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Beyond Meat S-1

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Re: Beyond Meat S-1

#191

Post by telesilla »

bluntfang wrote: post #48
Pfhreak wrote: post #3

I've gone vegetarian, except for a single grass fed animal I bought from a local farmer. (I live in a city, it was easier than I thought it would be to connect with a farmer out in the rural part of my state.) The transition was way, way easier than I thought it was going to be. I didn't guilt myself when I made mistakes, just stopped eating meat unless I was sure the provenance of it was sustainable and free from cr…

>free from cruelty. Do you mind if I ask what your requirements for this are? At the end of the day, isn't ending life cruel, no matter the means?

There is a distinct difference between being born naturally, or living a kind life free range, and suffering for a short period, than being bred for industrial purposes. Industrial breeding usually means male and females of the species are separated and artificially inseminated, the mothers are separated from their offspring, male animals are routinely killed or used for young meat, female animals are forced into often crowded conditions and given antibiotics and hormones to grow faster. This is not the pleasant life, it is slavery from the beginning with a most cruel end.

Re: Beyond Meat S-1

#192

Post by colinbartlett »

gdsdfe wrote: post #5
morley wrote: post #2

I have a stupid question: was there a regulatory change in the recent past that made it easier to file for IPOs? Or is this just a coincidence that all these S-1s were filed around the same time?

It's just a good time to file, the end of 10 year bull market right before next year's recession

I find it amusing how confidently you state that. As if completely ignoring all the people who have said that same thing every year for the past 5.

Re: Beyond Meat S-1

#193

Post by bluntfang »

wickoff wrote: post #175
bluntfang wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>free from cruelty. Do you mind if I ask what your requirements for this are? At the end of the day, isn't ending life cruel, no matter the means?

It's not like the animal is going to live forever if you don't kill it. In nature animals are often eaten alive by predators, die from disease, starvation and get horribly injured in competition for mates. A free range animal that's being humanely put down by a farmer has a much more pleasant life. If you go down this rabbit hole deep enough you can begin to question whether life itself should exist.

What we do know for sure is that the animal would not have lived the same life if it weren't captive.

>A free range animal that's being humanely put down by a farmer has a much more pleasant life.

I don't think we can objectively say this. We have no idea what these animals want. Our humanity for these animals lives is nothing short of projection, purely because we have no idea what they want.

Re: Beyond Meat S-1

#194

Post by mikepurvis »

rayiner wrote: post #35
kasey_junk wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a fairly strange reading of the US data. It’s only true because of the USA’s massive use of emissions in other parts of their lives. In non-relative terms it’s still a huge reduction & if we can get in front of developing nations eating of ruminants it would pay large dividends.

I don't know what's "fairly strange" about it. Meat consumption, for Americans, does not make up a big fraction of our CO2 footprint. Globally it's quite significant, but "get[ting] in front of developing nations eating of ruminants" is a much more politically fraught issue than doing the same in the U.S. My brother and I are 3-4 inches taller than my dad, because we grew up on a meat and dairy rich American diet, ve…

There's a huge argument for how worldwide culture is influenced by what's trendy and popular in Europe and NA. For a heartbreaking example, see the state of the Ganges river, in India— millions of kg of plastic, all of which looks awful and eventually washes into the ocean:

https://www.google.com/search?q=ganges+river+plastic

Historically when the people disposed of their waste into the river, it was feeding the ecosystem, but that's not the case any more now that they've inherited disposable plastic everything from the West. It's easy to turn a blind eye and say "yeah well, our plastic trash in North America is being properly land filled, so who cares— this is a problem for India to solve." But it's not that simple, of course: we exported the problem to India, and I think it's on us to figure out what the solution looks like too, and model it in our daily use so that it's reflected in the cultural exports (TV, movies, etc).

You see this same basic pattern for a lot of things, where the emerging middle class in a growth economy looks at their English-language media/entertainment for cues on what their next life upgrade should be, and some is mostly good (cell phones, clean water, organic food), but a lot is bad-to-horrible, at least from an ecological standpoint (single use plastic, personal automobiles, overseas vacations).

Re: Beyond Meat S-1

#195

Post by the_gastropod »

elhudy wrote: post #184
ppseafield wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This article starts with a false premise: "Vegans are against the suffering of animals." But really the point, at least for myself as a vegan is that "Vegans are against the suffering of animals at the hands of humans." Often vegans are also environmentalists in that human effort has put additional major stressors on wildlife - deforestation, oil spills, human-accellerated climate change, plastic pollution, etc. Fact…

>Wildlife suffering happens with or without humans, but humans active choose to breed and kill animals when we don't necessarily need to. We could just not do that. You don't support humane slaughter or buying meat from free-range cows, because you think not being brought into existence is better than a happy life with an abrupt ending? What if supporting humane slaughter led to less animals being factory farmed, whi…

> You don't support humane slaughter or buying meat from free-range cows, because you think not being brought into existence is better than a happy life with an abrupt ending?

I'm always amazed when this argument is raised. I can't fathom anyone actually believes more life, for the sake of life, is "better". It strikes me as a bad faith argument. There is a colossal difference between ending a life and preventing one from happening.

> That's great for keeping a clear conscience. But realistically is it believable that this will slow down the impending climate change?

About 21.8% of the world's population is vegetarian [1]. Let me flip your question: Do you think if those billions of people began consuming meat, the world would be the same? Of course not. Assuming meat production could rise to fit this 21.8% increase in demand (it likely couldn't), the planet would be much worse off. So, yes. Although an individual's choice to not eat meat doesn't do much, in aggregate, it's massively important. "The inactive must justify their sloth by picking nits with those making an attempt"

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_by_country

Re: Beyond Meat S-1

#196

Post by m000 »

Pfhreak wrote: post #71
bluntfang wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>free from cruelty. Do you mind if I ask what your requirements for this are? At the end of the day, isn't ending life cruel, no matter the means?

I'm the first one to admit that the line is fuzzy. I read this story [1] by Glenn Greenwald (of Snowden interview fame), and I realized that I was not ok with gestation crates for pigs, or the practices espoused by the industrial farming of any animal. I do not object to raising animals and eating them, but I do object to essentially keeping them in brutal, squalid conditions. Animals should have access to the outdoo…

I'm following pretty much the same definition with you. Compassion In World Farming [1] also campaigns (more or less) along these lines. So you're definitely not alone. CIWF also operates in the US, but the campaigning in Europe seems more extensive. It is shocking the amount of abuse the animals may go through just to save us pennies. E.g. I was shocked to read about live animal transport conditions [2], only to have them slaughtered in another country.

[1] https://www.ciwf.org.uk/our-campaigns/ [2] https://www.ciwf.org.uk/our-campaigns/live-animal-transport/

Re: Beyond Meat S-1

#197

Post by acomjean »

somethoughts wrote: post #11

I've always thought two things: - Subway should have leaned into their use of soy in their deli meat [1] and came in from the high end with it being the more expensive, high end, healthier, better for the environment product - There should be high end burger chain which give you an eighth of a pound real meat burger patty for taste reasons and an eighth of a pound vegetarian patty for health and environment reasons.…

>There should be high end burger chain which give you an eighth of a pound real meat burger patty for taste reasons and an eighth of a pound vegetarian patty for health and environment reasons.

I do this at tasty burger in boston. (order one meat burger and one veggie burger.) Shake Shack has a Shake Stack which is their meat burger topped with a deep fried mushroom burger. I'm not sure either of these is much healthier than eating pure beef, but the combo of the two patties is quite good (and presumably more eco-friendly).

The idea came to me when my takeout order was mixed up and I got a veggie burger. On my third bite, I thought, not bad, but this could use a little beef flavor.. (Shake shack came up with it independently)

We have a vegetarian restaurant in town that deep fries everything, leaving me wondering about the health value..

Re: Beyond Meat S-1

#198

Post by ETHisso2017 »

feniv wrote: post #114
morley wrote: post #2

I have a stupid question: was there a regulatory change in the recent past that made it easier to file for IPOs? Or is this just a coincidence that all these S-1s were filed around the same time?

I've been curious about the increased IPO rate as well. The data is all in EDGAR but it's not easy to find the trends - https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=&CIK=&type=... I think it'll be a fun project to scrape the data and create some visualizations with it. Look out for a Show HN from me if you're interested!

Would be curious to see this as well. Bookmarking your profile in case I miss it

Re: Beyond Meat S-1

#199

Post by telesilla »

PerfectElement wrote: post #27

I've been vegan for 15 years, and I've tried all sorts of veggie burgers and mock meats available. Some of them are good, but pretty easy to tell they are not meat. When I first had the Beyond Burger last year (just plain with 2 thin slices of bread) it brought back a very strong memory of how meat used to taste. I wonder if most meat eaters would be able to tell it's not meat on a blind test. I'm curious to try the…

Long-term pescatarian here: the beyond burger is to me the most delicious of all "i'm not meat and never will be" fake meat products. The impossible burger on the other hand disturbed me: I tried it twice at 2 different locations in NYC to make sure, and both times I felt like I had meat. I still remember the smell of the blood-like heme. I did not enjoy it. I'm not sure the impossible burger is a good idea for vegans/vegetarians. I welcome it for healthier options for meat eaters however.

Re: Beyond Meat S-1

#200

Post by emgeee »

Pfhreak wrote: post #187
EliRivers wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apropos of just shootin' the breeze, could you have also met the animal? I wonder if that would make a further difference. I eat meat, but I put my hand up and say that if I ordered a steak in a restaurant and they brought out the cow and gave me a rock, and I had to beat the cow to death with the rock myself, I think I'd change my order. I'm not trying to make any points here; just freewheeling in conversation with…

Totally. Not every farmer will let you, but I definitely had the opportunity. (My farmer gave me the choice between three animals.) I think the 'bashing it with a rock' is sort of the thing I'm trying to avoid. My farmer brings a USDA butcher to his site to kill the animal (the kills are done away from the pasture space). The offal is removed there. If you want the tongue, heart, liver, etc. you show up on slaughter…

That's really interesting, I'd read a blog post about the process.
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