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Beyond Meat fights for survival

foodinstitute.com

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Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#311

Post by hombre_fatal »

happyopossum wrote: post #266
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Plant based alternatives may not succeed. I don’t believe that. Neither do I, but it's a highly competitive market that competes with both the established industrial meat market, as well as people actually educating themselves on cooking without "meat". I've always seen people buying "meat replacements" as kind of lazy, let's just swap one thing out for another, instead of find / cook something different entirely.…

> I've always seen people buying "meat replacements" as kind of lazy Pretty harsh to expect people to throw away their entire food culture just to cut down on meat consumption.

Also why does everything need to come with a snide remark?

We buy plant-based meats because we grew up with meat, love the taste, and like to recreate our favorite dishes of the past.

Everyone loves to use the phrase virtue signaling but seems blind to when they do it, like how they would never do such a lazy thing like buy a plant-based meat; they're just too much of a culinary epicurean who crafts artisanal experiences in their home kitchen.

Yet I'm virtue signaling when I want to eat a burger every couple weeks unless I support the beef industry when I do it.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#312

Post by _fat_santa »

mgraczyk wrote: post #157
makingstuffs wrote: post #129

The problem with Beyond Meat is that it is insanely expensive. I could buy a free range, organic and grass fed beef burger for the price of their ultra processed burger. Don’t get me wrong, as a vegetarian, I think they taste nice. They are just too damn expensive and not particularly healthy which goes against why I am a vegetarian. In Europe we have so many alternatives that are insanely cheaper and, as an Indian,…

Why do you believe it's not healthy? Because of the processes food hysteria stuff?

I'm not personally a vegetarian though I cook for vegetarians quite often and my reason for not using it more philosophical: if you're going to cook vegetarian, stop looking at what you can't use and start looking at what you can use.

Like for example the other day I made a vegan version of my pasta and meat sauce recipe but instead of trying to use a meat alternative like beyond meat, I reached for some mushrooms and end up having my guests ask if I accidentally made the dish with ground beef because the texture and consistency was so similar.

It's not that beyond meat is bad but why reach for something that's had god knows what done to it versus: mushrooms, where the only "processing" is ripping them out of the ground and washing them.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#313

Post by HDThoreaun »

jplrssn wrote: post #261
carlosjobim wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the same policy whether it's real meat patties or beyond meat, because beyond beef has the same main ingredient as the feed for the cattle: soybeans.

How much soy does it take to raise 1kg of beef compared with producing 1kg of beyond meat?

Why does that matter? US ag subsidies are for crops. They effect cow prices the same as they effect beyond prices. Beyond is more expensive because it doesnt have enough competition.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#314

Post by encom »

Marsymars wrote: post #283
encom wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I live somewhere not especially urban/progressive, and I’ve never even heard of this “forced veganism meme” that you reference.

Stores are filled with it. Nobody is buying it. Ergo it's forced.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#315

Post by hellcow »

evrimoztamur wrote: post #303
mgraczyk wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you believe it's not healthy? Because of the processes food hysteria stuff?

Besides ultra-processed foods 'hysteria,' basic ratios I consider here are: - protein to fat (which is roughly 1.4 in Beyond Meat (20g protein / 14g fat in 100g) versus 2.5-3.5 in beef (30±5g protein / 12.5±2.5g fat in 100g)) - protein to mass (20% vs ~30%) - micro-nutrients to mass (a very wide variety of minerals, vitamins, and other unknown nutrients present in beef) - carbohydrates (not present in substantial amo…

> 'we can do it and it may get more people to eat vegetarian.'

That's a noble goal in and of itself. Every step to reduce environmental impact and animal cruelty has value.

Beyond and Impossible were my "off-ramp" from eating meat every meal to exploring vegetarianism and veganism. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#316

Post by hombre_fatal »

rebeccaskinner wrote: post #287
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…

The biggest issue to me is that beyond and impossible aren’t just making replacements that are worse than meat, they are making things that are worse than the alternatives we already had. A beyond burger might be more like meat than a patty made from beans or lentils, but it tastes worse and has a worse nutritional profile. Beyond chicken isn’t even all that similar to chicken and it’s a worse substitute than seitan…

Actually, we'd expect better health outcomes on a plant-based meat patty than real meat: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32780794/

Or you could take the position that it's at least noninferior. But you'd have to show the work for how you got to the idea that it's inferior.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#317

Post by tempnew »

FredPret wrote: post #300
square_usual wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But try to make protein powder 80% of your protein intake and see how you'll feel in a week. What? I've had >100g of protein from whey protein shakes every day for months now. I don't know what you're trying to imply.

Whey protein is definitely among the better options, but I once did what you described, and then switched to eating a large amount of chicken breasts. I definitely feel a bit better, and have a much easier time building muscle. If you run the numbers, you can actually eat a shocking amout of protein (300g+ / day) from lean meat while maintaining a calorie deficit. And if you buy frozen chicken breasts from Costco, I…

I’ve heard you can cut intake by a third if you switch from chicken breast to fish. Not cheap but you can get frozen tilapia cheap and tuna is safe if limited to once or twice a week. Part of the problem with whey is processing and potential contamination, but also dyes and flavorings, which may be why you felt better without it.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#318

Post by AnotherGoodName »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #231
aydyn wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beyond meat burgers taste like flavored plastic grounds, so until these plant based alternatives can close the taste gap its not going to go anywhere. And they have had years to make it taste better, so I suspect theres something fundamental that makes it very difficult. It is just too much to ask the public to buy worse tasting food at a higher price, all to feel morally better about yourself.

can't help but feel like including "plastic" here is just hysteria, I eat them regularly and it's certainly not accurate

Yeah i’m a meat eater just trying to avoid cholesterol (it has 0) and it’s a great alternative.

The real issue is that it’s not stocked in many supermarkets in the USA. Whole foods for example doesn’t sell it.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#319

Post by BurningFrog »

cloudbonsai wrote: post #132

So the biggest problem here is that Beyond Meat has a huge debt due in just 2 years: That’s a problem given that $1 billion in convertible bonds come due in March 2027. Beyond Meat has no way to repay that debt, and the credit markets know it: The bonds currently trade at about 17 cents on the dollar. To put the "$1B" number into the context, Beyond Meat sold $300M worth of plant-based meats last year, and made a net…

The impossible to pay debt just means the company goes bankrupt and new owners can keep operating it without the debt.

That they lose 45 cents from every dollar of sales is the killer.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#320

Post by rpdillon »

thoroughburro wrote: post #235
mgraczyk wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you believe it's not healthy? Because of the processes food hysteria stuff?

By “processes food hysteria stuff”, do you mean “the growing research consensus around ultra-processed foods”?

As a skeptic, I think that they have defined too broad of an umbrella in the research, and so they're sweeping up huge swaths of people's diet under one label and then claiming it's bad.

Up thread, people are talking about using minced soy protein. I'm kind of surprised that itself is not ultra processed, given that bread flour is considered to be ultra processed.

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