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Beyond Meat fights for survival

foodinstitute.com

351–360 of 645 posts

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#351
post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This just doesn’t line up with the reality I see. I just went grocery shopping yesterday (at a bog-standard suburban grocer), and the meat section was like 20x bigger than the tofu/alternatives section. Same at Costco - they’ve got like 4-5 tofu/alternative products in total, and multiple aisles full of meat products. (And Costco doesn’t cary things that “nobody is buying”.)

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#352

I recently travelled the US (California, Arizona, Utah, Ohio), I found it really hard to find vegan options. Some restaurants that used to sell vegan burgers or vegan options have stopped (McDonalds, Applebees) - because not enough people ordered them. Some restaurants that have Beyond Meat burger patties as on option "don't have any in stock" - probably for the same reason. According to GPT o4-mini, these are the re…

Beyond is hard to buy in supermarkets too. Whole Foods doesn't stock it at all and many others never have it in store even if the chain does technically stock it online. I just want it because it's 0 cholesterol and tastes the same as meat to me.

This is probably the cause of their problems. You need to be one of the big food brands to have leverage to get it on shelves in a prominent position and they are small.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not all of the UK, you get asked in London, not in the countryside. Same in the Netherlands, you get asked in Amsterdam but not much outside. I guess San Francisco also has much more oatmilk latte's than rural villages

I don't know I've been in Bristol and Cornwall last week and was always asked. I guess you can extend that to anywhere they might reasonably expect a Londoner to turn up.

It's more about the density of hipsters than Londoners per se. Lots of Londoners go to Canvey Island for a holiday, but you probably won't get oat milk there, because it's not that kind of Londoner. Bristol and the West Country are crawling with their own local hipsters.

(actually, you probably will oat milk on Canvey, it really is everywhere now)

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The bulk of the harm from ultra-processed foods was specifically from meats, with smaller contributions coming from sugary drinks and dairy desserts. It’s the pink slime, reconstituted McRib, and hot dogs that are causing the most significant health problems. Beyond burgers have no cholesterol, hormones, or antibiotics. They’ve got significantly lower saturated fats. Studies have shown that swapping out regular burge…

9/10 doctors recommend beyond meat can be part of a healthy diet.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not really how the world works. Most governments already massively subsidises their agricultural sectors to create some desired eating habits in their population. The market just adjusts prices around those subsidies. If all subsidies were removed - in order to avoid the influence of moralising politicians - people would eat a lot more potatoes, and a lot less beef.

> That’s not really how the world works. Most governments already massively subsidises their agricultural sectors to create some desired eating habits in their population. The market just adjusts prices around those subsidies. By global average, under 15% of farm revenue is derived from government subsidies. USA is below that, at about 10%. Not sure if I'd call that massive, but that's semantics so it's a little hard…

https://usafacts.org/articles/federal-farm-subsidies-what-da...

Subsidies go mostly to corn and soybeans. Think those are multipurpose but corn is used to feed livestock, of course. 10 or 15% may be a lot in a low-margin industry, and I don't know how it's split among crops.

No all subsidies are direct. For example, water costs too little in Arizona so foreign companies grow feed stock there to ship home.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#356
Hate these burgers. As a dairy-loving vegetarian, first the vegans came along and ruined everything by evicting most of the tasty options from restaurants, and then the meat eaters somehow wanted vegan food that tasted of animals and that became the default option on many menus. Vegetarians (who I grant you are difficult to pity as the centrists of the food world) got utterly screwed.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The term comes from the Nova classification. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_classification

Thanks for linking that. Their rubric for ultra-processed is easy enough to grok that folks could use this at a grocery store. We're on a kick to remove "parameters" from tasks right now, so this definition is clearer than thoughts like "stick to the outside of the store."

Reducing the parameters on tasks, and eliminating tasks has been a huge win for us. Tranquility, and still results.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#358
Beans dude. Beans are absolutely delicious. They grow in the ground by accident. A good bean burger is way more appetizing than a biosludge patty. Unfortunately nobody is getting rich selling beans. But they are all we need here

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah, plus it adds up to a lot of cacao since I bought the chocolate tubs from Costco.

And that’s assuming it contains (only) what the label says. Our caveman ancestors did not eat fillers.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for linking that. Their rubric for ultra-processed is easy enough to grok that folks could use this at a grocery store. We're on a kick to remove "parameters" from tasks right now, so this definition is clearer than thoughts like "stick to the outside of the store."

Reducing the parameters on tasks, and eliminating tasks has been a huge win for us. Tranquility, and still results.

This is venturing off-topic, but can you expand on "eliminating tasks." Is eliminating a task like setting up auto bill pay, or getting rid of items that I don't want to clean?
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