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How sustainable are fake meats?
- ggm 4y agoIt is unlikely they will get radically worse, but its possible they won't get radically better. However, on-the-hoof meat production has some ideas which can be remarkably transformative: the seaweed additive would reduce methane burp burden immensely. Nothing much alters the water burden of different organisms. Beef is high. Almonds are amongst the highest in plant foods. Sustainable fake meat will want to be significantly lower than Almonds. Its already significantly lower than beef. (skimmed TFA)
- wyre 4y ago>seaweed additive This has been an idea for years and afaik there is only one farm in Australia feeding their cattle seaweed. Keep in mind it is a specific kelp and to supplement the diets of the world cattle population with seaweed it would need to be farmed with exponential growth to the point of being a major or close to major crop.
- orionblastar 4y agoIt takes 8 gallons of water to produce cow milk 1 gallon. It takes 48 gallons of water to make almond milk 1 gallon. The same with the plant burgers take more water to make than meat. When water gets scarce there will be shortages.
- superchroma 4y agomaybe the answer is to try and make almond milk substitute then?
- _xerces_ 4y agoWhile almond is better, the article does suggest that almonds themselves are not the best when it comes to water usage.
- orionblastar 4y agoThen why am I being downvoted when I post that?
- myshpa 4y ago> The same with the plant burgers take more water to make than meat. Maybe this. It's a fallacy.
- orionblastar 4y agoOK, I guess I got it wrong. Sorry about that.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- unmole 4y ago> The same with the plant burgers take more water to make than meat. Do you have a source for that?
- shrubble 4y agoWhere does the water disappear to? Does it enter an interdimensional wormhole, never to return?
- dweinus 4y agoTell me you didn't read before posting without telling me you didn't read before posting.
- markeibes 4y agoNo
- pjerem 4y agoI’m amazed that people are still considering almond milk as a replacement of milk. Both beverages share basically nothing except maybe that they are white and people still compare them. In reality, you can reduce/stop cow milk consumption without replacing it. And if you want to replace it, almond milk is a pretty bad choice. I like both but to me it’s like comparing coffee with chocolate arguing that you can (or should) replace one with the other. If you want to stop cow milk for [insert reason] and, by the meantime, you are worried about the water consumption of almond milk, just don’t drink both.
- WheelsAtLarge 4y agoWhat I don't get about fake meats is that they even exist. There is absolutely no reason why humans need to eat meat. 20+% of India's population is vegetarian and has been for generations. They have full lives without meat. People don't have to be 100% vegetarians. The real game changer is to get the world's population to reduce their meat intake by eating more vegetarian meals. Vegetarian meals can be very tasty and satisfying. There's no need for synthetic meat. Fake meats take a lot of resources. It's just another way to make a buck by getting people to consume something they don't need. In the same way, as soda is nice to have but you don't want to get behind it as a way to save the world. Fake meats are equivalent to snacks not world saviors.
- dddddddd111 4y ago
- Scaevolus 4y agoHumans like lots of luxuries that aren't required to survive. There's nothing special about meat in that sense.
- _xerces_ 4y agoWhen you get time to read the article, you'll see that this point was addressed and that it turns out people won't change their behavior despite knowing for decades that meat can be cruel and terrible for the planet. You need to give people and easy low-friction alternative, and eating beans and rice in place of a juicy burger isn't going to cut it.
- WheelsAtLarge 4y agoNo, they aren't really addressing the point, they point out that eating more vegetables is better but they don't address the point that creating more satisfying dishes with out having to produce a super processed product that does not resemble a vegetable and requires so many resources is so much better than fake meats at any level. Fake meat is green washing at its best.
- blackqueeriroh 4y agoDid any of you read the article? Fake meats are actually much more sustainable that real meats
- WheelsAtLarge 4y agoYes, they are more sustainable but they are in no way replacements. I've had a few but I wouldn't make it a habit to replace meat with it. But I would surely replace one of my meals with 100% vegetables if it was easy to get and tasty. One that comes to mind is a bean and rice burrito with salsa. It's delicious. That's the type of replacements that should be pushed, not fake meats. The idea that fake meat is so much better is crazy. It's just a new way to make a buck.
- atoav 4y agoIt is a bit like in the Matrix. If it tastes the same and you have a good feeling when you bite into it, is there really a difference? I mean aside from the fact that we are now entering times where the water consumption of each unit of meat produced will become a serious issue and threaten the actual survival of people.
- DangitBobby 4y agoAs a vegetarian, having fake meat options is really great. Sometimes you just want a burger, or you need something that can be cooked on a grill at a social gathering. Just the fact that I can get fast food that isn't Taco Bell when I want to is a big deal.
- prepend 4y agoAs a former vegetarian, I loved boca burgers as they were cheap and high in proteins and minimally processed. The new fake meats aren’t that great over existing meat substitutes and I’m frustrated that their price is so high and has not been coming down over the years available. I don’t see these being viable as they cost more than beef.
- 4y ago