Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

css.umich.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

571–580 of 794 posts

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

#571

Post by ellipsisfrog »

kenneth wrote: post #458
atweiden wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel you. I stopped eating meat for 40 years for the same reason. But... they are on the same food chain we are, and they’d eat us in a heartbeat, right? Herbivorous ruminants like cows would never eat you, and would generally never harm you unless provoked. Breeding intelligent lifeforms in a bespoke way to murder them for cash — whatever the reason or creature involved — is diabolically evil. If you do this for…

This comment is a fantastic example demonstrating why everyone hates vegans[1]. I'm all for everyone being more aware of where and how their food is made. If you come out of it choosing not to consume certain categories, that's fantastic. But the moment you start demonizing others for not making the same choices as you, you become an anti-social and dislikable person, and one that's not conducive to building a better…

I'm a vegan and I try to be respectful to non-vegans and their choices but moral decisions implicitly contain moral judgements. If I think eating animals is wrong and you eat animals there is no way around me thinking that you are doing something wrong. I don't need to harangue you about it, which in any case is not at all effective as a method of persuasion, but usually I don't need to for people not to like it. I expect most of the anger towards vegans is because of that implicit (and to be fair in the case of some vegans explicit) moral judgement.

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

#572

Post by pineaux »

jb_gericke wrote: post #437
atweiden wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Human evolution is poorly understood, and the assumption that any choice $X supposedly made by early humans led to our forefathers’ anamolously rapid brain development is flatly speculative. > Unlike most great apes today, whose diet is primarily plant based, we can thank the incredible nutrient density in meat and our incredible hunting and tool creating ability for prefrontal cortex development. Complete and utter…

Zero speculation regarding the diets of chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas (well studied and documented) [1]. [2] B12 sources up until it was possible to synthesize in the 60s were exclusively from animal products. Also, if you're even vaguely predisposed to anemia, you will likely struggle getting enough hema-available iron from plant sources without supplementation. Glad you are able to live off of entirely soybe…

Actually, there are top of the line athletes with a vegan diet. It's not very popular, but that is probably because being vegan is not popular. The B12 source argument has recently been solved as well. Most animals source their B12 from micro-organisms in the soil. If humans stop washing their food excessively, this would fix the B12 intake problem.

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

#573

Post by tsimionescu »

tpm wrote: post #541
tsimionescu wrote: post #531

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If we had fully lab grown meat that was identical to the real thing. How many of us would convert? In theory, we all would. Why would we all, even in theory? If we could farm animals humanely, grazing them in areas where crops anyway can't be planted, letting them range, giving them a good life where they don't fear predators, don't freeze to death in winter or die of hyperthermia in the summer etc., and then kill…

Even if it would be possible for the farmed animal to really have a fulfilling life (which I don't think is possible in the current, industrialized world), there are still humans who are caring for the animals, there are humans who are killing and dissecting them, and they too are affected by the inhumane process, and I think our empathy should extend to them too.

> which I don't think is possible in the current, industrialized world

This is a concern I share.

> there are still humans who are caring for the animals, there are humans who are killing and dissecting them, and they too are affected by the inhumane process, and I think our empathy should extend to them too.

As far as I know, farmers don't suffer any kind of psychological damage from caring for and slaughtering animals, and haven't throughout human history. Again, factory farm workers are a different problem.

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

#574

Post by me_me_me »

hellbannedguy wrote: post #503
Gustomaximus wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Beyond Burgers, is they require no violence against animals. I find this interesting, in that cropping has plenty of violent against animals but one step removed. I have a small cattle property, we run on hill country with diversified ecosystem, mixed grass and bushland. We have a heap of native animals living across the property. And at the end of the day the steers do get sent of for slaughter after 18 to 24 mont…

To those that don't want to become 100% vegetarians, even though we all know it's better for everyone including the animal that'slaughtered; How about just using meat in small quantities, and for seasoning? A little bit of beef/chicken goes a long way. Most Americans do not need more protein. I have gotten by with a few pounds (less than 5 lbs) of meat a year. If a cash strapped, loser, like myself can do it, anyone…

I honestly believe that the best strategy to take at the moment is to teach people recepies for good and tasty vegetarian food.

I am not vegetarian but my absolutely favourite dish is Blueberry dumplings with sour cream.

I don't care if its vegetarian or not its simply good food.

Its much easier for people to make the 'ethical' choices when they are given good alternatives.

The whole thing with meat eaters are evil killers is counter productive signal virtue pandering to your own tribe.

Instead of picketing and protesting infront McD, create vegetarian cooking classes.

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

#575

Post by fmajid »

ipaddr wrote: post #170

I'm generally surprised no one brings up the negative health benefits of processed foods. It is not healthier to get rid of meat only to replace it with high salt chemically processed food that tastes like meat. It seems like we are going backwards. You know what uses less greenhouse emissions, less water and less land? The orginal plant based food that gets processed into a beyond burger. If you really care about th…

I did try it. It was revolting. Never again.

Vat-grown meat may have a future, but fake meat does not.

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

#576

Post by fnord77 »

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…

every one of the fake meat products upsets my stomach. I think TVP is the culprit. If I ever decide to forgo meat, I would just skip the fake meat products entirely

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

#577

Post by tsimionescu »

h0l0cube wrote: post #542
tsimionescu wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really find this kind of simple ethical calculus convincing, but I would say that a world where some people continue eating meat and keep raising cows, pigs, chicken, sheep, goats and other animals that would die off if they weren't consumed seems better to me than a purely 100% vegan world. On the other hand, as someone's personal choice instead of worldwide decision, I don't think it seems plausible that be…

> a world where some people continue eating meat and keep raising cows, pigs, chicken, sheep, goats and other animals that would die off if they weren't consumed seems better to me than a purely 100% vegan world I'm not a vegan, but I've heard this argument before and find it to be confounding. Are we saying that livestock suffer less because they are safe in the knowledge that their species is being conserved? Why w…

I don't have an argument I find perfectly convincing myself for this either. I can mention that the ultimate value of life is propagation and survival, so most likely this is the consideration that gives me this feeling, but I explicitly called this a feeling and haven't claimed it is a clear rational argument.

As for wild populations, I'm not sure, but my understanding is that most cows have been bred to produce more milk than their calves eat, and that their udders become painful if not milked; and that sheep's hair tends to similarly grow much more than in wild breeds, leading to major problems if they are not sheared by humans. I may be wrong, and even if I'm not they may still live long enough to breed and perhaps reverse these artificial adaptations in a few generations.

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

#578

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#579

Post by ianai »

scns wrote: post #439
neuro_image2 wrote: post #298

I am an avid meat-lover but it does play on my conscience that I am in fact eating a former sentient being and potentially contributing to environmental devastation. I would appreciate answers to the following two, albeit simplistic questions that always plaque me when I consider stopping eating meat products: 1) Is it really unethical to eat animals when the natural trajectory of most animals lives was likely to be…

I turned vegan after watching Game Changers: https://gamechangersmovie.com/the-film/where-to-watch/ It was made by a guy who trains soldiers in deadly unarmed combat. He got injured and read that a vegan diet could speed up recovery. Instead of trying to convince with ethical concerns, it gave me plenty of sound logical reasons to eat vegan. The reason for me to eat organic meat was B12, but 39% of the people eating…

Where do you get your b12 then? It’s excreted by bacteria and cleaned off in processing. Then, in most functional foods, put back in place as cyanocobalamin. But that produces cyanide when your liver processes it.

So again, where do you get your b12? Is it cyanocobalamin?

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

#580

Post by jacobmischka »

lambdaba wrote: post #515
jacobmischka wrote: post #487

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it was certainly prized because of its high calorie content and relative scarcity compared to today, when one can have a virtually unlimited supply. That's why it tastes good.

The problem today is not an unlimited supply of meat (for most of the world) but an unlimited supply of sugar and seed oils. And the super / unnaturally sweet fruit, this is what's hacking us.

I didn't say it was the problem causing the obesity epidemic. Donuts being worse for you doesn't make eating fatty red meat so often healthy.

Also, while super sweet fruit can be problematic, it's far from one of the biggest problems. No one is getting diabetes from eating too many bananas.

Post reply on HN