Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut • Hacker News Board

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

#611

Post by wenc » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 2:37 AM UTC

LegitShady wrote: post #413

rsj_hn wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't a crusade against meat, it's a crusade between Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods as to who will capture the (niche) alt-beef market. McDonald's signed an agreement making BM their preferred supplier of fake beef, so Impossible is put at a disadvantage. Absolutely none of this replaces any real beef with fake beef, or even results in less real beef eaten or sold.

Here's the flip side - Beyond meat makes basic veggie burgers. There's nothing special about them you couldn't make without the recipe. Impossible foods has the yeast sourced heme thats supposed to make it taste and cook more like meat. That's patented, and not easy to replace. So BM can be in every McDonalds for a year and then be replaced by a McFakeMeat Burger and there's nothing they can do. Impossible actually h…

There's also the question of taste. I've tried both Beyond and Impossible, and the latter is simply much more delicious.

I've tried Burger King's Double Whopper and Impossible Whopper side by side, and even though the Impossible doesn't taste like real meat, I was surprised how good it tasted. So much so that I would have no problem forgoing real beef and going with the Impossible Whopper. (I have since returned to BK many times and have just gotten the Impossible Whopper)

Beyond doesn't inspire that kind of reaction. It's just like any old veggie burger.

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

#612

Post by jMyles » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 2:42 AM UTC

omosubi wrote: post #586

redisman wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of a win-win-win. Companies like it if they can just press soy or peas and fats into patties, environment likes having less bottom of the barrel meat farms, animal welfare is better at the high end farms, maybe the veg patties are a bit healthier(?).

I'm very skeptical that these patties are healthier. I'm guessing that in 5 or 10 years it'll come out that eating them regularly is terrible for your system and it'll be like the margarine/butter debate. I don't have evidence for this but I'm very curious to see

My body certainly doesn't ask for more of them.

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

#613

Post by philliphaydon » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 2:44 AM UTC

CyanBird wrote: post #609

trashface wrote: post #584

Great, another way to load up on Omega 6 acids via vegetable oil. Exactly what Americans need. Hello obesity and inflammation disorders. The for-profit medical industry in the US will love this. I'm a vegetarian, so it doesn't affect me too much, but you meat eaters may be better off with moderate consumption of actual (good quality) meat.

So this is the next debate point from vegans etc towards meat eaters? "don't eat that fake meat bs bc it is harmful to you, eat" natural meat instead "? Don't you see that it is a bit against the general best interest of ppl? As to even begin most of the population are not eating organic meat by a long shot

By good quality I don’t think the OP meant organic. But meat that hasn’t been processed like in fast food...

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

#614

Post by ricardobeat » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 2:44 AM UTC

sjtindell wrote: post #545

twobitshifter wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The corn consumed by cattle includes the corn stalks which are more or less the same as consuming grass. Corn is after all in the grass family. The actual kernels of corn increase the calories versus grass, but it’s not like cows are just eating corn off the cob all day long. They need to consume tons of roughage to help with their digestion. I think a good argument is that converting grain and grass to beef is ineff…

It is well documented that once cows are switched to the pure corn diets we now feed them, their health starts immediately declining and they start dying. Factory farms time it so that they grow up on grass and similar, then are switched to grain to fatten them, and are slaughtered before becoming too ill. There are many unhealthy modifications made to their diet and environment to force them to consume corn. This is…

Most countries in the world are not all-in on intensive farming like the US though.

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

#615

Post by cat199 » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 2:44 AM UTC

jimktrains2 wrote: post #69

com2kid wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that this is important, and less meat consumption is good, but I am kind of upset that the entire American culinary experience is being reduced to "burgers, pizza, and fried chicken." I say that because most of the articles on meat alternatives are written from the perspective of "if only Americans can stop eating hamburgers!" First off, in terms of global solutions, that isn't going to fly. Try going to Ital…

> Countries around the world have culinary traditions older than America itself. Many of these traditional preparations of various cuts of meat are a huge part of culture and history. Many of these traditions include "new world" ingredients such as tomatoes, potatoes, bell peppers, corn, squash, some beans, &c that wouldn't become common in europe or asia until the 16th or 17th century. While still older than the fou…

> Noöne

who is Noöne? never heard of them. Is that Greta Thunberg's more radical twin?

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

#616

Post by the_benno » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 2:47 AM UTC

mcintyre1994 wrote: post #450

mathgorges wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fat percentage criticism strikes me as a bit odd. At least where I am (USA) ground meat is categorized by its fat percentage and 20% fat is the standard I usually see in the supermarket. I guess what I'm saying is: 20% is indeed a high fat percentage, but it's also the typical fat percentage for conventional meat so it feels disingenuous to use it to criticize plant-based meats.

Are you talking about minced beef? I buy that at 5% fat in the UK, and that’s not anywhere fancy.

Yes, what you call minced beef is called ground beef in America. Not to be confused with mincemeat, though, fellow Americans! I was very confused the first time I had that in the UK.

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

#617

Post by frequentnapper » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 2:53 AM UTC

fosk wrote: post #559

m8s wrote: post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ingredients ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, AND FOLIC ACID), WATER, LOW-MOISTURE PART-SKIM MOZZARELLA CHEESE (CULTURED PART-SKIM MILK, SALT, ENZYMES), TOMATO PASTE, COOKED SEASONED PIZZA TOPPING MADE WITH PORK AND CHICKEN, BHA, BHT AND CITRIC ACID ADDED TO HELP PROTECT FLAVOR (PORK, MECHANICALLY SEPARATED CHICKEN, WATER, TEXTURED SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SPIC…

How on Earth did we end up having so many ingredients in what essentially is just pizza. The food industry really has gone too far by over-processing everything.

What are the issues with those ingredients?

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

#618

Post by maximente » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 3:02 AM UTC

krrrh wrote: post #421

BitwiseFool wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Preface: I'm a hypocritical omnivore who likes animals. If meat alternatives and lab grown meat become cheap and indistinguishable from real sources, I predict that within the span of two generations our descendants are going to look back on us as immoral savages. I use cognitive dissonance and distance from how my food is made to get over how horrible industrial farming is and how brutal life can be for livestock. T…

I imagine this sentiment is often from seeing documentaries about the worst conditions in farming, and the general cosseting away from life and death that most of us have enjoyed. But the farms and ranches I grew up around, and that I buy most of my meat from, never seem that brutal when I’ve visited them, and the animals seem well cared for and mostly doing their own thing on the pasture most of the time. I wanted t…

you seemed to have missed the industrial part of the original comment. there is a reason you haven't waltzed into the horrible facilities that end up in documentaries, etc., to include: they are not approved on any non-cable network due to gore etc., not approved on Facebook, YouTube ToS (graphic violence), ag-gag laws, and so forth. you are not invited.

and let's not kid ourselves - with 50+ /billion/ land animals killed per year, almost all of which are factory farmed, the idea that joe farmer is going to pick up the tab with his 100 chickens isn't realistic, or that joe hunter is going to make a dent in that number.

as far as animals dying when crops are harvested, yeah, we can and should do better. at least they weren't castrated without anesthesia or lived their entire lives in gestation crates or getting inseminated (pigs), beak shaved off (chickens), or eyes cut off so they grow faster (crustaceans). the suffering isn't comparable; comparing it as such is asinine.

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

#619

Post by gowld » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 3:03 AM UTC

hammock wrote: post #383

legitster wrote: post #129

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…

>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! Read the labels more closely the next time you eat that hot pocket or frozen sausage pizza. A large number of these products already have "textured vegetable protein" (TVP) or other meat substitute in the…

If TVP is cheaper than meat as an ingeredient, then why does buying TVP product at the grocery cost ~4x more than buying meat?

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

#620

Post by gowld » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 3:06 AM UTC

exyi wrote: post #203

legitster wrote: post #129

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.

Beeyond is not like real meat at all, it's just more obviously "imitation meat" than soy. I don't know why fast restaurants don't just serve tofu like Asian restaurants -- it's cheaper and tastes just as good when they cook in a sauce. USA mass culture's fear of tofu is bizarre.