation.

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

#298
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…

i don't believe cow farts are a bigger problem than cars.

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

#299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's with the casual racism in your post?

You can't be racist towards white people. It would only be racist if the said angry black men.

Only racists say you can't be racist towards white people. You, for instance.

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

#300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The popular crusade against meat is one of the more misguided. This seems to presume two things: 1) That vegans and vegetarians are primarily doing it for the environment. 2) That vegans and vegetarians can't do basic math. To the first point, I'd be fully supportive of plant-based diets even if the only reason was concern over the treatment of the animals themselves. The focus on the environmental benefits is real…

> "On a side note: I'm not vegetarian. I simply agree with those who are." This was my position for a long time until finally making the jump at the beginning of the pandemic (vegetarian, will rarely eat fish sometimes). For me, it was mostly about reducing suffering of other animals. I thought this way before but it's hard to change behavior and I liked hamburgers. I think this is the strongest argument and the envi…

Drawing the line at cognizance is not something you do "in theory". That is where the vast majority of people on the planet draw the line. You going one step further doesn't make the line you've drawn any more objective.
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