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Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries

nytimes.com

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Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries

#471

Post by xorfish »

agentgumshoe wrote: post #376
ajmurmann wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To each their own. I greatly enjoy the flavor of meat, but feel like a serial killer when I think about the animal suffering and to a lesser extend carbon emissions. While I also get a slightly odd feeling in my stomach from Impossible beef (doesn't happen with their cyber chicken), it's a tradeoff I'm excited to make 1-2 a month to get the flavor of a burger without feeling like I just tortured a puppy.

You'd be surprised how many animals die in the process of scaled agriculture and displacement that occurs to create these replacement goods. But they're not the big fluffy animals we anthropomorphise, so it's easy to accept.

https://ourworldindata.org/land-use-diets

If everyone were to switch to a vegan diet, global agriculture land use would be reduced by 75%.

Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries

#472

Post by drewm1980 »

musiciangames wrote: post #399
godmode2019 wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't watch TV so I didn't know about these products. I ordered a incredible beef pizza thinking it was extra topping or something. Half way through I happened to eat one of the 'beef' bits by itself and realised it tasted terrible and possibly expired. I googled it and turned out they sold me a fake meat while advertising it as " beef". Which I felt should be false advertising. The funny thing is I really enjoy fa…

I agree the naming/labeling thing is tricky. We have a friend who brings round 'vegan cheese' when she visits; living in the EU, I'm surprised this labeling is allowed. Is it OK to label vegetarian things as 'beef'? On the other hand, 'beef substitute' doesn't sound terribly appetising. But we are all familiar with 'peanut butter'; I'm sure someone more knowledgeable can explain what is and is not allowed.

I live in the EU. The thing that makes cheese cheese is arguably the mix of fungi and bacteria growing in it. We have some excellent cheeses here that are traditional except for the substitution of nut milk for mammal milk. They are currently specialty items, but that may change. We may have to give up meat and dairy to get through the energy transition, but fortunately the same mold and bacteria responsible for blue cheese grow on plant milk too!

The etymology doesn't really matter, but the french word for cheese refer to how milk is ~processed... "Fromage" -> "Formage" -> "putting stuff in forms". If you think "peanut butter" is confusing... it is called "pinda kaas" in dutch... directly translates to "peanut cheese"!

Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries

#473

Post by aussieshibe »

OJFord wrote: post #466
gwbas1c wrote: post #32

I married a vegan, and I eat a lot of vegetarian food. (I also still eat plenty of meat, just not every day.) One extremely frustrating aspect of plant meat is that they tried to aggressively push out traditional veggie burgers on restaurant menus. A familiar refrain I've heard in restaurants in the last few years is "we used to have a nice veggie patty, but they replaced it with the beyond/incredible/whatever patty.…

Exactly, these things are all analogous to eatint something called 'meat pie' to me - Well ok but what is it? I make vegetarian burgers sometimes, either something grilled(broiled)/griddled stacked up like halloumi & aubergine, or a patty of shredded jackfruit or something. Why would I want to eat nondescript 'vegetarian patty'? It's not just burgers, 'vegetarian lasagne' etc. is (aside from not being good appealing…

> what is it?

The meat pie is the (unofficial) national dish of Australia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat_pie_(Australia_and_New_...

Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries

#474

Post by hadlock »

jimt1234 wrote: post #418
gwbas1c wrote: post #32

I married a vegan, and I eat a lot of vegetarian food. (I also still eat plenty of meat, just not every day.) One extremely frustrating aspect of plant meat is that they tried to aggressively push out traditional veggie burgers on restaurant menus. A familiar refrain I've heard in restaurants in the last few years is "we used to have a nice veggie patty, but they replaced it with the beyond/incredible/whatever patty.…

This. I've been asking myself ever since this beyond/incredible/whatever fad got started: Why spend all the time and energy trying to make something taste like beef that isn't beef? Why not spend that same time and energy creating a new, appealing of its own (and then market that)?

I think the idea was to disrupt the... looks like $3 billion dollar a year[1] hamburger patty market. This is a market that already exists. Presumably there's room for two main competitors, so pretty decent market, plus vegetarian meat is a premium product which makes it a good investment vehicle. On paper it's a convincing argument. I think the pizza market is pretty well mined-out at this point and the major players are well entrenched since the mid-1990s with tombstone red barron and digornio. There is no national level alternative meat product yet and most americans who eat pizza will eat a cheeseburger. Like the article says though, it looks like they took the inital interest as tremendous growth, and it's mostly plateaued. I personally have zero interest in even trying the product as a novelty.

[1] https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/packaged...

Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries

#475

Post by arcturus17 »

bawolff wrote: post #293
chrisseaton wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people happily eat raw ground beef. I don't know anyone having an Impossible or Beyond tartare.

I gag a little at the thought of that, but objectively i guess all i can say is: to each their own.

It’s super popular in France, Spain, and other European countries. While even some meat eaters dislike it, most people love it.

Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries

#476

Post by fullstackchris »

yCloser wrote: post #458

I'm a huge fun of Beyond Burger. It's awesome! ...but it is so expensive. In my country (EU) it's easily 2x the price of real meat. And sells frozen in packs of 10. And there is ONE store that sells it. At reduced price, packs of 2 would be a hit. Like this it's "yeah I tried it once, it was good... nope, not going to buy again"

All a matter of time... the same exact sentiment was once said for flat screen TVs, laptops, cell phones, etc.

Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries

#477

Post by tcfhgj »

jimt1234 wrote: post #418
gwbas1c wrote: post #32

I married a vegan, and I eat a lot of vegetarian food. (I also still eat plenty of meat, just not every day.) One extremely frustrating aspect of plant meat is that they tried to aggressively push out traditional veggie burgers on restaurant menus. A familiar refrain I've heard in restaurants in the last few years is "we used to have a nice veggie patty, but they replaced it with the beyond/incredible/whatever patty.…

This. I've been asking myself ever since this beyond/incredible/whatever fad got started: Why spend all the time and energy trying to make something taste like beef that isn't beef? Why not spend that same time and energy creating a new, appealing of its own (and then market that)?

decrease the hurdle to transition to plant based food

Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries

#479

Post by cerved »

friend_and_foe wrote: post #398
jjcm wrote: post #136

I'm a meat eater, but am a big fan of fake meats - to the point where I prefer them in some situations. Overall I'm not a huge fan of Beyond Meat. While it does feel closer in taste to beef than impossible burgers, I heavily prefer the taste of impossible burgers to beyond. Impossible burgers have a stronger umami taste and tend to add to the experience. Beyond kinda just tastes like lower end beef to me. This means…

That US subsidy, $114 per person, if removed and offset by higher prices at the supermarket, would amount to under $10 more a month per person in grocery costs. I can see there being a reduction of consumption at the scale of the industry in the US, but generally speaking I don't think the industry would notice it all that much. The subsidies are almost certainly not the reason that meat is cheaper than beyond burger…

The apparent source, AIER a think tank, claims it's a difference between a $5 and $13 big mac. If true, that would be noticed

Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries

#480

Post by WhackyIdeas »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #101
gwbas1c wrote: post #32

I married a vegan, and I eat a lot of vegetarian food. (I also still eat plenty of meat, just not every day.) One extremely frustrating aspect of plant meat is that they tried to aggressively push out traditional veggie burgers on restaurant menus. A familiar refrain I've heard in restaurants in the last few years is "we used to have a nice veggie patty, but they replaced it with the beyond/incredible/whatever patty.…

I’m vegan, converted about four years ago so I ate meat for decades. I ate impossible burgers for a while after Burger King got them, because there is some nostalgia/novelty in going to a fast food joint. But I’ve realized that this weird food product leaves some kind of odd taste in my stomach, and not just from Burger King. I’m pretty over these fake beef burgers now, and would way rather have a black bean burger o…

100% in agreement. It’s not even in the fast food places I struggle to find a plain bean burger now… it’s the supermarkets too.

The odd peculiar taste of these kinds of new plant based burgers can be pretty foul. For me and my partner, the Burger King veggie burger now tastes similar to dish soap.

Bring back the delicious bean burgers and actual normal veggie burgers.

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