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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

#701

Post by seanmcdirmid »

drewg123 wrote: 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…

Unless there is a health benefit, why would normal people adopt vegan meat? Impossible meat has just as much fat and other bad things compared to real meat, I’m not sure why would be interested in it.

If we replace cattle grazing by more plant growing, what are we going to do with the marginal land that is arable enough for grazing but not for growing things? It’s not like neveda is going to be able to switch from cattle to soy.

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

#702

Post by bradgessler »

ghayes wrote: post #690
bradgessler wrote: post #681

Have you ever eaten a burger at McDonald’s and thought, “wow! This beef is juicy, sweet, succulent, and delicious!”? Probably never, so it’s great to see these plant based alternatives that taste “just as good” become available. There will always be demand for high quality beef, chicken, and pork ... and no substitute either.

While I largely agree, I would argue there might be a tipping point where people eat so little animal-based meat that the majority of people become vegetarian, and then the norms shift such that traditional meat is treated like we currently treat fois gras.

Totally! Meat could become a decadence. I think that would be OK.

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

#703

Post by seanmcdirmid »

tspike wrote: post #555
missedthecue wrote: post #534

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, but the plants a cow is eating are inedible to humans, and they mostly graze on infertile land. Most food they are fed in the finishing stage is farm byproduct that would otherwise get thrown out. Only 7% of a cow's lifetime food intake will be crops that compete with human food demand. What a cow is really doing is turning inedible sources of food into nutritious human food.

> they mostly graze on infertile land This is true during the first year of life. After that, most cattle are moved to dense feedlots. Further, the infertile land they're grazing on, in many cases, is infertile precisely because of the way it's grazed. In the scenario where herds graze huge tracts of unbroken native grasslands, the result is increasingly fertile soil. When grazing animals are confined to small lots,…

There are exceptions where meat makes sense. At higher than 4000 meters, you aren’t going to grow much more than barley, so meat is pretty much it. I’ve never been so sick of meat than during a trip on the Tibetan plateau. Likewise for dry scrub land (Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, irrigation can only do so much). Then there is the efficiency at which food for livestock can be grown vs for people.

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

#704

Post by wortelefant »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #701
drewg123 wrote: 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…

Unless there is a health benefit, why would normal people adopt vegan meat? Impossible meat has just as much fat and other bad things compared to real meat, I’m not sure why would be interested in it. If we replace cattle grazing by more plant growing, what are we going to do with the marginal land that is arable enough for grazing but not for growing things? It’s not like neveda is going to be able to switch from ca…

Which ingredients are you referring to exactly - the lack of antibiotics normally used when raising cattle? Plant-based meat has much less cholesterol, but the main reason should be animal welfare. Why choose to be responsible for the death of a living being, especially if there are healthy and tasty alternative.

Unused land should not be a problem, it was not always used for grazing after all.

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

#706

Post by markwkw »

com2kid wrote: post #37
drewg123 wrote: 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 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…

I don’t think it’s a problem of articles. It’s a problem of reality, of emerging american culture. Majority of people are eating burgers, chicken and pizza plus perhaps some common mexican dishes. If you asked random people in the street: what american dishes are there? would their answer be different from the above?

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

#708

Post by refurb »

ip26 wrote: post #492
DamnYuppie wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

Meat has high calories per pound. But a cow must eat 10,000 calories of plants to produce 1,000 calories of beef. Chickens need as few as 2,000 calories of plant to produce 1,000 calories of chicken. If they are eating roughage humans can't eat, it's useful. But if we are farming corn to feed cows, we could have been farming something humans (or chickens) can eat instead with less land, fertilizer, etc.

Right, but humans can't live off grass and grass is produced from photosynthesis which is for all practical purposes an unlimited energy source. Not too worried if we waste grass.

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

#710

Post by bitcharmer »

jordache wrote: post #392

I tried the impossible whopper. You literally could not tell the difference between that and a normal beef whopper. I realized a lot the attributes of these commercial food products are the additions, like sauce, and toppings that contribute to that precisely calibrated flavor.

You can definitely tell the difference and anyone with taste buds will tell you the same.

It's not that I'm against plant-based diet. I will totally switch once the experience becomes indistinguishable. We're just not there yet. No reason to pretend otherwise.

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