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Meatless meat is nothing new

economist.com

41–50 of 109 posts

Re: Meatless meat is nothing new

#41
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a tangent, but so much of the supermarket nowadays is junk. Go to the protein section, and there is literally no product that is just protein, everything has added artificial sweetener or some lab concoction with god knows what. Go to the frozen food section. 80% junk. Ice cream, frozen potato chips, frozen pizzas. Oh look, some frozen fruit in the corner. Go to the cereals section. 80% junk. If you look real…

I never seen frozen fruit, but frozen vegetables are super common.

> I never seen frozen fruit

Never seen a bag of frozen berries?

Re: Meatless meat is nothing new

#42
post #2

I don't understand how can those companies afford to put those fake meat sections on all supermarkets across the globe. At least in my european country all supermarkets seem to have this section and from what I've been told most of the products just end up being thrown away because nobody is buying them. I assume they expect to lose a lot of money now but then to make it big at some point in the future. But those com…

You can be 100% sure aldi, or lidl wouldn't put it out there if it wasn't massively profitable. The margins on these products are probably big so even if it doesn't sell well in one region, other regions make up for it.

tbf the selection of artificial meats tends to be very limited in Aldi or Lidl. But that's largely for a different reason: in the more upmarket supermarkets which devote large displays to "meatless meat", it tends to be priced at equal or higher prices than the "premium" processed meat it competes with, even when it's just sausages made of vegetables, not lab-grown stuff with tricky textures. They're not pitching it at those prices because it doesn't sell...

Re: Meatless meat is nothing new

#43
post #30
post #9

As a lapsed vegetarian I've always seen mushrooms as the original meatless meat. Praise be glutamates.

As a meat eater, I love mushrooms and I think they are so much better as a healthy food than those weird Beyond meats. I also love vegan patties made with various kind of nuts, beans and veggies. I don’t get this appeal of turning goos and veggies into ‘meat’. Just make them their own thing. You don’t rly have to compete with meat.

Flexitarian trying to eat less meat here. - Mushrooms are awesome, but they are trash were it comes to nutiotion values. Not bad, just empty.

- Protein-rich vegetables (legumes and beans) are not so easy to make into tasty dish, if you are not used to them. Meat alternatives often have high protein content and they don't requiere... Anything.

- I don't have time to discover whole, new world of vegan cuisine, tips and tricks about lentils, fava bean caseroles and other things. I want a normal dinner, just without animals in it.

Re: Meatless meat is nothing new

#44
post #2

I don't understand how can those companies afford to put those fake meat sections on all supermarkets across the globe. At least in my european country all supermarkets seem to have this section and from what I've been told most of the products just end up being thrown away because nobody is buying them. I assume they expect to lose a lot of money now but then to make it big at some point in the future. But those com…

I can't help but wonder if it's some evil organisation like the UN or the WEF subsidising these sections... or even blackmailing supermarkets to have them.

Re: Meatless meat is nothing new

#45

"Meatless meat". That doesn't make any sense. I enjoy quality meat. I'm all for consuming much less meat. In fact, that's already what I do day to day. I enjoy vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, cereals, everything. I can have delicious meals without meat, no need to disguise these as meat, they're fine as-is. And maybe once a week I'll have a delicious piece of cow from my local butcher. But eating some fake industriall…

I feel the same about these products, if I slice a steak that’s what I’m getting. A one ingredient meal. These products have a different vibe, a lab-like vibe.

I do enjoy other vegan products like bean-based burgers and the like. In fact I like those a lot.

Re: Meatless meat is nothing new

#46
post #14
post #2

I don't understand how can those companies afford to put those fake meat sections on all supermarkets across the globe. At least in my european country all supermarkets seem to have this section and from what I've been told most of the products just end up being thrown away because nobody is buying them. I assume they expect to lose a lot of money now but then to make it big at some point in the future. But those com…

> from what I've been told most of the products just end up being thrown away because nobody is buying them Who told you, and why do you consider them a reliable indicator, for what you imply are all supermarkets across the globe?

thats certainly a false claim. no supermarket would be in business if they were throwing everything away.

Re: Meatless meat is nothing new

#47
post #14
post #2

I don't understand how can those companies afford to put those fake meat sections on all supermarkets across the globe. At least in my european country all supermarkets seem to have this section and from what I've been told most of the products just end up being thrown away because nobody is buying them. I assume they expect to lose a lot of money now but then to make it big at some point in the future. But those com…

> from what I've been told most of the products just end up being thrown away because nobody is buying them Who told you, and why do you consider them a reliable indicator, for what you imply are all supermarkets across the globe?

[deleted]

Re: Meatless meat is nothing new

#48
post #30
post #9

As a lapsed vegetarian I've always seen mushrooms as the original meatless meat. Praise be glutamates.

As a meat eater, I love mushrooms and I think they are so much better as a healthy food than those weird Beyond meats. I also love vegan patties made with various kind of nuts, beans and veggies. I don’t get this appeal of turning goos and veggies into ‘meat’. Just make them their own thing. You don’t rly have to compete with meat.

From a vegetarian perspective, turning meat into sausage, paste (pate) and other goo is also pretty weird. So weird, in fact, that it gets compared to legislating and the trope is: no one needs to see either made because it’s just too unsettling.

Some meat-eaters get bored of meat in its original form so process it into something else tasty - and likewise some vegetarians.

Re: Meatless meat is nothing new

#49

"Meatless meat". That doesn't make any sense. I enjoy quality meat. I'm all for consuming much less meat. In fact, that's already what I do day to day. I enjoy vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, cereals, everything. I can have delicious meals without meat, no need to disguise these as meat, they're fine as-is. And maybe once a week I'll have a delicious piece of cow from my local butcher. But eating some fake industriall…

Maybe you should see this from a marketing POV. If you want to sell "Proteins easy to fry" you will probably fail. But if you sell "Vegan Steak" with the texture and like taste of a steak out of meat, you will have your customers. So the alternatives have no established name and naming it "meat" will make sense. And yes ... it's processed and no I think it's not healthy for day to day consumption (like coke) but once a week or month ... why not? Smoking (even passive) so most probably more dangerous ;)

Re: Meatless meat is nothing new

#50
The genius of the modern ones is in marketing.

Beyond & Impossible are somehow seen as meat competitors, not Quorn & Linda whatsit (I can't even recall the name! Says something itself) competitors. Which of course they are, but somehow the latter are seen as 'for vegetarians/vegans', bought I assume mostly by people who are cooking meat but also have vegetarians coming and have no idea what to do. While somehow the former has the same meat-eating cooks going 'cor I want to try one of those new ...'.

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