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Beyond Meat fights for survival

foodinstitute.com

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391–400 of 645 posts

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#391

Post by azalemeth »

Here's a really good vegan burger recipe: caramelise about three large red onions with garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil. Drain a tin of red kidney beans, keep the liquid, mash together with fried onions, add about 100g of breadcrumbs, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, chilli powder, and a pinch of allspice. Add aquafaba or breadcrumbs to adjust consistency. Press into round shapes. Fry (about six minutes).

Cost: three onions, one tin of beans, some old bread, negligible spices. Yield: four delicious, fresh, very healthy burgers.

I am a lifelong vegetarian and the likes of beyond meat are just frankly disgusting to me. They're expensive, upf, have a horrid texture, and aren't aimed at me. But I guess that's the point -- their target market is "real men" who want to try being vegan for a while, not the likes of me. Yet I fear real men don't want to get the message and the demographic who are veggie or vegan have better, cheaper, nicer alternatives.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#392

Post by 9dev »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #234
bluescrn wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything comes down to world population, which has quadrupled in a century, making the previously-sustainable now unsustainable. But even many of the climate catastrophists can't get away from the mentality of 'we still need growth at any cost'. And 'growth' is most easily obtained by creating more consumers and more workers.

> Everything comes down to world population This is nonsense. The consumptive, energy and material intensity of GDP, as well as GDP/capita, have varied greatly across time and countries. > even many of the climate catastrophists can't get away from the mentality of 'we still need growth at any cost' Degrowth is an extremist dead end. If an environmental movement falls for it, it should be ignored.

Is it? Even the most simple person should understand that a closed system with finite resources won’t sustain infinite growth. Even if it isn’t us, there will be a last generation that enjoys growth as the motor of wealth. At some point, resources will deplete and the standard of living will decrease as a consequence. This is logically inevitable. Everyone just pretends this can go on and on without stopping, but that’s wrong.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#393

Post by p1dda »

tomhow wrote: post #331
p1dda wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Please don't comment like this on HN, no matter what you're replying to. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.

[flagged]

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#394

Post by novia »

novia wrote: post #263
e40 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vegan cheese is made from cashews. If you’re in the Bay Area try Arizmendi’s vegan pizza. Surprisingly good.

I looked them up and I couldn't find any indication that they regularly offer vegan pizzas.

In case anyone else reads this later, i found one location that does vegan pizzas, Arizmendi Bakery (Lakeshore)

They have at least six locations, and not all of them do the vegan thing

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#395

Post by [deleted] »

santoshalper wrote: post #390
itsoktocry wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're going to eat vegetarian, eat vegetarian. There are lots of foods out there. The idea that normal, healthy people are going to eat ultra processed vegetarian slop so they can pretend they are eating meat was never going to work.

Well, they do have $330M in revenue and the product is all over the place, so I'm not sure your hypothesis is correct. Many people simply don't share your view "if you're going to eat vegetarian, eat vegetarian". I think the biggest problem is that they have not been able to get cost under control.

[deleted]

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#396

Post by doctorpangloss »

null0ranje wrote: post #384
kaladin-jasnah wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The company's products in my and other people's views have caused a significant wane in vegetarian and vegan burger diversity. Gone are the chickpea and black bean burgers on menus—your only choice is Beyond Meat-esque burgers. As someone who doesn't actually really like how Beyond Meat tastes, it's unfortunate that it's the only option sometimes. As someone who likes food variety and practically needs it, eliminatin…

Ive never understood the drive to make meat substitutes instead of celebrating vegetarian cuisine. I’m not a vegetarian, but if I eat some dish that is vegetarian, why wouldn’t I want to celebrate the vegetable itself made from instead of trying to make some fake meat that never quite hits the mark?

Is it really that complicated? There are many countries, together over 2b people, with cultural hegemonies, where eating meat is the not-so-invisible part of the racial and national identity. It’s like asking why “we” do not celebrate non-Abrahamic religions.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#397

Post by biztos »

santoshalper wrote: post #389
null0ranje wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ive never understood the drive to make meat substitutes instead of celebrating vegetarian cuisine. I’m not a vegetarian, but if I eat some dish that is vegetarian, why wouldn’t I want to celebrate the vegetable itself made from instead of trying to make some fake meat that never quite hits the mark?

I think the idea was that Beyond Meat would be a "transitional" product that would provide an ever growing vegetarian/vegan population an option that was familiar to them. For example, if you do not care about celebrating vegetables, and just want to end animal cruelty, but you miss the taste of meat, then a beyond burger was supposed to be for you. The biggest problem they have is the exhorbinant prices, which releg…

> just want to end animal cruelty, but you miss the taste of meat

Does that actually describe a commercially relevant segment of the population?

Intuitively, having known a lot of vegetarians, I'd expect the people whose primary concern is animal cruelty to be specifically turned off by realistic fake meat.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#398

Post by aziaziazi »

scythmic_waves wrote: post #329
evrimoztamur wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Thanks for breaking that down. As someone doing weightlifting, this is the primary reason I don't bother with vegetarian meats. They actually taste pretty good IMO, but they don't offer nutritional benefits commensurate with animal meat. It's a shame, really. I'd gladly incorporate them if I could get a similar protein : calorie ratio.

Did you try Tempeh? 20gr of protein / 150cal. It looks like a steak.

It's god's food: high prots, fibers, iron, vitamins, unsaturated fats. Low carbs and sodium. Super digestive.

Super versatile: from burgers to bolognese to barbecue to everything, even sweety for the courageous. My easy goto is a dip of whatever open sauce I already have and 1 min micro wave heating. A bit more time ? Fried on the pan with soy sauce, olive oil and some herbs afterwards.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#399

Post by doctorpangloss »

npteljes wrote: post #210
libertine wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I could buy a free range, organic and grass fed beef burger for the price of their ultra processed burger. In many countries, it's a heavily subsidized industry. Even if you have VC funds, it's not the same as being backed by country subsidies. To be clear, I'm not making a judgment, just saying that meat would probably be a lot more expensive.

I think that for this exact reason Beyond Meat (or other alternatives) need a similar boost, in order to be financially competitive as well.

I’m not sure why you’re being downvoted. It’s a good national policy.

Re: Beyond Meat fights for survival

#400

Post by rolandog »

jebarker wrote: post #262
bartread wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this as well: > The company expects the figure to reach about $330 million in 2025, roughly 10% higher than it was six years earlier despite a huge increase in the number of products offered. It’s not like they have any growth potential to speak of that would enable them to service that debt. It’s a bit hard to see who their target market is or, rather, it’s a bit hard to see that the market segment they’re aimin…

I would guess the primary target market is ex meat eaters that are trying to go vegetarian but have been raised to enjoy the taste/texture of meat. I am in this group. I agree it’s not a very large market for the reasons you stated above. However, maybe BM hoped they could grow that market, I.e. convince more meat eaters to give it up for ethical reasons.

Why would it have to only be ex-meat eaters? It may be just my (admittedly biased) opinion, but I think that Big Meat has managed to turn meat-eating into a quasi-religion — almost like football. I also try to not shy away from knowing where my food comes from, and how it was processed and produced; if you know about the cruel and unsanitary living conditions for cattle, the underpaid and overworked labor that helps process it, and the deforestation and water needed in order to produce it... you then find the meat does not go down as easy anymore.

Which, not to rain down on everyone's BBQ, but I personally find it ridiculous how we have been protecting people's feelings during flip-a-patty time more than the environment!

Sorry for the rant — not personally directed at you... but, I ... clearly feel strongly about the subject.

Full disclosure: not vegan nor vegetarian, and perhaps even a hypocrite for writing a (hopefully not too) holier-than-thou rant and eating unhealthy amounts of junk food occasionally.

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