Concotions of processed vegetables is going to be inferior to practically anything else that isn't that.
Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries
641–650 of 1001 posts
Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries
#642One thing I'm seeing all the time is people approaching vegetarian food by removing the meat and adding something else instead. IMHO this is the wrong approach and hardly ever works well or relies on luxury products like beyond meat(1). The best vegetarian food I had eaten was such which was designed as vegetarian food, not as a dish with meat and then modified to somehow work. Pretty much the only times I ended up w…
I was wondering this the other day when eating a saag paneer curry instead of my normal meat-based order: why would anyone go through the motions to have fake chicken when you have multitudes of vegetarian options which can be treated similarly to how we treat meat in cooking. Paneer is not 'trying to be chicken', but it can be put in a curry or fried, so can serve a similar purpose -- but is distinctly delicious in…
A chap I worked with years ago had his wife cook us some food for a week or so, and brought it into work each day in little plastic tubs. Lentil curry, chickpea curry, all sorts of vegetarian food, and it was amazing. One was even a soya-chunk curry, which tasted better than meat, and zero chance of bones. I think playing to the strengths of the vegetables is always going to work better than creating stuff like facon and such. It always looks so...unappealing. That being said, perhaps the reason we eat so much meat in the UK & USA is because we're also taught that to cook vegetables you boil them...in water. Nowhere else in the world do they think it's a good idea to do this. They have flavours, they incorporate vegetables into meals, not just a spoon of boiled carrots, a spoon of boiled broccoli, and a spoon of peas.
Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries
#643Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Normally vegetarian food costs less than meat. It's because the animals need to eat (surprise surprise) vegetables! When you eat the vegetables directly instead of having the animal eat the vegetable for your, it's cheaper. Actually, as far as I recall, a counter argument to this, is that fresh vegetables are more expensive since their shelf lives are a lot shorter. I can buy most types of meats (chicken, beef, etc…
"fresh vegetables are more expensive since their shelf lives are a lot shorter" Certainly if you have sufficient storage, it's possible to buy meat in bulk quite cheaply, some of which might even be cheaper per kg (or per calorie?) than many vegetables, but if you stick to in-season vegies and cook them sensibly (into dishes that last a while), on average they're still going to be cheaper than meat. Plenty are in the…
I'm no dietitian but how much nutrition there actually is per 1kg of beef compared to 1kg of potatoes/pumpkin/onions, etc.?
My sister is vegan, and whenever we have a vegan meal, I'm already hungry 2 hours after the meal. On the other hand, if I eat a burger for lunch, I might not be even hungry by dinner time. Again, I'm not a dietitian so I'm pretty ignorant about these things, but if it has to do with proteins, I think the ROI for meat proteins is going to be a lot higher compared to vegetables.
I realize this gets complicated, but just another counter argument for ROI of meat compared to vegetables.
Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries
#644Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, we're running that experiment right now with soaring meat prices and it looks like you're wrong. Turns out if you make one type of meat more expensive then people just switch to a different kind of meat. If you make all meat more expensive, people buy cheaper cuts and get creative with how they prepare it. My bet is that if you make it prohibitively expensive then people will get creative about sourcing their m…
I'm not 100% sure it's a product issue and not a market positioning issue. Current gen "new fake meat" veggie brands try to position themselves at premium, which looks like the wrong place to be in. At premium fake meats loose to meat, hands down. It's like you are trying to position fish sticks on the same slot as fresh salmon. Huge marketing campaign, target low price segment - that would be the market experiment I…
Tells you that the industry's sole purpose is catering to the moral sensitivities of the bourgeoisie.
Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries
#645Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm very surprised to read this, because my understanding (from the UK) is that US chicken and egg farms have a horrendous salmonella problem stemming from high numbers of chickens per sqft and low regulation on things like clean bedding. This is the reason US eggs are washed, removing their natural antibac coating, and therefore need refridgeration whereas UK/EU eggs are not and do not. I remember reading a lot abou…
European farms cram their chickens together in a pool of their own shit too. The only difference is they vaccinate for salmonella.
While vaccination is one difference, the EU has banned conventional battery cages, and some countries have banned all cages. Where cages are allowed, the legal minimum area is 0.075m^2/chicken; the US doesn't seem to set a minimum on a national basis, but average seems to be ~0.04m^2. So there's a significant difference in density, which likely has some impact.
Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries
#646At some point we are spending millions and millions to cater to a specific cultural niche - India has 1.5 billion people whose idea of home cooked food isnt meat and certainly not a burger, China and Nigeria pretty much the same.
Yes we need to stop farming animals (climate, space, cruelty, cost) - but there are alternatives.
Edit: yes vegetable dishes are prepared in the home usually by the wife and tend to take hours - so the convenience aspect plays a huge role as society changes - but ready meals are not the only solution - humans used to be good at social - we might need to relearn how to design our cities and discover our neighbours
Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries
#647I 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.…
That's also my experience. Not a vegan but (before covid and wfh) I used to like eating 1-2 times a week in certain vegan restaurants because the food was good and very well prepared and seasoned. The stuff that tries to imitate meat however is nasty at best. Not only it tastes horrible but what's the point of choosing a supposedly healthier diet if you eat that industrial sludge?
Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries
#648Why am I not surprised the vaunted NYT failed to do basic research that might contradict their narrative. They dont even mention the bombshell story from last week regarding a whistleblower complaint about Beyond factory conditions: mold, bacteria, and string found in the meat. They even lied about being inspected by Pennsylvania state officials but havent faced any punishment. see https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-11-21/beyond-mea...
Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries
#649I was first person to get a beyond burger from a&w in my city. Compared to traditional veggie burgers it was amazing. I can't believe anyone would go back to veggie burgers now the beyond burgers exist. I assume the other brands are similar.
I dont care at all the beyond burgers are everything nutritionists claim is bad for you. I know nutritionists are outright lying.
Personally however, it didn't hit the threshold of being better than meat. So that was the last time I had beyond meat.
In other news, FDA approved lab grown meat. Chicken is first at bat.
Re: Beyond Meat is struggling, and the plant-based meat industry worries
#650Speaking as a vegan, I really don't want food that imitates the taste of meat and I will refuse to eat anything that's been prepared on the same griddle or using the same utensils as meat.