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Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

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

#111

Post by lm28469 »

frankzander wrote: post #38
gloryjulio wrote: post #5

We already have cheap beans and tofu. Thanks

Turns out to be true tbh. I've tasted all kinds of fake meat and sausages and some is pretty good. But at the end tofu (pulled is the best) and saitan (not satan) is the easiest and most versatile. You can do almost anything with it. Chickpeas, beans and bean-cheese (aka tofu) and except from spices and herbs nothing more is needed.

Seitan* you can actually make it at home easily, same for tempeh, reducing the amount of unknown things you eat even more since you control every step of the process

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

#112

Post by saurik »

shapefrog wrote: post #33

I dont understand the obsession with reproducing meat out of plants. There are many plant based meals that are excellent without pretending to be bacon or steak or burgers. There is not, and should not be an industry trying to making pasta-based lettuce or potato-based lemons.

How about reproducing plants out of meat? Can there be an industry trying to make meat-based carrots? ;P

https://www.vice.com/en/article/mb8wmx/arbys-has-invented-a-...

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

#113

Post by Nursie »

ptero wrote: post #104
planb wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If artificial meat would taste like the real thing and cost less, everyone would want to eat it: Meat eaters and poor people because it costs less, vegans because it tastes good and does not harm anyone and rich people because they feel good when saving the earth.

Like many startups it got hyped to make those exiting at the right time rich, but remove the hype and the product folds as cannot deliver (yet?) on such lofty expectations. Even if technology can be made to work eventually, it will struggle to overcome this feeling of a letdown. My 2c.

I think that’s the issue isn’t it, the sales aren’t living up the hype.

We’ll, no shit, it was sold as the answer to everything and it turns out that it’s just another addition to the food market with some appeal to some people.

I hope that it doesn’t disappear, basically because it make my life easier. But the takeaway from this should probably be along the lines of being skeptic all of the hype, always.

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

#114

Post by avhception »

dachryn wrote: post #69
avhception wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a meat-eater, but those "classic" plant-based patties often taste perfectly fine. Not like meat at all, but they don't have to, that's okay. It's not like I only eat meat. But the new breed of patties that claim to be meat taste really awful, definitely. They sometimes smell really weird, too.

Beyond burger or what was the one that was hyped 3 years ago was really good in my opinion. Especially on a burger with some sauce and other taste things. The only thing you really shouldn't do is mix real meat and fake meat. A natural thing to do is order two burgers, and compare them. Whatever you eat first will taste fine, whatever you eat second is extremely gross.

It never occurred to me to mix real and fake meat. Now I'm curious. Maybe I'll have to try a 50/50 ground beef mix, just out of curiosity, haha.

My comparison method so far was the Whopper.

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

#115

Post by Hard_Space »

I've been vegetarian (99% vegan food intake) for five years, and the main reason I regularly buy so few of these products is that most of them are absurdly expensive, and most of the ones that aren't are not very nice to eat.

Also turned off by gimmicks clearly not aimed at me, such as 'beetroot blood', and other nonsense.

I don't know whether the economy-of-scale issues are what make these products so expensive, or whether the manufacturers were rubbing their hands together at a possible inroad into a wealthy 'hipster' market, and priced their wares accordingly.

I do know that the prices have to come down before I will even start experimenting with some of these offerings. Right now I have zero motivation to 'treat myself' by trying an overpriced vegan burger that is too expensive to become a regular purchase.

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

#116

Post by yourusername »

planb wrote: post #93
dvh wrote: post #80

[flagged]

If artificial meat would taste like the real thing and cost less, everyone would want to eat it: Meat eaters and poor people because it costs less, vegans because it tastes good and does not harm anyone and rich people because they feel good when saving the earth.

It's not the taste i have a problem with but the nutritional value. Most meat replacement products taste decent to me but they're high in fat (seed oils) and lower in protein than meat (and lower quality protein).

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

#117

Post by flumpcakes »

This article seems a little self contradictory and also goes against my own anecdotal experience.

In the UK I am seeing more faux-meat products than ever. And at least half of the adverts I've seen in the last few months for meat products (fast food burgers, frozen foods, etc.) have been for "fake meat". It seems as popular as ever.

I know people that will now buy mostly a fake meat based meal, where as before they would have eaten the vegetarian option (for example the vegetable patties that were available before the fake meat choices).

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

#118

Post by danuker »

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #34
joesb wrote: post #14

What is this article's obsession with things being "processed" food? Is "processed" the new "chemical"? It's like the article trying to keep repeating the words "processed", "ultra-processed", "hyper-processed" as if it's some scary boogey man.

> ... as if it's some scary boogey man In a way processed food is a scary boogey man - whether animal or plant based, processed foods are bad at providing nutrients to our bodies and can be packed with excessive amounts of salt and other substances. https://www.lhsfna.org/the-many-health-risks-of-processed-fo...

The patties themselves are packed with fat and heme iron (which is an unhealthier form of iron).

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

#119

Post by scantis »

Nowado wrote: post #30
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.

Well meat profits most from subsedies since it is the last in the chain. I think it is not as simple, we would throw a lot more food away without our animals. Sure there is room to optimize and improvement. The city of Wien has an overproduction of fresh baking good that exceeds three times the needed amout. It is then reprocessed to animal food instead of being thrown away, which is a good thing but keeps prices down.

So not as simple as one would think...

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

#120

Post by jemmyw »

Moldoteck wrote: post #29

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...

Yes, I agree. I'm not vegetarian but I don't like meat patties so I used to buy the vegetarian option, which was like mashed up actual veg. Always pretty good I thought. Now these meat alternatives have actually ruined my social burger eating because I don't like anything on the menu. Lucky for me I don't really have that kind of social life anymore.
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