Live data from Hacker News

Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

bloomberg.com

491–500 of 813 posts

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

#491

I'm not a fan of plant-based meat, this is most likely because of my culture ( I'm Sardinian ), we do have many meat based dishes and many plant based dishes, and honestly I don't see the need to cook the meat based ones with processed food that tries to replicate the taste and consistency of meat. I believe that if you don't want to eat meat there's a world of recipes that do not involve meat and are made to elevate…

I second this sentiment. General advice is to avoid things in boxes and bags: aka highly processed foods.

The ingredients list on the beyond meat website looks like this: Water, pea protein*, expeller-pressed canola oil, refined coconut oil, rice protein, natural flavors, dried yeast, cocoa butter, methylcellulose, and less than 1% of potato starch, salt, potassium chloride, beet juice color, apple extract, pomegranate concentrate, sunflower lecithin, vinegar, lemon juice concentrate, vitamins and minerals

What are you really eating?

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

#492

I'm not a fan of plant-based meat, this is most likely because of my culture ( I'm Sardinian ), we do have many meat based dishes and many plant based dishes, and honestly I don't see the need to cook the meat based ones with processed food that tries to replicate the taste and consistency of meat. I believe that if you don't want to eat meat there's a world of recipes that do not involve meat and are made to elevate…

Meat tastes really good. I think there are many people who want to eat less meat but really enjoy meat. I am one of those people.

Agreed. My family has a long history of cardiovascular problems so I am trying to cut down on red meat myself to possibly extend my life...but dangit I want some chicken fried steak and cheeseburgers. I might use impossible burgers to satiate my cravings in a heart-healthy way, but it just isn't the same.

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

#493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Most burger chains don't use high quality meat for their burgers. You go to McDonald's, Burger King, or whatever and you are getting a greasy grey slab of ground "meat" (let's not think to long about where that comes from) that is 1) very thin 2) a bit rubbery 3) not that tasty 4) has some filler content in addition to meat and fat. To cover that up, most burger chains use lots of sauce, salt, and spices. It…

Does anyone remember the "pink slime" taco bell scandal? Their beef was less than 20% recognizable ground beef.

ABC (the TV network) paid out a couple hundred million in a defamation suit for that scandal.

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

#494
post #479

I'm not a fan of plant-based meat, this is most likely because of my culture ( I'm Sardinian ), we do have many meat based dishes and many plant based dishes, and honestly I don't see the need to cook the meat based ones with processed food that tries to replicate the taste and consistency of meat. I believe that if you don't want to eat meat there's a world of recipes that do not involve meat and are made to elevate…

Fake meat feels similar to my Slovenian eyes. There's a whole world of recipes that just don't include meat and are delicious. It wasn't until I moved to the USA that I even realized those are "vegetarian" ... to me they're just regular foods and recipes. Lots of cottage cheese hearty meals with high protein content. It helps that traditional (100+ years ago) Slovenian culture was that you rarely eat meat because mea…

Fake meat is generally aimed more at meat eaters than people who are already vegetarian or vegan. If you already like tofu and seitan, you probably aren't trading those in for the new products.

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

#495

I’d feel better if the ingredients list wasn’t as long as my arm. I know it’s a bunch of stuff to make it look like meat, but it’s basically cow meat vs a burger containing 50 random items and chemicals that is worse or equal in nutritional content then cow. Like one impossible vs cow is 14g of fat vs 16g of fat. 370mg of sodium vs 90mg of sodium. They are not even that much better for you. Rather than trying to get…

> A healthy, active adult needs between 200 and 500 mg of sodium per day. ( https://www.lifespan.org/lifespan-living/how-much-sodium-day... ) > Adults should eat no more than 2.4g sodium a day ( https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-types/salt-nutrit... ) I'm no nutritionalist, but doesn't that suggest you could eat nothing but 6 of these burgers every day and still be within the recommended sodium intake? Sure,…

[deleted]

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

#496

I'm not a fan of plant-based meat, this is most likely because of my culture ( I'm Sardinian ), we do have many meat based dishes and many plant based dishes, and honestly I don't see the need to cook the meat based ones with processed food that tries to replicate the taste and consistency of meat. I believe that if you don't want to eat meat there's a world of recipes that do not involve meat and are made to elevate…

Do we have to keep having this conversation? Lots of people, like myself, choose to not eat meat because we care about animal welfare. It's not because we don't like eating meat. Therefore food that tastes and feels like meat but didn't require killing an animal makes sense.

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

#497

I'm not a fan of plant-based meat, this is most likely because of my culture ( I'm Sardinian ), we do have many meat based dishes and many plant based dishes, and honestly I don't see the need to cook the meat based ones with processed food that tries to replicate the taste and consistency of meat. I believe that if you don't want to eat meat there's a world of recipes that do not involve meat and are made to elevate…

When I was backpacking around India and Nepal for 6 months altogether, I just stopped eating meat - their chicken pieces were always just bones with tiny bits of meat here and there, mutton was worse than chewing gum and that was it for the meat, food safety notwithstanding. Now enter a wonderful universe of vegetable curries and masalas where every household has their own twist on recipes and it all tastes so much d…

> there is whole universe of intense tastes unavailable to traditional western cuisine that doesn't burn your tongue a bit

FWIW, I agree with everything you said, but I'd like to point out there's a ton of spices used in western cuisine too.

For example, in my hometown (central Italy) we use a lot of wild fennel pollen, which goes on basically everything. In Hungary fennel seeds, marjoram, paprika and turmeric are in practically every kitchen.

Star anise, nutmeg, saffron, mace, clove etc.. have been used in western cuisine for centuries too, and are used in very traditional western dishes (french onion soup, bechamel sauce, risotto alla milanese etc)

Western cuisine certainly uses less spices than the indian subcontinent, but I would not say the spices were unavailable to western cuisine.

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

#498

I’d feel better if the ingredients list wasn’t as long as my arm. I know it’s a bunch of stuff to make it look like meat, but it’s basically cow meat vs a burger containing 50 random items and chemicals that is worse or equal in nutritional content then cow. Like one impossible vs cow is 14g of fat vs 16g of fat. 370mg of sodium vs 90mg of sodium. They are not even that much better for you. Rather than trying to get…

> Just make the regular veggie burgers better and cheaper.

These burgers are out there already, for what it's worth. Veggie burgers nowadays are very tasty, very healthy, and mostly made of ground/diced vegetables and legumes. But they don't have the marketing hype that comes with "plant based food that bleeds!" so meat eating individuals didn't and don't even consider them as an option.

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

#499
The biggest flop about it is it's higher carbs than normal meat. Steak and things like that typically have zero or near zero carbs per serving. This plant-based stuff is carby as hell, so keto people are going to avoid it, and basically everyone is keto right now in some capacity. If it was zero carb, people would put up with the taste and increased cost.

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

#500

I am an advocate of the all-beef diet. I didn't consume a single calorie from any plant-based source for the entirety of 2021 and I ended the year feeling fantastic and in the best shape of my life. For some reason, I went off the "carnivore diet" in 2022, but I just gained belly fat and got lower back pain, so in September of 2022 I went back on it and this time I plan to stick with it for the rest of my life. I buy…

Even if all-beef cured every disease know to man it still would not be sustainable. Curiously: how do you get your vitamin C?
Post reply on HN