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Insiders reveal problems at Upside Foods

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Re: Insiders reveal problems at Upside Foods

#51
post #43
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does meat actually taste good though? When has anyone ordered unseasoned chicken? Salt and spices taste good.

The fallacy here is pretty transparent. On the one hand, you’re saying meat ”doesn’t taste good” because it is usually not served in isolation. But on the other hand, you claim that seasoning tastes good, despite the fact that it is never served in isolation.

Where is fallacy ? Sugar is sweet I’ve never ordered a cup of sugar in a cafe or seen it on the menu

Re: Insiders reveal problems at Upside Foods

#52
post #10
post #5

Why not just grow mushrooms? Their cells are meaty, super high in protein, and they already exist / the “tech” has already been developed! There is an extremely large selection, some with additional health benefits.

Meat tastes good. Mushrooms taste good, but in a different way. You can want a perfect world, but it will never exist. Like it or don't, solving meat consumption and its effects on the planet is something we'll have to do. That probably involves a meaty substitute for meat.

Fungi make up one of three primary kingdoms of multicellular life. Mushrooms and other fungus have a variety of flavors already, and some of them are quite meat-like. Given fungus cells are more similar to animal than they are plant, it is possible that they can be selectively bred or engineered to taste more meat-like.

I wouldn't be too dismissive of the potential here.

Re: Insiders reveal problems at Upside Foods

#53
post #5

Why not just grow mushrooms? Their cells are meaty, super high in protein, and they already exist / the “tech” has already been developed! There is an extremely large selection, some with additional health benefits.

Not mushrooms but Quorn has been making meat substitute products (some quite tasty) out of vat-grown mycelium since ‘85: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn

Quorn has for the most part been making meat substitutes out of vat-grown mycelium and eggs

I love mushrooms, and am mostly vegan, but the skeptic in me suspects it's not as economically viable (with their current processes) to make meat-like products out of just their "mycoprotein" or they'd be doing more of it.

I realize they have released a few vegan products, but I've never seen them in stores and can't see why they wouldn't be as widely available as their other products if there weren't some texture/flavor issues without the eggs.

Re: Insiders reveal problems at Upside Foods

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not mushrooms but Quorn has been making meat substitute products (some quite tasty) out of vat-grown mycelium since ‘85: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn

Quorn has for the most part been making meat substitutes out of vat-grown mycelium and eggs I love mushrooms, and am mostly vegan, but the skeptic in me suspects it's not as economically viable (with their current processes) to make meat-like products out of just their "mycoprotein" or they'd be doing more of it. I realize they have released a few vegan products, but I've never seen them in stores and can't see why t…

Mostly vegan?

So you're not vegan.

Re: Insiders reveal problems at Upside Foods

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quorn has for the most part been making meat substitutes out of vat-grown mycelium and eggs I love mushrooms, and am mostly vegan, but the skeptic in me suspects it's not as economically viable (with their current processes) to make meat-like products out of just their "mycoprotein" or they'd be doing more of it. I realize they have released a few vegan products, but I've never seen them in stores and can't see why t…

Mostly vegan? So you're not vegan.

Mostly plant-based, move along.

Vegan is the church.

My local animal rights group changed their marketing 15 years ago from mainly using the term “vegan” to “plant-based” which is free from the cult-like elements of veganism, such as disapproval of anything but “100%”. The term “vegan” is back now that it has become more mainstream.

Re: Insiders reveal problems at Upside Foods

#56
post #5

Why not just grow mushrooms? Their cells are meaty, super high in protein, and they already exist / the “tech” has already been developed! There is an extremely large selection, some with additional health benefits.

Because mushrooms are NOT "super high in protein". A comparable serving of beef has about 12x the amount of protein as mushrooms.

When you compare mushroom dry weight, it is more like 10-25% protein. This is without any industrial processing.

Re: Insiders reveal problems at Upside Foods

#58
post #5

Why not just grow mushrooms? Their cells are meaty, super high in protein, and they already exist / the “tech” has already been developed! There is an extremely large selection, some with additional health benefits.

Because mushrooms are NOT "super high in protein". A comparable serving of beef has about 12x the amount of protein as mushrooms.

This. Beans, lentils and friends if you're after vegetable protein.

Re: Insiders reveal problems at Upside Foods

#59
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fallacy here is pretty transparent. On the one hand, you’re saying meat ”doesn’t taste good” because it is usually not served in isolation. But on the other hand, you claim that seasoning tastes good, despite the fact that it is never served in isolation.

Where is fallacy ? Sugar is sweet I’ve never ordered a cup of sugar in a cafe or seen it on the menu

Parent claims that because we don’t eat meat plain, this shows that it isn’t the meat that ”tastes good”, its the seasoning. The fallacy is that we could have applied the exact same logic to the seasoning: we don’t eat steak seasoning plain, therefore it isn’t the seasoning that tastes good, its the meat. By parent’s logic, meat both does and does not taste good.

The resolution, which has always been obvious to everyone (except hackernews, apparently) is that flavour is the result of the combination of ingredients. That you typically eat X and Y together doesn’t mean X is tasteless and Y is tasty (or the reverse). It just means X and Y combine to make a good dish.

Re: Insiders reveal problems at Upside Foods

#60
post #37

The real success in this area is the Impossible burger. It's made mostly from peas and soy, with heme added to produce the bloody meat texture. The heme is made in a fermentation process not much more complex than brewing. Impossible has no problems with volume production - they sell through Burger King and WalMart. Growth rate about 85%/year.

As a long-time meat eater, I find Impossible to be a passable substitute for ground beef in a lot of dishes. If they can get the end user price under control, they could displace a whole lot of beef consumption. At the current price point, it’s not nearly worth it on a taste or economic value comparison with 80% ground beef.

Blame your restaurants. Burger king has figured out how to sell you two impossible kings for $7. The only reason why people still ask for another $4 to swap out the sysco patty on your $12 brewpub burger is because they can and you are used to it.
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