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These have flopped. Most people who like meat want real meat. Most people who don't like meat don't want fake meat. The remainder is the market for fake mea

These have flopped. Most people who like meat want real meat. Most people who don't like meat don't want fake meat. The remainder is the market for fake meats, and it has proven small.

LegitShady 4y ago
they flopped because they're expensive. I've tried both. They're both more or less edible. But impossible burgers are more money than just buying beef, and not as good. Why is this pea protein more money than beef?
- virgildotcodes 4y ago
  Subsidies and economies of scale.
- woodruffw 4y ago
  This is the right answer -- price drives demand, and meat substitutes are currently mis-priced due to meat subsidies (and externalities).
baskethead 4y ago
I actually like Impossible Burger. It doesn't take like a burger exactly, but it tastes good. And if you screw up an Impossible burger, it doesn't taste nearly as bad as a screwed up beef burger, which gets as dry as leather.
nerdponx 4y ago
They have not flopped. They are extremely popular among vegetarians. They flopped as "meat substitutes" because they are not in fact meat substitutes and never were. They are flavored soy protein. They are junk food. Absolutely nothing like lab-grown meat or any other kind of meat, in neither form nor function nor nutritional value.
- dieselgate 4y ago
  Saying they’re absolutely nothing like meat in form or nutritional value doesn’t make sense to me - the Whopper and Impossible Whopper are basically the same item. An impossible patty has very similar fat/protein content to a beef (80/20) patty but with more carbohydrates (beef having none). Impossible patties seem a legitimate meat substitute for those who choose to purchase them.
  - nerdponx 4y ago
    Counting macronutrients is a pretty poor way of comparing foods. They have different amino acids, fats, trace minerals, and vitamins, and are digested differently in the body. They don't even smell the same or behave the same when cooking. This isn't some kind of pro-meat screed, either. It's just not true that they are equivalent culinarily or nutritionally. They are a pretty good approximation of beef, but they're not the same. If the Whoppers seem the same, it's because Whoppers are junk food, and Impossible meat is kind of just vegan junk food.
nonbirithm 4y ago
I wonder what it is that drives the human desire for meat. Meat substitutes seem to be trying to solve the environmental issues by taking advantage of that inbuilt natural desire, albeit imperfectly. I have to wonder if thay is an easier strategy than trying to change people's habits on a mass scale.
- diordiderot 4y ago
  > what it is that drives the human desire for meat My guess is that it's a calorically dense nutritionally complete food (if you like eating organs)
int_19h 4y ago
I really like meat, and I actually like the Impossible Whopper.

These have flopped. Most people who like meat want real meat. Most people who don't like meat don't want fake meat. The remainder is the market for fake meats, and it has proven small.

LegitShady 4y ago

they flopped because they're expensive. I've tried both. They're both more or less edible. But impossible burgers are more money than just buying beef, and not as good. Why is this pea protein more money than beef?

virgildotcodes 4y ago
Subsidies and economies of scale.
woodruffw 4y ago
This is the right answer -- price drives demand, and meat substitutes are currently mis-priced due to meat subsidies (and externalities).

baskethead 4y ago

I actually like Impossible Burger. It doesn't take like a burger exactly, but it tastes good. And if you screw up an Impossible burger, it doesn't taste nearly as bad as a screwed up beef burger, which gets as dry as leather.

nerdponx 4y ago

They have not flopped. They are extremely popular among vegetarians. They flopped as "meat substitutes" because they are not in fact meat substitutes and never were. They are flavored soy protein. They are junk food. Absolutely nothing like lab-grown meat or any other kind of meat, in neither form nor function nor nutritional value.

dieselgate 4y ago
Saying they’re absolutely nothing like meat in form or nutritional value doesn’t make sense to me - the Whopper and Impossible Whopper are basically the same item. An impossible patty has very similar fat/protein content to a beef (80/20) patty but with more carbohydrates (beef having none). Impossible patties seem a legitimate meat substitute for those who choose to purchase them.
- nerdponx 4y ago
  Counting macronutrients is a pretty poor way of comparing foods. They have different amino acids, fats, trace minerals, and vitamins, and are digested differently in the body. They don't even smell the same or behave the same when cooking. This isn't some kind of pro-meat screed, either. It's just not true that they are equivalent culinarily or nutritionally. They are a pretty good approximation of beef, but they're not the same. If the Whoppers seem the same, it's because Whoppers are junk food, and Impossible meat is kind of just vegan junk food.

nonbirithm 4y ago

I wonder what it is that drives the human desire for meat. Meat substitutes seem to be trying to solve the environmental issues by taking advantage of that inbuilt natural desire, albeit imperfectly. I have to wonder if thay is an easier strategy than trying to change people's habits on a mass scale.

diordiderot 4y ago
> what it is that drives the human desire for meat My guess is that it's a calorically dense nutritionally complete food (if you like eating organs)

int_19h 4y ago

I really like meat, and I actually like the Impossible Whopper.