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Regarding plant based “meat” why are we trying to fool our selfs that we are eating meat. Inovation would be here to inovate and create new food, not to mimic t

Regarding plant based “meat” why are we trying to fool our selfs that we are eating meat. Inovation would be here to inovate and create new food, not to mimic the existing. I know, existing consumers and whole industry waiting to be disrupted, but still this starts to look like “save” icon represented by floppy disk, when in reality “save” does not have anything to do with floppies anymore.

dgellow 5y ago
You can have both new foods AND “meat-less” copies of meat products. I like plant-based meat because I can use my favorites recipes with minimal change, just swap chicken with another source of protein that feels kind of the same, and I’m happy with that.
pornel 5y ago
These are new foods, but we don't have a better name for them. They're called like "horseless carriages", because a "car" term hasn't been coined yet. But overall the "slighly chewy umami-flavored protein-rich chunks" however you call them are very useful in cooking, as they increase variety of flavors and textures in dishes.
rtoway 5y ago
Because people like meat? I like meat. I don't like what happens to the animal though. I don't think it gets that much more complicated than that
onion2k 5y ago
Regarding plant based “meat” why are we trying to fool our selfs that we are eating meat. We've spent several thousand years optimizing our cultural history to tell ourselves that well-prepared and cooked meat dishes are the peak of cuisine. To just throw that away and start over would require ignoring practically everything we believe about food. It could be done, but it would be difficult. It's very likely that there's even a genetic component - we've evolved to enjoy eating cooked meat. I wouldn't be at all surprised that we really do, at a provable scientific genetic level, prefer it to vegetables. People just like meat. If we can enjoy the experience without the moral and environmental side effects that's not a bad thing.
- hypertele-Xii 5y ago
  Beef is literally just grass. Humans began herding grazing livestock because we can't eat grass. Given the amazing variety, quality, and price of foods available in the developed, globalized world, I cannot fathom why anyone would want to eat grass anymore. Maybe gut bacteria are mind controlling people to eat it, to their benefit at our expense. I've certainly noticed the craving effect, almost universally regardless of food, for the things I eat. Going from meat to vegan was challenging, but I'm better for it.
  - bagels 5y ago
    Beef is not just literally grass. That's just unhelpful reductionism, and ignores that the properties are changed dramatically through energy inputs and chemical reactions. Grass is just dirt and CO2 and water after all. Dirt is just a bunch of atoms...
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  For a long time only the wealthy could eat meat regularly. And then progress happened and even people of modest means could afford that. And then the wealthy differentiated themselves by not eating meat. And pretty soon the unwashed masses are going to be able to do that too. So the techies and the doctors and the lawyers are going to have to find a different way to differentiate themselves.
Toutouxc 5y ago
IMO this is a complaint most people have BEFORE they go vegetarian (or start trying to reduce their meat consumption). Then they realize that it's very convenient to be able to mimic existing recipes and maybe prepare the same meal for vegetarian and non-vegetarian friends and things start to make sense. Also there are many meals in which we enjoy the form as much as the material (i.e. they're fun to eat or nice to look at) -- burgers, hotdogs, meatballs, and the choice is to either give it up completely or ... eat the floppy disk.
detaro 5y ago
There is plenty "new food" (and lots of "old food" just not commonly eaten here) that's vegetarian too. But meat is tasty, so fake meat is nice to have - why miss out on that if you like it?
gypsyharlot 5y ago
A vegetarian told me that this is due to practicality. When he goes to some event, why does he bring sausage-shaped "meat"? Because then he can use the buns and ketchup that were provided for everyone. Same with burgers...
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
belorn 5y ago
Diets are a mixture of culture, availability, personal taste, cost, and social status. Culture is by far the biggest and most dominating factor when talking about diets. If you want to be a champion of the environment and ignore culture, there is likely food that exist where you live that people don't want to eat. Invasive and overpopulated species. In order for something to be invasive or overpopulated it is likely not something that people eat in your culture. Where I live, cyprinidae fish exist in massive overpopulation to varying degree in most fresh water lakes. They grow large in numbers from as a result from farms creating water pollution, and since our culture do not have cyprinidae fish as part of any diet, the economical incentives to fish them is only from bio gas and animal feed. That is simply not enough, and so the problem has only continue to worsen. My culture loves fish and have fish as a central figure at many occasions, but not cyprinidae so we hunt other species to extinction. An other culture crash is seaweed, an excellent protein that doesn't use land or create pollution. Just like with plant meat there are plant fish alternatives that is constructed using seaweed. They are sadly not very popular. We could also just be eating the seaweed as it is, but people don't know how to cook it or how it fit in their recopies and lives. Being innovative with food culture is not so much about production as it is about changing people minds. Artificial meat tries to solve this by keeping the culture as is.
chronogram 5y ago
Looking at my vegan friend who likes having a different processed not-meat each day while I'm having more protein in my bowl of oats, the difference seems to be more about lifestyle. He actively calls himself a vegan and actively seeks vegan things like the processed products and magazines about veganism, whereas I just like oatmeal and we both don't care that both meals are equally vegan.

dgellow 5y ago

You can have both new foods AND “meat-less” copies of meat products. I like plant-based meat because I can use my favorites recipes with minimal change, just swap chicken with another source of protein that feels kind of the same, and I’m happy with that.

pornel 5y ago

These are new foods, but we don't have a better name for them. They're called like "horseless carriages", because a "car" term hasn't been coined yet. But overall the "slighly chewy umami-flavored protein-rich chunks" however you call them are very useful in cooking, as they increase variety of flavors and textures in dishes.

rtoway 5y ago

Because people like meat? I like meat. I don't like what happens to the animal though. I don't think it gets that much more complicated than that

onion2k 5y ago

Regarding plant based “meat” why are we trying to fool our selfs that we are eating meat. We've spent several thousand years optimizing our cultural history to tell ourselves that well-prepared and cooked meat dishes are the peak of cuisine. To just throw that away and start over would require ignoring practically everything we believe about food. It could be done, but it would be difficult. It's very likely that there's even a genetic component - we've evolved to enjoy eating cooked meat. I wouldn't be at all surprised that we really do, at a provable scientific genetic level, prefer it to vegetables. People just like meat. If we can enjoy the experience without the moral and environmental side effects that's not a bad thing.

hypertele-Xii 5y ago
Beef is literally just grass. Humans began herding grazing livestock because we can't eat grass. Given the amazing variety, quality, and price of foods available in the developed, globalized world, I cannot fathom why anyone would want to eat grass anymore. Maybe gut bacteria are mind controlling people to eat it, to their benefit at our expense. I've certainly noticed the craving effect, almost universally regardless of food, for the things I eat. Going from meat to vegan was challenging, but I'm better for it.
- bagels 5y ago
  Beef is not just literally grass. That's just unhelpful reductionism, and ignores that the properties are changed dramatically through energy inputs and chemical reactions. Grass is just dirt and CO2 and water after all. Dirt is just a bunch of atoms...
throwaway0a5e 5y ago
For a long time only the wealthy could eat meat regularly. And then progress happened and even people of modest means could afford that. And then the wealthy differentiated themselves by not eating meat. And pretty soon the unwashed masses are going to be able to do that too. So the techies and the doctors and the lawyers are going to have to find a different way to differentiate themselves.

Toutouxc 5y ago

IMO this is a complaint most people have BEFORE they go vegetarian (or start trying to reduce their meat consumption). Then they realize that it's very convenient to be able to mimic existing recipes and maybe prepare the same meal for vegetarian and non-vegetarian friends and things start to make sense. Also there are many meals in which we enjoy the form as much as the material (i.e. they're fun to eat or nice to look at) -- burgers, hotdogs, meatballs, and the choice is to either give it up completely or ... eat the floppy disk.

detaro 5y ago

There is plenty "new food" (and lots of "old food" just not commonly eaten here) that's vegetarian too. But meat is tasty, so fake meat is nice to have - why miss out on that if you like it?

gypsyharlot 5y ago

A vegetarian told me that this is due to practicality. When he goes to some event, why does he bring sausage-shaped "meat"? Because then he can use the buns and ketchup that were provided for everyone. Same with burgers...

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

belorn 5y ago

Diets are a mixture of culture, availability, personal taste, cost, and social status. Culture is by far the biggest and most dominating factor when talking about diets. If you want to be a champion of the environment and ignore culture, there is likely food that exist where you live that people don't want to eat. Invasive and overpopulated species. In order for something to be invasive or overpopulated it is likely not something that people eat in your culture. Where I live, cyprinidae fish exist in massive overpopulation to varying degree in most fresh water lakes. They grow large in numbers from as a result from farms creating water pollution, and since our culture do not have cyprinidae fish as part of any diet, the economical incentives to fish them is only from bio gas and animal feed. That is simply not enough, and so the problem has only continue to worsen. My culture loves fish and have fish as a central figure at many occasions, but not cyprinidae so we hunt other species to extinction. An other culture crash is seaweed, an excellent protein that doesn't use land or create pollution. Just like with plant meat there are plant fish alternatives that is constructed using seaweed. They are sadly not very popular. We could also just be eating the seaweed as it is, but people don't know how to cook it or how it fit in their recopies and lives. Being innovative with food culture is not so much about production as it is about changing people minds. Artificial meat tries to solve this by keeping the culture as is.

chronogram 5y ago

Looking at my vegan friend who likes having a different processed not-meat each day while I'm having more protein in my bowl of oats, the difference seems to be more about lifestyle. He actively calls himself a vegan and actively seeks vegan things like the processed products and magazines about veganism, whereas I just like oatmeal and we both don't care that both meals are equally vegan.