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Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

bloomberg.com

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Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#21

Post by kikokikokiko »

scantis wrote: post #7

If any of the planet saving meat substitute promises are true, such a fake meat patty would cost a tenth of the beef equivalent and it would dominate the market. I read somewhere you would need 25 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of beef, ergo one could potentially produce 25 times the amount of substitute. Obviously that isn't true and such a patty is a specialized product of various highly processed plant matter. It is a…

It's hard to beat the efficiency of a biological machine that turns grass into meat all by itself. Meat is the most nutrient dense (and unsurprisingly, most delicious) food there is, since we're basically made out of the stuff and it has pretty much everything a human being needs to eat right there. Fake meat, electric cars, "green" energy, it's all good and "cost effective" as long as not too many people decide to switch to it and the government keeps subsidizing the upper echelon of the population that wants to indulge in such virtue signaling behaviour. Good ridance to all those chemical infused "meat" alternatives.

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#22

Post by sokoloff »

monero-xmr wrote: post #9

It doesn’t taste that good, it smells weird when cooked, it isn’t actually healthier, it’s typically more expensive than real meat as it’s “premium”, the nutritional value is suspect… the list goes on and on

I think Impossible is fine as a casual ground beef substitute. It tastes okay (not amazing) in burgers and would be fine in any sauce.

The problem is its price is eponymous: Impossible for consumers to, pun intended, stomach it. Sell it for 75% of 80/20 ground beef’s price and it will fly off the shelves. At 250-400%, nope.

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#23

Post by [deleted] »

scantis wrote: post #7

If any of the planet saving meat substitute promises are true, such a fake meat patty would cost a tenth of the beef equivalent and it would dominate the market. I read somewhere you would need 25 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of beef, ergo one could potentially produce 25 times the amount of substitute. Obviously that isn't true and such a patty is a specialized product of various highly processed plant matter. It is a…

[deleted]

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#24

Post by legitster »

scantis wrote: post #7

If any of the planet saving meat substitute promises are true, such a fake meat patty would cost a tenth of the beef equivalent and it would dominate the market. I read somewhere you would need 25 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of beef, ergo one could potentially produce 25 times the amount of substitute. Obviously that isn't true and such a patty is a specialized product of various highly processed plant matter. It is a…

I think the problem with those calculations is that the grain fed to cattle can be incredibly low quality and efficiently grown/harvested (not to mention subsidized). So it's probably a much lower ratio than 1:25 if you factor in plants that are actually high in protein and calories.

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#25

Post by beambot »

kikokikokiko wrote: post #21
scantis wrote: post #7

If any of the planet saving meat substitute promises are true, such a fake meat patty would cost a tenth of the beef equivalent and it would dominate the market. I read somewhere you would need 25 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of beef, ergo one could potentially produce 25 times the amount of substitute. Obviously that isn't true and such a patty is a specialized product of various highly processed plant matter. It is a…

It's hard to beat the efficiency of a biological machine that turns grass into meat all by itself. Meat is the most nutrient dense (and unsurprisingly, most delicious) food there is, since we're basically made out of the stuff and it has pretty much everything a human being needs to eat right there. Fake meat, electric cars, "green" energy, it's all good and "cost effective" as long as not too many people decide to s…

If you factor in beef subsidies, then plant-based "meat" is already at or nearly competitive...

> The United States federal government spends $38 billion every year subsidizing the meat and dairy industries. Research from 2015 shows this subsidization reduces the price of Big Macs from $13 to $5

https://www.aier.org/article/the-true-cost-of-a-hamburger/

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#26

Post by Scoundreller »

317070 wrote: post #20
scantis wrote: post #7

If any of the planet saving meat substitute promises are true, such a fake meat patty would cost a tenth of the beef equivalent and it would dominate the market. I read somewhere you would need 25 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of beef, ergo one could potentially produce 25 times the amount of substitute. Obviously that isn't true and such a patty is a specialized product of various highly processed plant matter. It is a…

If your story is true, it is remarkable it is not universally true. E.g. in the Netherlands the prices are more competitive, and sometimes even turned. [0] The vegetarian equivalent has been cheaper there than the real meat thing, although the process for both is not very different in the EU than in the US. [0] https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2022/07/26/plant-based...

That’s the average for vegan products.

Soy/tofu/cardboard Patties bring the average down but the recent products that try to replicate the taste of meat are still a premium product.

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#27

Post by hagbarth »

scantis wrote: post #7

If any of the planet saving meat substitute promises are true, such a fake meat patty would cost a tenth of the beef equivalent and it would dominate the market. I read somewhere you would need 25 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of beef, ergo one could potentially produce 25 times the amount of substitute. Obviously that isn't true and such a patty is a specialized product of various highly processed plant matter. It is a…

Plant based alternatives are very price competitive where I live (in Denmark). They’re more expensive than the cheapest ground beef, but more affordable than grass fed or organic.

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#28

Post by Reubend »

scantis wrote: post #7

If any of the planet saving meat substitute promises are true, such a fake meat patty would cost a tenth of the beef equivalent and it would dominate the market. I read somewhere you would need 25 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of beef, ergo one could potentially produce 25 times the amount of substitute. Obviously that isn't true and such a patty is a specialized product of various highly processed plant matter. It is a…

> it is no surprise, that people aren't willing to pay more for an inferior product

You hit the nail on its head. I think there's still hope for meat substitutes if they can improve their flavor while also lowering their price. But I'm not holding out hope for that.

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#29

Post by Moldoteck »

Maybe unpopular opinion, but for me, best plant based patties are those that do not try to replicate meat taste. I much prefer patties made from actual plants&vegetables/mushrooms/chickpeas/beans like potato, carrot, some spices and so on. They have like actual 'natural' flavor, almost like something homemade. Those that add a ton of additives often taste awful, even beyond/moving mountains...

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#30

Post by Nowado »

scantis wrote: post #7

If any of the planet saving meat substitute promises are true, such a fake meat patty would cost a tenth of the beef equivalent and it would dominate the market. I read somewhere you would need 25 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of beef, ergo one could potentially produce 25 times the amount of substitute. Obviously that isn't true and such a patty is a specialized product of various highly processed plant matter. It is a…

US livestock subsidies are in dozens of billions. Whole sector seems to have revenue in lower hundreds of billions (harder to get exact data, please correct me).

Even without premiums target audience is willing to accept, subsidies of 10-20% of sector revenue are pretty hard to beat.

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