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I don't think demand for Beyond will ever hit zero but I do think recent demand seems to have been temporary & can see it falling into a niche. In the past, ve

I don't think demand for Beyond will ever hit zero but I do think recent demand seems to have been temporary & can see it falling into a niche. In the past, vegetarianism/veganism was mostly the reserve of activist types, dogmatic in their approach, with little interest in fake meats (though they existed, demand & competition was low enough for them to be pretty poor substitutes). Then, more recently, there was a big trend of vegetarianism becoming more mainstream, with many people trialling it: during that trial, there's naturally a lot of reliance on products like Beyond. Similarly, with the mainstreaming of it all, many old-timer vegetarians become more comfortable/open with liking/trying meaty things & also as the product quality/variety improves, many old-timer vegetarians will be naturally curious excited to test new options. So this all results in big spikes in demand for Beyond. Now I think we're entering a phase of (a) long-term dedicated vegetarians have tried it out & the novelty has disappeared and (b) "trial" vegetarians are settling into a "flexitarian" / low-meat diet, where they just eat real meat when they want to, but do their best to reduce consumption. So the demand drops. There's still going to be the odd "trial" vegetarian who likes meat but stayed strict & there's probably some old-timers who developed a taste for it, but it's a much lower % of people than at the peak of novel interest. --- There's also a few notable exceptions where new substitutes have succeeded in gaining a culturally iconic status - e.g. the Greggs sausages in the UK. These will probably retain some popularity I guess, but they're very much the exception.

neuronic 4y ago
The number of vegetarians/vegans in Germany is strongly increasing [1]. The reasons vary and range from the horrific and inexcusable environmental impact of mass meat production to simple ethics. I personally have been convinced by my conscience and empathy. I make an effort to reduce (and hopefully stop) eating meat after witnessing the insane cruelty we subject smart, intelligent and emotional animals to. The cognitive dissonance required to eat tons of pigs but on the other hand love dogs and cats is just weird. I mean if you get the chance, check out some cows and pigs. They're awesome and form a bond with you. So hearing pigs scream in pain from CO2 suffocation is absolutely psychotic to me. Their cries burned themselves into my mind. Especially considering that most of them probably never saw the sun or could ever lay down in the grass to doze off... :( For me, eating meat doesn't justify this pure horror. However, I still make a distinction between this sort of meat and, say, animals that had happy free roam years on a farm. I get a lot of heat from vegans but it doesn't matter. ANY reduction in the consumption of live animal products is a positive thing and there will always be political radicals. So in the end, I find myself in your category (b) at the moment with severely reduced meat consumption. Beyond Meat temporarily helps to bridge the gap, it's akin to the nicotine bandaid, only this time it's for the meat addiction. But in that way the subsutition products are temporary and the majority of vegan/vegetarian food we cook is way tastier than the ready made substitutes. [1] https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23273338/germany-less-meat-plant-based-vegan-vegetarian-flexitarian https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23273338/germany-less-mea...

neuronic 4y ago

The number of vegetarians/vegans in Germany is strongly increasing [1]. The reasons vary and range from the horrific and inexcusable environmental impact of mass meat production to simple ethics. I personally have been convinced by my conscience and empathy. I make an effort to reduce (and hopefully stop) eating meat after witnessing the insane cruelty we subject smart, intelligent and emotional animals to. The cognitive dissonance required to eat tons of pigs but on the other hand love dogs and cats is just weird. I mean if you get the chance, check out some cows and pigs. They're awesome and form a bond with you. So hearing pigs scream in pain from CO2 suffocation is absolutely psychotic to me. Their cries burned themselves into my mind. Especially considering that most of them probably never saw the sun or could ever lay down in the grass to doze off... :( For me, eating meat doesn't justify this pure horror. However, I still make a distinction between this sort of meat and, say, animals that had happy free roam years on a farm. I get a lot of heat from vegans but it doesn't matter. ANY reduction in the consumption of live animal products is a positive thing and there will always be political radicals. So in the end, I find myself in your category (b) at the moment with severely reduced meat consumption. Beyond Meat temporarily helps to bridge the gap, it's akin to the nicotine bandaid, only this time it's for the meat addiction. But in that way the subsutition products are temporary and the majority of vegan/vegetarian food we cook is way tastier than the ready made substitutes. [1] https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23273338/germany-less-meat-plant-based-vegan-vegetarian-flexitarian https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23273338/germany-less-mea...