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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

#331

Post by Vinnl »

goethes_kind wrote: post #313

I would really like to know whether there are some biological reasons why some people love meat and others don't. I have met so many veggie munching folk of various flavours who upon questions would confess, that they didn't like meat that much anyway.

It's been the other way around for me. I used to really like meat when I started eating vegetarian, and made it a policy to still satisfy those cravings if they got strong. But over time, having not eaten that much meat, almost every time I give in to the cravings I'm disappointed by the taste, and the cravings don't come back. I figure it might just be an acquired taste to some extent.

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

#332

Post by enobrev »

cduzz wrote: post #322
whazor wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a podcast I heard that The Vegetarian Butcher initially had experimental biological degradable packaging, but after buying hundreds of thousands they all went bad, and had to be thrown out. Now they use plastic packaging and they only try to solve one problem at a time.

Didn't our ancestors just use paper for such things? Or cloth? I guess lots of them died of dentistry before getting to oregon, but still.

Killer cavities or misspelling of "dysentery"?

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

#333

Post by blowski »

zidad wrote: post #321
blowski wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Normally, but not always. I can get freshly produced sausages from my local butcher.

"fresh" sausages most likely contains some of those preservatives too, as they prevent worse things like botulism. Unless maybe they're made the same day as you consume them?

"Fresh" as in made on the day they're sold from the same meat that's sold there.

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

#334

Post by openplatypus »

cduzz wrote: post #322
whazor wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a podcast I heard that The Vegetarian Butcher initially had experimental biological degradable packaging, but after buying hundreds of thousands they all went bad, and had to be thrown out. Now they use plastic packaging and they only try to solve one problem at a time.

Didn't our ancestors just use paper for such things? Or cloth? I guess lots of them died of dentistry before getting to oregon, but still.

Dysentery?

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

#335

Post by diydsp »

strken wrote: post #183
michaelteter wrote: post #149

And we don't need fake meat. It's just something that the food industry can make and sell to us instead of us just eating stuff that grows in the earth. If you want something with a texture similar to meat, many mushrooms will do the job. If you want something reminiscent of ground beef, quinoa with seasoning will suffice. However, limiting yourself to vegetarian approaches of recreating meat dishes, then you are mis…

As a consumer, I want a good vegan protein source that isn't carb-heavy and is easy to cook with, whether or not it's a fake meat. Something with the same macros as skinless chicken breast (75% balanced protein by calorie, 25% fat) would be perfect. Tempeh is okay but fattier and closer to a steak. TVP is higher protein but has carbs instead of fats. Pea protein powder is perfect but I have no idea how to use large q…

Sweet Earth seitan has almost identical macros to chicken breast. And easy to saute or microwave and put in sandwichs, wraps and bowls. Nature's promise makes a similar competitor.

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

#336

Post by scythe »

lampe3 wrote: post #161

Can we add an "in the US" at the end? Since for EU countries this is not true. I'm living in sweden now and lived in germany and poland. Plant-based meat products are growing in numbers and the price of meat is going so high that its cheaper to buy the plant-based one. In Germany one producer of meat sausages want to turn 100% plant based[1]. I will not go into the whats better and not for you. Since this highly depe…

>and the price of meat is going so high

Sounds like a contributing factor. But this isn't a normal situation; there's a war going on, and before that there was a huge disruption to global trade due to COVID-19. These aren't the sort of conditions that anyone wants to see continue indefinitely.

"Plant-based meat" already existed before 2015. Then Impossible Burger came up with synthetic heme and thought it would be a game-changer. Long story short, it raised a few eyebrows, but it didn't produce the desired uptake.

I might be missing something, but aside from that, I don't know what the core innovation is supposed to be in the recent products, aside from a big PR push and an economic crisis.

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

#337

Post by serial_dev »

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...

I was a vegetarian for years, and I totally agree. People always recommended me these awful veggie/vegan alternatives to meat, and they were all disgusting. Fake bacon, fake meat, fake sausage, fake ham, baloney, all ended up being stomach turning.

Interestingly, only people who recommended me these still ate meat, never vegetarians. The thing is that there are many alternatives (falafel, all kinds of different cheese, beans, etc) that are delicious but not trying to replicate meat taste, and they are all great. I don't get the point of eating fake meats, just eat veggies, learn to cook, and enjoy.

I'm convinced that the push for these plant-based meat products are purely economical: if you can make a good enough vegan ground beef, bacon, cheese, it will be hard to copy so you can make a ton of money with that.

Recommending people to eat beans, carrots and zucchini? That's just good old vegetables sale, so you can't hype up your VC-backed company to billion dollars of estimated value with a handful of real consumers.

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

#338

Post by totalhack »

Aside from taste not always being there, biggest problem for me is some of the crazy ingredient lists. Part of what I'd look for when occasionally avoiding meat is a clean/healthy alternative. I can find this in something like a black bean veggie burger, but some of these plant based options seem loaded with unfamiliar ingredients. Just my limited perception from a few things I considered at the grocery store but put back down.

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

#339

Post by tpush »

hinoki wrote: post #326
tpush wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meat sausages and cold cuts are processed as well. And are likely made with carcinogenic preservatives! Edit: cancerous -> carcinogenic

A nit: The nitrates/nitrites/celery powder in bacon etc. is carcinogenic, the bacon doesn’t have cancer.

Thanks for the correction!

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

#340

Post by Semaphor »

onli wrote: post #317
jansan wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have not found any news that would support that claim. They sold more vegan products in 2021 than meat products, but nowhere can I find anything that they aim at selling only vegan products.

Source is https://app.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/mittelstand/ruegenw... , a "we would if consumers choose that route".

> Letztlich wird das der Verbraucher entscheiden. Vorstellen können wir uns alles.

which is far better translated to

> In the end, the consumer will decide. We can imagine [doing] anything.

Which is extremely noncommittal (and also the only thing that makes sense)

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