Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Beyond Meat fights for survival

foodinstitute.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 645 posts

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#51

Post by ignormies »

angry_moose wrote: post #9

I've been vegetarian for about 8 years and won't buy them and try to avoid them in restaurants because they're too meat-like. Unfortunately they've made good non-fake meat vegetarian burgers (black bean, wild rice, etc) harder to find. It's a situation of "You know that thing you don't eat, don't like, and don't have cravings for anymore? We made something that tastes exactly like it. You're going to love it!" I'm gl…

I'll echo what some of the other commenters have stated:

I'm not vegan nor vegetarian, but I definitely align with many of the reasons that one would choose to be so. There are environmental and animal welfare concerns with the meat industry that simply cannot be ignored.

With that in mind, I try _choose_ a non-meat-based option when it's feasible. I do my best to vote with my dollar. Beyond Meat and Impossible have made this option available significantly more often in the past couple years.

When I shop for meat at the grocery store to cook at home, I've effectively stopped buying "real" meat for my standard meals. Unless I'm cooking some special or something specific, I simply buy Beyond Meat/Impossible for my standard meals. The same applies when eating out -- if there's a meat alternative, I will go for it (even absorbing the $2-3 upcharge).*

This is not to say that I _only_ go for the meat-alternative-based non-meat dishes. I often go for a tofu or mushroom alternative too. I don't even think Beyond Meat/Impossible taste _like_ the meat they're trying to substitute -- they're just simply good, meat-y, protein-y, umami-y flavors that I simply can't get enough of.

The more options there are for people like me the better. My diet has been able to shift closer and closer to removing meat entirely, but it doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing battle. I just want to eat _less_ meat, not _no_ meat.

* One thing that's frustrating to me as someone that's not _actually_ a vegetarian/vegan is that restaurants often make the assumption that if I'm choosing the meat-alternative, then I must be vegetarian or vegan. No, I still want the cheese or the dairy, or even the meat (e.g.: an Impossible Cheeseburger with real bacon is still delicious). I'm trying to reduce, not _eliminate_, meat from my diet.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#52

Post by TimorousBestie »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #36
iknowstuff wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hmm.. you would buy it but aren't? 4 oz raw/patty: Impossible → 19 P / 14 F / 9 C, 240 kcal, 370 mg Na, 0 mg chol Beyond → 20 P / 13 F / 7 C, 220 kcal, 260 mg Na, 0 mg chol 80/20 beef → 19 P / 23 F / 0 C, 287 kcal, 75 mg Na, ? chol (high) Plants hit beef-level protein, ditch cholesterol, trade more sodium & a few carbs; beef still packs the fat.

I thought sodium was really bad for you though

The beef patty numbers are solely raw beef, they do not include the seasoning required to make it taste like a hamburger.

The McDonald’s quarter pounder patty (just the cooked patty, no bun and no toppings), which I believe is comparable, comes with 210mg of salt.

Since the DRV is 2000mg, the differences aren’t as significant as they appear.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#53

Post by xedrac »

anoncow wrote: post #23
gonzalohm wrote: post #13

I think the problem is that crappy supermarket meat is really cheap, and most people don't seem to care about the quality of the meat. For those people, it's hard to justify buying a more expensive product that's not even meat. I wonder if reducing the price (without selling at a loss) would increase sales enough to offset the lower revenue

What makes supermarket meat crappy?

There is no crappy meat, just meat that isn't prepared well.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#54

Post by linsomniac »

drewg123 wrote: post #40
SoftTalker wrote: post #17

It’s always been awful IMO. Tastes like sawdust with a congealed vegetable oil binder and chemical flavorings that approximate meat. A straight up bean burger is better and far less processed.

Its way better than a bean burger IMHO. As a vegan, what I like most about Beyond burgers are that they are consistent, and pretty amazing at not being awful. If I'm in a random restaurant with a few token vegan options, the last thing I want to do is take a chance on some potentially terrible homemade bean or chickpea burger. If they have Beyond or Impossible, I know exactly what I'm getting.

Our local drive in movie theater (remember those) offers various meal options including burgers, and I've taken to ordering the Impossible there because somehow several times in their beef burgers I've gotten significant bone chunks, to the extent that I was surprised I didn't break a tooth on them.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#55

Post by jahsome »

DangitBobby wrote: post #42
jahsome wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both can be true. I think they try desperately to be meat, and they fail miserably.

I both remember the taste of meat and wish meat alternatives would taste like it, and I think Impossible and Beyond are both very successful at that.

For me, it's an uncanny valley thing. It's close, but missing something small and intangible which leaves me ruminating on the "fakeness."

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#56

Post by xedrac »

I absolutely love beef. A good ribeye steak, or some smoked brisket are two of my favorite foods. I was intrigued by the claims these meat alternative companies were making, so naturally I tried them all. It's not surprising to me that they are struggling. I could barely swallow their products. I think it was a mistake to compare these to one of the greatest foods on the planet. It set the expectation was too high.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#57

Post by unsnap_biceps »

xedrac wrote: post #56

I absolutely love beef. A good ribeye steak, or some smoked brisket are two of my favorite foods. I was intrigued by the claims these meat alternative companies were making, so naturally I tried them all. It's not surprising to me that they are struggling. I could barely swallow their products. I think it was a mistake to compare these to one of the greatest foods on the planet. It set the expectation was too high.

They work well enough as a replacement in a fast food burger or in a dish where the meat itself isn't really the star player. Using their ground meat alternatives in a hamburger helper is totally fine.

We're not at the point where high quality meat can be replaced, but that doesn't mean the product is worthless.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#58

Post by unsnap_biceps »

gonzalohm wrote: post #19
hellcow wrote: post #8

This is too bad. Beyond and Impossible opened up the door to me gradually becoming vegan. It was similar enough to real meat that I didn’t miss meat anymore, and from there I found other substitutions which were healthier. Without them I’m sure I never would have started a plant-based diet.

What have you substituted cheese with? It's one of my favorite foods but no substitute has come close to it

https://kite-hill.com/products/chives-cream-cheese is a great option for bagels. I prefer it to normal cream cheese.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#59

Post by bryanlarsen »

randycupertino wrote: post #38
armchairhacker wrote: post #5

I posted before: I care more about the nutritional content being close to meat than the look and taste; specifically, similar macro-nutrient ratios and whatever micro-nutrients are rare outside of meat. I also care about it being cheap in theory, even if it's more expensive in practice because the company hasn't scaled up. But really, as long as it's not ridiculously expensive, and isn't missing some nutrient or bala…

I remember when veggie burgers first came out and they actually featured veggies and tried to taste like veggies instead of psuedo-meat patties. They were so good! Then everything tried to just clone meat, poorly, in taste and texture and they were so much worse. But those first ones that really tasted like veggies were delish.

Are you a vegetarian? I'm not, and really enjoy a good black bean patty. But when I crave a juicy beef hamburger, I have one. Vegetarians might prefer to satisfy cravings with something closer to their childhood memories than a black bean patty.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#60

Post by trhway »

xedrac wrote: post #56

I absolutely love beef. A good ribeye steak, or some smoked brisket are two of my favorite foods. I was intrigued by the claims these meat alternative companies were making, so naturally I tried them all. It's not surprising to me that they are struggling. I could barely swallow their products. I think it was a mistake to compare these to one of the greatest foods on the planet. It set the expectation was too high.

everybody mostly discusses real vs. imitation/vegan, yet i think it has nothing to do with the current BYND situation.

"on an operating basis Beyond Meat lost 45 cents from every dollar of sales."

that is a culprit. Bad management. How else can your plant based product at comparable to meat prices be a loss instead of great profit. Even pure avocados are cheaper than meat. What is better and pricier than avocados do you put into your product? Then it should taste much better than avocados and meat. Yet there is no avocados, it is more like low quality cat/dog food:

"Key components include pea protein, rice protein, and lentil protein, alongside avocado oil, refined coconut oil, and canola oil. Other notable additions include methylcellulose, potato starch, and apple extract. "

That stuff at their prices should be super-profitable.

Post reply on HN