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Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

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Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#231

Post by KPGv2 »

lithocarpus wrote: post #218
KAMSPioneer wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uhh I don't think that financial incentives are a valid reason to believe something is healthier or safer than an alternative. Unless I have missed some sarcasm.

I mean there is a financial incentive to use byproducts of industrial processes that would otherwise be wasted, as food ingredients, and as there is no requirement to rigorously show that new ingredients are safe to consume in the US, this happens all the time and makes up a big portion of the average modern US diet.

But the list of allegedly questionable foods above are all foods we already eat, just with some things removed (e.g., avocado oil is just avocado with the flesh removed; pea protein is peas with the carbs removed). It is not obvious to me how you would conclude these are unhealthy.

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#232

Post by KPGv2 »

noufalibrahim wrote: post #198
lithocarpus wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beyond Burger ingredients: Yellow Pea Protein, Avocado Oil, Natural Flavors, Brown Rice Protein, Red Lentil Protein, 2% or less of Methylcellulose, Potato Starch, Pea Starch, Potassium Lactate (to preserve freshness), Faba Bean Protein, Apple Extract, Pomegranate Concentrate, Potassium Salt, Spice, Vinegar, Vegetable Juice Color (with Beet). Except for Vinegar, every one of these is an industrially processed/extracte…

Reminds me of a joke I read online. "Plant Based Meat" is not Plant. It's not Based and it's not Meat.

About as funny as complaining "oil" is used to refer to petroleum-based lubricants, avocado oil, etc. since the etymology of "oil" is strictly a reference to olive oil only.

I can't stand this type of thing, just like people who get upset at terms like "oat milk" or "soy milk."

Not really a dig at you, sorry.

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#233

Post by KPGv2 »

delis-thumbs-7e wrote: post #183
mschild wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on my bubble, vegans, vegetarians, and meat eaters that do want to decrease their meat consumption. At this point, in Germany at least, discounter brands like Lidl and Aldi have beaten Beyond Meat at their game though. They produce alternatives that taste as good or better, for significantly less money.

I have been vegan for 12 years. It is not that hard to make vegan burger patties at home. Or you can just cut up a block of tofu and season it to be eaten in a burger. Takes about the same time or less to cook as these Beyond grease fests. Besides there is so many cheaper alternatives these days that I very rarely buy them. We don’t need meat alternatives. Vegan diet is cardiovascularly extremely healthy, seems to pr…

> Beyond grease fests

Vegans have a problem with avocados and beans now? THat's where the "grease" comes from in these fake meats.

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#234

Post by TeMPOraL »

barrell wrote: post #226
lambda wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is such a weird comment. Why do you think that "ethical vegans" like the "taste of plants" any more than anyone else? The whole point of being an ethical vegan/vegetarian is to not consume animals, not because you don't like the taste. Health conscious folks would definitely choose these over hamburgers. Sure, they're not perfect from a health food point of view, but they're lower in sodium and saturated fat tha…

This is such a weird comment. It’s ultra processed food devoid of micronutrients with low quality protein and poor bioavailability. Health conscious folks would definitely not choose this. In fact, it’s all the things you try to avoid as soon as you start being health conscious. Folks who want to believe they are being health conscious may be convinced via marketing to buy it, but anyone seriously invested in their n…

Maybe they're hoping there exists a non-crazy subset of "health conscious" population, i.e. people who are not panicly afraid of "ultra processed" food and generally don't consider food processing to be a sin, who don't see food manufacturing plants as temples of Satan, and are otherwise health conscious and not just playing the fitness fad social games.

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#235

Post by tirant »

mschild wrote: post #27
Grimblewald wrote: post #11

I always wondered who their demographic was. The core early adopters, the ethical vegans, who actually like the taste of plants are never going to make a lab made ultra processed salt bomb their daily driver (never mind issues surrounding industrial agriculture). Health-conscious folks would take one look at the ingredient list and bail because of the heavy processing and industrial fillers. You've got bodybuilders a…

Based on my bubble, vegans, vegetarians, and meat eaters that do want to decrease their meat consumption. At this point, in Germany at least, discounter brands like Lidl and Aldi have beaten Beyond Meat at their game though. They produce alternatives that taste as good or better, for significantly less money.

I love meat and I love good hamburgers. I’ve tried those Lidl and Aldi alternatives and they were uneatable for me and my family. They have slowly disappeared from the shelves. Only a couple of products remain.

I have never tried BeyondMeat but I’d be surprised that it’s so bad.

And I have eaten many classic vegan burger alternatives based on lentils, peas and chickpeas. They didn’t aim to taste like meat and were actually edible.

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#236

Post by kakacik »

lambda wrote: post #132
Grimblewald wrote: post #11

I always wondered who their demographic was. The core early adopters, the ethical vegans, who actually like the taste of plants are never going to make a lab made ultra processed salt bomb their daily driver (never mind issues surrounding industrial agriculture). Health-conscious folks would take one look at the ingredient list and bail because of the heavy processing and industrial fillers. You've got bodybuilders a…

This is such a weird comment. Why do you think that "ethical vegans" like the "taste of plants" any more than anyone else? The whole point of being an ethical vegan/vegetarian is to not consume animals, not because you don't like the taste. Health conscious folks would definitely choose these over hamburgers. Sure, they're not perfect from a health food point of view, but they're lower in sodium and saturated fat tha…

This is such a weird comment.

I have friend who was vegan for 20 years, and when we went to good restaurant and he wanted to choose between vegan patty burger and real one, he chose real one due to all chemical industrial crap they put in those veggie patties and chose a good Swiss beef instead of questionable worse-tasting content. Yes, he literally stopped being vegan at that point, although he still is on most days since then.

Its subpar product, with way too much questionable chemistry, worse taste (or more like structure&taste) and impact on environment is... questionable too, maybe less than real beef but probably not massively. What could be acceptable for environmental impact is lab grown real meat but even that seems to not go the direction one would expect.

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#237

Post by mft_ »

gs17 wrote: post #170
mft_ wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. I’m ~97% vegetarian but there are a few foods for which traditional vegetarian alternatives are rubbish. One of these is the burger: you either get some odd veg/potato base pattie, a large grilled mushroom, or halloumi. The meat substitute burgers aren’t close to real beef burgers, but they’re far tastier than other vegetarian options.

> a large grilled mushroom I really want to know why restaurants keep thinking this is a good alternative. I've never had one that wasn't just a mess to eat, and it's weirdly common to have people think it contains a significant amount of protein. However, I'm very happy with most veg patties, and would love halloumi as an option over Beyond any day.

Many non-vegetarian restaurants don't seem to care about the vegetarian options, and just offer almost default options. It's probably down to the attitude of the chef - similarly to how you can sometimes tell whether the chef is a 'sweet' lover or not, by the relative quality of the main courses vs. the desserts.

I first noticed this years ago when eating out with a (my first?) vegetarian friend in a variety of (omnivorous) restaurants and gastropubs. The number of times he'd have to choose the goats' cheese tart became a running joke.

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#238

Post by globular-toast »

bsjshshsb wrote: post #213
globular-toast wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None that we need and can't get directly from plants.

Ok but I am wondering about the truth of: > All protein on the planet, was made from sunlight and photosynthesis

Ah, yeah, some amino acids are synthesised in animals. We synthesise a handful of them ourselves. But there are still a bunch that we can't synthesise and need to get from our diet. I think that goes for all animals. Since you need a complete supply of all amino acids to make protein then plants provide the essential link in the chain so you could say it all comes from photosynthesis ultimately.

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#239

Post by tovlier »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #234
barrell wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is such a weird comment. It’s ultra processed food devoid of micronutrients with low quality protein and poor bioavailability. Health conscious folks would definitely not choose this. In fact, it’s all the things you try to avoid as soon as you start being health conscious. Folks who want to believe they are being health conscious may be convinced via marketing to buy it, but anyone seriously invested in their n…

Maybe they're hoping there exists a non-crazy subset of "health conscious" population, i.e. people who are not panicly afraid of "ultra processed" food and generally don't consider food processing to be a sin, who don't see food manufacturing plants as temples of Satan, and are otherwise health conscious and not just playing the fitness fad social games.

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Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#240

Post by tovlier »

KPGv2 wrote: post #227
lithocarpus wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not saying they're healthier simply because we've historically eaten them. But there are many reasons to believe natural/traditional foods may be safer and healthier than new industrial foods. To name a few: 1) There's reason to believe our bodies may be more adapted to eating natural or traditional foods, having eaten them for hundreds of thousands of years rather than one or two generations. 2) Many highly proc…

> There's reason to believe our bodies may be more adapted to eating natural or traditional foods, having eaten them for hundreds of thousands of years rather than one or two generations. This is an argument that no white people should be eating pineapples, mangos, bananas, kiwifruit, etc. Hell, probably not even apples.

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