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The Beginning of the End of the Beef Industry?
- moreranchplease 7y agoStop eating animals? No? Ok so you’re cool with paying for someone to torture and kill an animal for a meal you’ll forget in minutes. That’s Fucked up but surely you care about the environment and how animal agriculture is the single biggest thing you can do to preserve what we have left of this world. No? Wow so you’re incredibly selfish and and lack empathy. Impressive. I guess then without a doubt you care about your own health. Eating more plants and less meat will make you feel better and live longer. Ahh not gonna do that either. It’s honestly impressive how far up their own ass people have their heads.
- tailrecursion 7y agoHas Nina Teicholz's book been debunked? I see comments here that appear to assume that these meat substitutes (Beyond Meat) are more healthy than beef -- is that really true? Animal meat is scientifically reported to be extremely nutritious compared to plants, and dietary fat has been a main part of diets around the world and continues to be so in e.g. French cuisine.
- purplezooey 7y agoI have a middle-aged uncle who just got a cell phone. Beef'll be around for a while.
- papito 7y agoI am going to stick with bison, thank you!
- phunctional 7y agoIs nobody seriously going to talk about cellular agriculture/clean meat? Companies like Memphis Meats, JUST, Finless Foods, etc. creating actual beef/meat?
- henrysarabia 7y agoI haven't read or heard of these but they sound interesting. I'd like to hear what you have to say about them
- magwa101 7y agoToo many carbs.
- morning_breeze 7y agoWhat about milk? The milk industry produces beef as a byproduct. Cows have to calve regularly to produce milk and eventually became beef themselves. In my country McDonalds and other burger producers are the biggest buyers of old milk cows. Their beef might be not good enough for steaks, but still good enough for burgers.
- zeroimpl 7y agoNut-based milks are a great alternative. Though just like veggie burgers, there are good and bad nut milks - look for ones without tons of additives. They are also trivial to make yourself.
- cassianoleal 7y agoI don't think Beyond Meat or any of the other beggie burgers will replace a good cut of Fraldinha, Vazio, Picanha, Ribs, T-bone, etc any time soon. In Brazil we eat that - proper beef from real cows grown on grass. Burgers are seen as what they are - fatty fast food. Actual meat is something else entirely.
- zeroimpl 7y agoI’ve tried these burgers and they are decent. But there are far better veggie burgers out there that don’t try to resemble meat at all. For some reason fast food companies stick with their garbage soy-based ones, so I’m happy to see them at least get some better veggie options. But for reference, quinoa burgers, chickpea burgers, mushroom burgers, black bean burgers, sweet potato burgers, beet burgers - all taste great and are more appealing for most vegetarians/vegans.
- GlenTheMachine 7y agoOn the one hand I’m very intrigued by this. It’s absolutely true that meat production, and in particular beef production, has an enormous environmental impact, so if this article is correct it could be huge. But on the other hand I have some questions that I’ve not seen addressed. I’m a small farmer. My wife and I raise sheep. Ruminants can be raised on land that isn’t really productive. Maybe in some cases beef production is taking away land that would be otherwise farmed, but in my experience that’s rare. So, if we transition to plant-based meat, where does the farmland come from? We’re already losing productive farmland at an incredible clip. If we suddenly need to put millions of acres into new soybean or pea production, where does it come from? And second, at least in theory, mixed animal/crop production systems can be closed loop. If done properly, with fallow periods and crop rotations, you don’t need external agricultural fertilizer production. Granted, that’s not the way most crops are produced now, but a lot of us are arguing that it should be - we should have local agriculture, with less centralization and more intentional closed loop farming practices. If we really do go mostly to a vegetarian diet, that possibility dries up. Agriculture becomes more and more reliant on external chemical inputs. Small producers are even more marginalized than they are today. Are we sure that’s what we want?
- monksy 7y agoThis whole submarine vegan agenda is annoying. Yes, people will choose to go with the artificial beef. No it's not going to replace beef. It's a subsitute. A few things: 1. Cows are not optimized to make meat: Animals aren't a food factory. Animals eat other animals. We are animals and happen to have a wide variety of what we can eat 2. There are distinct benefits from eating meat (vitamins), in which it's incredibly inefficient from getting them from plants 3. The feedlots and environmental problems, that's an issue of our economy. Theres a particular expectation on output. 4. The impossible burger: The author is incredibly disingenuous about the comparison. He is trying to claim that the burger has so many bad aspects but completely ignores how ultra-processed the beyond burger is. 5. The author is completely obsessed on cows. There are MANY more alternatives to cows that you can eat.
- parliament32 7y agoThe amount of vegan propaganda out there is outstanding. The thing about these burgers is: 1) they taste like ass 2) they're super-processed full-of-refined-oils junk food I don't doubt we'll see these phased out of restaurants pretty quick. Right now they're a new fad to try, but sooner or later omnivores will realize there are literally no benefits to eating this crap over actual beef. Only the true vegans will be left, and they're just not enough of a market to sustain the supply chain problems that come with having yet another type of patty (see: the McRib). The funniest part is actual vegetarian burgers aren't even that bad. Yeah they taste different than beef, but they're in the same format, taste fine, and are quite a bit healthier. This pretend-meat is just bad.
- dashundchen 7y agoIn the article the author talks about eating both a beef burger and cheese, so I don't think he has a "vegan agenda". > 2. There are distinct benefits from eating meat (vitamins), in which it's incredibly inefficient from getting them from plants Raising meat with today's common production methods (feed lots) is incredibly inefficient. In fact, a plant based diet can meet all nutritional requirements with just B12 vitamins. Many vitamins and minerals in meat and dairy are there because of supplementation, not because they're natural. > 3. The feedlots and environmental problems, that's an issue of our economy. Theres a particular expectation on output. Which is why plant based diets, both processed foods like these burgers and un/ lightly processed (beans, nuts, tofu and tempeh, pulses) are a solution. They can be grown much more efficiently than meat and take a huge load off of our environment and emissions. > 5. The author is completely obsessed on cows. There are MANY more alternatives to cows that you can eat. Cows are also some of the worst animal agriculture product emissions wise and a good chunk of the standard American diet. It's also definitely the star of these fast food restaurants he discusses that these plant based meats are aiming for.
- hirundo 7y ago"Chipotle, Arby’s and Burger & Lobster are not jumping on the Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods plant-based culinary movement ... We have spoken to those folks and, unfortunately, it wouldn’t fit in our ‘food with integrity’ principals because of the processing, as I understand it, that it takes to make a plant taste like a burger. ... Are they healthier as far as sodium, calories and fat content? Definitely not ... Zarabi says processed foods, whether they’re meatless or meat-containing, are never the healthiest choice." https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-some-restaurants-are-turning-up-their-noses-at-beyond-meat-2019-07-29 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-some-restaurants-are-t...
- jessaustin 7y agoArby's at least would require a complete rebranding in order to sell this stuff. "We have the meats^H^H^H^Hanufactured plant products!" (I'm not familiar with B&L marketing but presumably they would be in a similar position?) I can also understand Chipotle's point of view on this.
- Junk_Collector 7y agoDidn't Arby's just recently release a "meat based vegetable" as part of their marketing campaign.
- jessaustin 7y agoI felt that the "Marrot" fit in perfectly with their other marketing.
- bregma 7y agoYes, it was a turkey-based roasted carrot. It was a bit of a cheat, though, because they used actual powdered carrot as one of the ingredients.
- negzero7 7y agoI disagree with this piece; it seems like the author doesn't like beef in general (which is fine) but I don't think most people will give up beef for "alt meat". I think it will just be another option, not a replacement. And sales still seem strong to me: https://www.statista.com/statistics/542890/beef-consumption-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/542890/beef-consumption-...
- wyldfire 7y agoI just learned this bit on the radio the other day and was quite surprised: out of 1.9 billion acres in the US, the #1 and #3 ranked uses are cattle and crops (respectively) [1]. Out of the crops, much of it is used for livestock. [1] https://www.npr.org/2019/07/26/745731823/the-u-s-has-nearly-1-9-billion-acres-of-land-heres-how-it-is-used https://www.npr.org/2019/07/26/745731823/the-u-s-has-nearly-...
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoAnd why is that land used for livestock? Much of this is land in the west, and there's not much else you can do with it. You can't grow crops on it - not enough water. You can't even grow trees on it - not much land got cleared of trees to make room for grazing. All you can do is run some cows or sheep on it. And, behold, it becomes part of this huge acreage used for cattle.
- erikpukinskis 7y ago> You can't grow crops on it - not enough water. This is false. You can grow crops almost anywhere in the U.S. using water intensive techniques. You won’t be able to do it at scale while funneling all the profits through a single entity though. It can only be done with smaller farms and more attention from a larger number of specialized farmers. We know more about how to do this now than any time in history. If you want to have a single entity collect all the profits you need a one-size-fits-all methodology, and cattle grazing is that. So that’s the trade off. An existential one for big beef companies. Cattle also destroy the plants that maintain soil health and allow you to store water in the landscape, so it’s a vicious cycle. Fairly easily undone building berms and planting pioneer species.
- moreranchplease 7y agoConsiderably more water is used to raise cattle than plants. And then the plants that they feed on also need water.
- TACIXAT 7y ago
- codesushi42 7y agoNope. Last time I checked, not all beef is consumed as hamburgers. The alt meat craze (if there is one) is due to the novelty factor. The interest will decline over time. That said, what does a raw Impossible Burger taste like? A raw hamburger? Imagine wolfing down a raw one in front of a group of unknowing and terrified onlookers.
- bregma 7y ago> not all beef is consumed as hamburgers I know most of mine is. Not necessarily in the classic sandwich form, but there's spaghetti sauce, moussaka, shepherd's pie, chili, pizza, and throwing it into a big bucket with other foods and spices and mixing it up and eating it with a spoon. Tastes good,man.
- xboxnolifes 7y agoThat is not the point. If people still want non-ground meat (Which is much harder to have a plant substitute for), cows will stick around. Ground meats are basically just a byproduct of the lesser cuts.
- artimaeis 7y ago> Last time I checked, not all beef is consumed as hamburgers. The author of the article explicitly mentions using Impossible Burger for non-hamburger applications: "It looked identical to ground beef, so that’s how I treated it. And that’s how it performed. I made sliders, kebabs, nachos, chili, Bolognese sauce, even a little tartare (note: the company frowns hard on this)."
- codesushi42 7y agoNot all beef is consumed as ground beef. Happy?
- zeroimpl 7y agoThe author mentions that 60% of it is...
- Beefisgreat 7y agoLiving in a bubble where Trump is guilty and the meat industry is doomed. Suite life.
- WaitWaitWha 7y agoum... "The California-based company said net loss widened to $6.6 million in the three months ended March 30, from $5.7 million a year earlier. First-quarter net revenue came in at $40.2 million, an increase of 215%, the company said. Analysts had expected revenue of $38.9 million." - reuters. I may be cynic, but that is not sound good. If your net losses outpace your net revenue, no matter how good that meat is, you are not going to make it. And, why did the share prices (BYND) fall since July 26? Someone exiting? There is no such thing as "alt meat". Is a bicycle alt SUV? Or alt vacation for extra work hours? alt paycheck is a sub sandwich? What is the point of trying to match what you are trying to eradicate? So, where is the beef?
- jessaustin 7y agoEventually one of the two companies will survive by raising prices drastically. Until then it's a VC-powered burn-rate battle...
- formalsystem 7y agoI'm starting to think more and more that people promoting plant based burgers have either never tasted beef or never tasted a plant based burger. If the main concern is environment I get it and go for it. But if you are claiming that plant based burgers are healthier or tastier you are borderline delusional. Last time I cooked a Beyond Meat burger I noticed it was 30% canola oil. 30% CANOLA OIL, might as well just inject cholesterol and fast forward a heart attack. I still get nightmares when I think of how bad the flavor was, think of the most processed food you possibly can like jolly ranchers and then imagine a salty fatty version of it. I legit don't understand how this trend keeps going even though vegetarian burgers made with vegetables are delicious and way healthier and there are alternative cuisines like Indian or Mediterranean that gives you loads of options that aren't basically CANOLA OIL.
- windexh8er 7y agoInteresting and biased perspective. As others have pointed out, you didn't get most of the facts right. Did you just decide to make things up as you started typing? The assertion that "people promoting plant based burgers have either never tasted beef or never tasted a plant based burger" doesn't apply to everyone. For reference: I have over 20 years under my belt of cooking all types of meat. As of 3 years ago my sous vide was a commonly used component in cooking. I owned multiple types of grills depending on what I was cooking (pellet and ceramic - still own the latter). I invested thousands of dollars in the art of cooking meat. I studied cooking techniques and styles, took classes, and I would commit copious amounts of time cooking different meats. Overnight pork shoulder cooks to get juicy, buttery pulled pork. 5+ hours (including setup) for perfect ribs. A handful of filets vacuumed in various herbs and spices and cooked in the sous vide for half a day to be finished with a 500F sear on the back end for a perfect finish. I haven't eaten any white or red meat for over two years now and don't miss any of it. Is there a gap that hasn't been filled fully, as of yet? Sure. But like I said - I don't miss it. When I have a taste for "meat" I turn to Impossible and Beyond Meat now. The article (which it appears you didn't actually read) does a good job of summing up the difference between the two. Although I will argue that the Beyond Meat products aren't as bad as the author states. And yes, these products are "processed" - but they also don't make up the majority of what I consume week over week either. Comparatively meats are more processed than most think and from slaughter to table that process involves a whole lot more risk with regard to a tainted product. And let's not forget what people buy frozen in the store that somehow passes as "ground beef". Can you still get legitimate options on that side of the red meat aisle? Sure, but as the article states that's not butcher ground blends of the stuff you want in your ground beef. It's all the remnants you don't in a slurry of chemicals to kill off the things you don't want to be ingesting. Your last point misses the point. While I will agree that there are some fantastic veggie burgers out there Beyond and Impossible aren't going after that market. That's not their target. But, maybe, in the transition to alt meats we gain some new perspective on trying those, and maybe that ends up being a stepping stone to further, better choices for both health and environmental reasons.
- omarhaneef 7y agoI think the part that rings clearly in my head is the ethical part. I really cannot believe we eat animals. I know other animals do it all the time -- and I don't hold it against tigers and lions -- but its still strange to me that we, humans, do it. If you don't feel that strong surprise, then I think the other arguments may or may not work for you. But if you have that sense that it is strange and perhaps off, then this article is heartening.
- imtringued 7y agoEating animals isn't the problem. The problem is industrial farming. We shouldn't be eating this much meat every single day and as a consequence we have to treat the animals like prisoners and maximize their suffering. 200 years ago there wasn't a huge ethical problem, because back then the animals had more uses than just eating them. They pulled the plow, carried the harvest, etc so there was a reason to treat them well and keep them healthy. Nowadays we don't give a shit.
- soperj 7y agoI feel the same way about vegetables. I know other animals do it all the time, but when you add them up all the plant deaths are horrific.
- rfrey 7y agoI believe you are being downvoted because this seems more like a 12 year old’s attempt to be clever than it does a genuine attempt to contribute to the conversation. If you are in fact twelve... well, stop it anyway.
- soperj 7y agoThanks Rod, I wasn't asking why I was being down-voted though.
- Falling3 7y agoIf you honestly believe the harming/killing of animals and plants are equivalent, come by my place later. I've got some hedges in my front yard and a dog. I'll get out the hedge clippers and we can demonstrate there's no real difference between cutting parts off of a bush and a mammal.
- Xcelerate 7y agoI don’t think most people will have a problem switching to plant based burgers as long as they taste good, but I think that’s still the sticking point at the moment. I’ve had an Impossible burger a few times and could always taste a strong difference (I even did a few blind taste tests). I don’t think it’s close to actual meat yet. Supposedly the second version of the burger has improved; I haven’t tried it yet. Cheap meat, like ground beef, will be replaced first, but I think it will be much more difficult to replace specialty meats: Iberian ham or Wagyu for instance. Good luck making something plant-based that tastes like that (not saying it can’t be done though).
- Junk_Collector 7y agoEven with Wagyu and Kobe, the whole cow isn't getting turned into premium cuts of meat. Burger and sausage are going to be a byproduct of the parts that aren't high margin proportional to the demand for the rest of it. Kind of like how eggs are so cheap because they are a natural byproduct of the chicken meat industry and the insatiable American lust for all white meat breast. I wouldn't be surprised to see an effective advertising campaign to make burger et al more "premium" as plant based substitutes take off and the price go up as a result of that. Kind of how Angus cows got to be big in the first place.
- Falling3 7y ago"Kind of like how eggs are so cheap because they are a natural byproduct of the chicken meat industry [...]" That has nothing to do with why eggs are cheap. Completely separate breeds are raised for eggs vs meat. The birds used for meat are killed at only 6-7 weeks typically. They never rarely if ever lay a single egg. Eggs are cheap because layer hens have been bred to produce several times their natural number off eggs combined with other practices like forced molting that increase production. And those hens are killed after a couple of years to be used for cheap meat. You have the subsidizing relationship backwards.
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- ppseafield 7y ago
- frostyj 7y agoI don't know if the statement on price is valid in this article. For me, while shopping in wholefoods, I found the price of beyond meat patties is almost doubled than other, actual meat, brands. I am not sure why it is so expensive, but I sincerely hope it is not the cost of production
- technotony 7y agoHave a look at their IPO prospectus. Until they built their plant in 2018 they were selling at below COGS. But this is mostly a scale problem, which is why the stock is still performing well, as they are growing so fast the market is confident they will fix the cost problem over time.
- sbooher 7y agoPea protein isolates, rice protein, mung bean protein, canola oil etc are Not food. I would not feed this to my dog. In fact, lined up against a bag of cheap dog food, you might pick the dog food... In a world awash in heavily-processed food, we now add this to the mix and get excited about it. Statements about how "inefficient" cows are in making meat re calories ingested, usually fail to mention that for most of the cow's life they are eating grass on a range, which is not used for anything else. We didn't need to make that grass, it's sitting there. Statements on the use on land assume we would have condos and coffee shops sitting there, but for the cows on it.
- Dylan16807 7y agoTaking food and washing off the carbs gives you not-food? Grinding up food and putting it through a filter gives you not-food? Come on. "Processing" is very vaguely defined, and doesn't correlate very well with health. You can process food to make it healthier just about as easily as you can process it to make it less healthy.
- dreamcompiler 7y agoLess than 3% of cattle wander around eating wild grass. Most cattle are fed grains, grass, and alfalfa that was farmed on purpose as cattle feed. If cattle didn't need the grass, the farmer would be growing human food on that land.
- gamblor956 7y agoLess than 3% of cattle wander around eating wild grass. True, if you limit the 3% to wild grass. But most cows are still primarily fed grass until their final few months when they are fattened on grain.
- mythrwy 7y agoI'd be interested in seeing a source for that less than 3% number. However most cattle are certainly finished on grain without a doubt. Grain that could possibly put to better uses (or not grown and save the fuel and water).
- technotony 7y agoThe naysayers in the comment thread are missing the understanding that the fundamental technologies driving this are all moving exponentially. Beyond Meat's innovation came from a Stanford professor who is an expert in RNA molecules (he helped them figure out their protein structure/selection), impossible foods is a synthetic biology company. Exponential techs always underwhelm in the beginning but soon deliver more powerful products than people imagined. That's going to happen with this industry and faster than people expect.
- AbrahamParangi 7y agoExponential improvement is a very powerful lesson, for sure. Exponential increases in capability or applicability or exponential decreases in cost describe the fundamental benefit of technology. But what exactly is an exponentially superior food?
- adventured 7y ago> But what exactly is an exponentially superior food? In this case, perhaps the ability in time to produce 10x the meat ('meat') at 10% the environmental damage of our current output. We're adding ~85-90m people per year. Most of them are going to want to eat things like beef, fish, chicken, bacon and so on. A billion new people per decade is an enormous increase in demand for meat, to say nothing of the already existing several billion people in the bottom 1/2 with rising consumer demands for meat. It looks like we're going to be able to solve this problem and relatively soon (it will still take decades to fully scale up globally and perfect complex products, however that will occur). It's an exciting time, getting to watch the innovation and real store-worthy products just starting to take off at a consumer level.
- technotony 7y agoIn this case it's mainly our understanding of protein structure/texture/taste which is a new capability.
- MR4D 7y agoThe thriving success of the Organic & Non-GMO food industry suggests that the naysayers will be correct for at least a section of the customer base, and therefore there will still be a beef industry.
- CaliforniaKarl 7y agoOn one of the podcasts I listen to (The Morning Stream), one of the co-hosts (Brian) has been on Weight Watchers for I think all of this year. One thing he has noted is that, assuming all else is equal (bun, toppings, etc.), an Impossible or Beyond burger costs many more 'points' than a regular beef burger. (One of the goals being to stay below a particular points limit each day.) That surprised me, until he explained that the plant-based burger is high in carbohydrates, which contributes to its high points value. So I disagree that this is the end of an industry. I think it's the beginning of change in an industry, but not its end.
- docker_up 7y agoI had a Beyond Meat burger recently. It was pretty good, about as good as a below-average to average burger, but more tender. Overall, if this is all they served at the cafeteria, it would be okay. That said, it wasn't nearly good enough for me to buy instead of meat. Maybe the day will come where it will be, but definitely not yet.
- TACIXAT 7y agoI keep seeing articles like this, but saying something over and over again does not make it true. I feel this could be proven by demand. While I'm sure people who were already put off by meat are loving the availability of meatless options, I do not see any meat eaters (in my life) who are lured to the plant-based alternatives. These alternative meats taste good with all the stuff you also associate with hamburgers (bun, lettuce, tomato, onion, sauce), but on their own, they do not come close to beef.
- WheelsAtLarge 7y agoI keep on reading that as the standard of living increases around the world the amount of beef consumed increases. It's too early to call peak beef but it's bound to happen if only because the amount of available resources to produce it will decrease. But I suspect that it won't happen during any of our lifetimes.
- StacyC 7y agoAfter five years on a ketogenic diet (low carb, higher fat) I now eat mostly fatty meat and eggs, and little else. I have never felt better or been in better health. This is anecdote, but a growing number of people are discovering the same thing. Beef is great food. It will not go away.
- artimaeis 7y agoThe Beyond Burger only contains 3g of carbs, making it perfectly acceptable for a Ketogenic diet, as far as I understand it. The Impossible burger contains more, at 9g, but that's easy to fit into most carb allowences of Keto (not many go for <10g/day). Even with a goal of 0g of carbs per day there's a lot of room on the plate for above-ground vegetables and natural oils. Beef is an okay food, but there's lots of alternatives that seem to outperform it for many metrics.
- urban_strike 7y agoThere's a lot more to achieving good health than macronutrient ratios. The plant-alternatives both 1) lack the abundant, bioavailable nutrients found in animal products and 2) include a lot of highly-processed and inflammatory ingredients like seed oils. And I think you're underselling beef by calling it an "okay" food. The meat we get from cows and other ruminants (and particularly organ meats like liver) are among THE most nutrient-dense and bioavilable foods available to humans.
- jpmcglone 7y agoI eat beef all day every day. It's great for you.
- buckthundaz 7y agoAs do I! Long live beef!!!
- jpmcglone 7y agoI eat beef all day every day. It's good for you.
- AngeloAnolin 7y agoI’ve got a beef with this article. I can probably only consider the end of the beef industry getting near when: a. There are more people I see opting for the plant based food, instead of beef; b. When there’s really a shortage of cattle that produces or slaughtered as beef. There’s a moral aspect of eating plant based foods, but I cannot see anyone transitioning easily from animal based meat products to select plant-based foods as their main source of sustenance. It will take a lot of discipline, willpower and of course, the availability (and affordability) of plant based food products for someone considering the shift.
- pcstl 7y agoThere's also option c. which is: Someone figures out how to produce animal tissue in a lab without requiring us to raise an entire animal and slaughter it.
- zackmorris 7y agoI'm excited for meat alternatives, but have 3 thoughts on them that I haven't seen mentioned yet (I'm 42): * Nearly all of the rangeland and high desert in the western US was destroyed by cattle and sheep grazing over the past 150 years. This is a billion dollar industry with the emotional buy-in of millions of people so I'm skeptical that it will be reformed in our lifetimes. * My digestive system got wrecked trying to be on a mostly vegetarian diet over several years after the housing bubble popped. The gist of it is that the lectins (and other defense mechanisms in the husks) of legumes and nightshades disrupt the mucus lining of the intestines, which leads to leaky gut and stool getting into the body cavity and blood (leaky gut), which may lead to autoimmune diseases like colitis and arthritis. Something about animal protein heals this lining, probably because humans evolved as scavengers eating leftover kills and carrion from top predators. * I have not yet seen studies comparing the healing and regenerative properties of meat compared to plant protein, especially concerning bodybuilding. In my own experience, there is simply no comparison between the two. Beef, eggs, salmon, tuna, turkey and chicken simply dwarf any gains obtained from bean burritos (I wish this wasn't the case). I don't know a solution to this, although I'm guessing that a portion of the gains are hormonal. Maybe someone can isolate the animal compounds and make supplements similar to creatine, BCAAs, glutamine, taurine, etc. Not to knock current meat alternatives, but I view them sort of like compact fluorescent light bulbs, as a 10 or 20 year stopgap until we have true test tube meat (LED bulbs). In order for meat alternatives to compete with meat, someone will need to reform the federal food subsidies that keep meat an order of magnitude cheaper than it should be. An impossible burger should cost LESS than beef, not more.
- landonxjames 7y ago> My digestive system got wrecked trying to be on a mostly vegetarian diet over several years after the housing bubble popped. The gist of it is that the lectins (and other defense mechanisms in the husks) of legumes and nightshades disrupt the mucus lining of the intestines, which leads to leaky gut and stool getting into the body cavity and blood (leaky gut), which may lead to autoimmune diseases like colitis and arthritis. Something about animal protein heals this lining, probably because humans evolved as scavengers eating leftover kills and carrion from top predators. Do you have a citation for this? I've never heard anything like it before.
- carapace 7y ago> I knew it would keep getting better and beef wouldn’t. > White Castle initially tested its Impossible Slider in just a few locations in New York, New Jersey, and Chicago in April 2018. It was such a hit that the company quickly expanded the program to all 380 outlets. “People are coming back for it again and again,” White Castle’s vice president, Jamie Richardson, said with a touch of astonishment. > Resulting foot traffic was so strong that Burger King decided to serve the Impossible Whopper in all 7,200 restaurants, marking the moment when alt meat stopped being alt. It reminds me of the joke, "I don't have to be faster than the bear, just faster than you."
- pcstl 7y agoWhile I am all for the end of the beef industry, I don't think it's happening until we get actual synthetic lab-produced animal tissue. It's great that we have companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible working on this - this is the work that will eventually lead to the meat industry going away for good, or at least becoming a niche industry - but until we can synthesize actual meat many people will hold out.
- rsj_hn 7y agoThere is already a technology for turning plants into burgers -- Cows. It's time tested, natural, and requires only dry land and a bit of evolution. Also tastes great! If you have a problem with the beef industry, you can deal with it like all the other problems with other industries, from financials to pharmaceutical. You regulate the industry.