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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)

#401
post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well... look up things like “cow eating chicken” or “deer eating bird” on YouTube. Not saying it’s common, but “never” is perhaps too strong a word. And of course I really meant it in a larger sense, not the direct ruminant/person relationship.

I've seen a cow eating the carcass of another cow before. Kind of fascinating and morbid at the same time.

Why morbid? Even cute and fluffy little critters like rabbits will happily go specifically after flowers with bugs in them if given the chance.

The circle of life is far more complicated than herbivores/carnivores and many animals will happily grab a meaty snack if opportunity arises.

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

#402

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…

> Maybe you think the burger tastes different, or has a strange texture, but I certainly won't try to argue that because it doesn't matter.

This is the only thing that matters, to the contrary. Previous attempts at fake meat have not done as well as Beyond and Impossible precisely due to the fact that the vast, vast majority people actually don't care where their meat comes from, they only care about the taste. Yes, on surveys they might say they care about not harming animals, but this is not true in practice, they don't put their money where their mouth is by stopping eating meat.

Indeed, the true innovation of Beyond and Impossible was focusing exclusively on taste and marketing that up front rather than the moral aspects, because people don't care.

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

#403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Real meat is lindy. Fake meat is not. We won't know until multi-decade studies have been done on the health effects of a fake meat diet.

Fortunately, we at least know that meat consumption, specially red meat, is bad for you and a WFPB diet is better. So my suggestion is to use products like beyong as a gateway to a WFPB diet.

Just one quick find: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/records-found-in-...

> In 2013, Ramsden resurrected another long-lost randomized study, the 1960s-era Sydney Diet Heart Study. Reanalyzing its unpublished data—also stored on old nine-track computer tapes—he found that volunteers who replaced much of the saturated fat in their diet with polyunsaturated fats high in linoleic acid had a higher risk of death from coronary heart disease

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

#405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. While there will no doubt be friction, people should be confronted with the reality of their choices; long term we can't preserve their bubble of ignorance, might as well address it now

Um... Now you sound like the one who is ignorant. Not everyone thinks killing an animal for food is some terrible blight on the world. I have zero issues with it and no amount of "but they're living things and so cute" is going to change that fact. It's exactly this type of nonsense that gets people to turn away from meat like products. We don't need a lecture about sad little animals every time we order a delicious…

I think it is useful to distinguish between 'killing an animal for food' and 'rearing billions of animals each year in factories in conditions in which they suffer, and subsequently killing them for food'.

Factory farmed animals does look like a terrible blight on the world to me - what makes you think it isn't?

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

#406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seed oils are toxic. These fake "meats" are the some of the worst processed foods around. It's sad people are being duped once again by the food industry and medical establishment. This will only further worsen the awful health of the population.

The WHO directly said that meat is an important contributor to many forms of cancer: https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/cancer-carcinogenic... The problem here is that everyone takes the info they want and discards the rest. Eating meat is not problematic, if done moderately. But nowadays there is not such moderation. There is meat in every meal. Fake burgers are probably not healthy too, but this is not proven…

This is all based on awfully bad epidemiological studies. Humans were eating MUCH more meat for most of our evolutionary past. Look how unhealthy we are now, and we aren't eating more meat. We're eating more plant fats and sugar. There is literally nothing unhealthy in eating meat, not more for us than for a lion.

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

#407
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But we use SO much land to grow the food that cattle eat. It's not a useless metric at all.

Yes, and? We're not using it for anything else. Saving 93% of the arid scrubland we use to raise cattle in the US wouldn't benefit us in any way. OTOH, growing soy and other plant protein sources used for fake meat requires high-quality land and is extremely taxing on the soil. As an interesting reference, take a look at how farmers in Brazil use deforested Amazon land to graze cattle only after depleting the soil to…

What do cattle eat in CAFOs, and how much of their lives are spent there and how much more do they eat there than when they are younger and smaller? And where does that food come from?

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

#408

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.

It definitely was buffalo, still is in some parts. Grass is all that grows and young forest. Cereal and canola crops grow on the more fertile and irrigated sections.

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

#409
post #168

The "living" argument is interesting. What about nature itself that eats each other, that is meat. Lab grown meat would be something.

I get it though, pretty f'd watching a chick get thrown into a grinder for being a male, etc...

It's tough... on the other hand nice how convenient it is to just walk into any store and buy food.

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

#410

Beyonds sausages imo are much better than their burger. Impossible is the real burger king in this category

I like to say beyond meat is like an animal you haven’t eaten yet, but sounds plausible. I think with it framed that way it tastes delicious (if you crave animals). I went vegetarian and crave fake burgers more now than real ones before and Beyond really hits the spot for me. I love the sausages as well. The taco crumbles are a weird texture but I’ve used them in some hash scrambles.

FYI, Impossible ground "beef" sauteed for 10m with spices[1] makes for a perfect taco or quesadilla filling. No need for a separate product at all.

[1] <1lb beef, 1tsp cumin, 1tsp smoked paprika, 1/2tsp garlic powder, 1/2tsp chili powder, 1/2tsp salt, 1/2tsp pepper

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