Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 813 posts

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#11

Post by throw827474737 »

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #3

I've been vegan for 35 years and the thought of eating a burger that tastes like meat turns my stomache. If you're a meat eater that wants to reduce consumption of animals then do that in the other (healthier) meals and have a decent animal burger once a week/fortnight. If you're eating burgers much more regularly then you're probably better off getting more variation into your diet and than eating highly processed v…

Hmm.. I'm a vegatarian, once vegan, since let me count.. oh why does that matter at all?

Taste like meat? Not at all, likely, don't remember, but I usually find them taste just nice, pea protein with spices, so what's the problem? Also what does thst have to do with how regular?

I hope they don't go out of business, being concerned for animals and environment I think every alternative that some people enjoy is great.

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#14

Post by joesb »

What is this article's obsession with things being "processed" food? Is "processed" the new "chemical"?

It's like the article trying to keep repeating the words "processed", "ultra-processed", "hyper-processed" as if it's some scary boogey man.

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#15

Post by atoav »

scantis wrote: post #7

If any of the planet saving meat substitute promises are true, such a fake meat patty would cost a tenth of the beef equivalent and it would dominate the market. I read somewhere you would need 25 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of beef, ergo one could potentially produce 25 times the amount of substitute. Obviously that isn't true and such a patty is a specialized product of various highly processed plant matter. It is a…

> There are more people involved, more complex ingredients, more processes, more shipping and more energy. That is why it is much more expensive.

I am myself not a big fan of those fake meat products, but you have a source for that.

I'd assume economies of scale matter, because economies of scale matter everywhere?

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#16

Post by silon42 »

scantis wrote: post #7

If any of the planet saving meat substitute promises are true, such a fake meat patty would cost a tenth of the beef equivalent and it would dominate the market. I read somewhere you would need 25 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of beef, ergo one could potentially produce 25 times the amount of substitute. Obviously that isn't true and such a patty is a specialized product of various highly processed plant matter. It is a…

A big problem is also that it can't be independently produced by small local farmers. (and then there's patents)

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#17

Post by spaniard89277 »

scantis wrote: post #7

If any of the planet saving meat substitute promises are true, such a fake meat patty would cost a tenth of the beef equivalent and it would dominate the market. I read somewhere you would need 25 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of beef, ergo one could potentially produce 25 times the amount of substitute. Obviously that isn't true and such a patty is a specialized product of various highly processed plant matter. It is a…

Turns out beating nature is pretty hard.

Cows look basically like processing plants. They produce food, fertilizer and energy (biogas).

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#18

Post by tomcam »

Dalewyn wrote: post #10
Oxidation wrote: post #6

The weird Silicon Valley aesthetic of it all is severely unattractive to me. I don't need a version number, a slick website, Twitter fanboys and angling for more VC funding in my diet.

Does the version numbering at least make more sense than USB?

Unfair comparison. The Voynich Manuscript makes more sense than USB versions.

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#19

Post by legitster »

It's the cost.

We are meat-eaters and have been trying lots of plant-based products. I was never sold as them being health products, but I liked the (presumed) environmental benefits. Plus, I could make a single meal for me and my Vegan friends.

Plant-based meats were supposed to be cheaper. But it never happened. So now we've mostly moved back to normal meat products. (It doesn't help that my vegan friends never stopped thumbing their nose down at the products).

Re: Plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop

#20

Post by 317070 »

scantis wrote: post #7

If any of the planet saving meat substitute promises are true, such a fake meat patty would cost a tenth of the beef equivalent and it would dominate the market. I read somewhere you would need 25 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of beef, ergo one could potentially produce 25 times the amount of substitute. Obviously that isn't true and such a patty is a specialized product of various highly processed plant matter. It is a…

If your story is true, it is remarkable it is not universally true.

E.g. in the Netherlands the prices are more competitive, and sometimes even turned. [0] The vegetarian equivalent has been cheaper there than the real meat thing, although the process for both is not very different in the EU than in the US.

[0] https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2022/07/26/plant-based...

Post reply on HN