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Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger life cycle assessment (2018)

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Re: Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger life cycle assessment (2018)

#101

Post by an_opabinia »

swader999 wrote: post #43

Most of the ranch land in my area isn't really suitable for other kinds of agriculture so I don't know if that measure means much. It certainly isn't irrigated and I think the cows give back the water they use.

Define suitable. In a market sense? Most farm profits come directly from the government. 2020 was supremely profitable for farms (https://www.agriculture.com/news/business/record-high-ag-sub...) due to subsidies.

In terms of some like of positivist, ecosystem sense? I don't know, ask an ecologist what used to be on the land. I can promise you it wasn't cows.

Re: Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger life cycle assessment (2018)

#102

Post by sweetheart »

wyager wrote: post #71
sweetheart wrote: post #36

While it is not my experience at all, I understand that some folks have certain negative opinions of Beyond Burgers, and other fake meat/imitation burgers: - The texture is off - Maybe they cook strangely - Potentially less taste But the most important thing about them, and the reason I urge everyone to at least _try_ Beyond Burgers, is they require no violence against animals. This is not an argument that fairs well…

While I assign pretty significant utilitarian value to "stop eating animals", it still falls a few orders of magnitude short of "provide for the health and wellbeing of humans". We are, at the very least, decades away from having a complete enough understanding of nutrition to safely replace the nutritional value of beef with a substitute fake beef product. Once we accomplish that, there are some second-order effects…

> It's also worth keeping in mind that living off plants generally kills more total animals

This is untrue, as the animals you are eating are fed and raised on plants, which are harvested with the machines that potentially kill the field animals. So even accounting for that, fewer animals will die.

Also, animals tend to migrate out of fields during harvesting, and relocate (which is still not good! But better than being ground up by machines)

Re: Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger life cycle assessment (2018)

#103

Post by Rebelgecko »

raidicy wrote: post #32

Genuinely curious; is eating something processed like this better than eating regular unprocessed ground meat?

Last time I did a comparison, in terms of things that I personally want to consume less of (sodium, calories), real meat still wins

Re: Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger life cycle assessment (2018)

#104

Post by colordrops »

ipaddr wrote: post #85
sweetheart wrote: post #36

While it is not my experience at all, I understand that some folks have certain negative opinions of Beyond Burgers, and other fake meat/imitation burgers: - The texture is off - Maybe they cook strangely - Potentially less taste But the most important thing about them, and the reason I urge everyone to at least _try_ Beyond Burgers, is they require no violence against animals. This is not an argument that fairs well…

But why would you want to replicate the outcome of a slaughter if that part of the process upsets you? Why make an apple taste like the death of a cow? For me eating things in their most natural forms seems more appealing. I don't know what is in beyond meat but avoiding processed anything seems like a more healthy strategy.

Because we are natural meat eaters and still have strong cravings for meat even if we don't eat it. Eating a close facsimile can help those satisfy those cravings and avoid a rebound to eating real meat.

Re: Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger life cycle assessment (2018)

#105

Post by acomjean »

raidicy wrote: post #32

Genuinely curious; is eating something processed like this better than eating regular unprocessed ground meat?

They're supper processed. I recommend stacking a beef burger with a "impossible/ beyond or other veggie burger".

This cuts your beef consumption in half and I actually prefer it to plain burgers now.

Re: Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger life cycle assessment (2018)

#106

Post by bonniemuffin »

raidicy wrote: post #32

Genuinely curious; is eating something processed like this better than eating regular unprocessed ground meat?

This is my main concern with fake meats. The taste and texture are fine, the price point is acceptable, and I like the idea of not harming animals for my dinner, but I find it hard to believe that something with 20 highly-processed ingredients is healthy for me to eat. I thought I was supposed to be avoiding processed foods.

Re: Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger life cycle assessment (2018)

#107

Post by seoaeu »

wyager wrote: post #29

Land usage is a totally useless metric for the impact of beef production, because we can (and do) raise cattle on land that's basically useless for anything else.

We also destroy enormous swaths of rain forest each year to increase the amount of land for cattle...

Re: Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger life cycle assessment (2018)

#108

Post by alecst »

sidlls wrote: post #73
sweetheart wrote: post #36

While it is not my experience at all, I understand that some folks have certain negative opinions of Beyond Burgers, and other fake meat/imitation burgers: - The texture is off - Maybe they cook strangely - Potentially less taste But the most important thing about them, and the reason I urge everyone to at least _try_ Beyond Burgers, is they require no violence against animals. This is not an argument that fairs well…

So many animals die at the blades of the harvester. Also, the reason the argument fares poorly is likely due to the fact that it’s devoid of reason and couched entirely in emotion. Emotion is powerful and important, as it is part of our humanity. But it’s not a good basis for argument, given its fickle and poorly understood nature.

Maybe you can say more about what you disagree with, then, rather than writing off the comment as a bad argument. I don't think it was that bad or emotional, personally.

Re: Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger life cycle assessment (2018)

#109

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

MPSimmons wrote: post #66
sweetheart wrote: post #36

While it is not my experience at all, I understand that some folks have certain negative opinions of Beyond Burgers, and other fake meat/imitation burgers: - The texture is off - Maybe they cook strangely - Potentially less taste But the most important thing about them, and the reason I urge everyone to at least _try_ Beyond Burgers, is they require no violence against animals. This is not an argument that fairs well…

I really enjoy both BeyondBeef and Impossible Burger. My thoughts are that BeyondBeef has a kind of plastic-y smell, but is almost exactly right in terms of color and texture. The smell is not concerning to me, but it is distinct for my palette. I still eat it, and don't mind. Aside from the burgers, I also really enjoy the spicy Italian sausages. There is a slightly different taste than pork-based sausages, but I wo…

Totally agree on Impossible Burgers. Like the GP, I also try to avoid eating meat due to animal welfare concerns. That, said, I've tried going vegetarian multiple times before and honestly I felt awful - I'm naturally very slim and not particularly energetic to begin with, and when I was on a vegetarian diet I felt totally lethargic.

With Impossible Burgers, though, it really tastes and feels like I'm eating a real burger. It completely satiates my desire for meat, and it makes my body feel "good" from an energy perspective.

Re: Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger life cycle assessment (2018)

#110

Post by jiofih »

irjustin wrote: post #44
raidicy wrote: post #32

Genuinely curious; is eating something processed like this better than eating regular unprocessed ground meat?

You should try it just to test it yourself. I get a different burger maybe once or twice a quarter to see how they stack up. Some of them I wouldn't know it was veg if someone else ordered it for me. Legitimately that good. I've also had some terrible ones too, not sure if it was due to the prep work vs the 'meat' itself. For now the price is always 25% higher which keeps me away from being a regular, but I expect th…

I think the question is regarding nutrition / health, not taste.
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