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I'm much more enthusiastic about plant-based foods than insects. The impossible burger is pretty fantastic - there's no cultural barrier to overcome, and I expe
by bcatanzaro 8y ago
I'm much more enthusiastic about plant-based foods than insects. The impossible burger is pretty fantastic - there's no cultural barrier to overcome, and I expect it's even better for the planet than crickets.
- tomcam 8y agoYou would need to quantify what you mean by better for the planet. The number of insects, worms, rodents, frogs, and other small animals destroyed by mechanized farming is staggering. Also, I have had the impossible burger and was not at all impressed, though it looks absolutely perfect.
- VBprogrammer 8y agoGiven what it takes to turn vegetable mass into something resembling a burger, if it came down to it, I'd rather stick to real vegetables. I think its fair to say that processed food is generally not very good for you. I don't see why that situation is improved because the food being processed is from a vegan source.
- bcatanzaro 8y agoI think we have to evaluate each processed food on its own merits rather than just saying there’s a negative correlation.
- HillaryBriss 8y ago> I don't see why that situation is improved because the food being processed is from a vegan source. my favorite example of this is the plastic package of organic vegan marshmallows i saw at Whole Foods once
- InitialLastName 8y ago> my favorite example of this is the plastic package of organic vegan marshmallows i saw at Whole Foods once Is this funny because of all the non-vegan marshmallows that come in non-plastic packaging, making the vegan ones worse for the environment? Any change has to be weighed against the actual alternatives.
- HillaryBriss 8y agothe alternative i was thinking of was non-processed food. but, ok, good point point about the packaging. almost every fruit and vegetable from a supermarket's produce section ends up in a plastic bag.
- Nasrudith 8y agoProcessed food always being bad is an oversimplification. Try having eating a raw potato sometime and you'll see what I mean (seriously don't they are toxic). Cooking is a basic form of processing to make the foods nutrition actually processable or processable more efficiently. The 'processing' most associated with the term are optimized for taste and shelf life often at the expense of nutrition or too much of a good thing. For instance protein - it is held up as a holy grail 'good nutrient' but it turns out that going too high is bad for the kidneys and thus general health. That isn't unique to processed foods either - Steve Job's fruit based diet put Ashton Kutcher in the hospital with pancreatic issues when he tried it for getting into character! Past failures at making something more healthy have failed to measure an additional variable - say margarine being better before a sufficient understanding of transfats and back when they thought all cholesterol was the same.
- bcatanzaro 8y agoI mean that eating plants directly likely emits less carbon and takes up less land than processing plants through cricket bodies. And I eat the impossible burger often. I like it a lot.
- tdb7893 8y agoAnimals require much more feed in than you get usable meat out. Meat production increases the amount of plants you need to farm so even though plant agriculture is bad for the environment generally the best way to actually reduce it is to eat less meat.
- sampo 8y ago> The impossible burger This is a wheat and potato proteins based burger, where they add leghemoglobin grown in yeast, to give some of that bloody, irony taste. And coconut oil for fat. If you're in New York City area or New Jersey, or Chicago area, your nearest White Castle probably has the "impossible slider" for $1.99.
- HillaryBriss 8y agoVery cool. I hadn't heard about them at White Castle. Nice to know. Fatburger has also started to serve Impossible Burgers. Interestingly at our local Fatburger the price was the same $6 for either a regular Fatburger or for an "Impossible" Fatburger. The way I see it, either way, it's a Fatburger. Fatburger.
- hotpockets 8y agoSo does Wahlburger.
- tim333 8y agoFull Ingredient List: Water, Textured Wheat Protein, Coconut Oil, Potato Protein, Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Leghemoglobin (Soy), Yeast Extract, Salt, Konjac Gum, Xanthan Gum, Soy Protein Isolate, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Thiamin (Vitamin B1), Zinc, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12 Give me that rather than icky bugs!
- phil248 8y ago"there's no cultural barrier to overcome" There is indeed a cultural barrier in the United States when it comes to vegetarian diets. Many Americans avoid "fake meat" due to their cultural beliefs.
- RandallBrown 8y agoYeah, but you won't find any Americans that avoid eating things made of plants. You will definitely find Americans that avoid eating things made of bugs.
- evilolive 8y agoas a european living in America I would somewhat disagree I've had more than one colleague who modifies anything on a menu until it's mostly meat, carbs & cheese
- Nasrudith 8y agoCarbs in the colloquial sense are still plant based - disregarding the comparative traces of carbs in animal products.
- phil248 8y agoMany Americans avoid eating things made out of plants. For example, tofu or veggie burgers. Like I said, this is a cultural phenomenon, similar to but less severe than the cultural proclivity to avoid eating insects. Though many Americans don't seem to mind eating snails.
- HillaryBriss 8y agoi agree that the taste and texture are similar to eating a meat hamburger. but, i just hope these companies (Impossible Burger, Beyond Burger, et al) can bring down the price. we bought frozen Beyond Burgers recently "on sale" from our local grocery store for $3.00 per 4 oz burger. good quality ground beef is cheaper than that.
- Pfhreak 8y agoWhere are you finding good quality ground beef for <$3.00/lb? Good quality, to me, implies the animals were not mistreated, were fed a reasonable (preferably grain free) diet, the farm is sustainably ranching the animals it grows, etc. I recently bought a whole beef from a local farmer, and it was organic, 100% grass fed, and it worked out to $7/lb. I'd be shocked to learn there was a waaay cheaper option out there.
- HillaryBriss 8y agosorry for the confusion. a frozen package containing just two 4 oz Beyond Burger patties cost us $6.00. i.e. we paid $3.00 for each one quarter pound Beyond Burger. so, if you can find hamburger meat for less than $12 a pound, you're paying less than we paid for Beyond Burgers.
- o_____________o 8y agoThis would reverse overnight in the US if we redirected our agricultural subsidies.
- jlavine 8y agoYou can buy pasture-raised / grass-fed ground beef from Australia, and US-raised ground bison, in US supermarkets for $9-10 per pound, so no, it wouldn't. Even for cheap corn- and soy-fed CAFO-raised meat, agricultural subsidies lower the cost by a negligeable fraction.
- HillaryBriss 8y ago
- jpao79 8y agoAs a side note, I've often pondered what would have the outcome if Subway had 'leaned in' and actually promoted its "50% chicken-50% soy but tastes the same as 100% chicken" as an environmentally sustainable and healthier option instead of trying to hide it and then getting caught. https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/03/food-scientists-weigh-in-on-50-subway-chicken-test-its-100-weird/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/03/food-scientists-weig...