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Can protein startups and their investors take on Big Cow?
- CM30 9y agoOkay, am I the only one finding these 'Big Industry' names kind of ridiculous now? Big Pharma, yeah that works. Big Tech? Sure I guess. But calling these companies Big Cow just sounds utterly ridiculous. It just doesn't work at all.
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- fortylove 9y ago...udderly* ridiculous.
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- the8472 9y agoPlus we already have "Big Ag".
- microcolonel 9y agoBig Farma'
- justhw 9y agoAdd Big Oil there too.
- delinka 9y agoBig Beef would have been much better. But, yeah, I'm over the Big $company monikers.
- russdill 9y agoIt's the milk people.
- dang 9y agoI assume they intended that one whimsically.
- andyfal12 9y agoI agree and I think it usually simplifies industries in negative light. But the dairy lobby ain't something to shrug at. I think i remember reading a while back on legislation deciding if products like almond milk can call themselves milk.
- nawitus 9y agoI recommend eating tofu as tofu, not as a fake meat. It's delicious if you know how to prepare it.
- hn_throwaway_99 9y agoI think what these companies are doing has a different appeal, though. There are plenty of vegetarian protein sources I enjoy, but I also just like the taste of a good burger. If I could get a burger that tasted like real beef, but without the environmental and ethical concerns of beef, I would gladly trade it.
- borne0 9y agoVery true, Pad Thai without any protein aside from tofu is still delicious.
- contingencies 9y agoYep. Sugar, oil and salt with a bit of crunchy veg, chilli, soft rice noodles, often egg, a touch of fish sauce and lime. Classic. Will definitely be on offer at http://8-food.com/ http://8-food.com/ launch :)
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- rgrieselhuber 9y agoNot a great food for men, though.
- microcolonel 9y agoEspecially with the lightspeed downward trend in androgens and fertility over the last few decades.
- amalag 9y agoI think men in societies where they have eaten tofu for centuries like China, Indonesia and Japan are doing just fine.
- cyanexttuesday 9y agoI hope so. If we can make meat or something really similar without killing animals, I would consider this a huge win for lessening the misery of the universe.
- azakai 9y agoIn addition to lessening misery, reducing the consumption of animal meat also helps prevent global warming (since animal farming is a significant contributor to the problem).
- DiabloD3 9y agoThis is an unpopular statement around these parts, but, there's no proof that any human activity is causing the current increase in global temperatures, and they match the progression that preceded previous solar grand minimums, of which we are headed into another one now. Not saying humans aren't causing tons of ground level pollution, which we totally are and that's indisputable. Just don't confuse it with global warming.
- rbobby 9y ago> there's no proof that any human activity is causing the current increase in global temperatures "No proof that any" is just flat out wrong... on the level of "there's no proof that 1 + 1 always equals two".
- DiabloD3 9y agoHow is that an acceptable response? A hypothesis must be falsifiable for it to be valid in the first place, and saying "the Sun did it" is a valid way to falsify the hypothesis; thus you now must also prove the Sun is not affecting climate change to the degree that we have measured. No one has been able to prove this, and all evidence collected by NASA seems to indicate that the Sun is by far the largest driver of climate fluctuations on Earth, even during the modern age, not humans.
- xs 9y agoHampton Creek is the makers of "Just Mayo" which is talked about in this article. What isn't said is that they've been on the shelves at Target up until 2 months ago when Target pulled all their products for an unknown reason. Speculation has it that Hellmans was very upset that Just Mayo was disrupting the mayo business and delivered falsified claims to Target trying to get them to pull the products. It's a real slugfest right now. On another note, Beyond Meat's founder was featured on "How I Built This", a favorite podcast for many HN'ers.
- pkaye 9y agoHampton Creek had their own controversies. They early on would send out people to buy their own mayo and create fake demand.
- DiabloD3 9y agoHow is that any different than handing out free product coupons like most companies do to fake demand?
- pkaye 9y agoThey didn't give free product coupons to customers. They paid contractors to secretly buy. With coupons, atleast customers can try it out and retailers are aware that free products were given out. edit: a link to a news article from a year ago. http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2016/09/23/report-alleges-hampton-creek-faked-hundreds-thousands-in-sales-and-environmental-impact-claims.html http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2016/09/23/report-alleges-...
- nibstwo 9y agoI had a startup that made software for meat processing companies. It is pretty horrifying being in meat plants but most people are not yet at the point where they can accept not eating it. In my experience I feel better eating occasional offal and grass-fed meat than I do regularly eating meat of any other variety or eliminating it entirely. It is one thing to claim moral high ground and simply avoid eating meat, and we can absolutely do away with it on a taste basis based on what is coming out of vegan restaurants these days, but the cultural shift will take a long time and "good enough" is clearly a higher bar than tofu. I suspect it is somewhat like electric cars. A more political issue than we like to admit and something where assuming the products were comparable in price/taste/texture/experience people might opt for the socially concious choice, that threshold simple isn't there for the majority of people yet. A worthy pursuit but one that is not necessarily limited to startups. Big Food and one off restaurants are pursuing these ideas more fundamentally than anyone else is right now and I suspect that they will be the eventual winners of the race to good enough. The meat industry is fundamentally antiquated the way it is setup now and will simply shrink down to as demand wanes, or more likely just switch to exporting.
- Animats 9y agoSeveral startups are trying to grow real meat in vitro. Memphis Meats (which is in San Francisco, not Tennessee) has succeeded in growing chicken in vitro from stem cells. Mark Post at the University of Maastricht has been able to grow beef in vitro. This stuff tastes like meat from animals. It's the production cost that's the problem. That's going to be the good stuff. Further downscale are the processed soy products. These are Soy Extender 2.0; textured vegetable protein processed to make it taste more like meat. You can buy soy hamburger patties now, under the Beyond Meat brand. Whole Foods carries them. Anyone tried one?
- maxerickson 9y agoBeyond Meat isn't using soy: http://beyondmeat.com/products/view/beyond-burger http://beyondmeat.com/products/view/beyond-burger Apparently the protein is mostly peas.
- tunesmith 9y agoI don't really understand why this stuff is in the news so much these days. Boca burgers have been around forever and they taste fine - I tried Impossible Foods and it's at best a marginal improvement. And as for mayo, Vegennaise has been around for a while too and it's totally fine, other than getting a bit soupy when the jar is almost empty.
- jpao79 9y agoI really do think there is a pretty sise-able market at least in California for people looking to reduce their intake of meat but not wanting to go full vegan. People who like the taste of a good burger but want to be healthier (more fiber, less fat and less antibiotics) and reduce the environmental impacts. I am one of them. I think one of the simplest solutions would be to have a different line of products under a different brand name which had a mixture of plant based meat alternative (i.e. Boca or Impossible Burger) to actual meat in the burger. That way you get the taste of meat but the substrate is fiber based. The level of actual meat could be adjusted like they do fat content for ground beef (i.e. I'm feeling sorta vegan today so I'm gonna go 75% plant based today). The one thing I never understood is American vegetarian restaurants who serve tofu steaks as the entire dish. This looks awful: http://www.pbs.org/food/fresh-tastes/asian-baked-tofu/ http://www.pbs.org/food/fresh-tastes/asian-baked-tofu/ Asian people always eat tofu blended in with a bunch of meat and vegetables for the actual flavor. Here are some examples: http://thewoksoflife.com/category/recipes/tofu/ http://thewoksoflife.com/category/recipes/tofu/ http://thewoksoflife.com/2014/03/ma-po-tofu-real-deal/ http://thewoksoflife.com/2014/03/ma-po-tofu-real-deal/
- pampa 9y ago> People who like the taste of a good burger but want to be healthier (more fiber, less fat and less antibiotics) If the goal is to be healthier, why not just go with the highest quality beef you can find, but eat it less often? A quality steak once a week sure must be healthier than a heavily processed veggie burger every day (tho i have no data to prove it).