Beyond Meat fights for survival • Hacker News Board

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#111

Post by JumpCrisscross » Sun, Jul 20, 2025, 7:45 AM UTC

submeta wrote: post #100

The hidden message of the title: Plant based alternatives may not succeed. I don’t believe that. I rather see more and more friends and people avoid eating meat or reduce their consumption drastically. Many buy plant based alternatives to milk as well. Twenty years ago only a few people would ask for oat/soy milk when ordering a coffee. But these days many do. I have been eating plant based meat alternatives for four…

Beyond Meat is industrial plant-based protein. The wealthy and upper middle class can afford real plants. That means their market is is poor and lower middle-class folks—hence the distribution through fast food and mid-grade grocery channels.

They’re not buying plant-based proteins. (The conscientious are already eating plants.)

Beyond Meat is broken as a mass-market brand. It should be restructured as a niche play.

> young folks already grow up with a very critical attitude towards meat consumption

Statistically insignificant [1].

[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030691922...

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#112

Post by messe » Sun, Jul 20, 2025, 7:45 AM UTC

burnt-resistor wrote: post #91

dmazin wrote: post #68

It’s interesting that alternative meat consumption in the U.S. is struggling but taking off in Europe. One thing I noticed after moving to the UK: alternative milk is normalized here. Like, it’s so common to avoid milk that if you order coffee without specifying, you will be asked what kind of milk you want.

Here in hill country Texas, even Walmart sells MorningStar corn dogs. H-E-B carries most of the Impossible line including meatballs. I made some dirty rice with the IF ground "beef" and it was awesome. There's almost no oil in it, browning onions and peppers required adding some avocado oil (never use olive oil for high temperature cooking). PS: I'm a lazy vegetarian who will eat a real burger every few months. When…

> never use olive oil for high temperature cooking

This is a myth and needs to die. Olive oil is fine at high temperatures, even EVOO.

https://www.seriouseats.com/cooking-with-olive-oil-faq-safet...

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#113

Post by kaliqt » Sun, Jul 20, 2025, 7:46 AM UTC

submeta wrote: post #100

The hidden message of the title: Plant based alternatives may not succeed. I don’t believe that. I rather see more and more friends and people avoid eating meat or reduce their consumption drastically. Many buy plant based alternatives to milk as well. Twenty years ago only a few people would ask for oat/soy milk when ordering a coffee. But these days many do. I have been eating plant based meat alternatives for four…

It is sustainable.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#114

Post by crinkly » Sun, Jul 20, 2025, 7:46 AM UTC

Im not surprised. It doesn’t really fit anywhere.

I’m a vegetarian and have been for about 30 years. None of the fake meat really appealed to me. I don’t factor anything that looks or tastes like meat into my diet. The same is true of other long term vegetarians that I know. I did try the products and they were “meh”.

It suspect it mostly appealed to meat eaters who felt a little guilty about it due to marketing and social pressure. But the expense and the general inferiority of their products was enough for it to wear off quickly. I don’t blame them for not bothering.

I will add I’m not a strict vegetarian - I’ll eat meat in places where it’s not socially understood what vegetarians are. Arguing with some guy in the middle of nowhere in Central Asia about the chunk of horse you just got served isn’t productive. Whatever you want to do is fine.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#115

Post by JumpCrisscross » Sun, Jul 20, 2025, 7:47 AM UTC

mdaniel wrote: post #85

I know this is about Beyond but I figure the audience that would care about this article would be interested in looking at Juicy Marbles: https://juicymarbles.com/collections/all-products I've tried the thick cut filet and just like you're not going to mistake Impossible for actual burger, so too with the filet but it's a good texture and does help fill the longing for steak for me

Ingredients make it look like engineered soy. Is there a secret sauce to making it better than meat for someone who doesn’t have that level of ethical granularity?

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#116

Post by JumpCrisscross » Sun, Jul 20, 2025, 7:48 AM UTC

PaulRobinson wrote: post #105

deanc wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These meat substitutes are UPF and that’s what you should care about more than nutritional content.

OK, we need to pick something apart here, because I see this a lot and it's annoying. UPF is not inherently bad. Some UPFs (Pasta, wholemeal bread, baked beans, probiotic yoghurts, wheat biscuit cereals), are actually good for you. The problem is that UPFs come from manufacturers who are trying to get you to buy more of their product, by playing tricks with the brain's response to it. There are food labs where people…

> Some UPFs (Pasta, wholemeal bread, baked beans, probiotic yoghurts, wheat biscuit cereals), are actually good for you

But the less processed the better. And eating something else is probably better still.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#117

Post by leptons » Sun, Jul 20, 2025, 7:49 AM UTC

mdaniel wrote: post #79

gonzalohm wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Including Miyoko's? https://www.miyokos.com/products/fresh-plant-milk-mozzarella... Damn shame about the corporate drama, so it's possible the formula could/might change but the products were outstanding for the problem they're trying to solve the last time I tried them

I love Miyoko's products, their oat butter is amazing, I use it daily.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#118

Post by JumpCrisscross » Sun, Jul 20, 2025, 7:50 AM UTC

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

> It's one of my favorite foods but no substitute has come close to it

Why do you want to? Lactovegetarianism is far more precedented than veganism.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#119

Post by JumpCrisscross » Sun, Jul 20, 2025, 7:52 AM UTC

mdaniel wrote: post #80

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #11

Wish their products had less fat in them. They're tasty, but nutritionally they're a whole lot of canola oil.

Their newest release uses avocado oil, fwiw: https://www.beyondmeat.com/en-US/products/beyond-beef/ground...

Is anyone really pretending these are healthier than a grass-fed beef patty? Or cooked vegetables?

The health pitch on these products has always struck me as incredibly weird.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#120

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jul 20, 2025, 7:53 AM UTC

submeta wrote: post #100

The hidden message of the title: Plant based alternatives may not succeed. I don’t believe that. I rather see more and more friends and people avoid eating meat or reduce their consumption drastically. Many buy plant based alternatives to milk as well. Twenty years ago only a few people would ask for oat/soy milk when ordering a coffee. But these days many do. I have been eating plant based meat alternatives for four…

[deleted]