4 ms·

It doesn’t taste that good, it smells weird when cooked, it isn’t actually healthier, it’s typically more expensive than real meat as it’s “premium”, the nutrit

It doesn’t taste that good, it smells weird when cooked, it isn’t actually healthier, it’s typically more expensive than real meat as it’s “premium”, the nutritional value is suspect… the list goes on and on

wilg 4y ago
Yep, for me it just tastes weird.
sokoloff 4y ago
I think Impossible is fine as a casual ground beef substitute. It tastes okay (not amazing) in burgers and would be fine in any sauce. The problem is its price is eponymous: Impossible for consumers to, pun intended, stomach it. Sell it for 75% of 80/20 ground beef’s price and it will fly off the shelves. At 250-400%, nope.
- joshjob42 4y ago
  True, but they say in the article that "Pricing, which has already come down, could match beef as early as the end of the year, [Impossible's CEO] says, as his costs continue to improve with increased efficiency.“ That suggests to me that certainly by sometime in '24 we ought to see Impossible Beef down to cost parity with 80/20 (so ~$5/lb or so) which I think would really start to drive a transition. I'd certainly not buy animal beef anymore I don't think, unless it was some crazy good stuff for a special occasion.
  - sokoloff 4y ago
    I can regularly buy 80/20 ground beef at $3/lb at the retail level (family pack, on sale) and I’m sure commercial food service is buying it cheaper than I’m buying it at retail. The transition acceleration happens closer to $2.50/lb than $5/lb, IMO. Even matching beef price would be significantly welcome progress though, as one of my kids eats vegetarian. It doesn’t taste “better” to most people, so the transition has to be driven by a non-taste metric. That leaves price or ethics, and I know which way I’m betting on the US consumer, especially in a high-inflation, likely recession environment.
    - shrikant 4y ago
      IMHO, this sort of thing is not really going to be a consumer-driven change. If the commercials for meat alternatives are compelling enough even in the face of lobbies and subsidies, capitalism will drive the big fast food chains to market these more aggressively at more attractive price points and nudge consumer preferences in that direction.
ranguna 4y ago
Beyond and garden gourmet taste amazing and I love beyond's texture.
avhception 4y ago
The taste and smell was the killer for me. I wanted to like it and tried the burger patties, but they taste really weird. I'm not even sure if it's the beef itself or the seasoning. Maybe I should try the "ground beef". But the burger patties just taste really weird to me, not good at all. Guess I'll be waiting for lab-grown real meat.
- gernb 4y ago
  which one did you try? impossible burger was great for me. beyond, not so much
  - avhception 4y ago
    Not really sure, depends on who had a partnership with BurgerKing Germany.
    - kuschku 4y ago
      In that case, you may have gotten actual beef. Burger King Germany recently had a scandal where it turned out for quite a while they didn't stock enough vegan patties and served regular beef patties while pretending they were vegan.
johnywalks 4y ago
Tough choice. Weird goo that was grown in a lab by people that have no idea what they're doing OR natural food we've been eating since the dawn of time.
- SiempreViernes 4y ago
  The idea that the American beef industry produces anything like the meat primeval hunter gatherers subsisted on is hilarious!
- spicymaki 4y ago
  > natural food we've been eating since the dawn of time. I don't know if you seen the factory farms that produce chicken and beef? There is nothing natural from the dawn of time from that. They are loaded with antibiotics, and they are naturally selected for maximum meat production. Deli meats and hotdogs sure are natural products made of some amalgamation of random animal parts. Some people speak as if everyone procures their meat from Eden's organic farm in New Zealand where the animals are hugged to death. It really is not the case for most people.
  - jononomo 4y ago
    Beef is not factory-farmed. All cows are raised grazing on grass and are taken to feedlots for fattening only just prior to slaughter. Cows don't go through the torture that chickens and pigs go through.
    - Attrecomet 4y ago
      > All cows Entirely untrue.
    - spicymaki 4y ago
      > Beef is not factory-farmed. That seems to go against common knowledge. Cows spend about a few months to a year on a feed lot which is most likely a concentrated feed lot (CAFO is a factory farm). Veal seems to be especially cruel. Dairy cows seem to have it pretty bad for around five years from start to finish.

wilg 4y ago

Yep, for me it just tastes weird.

sokoloff 4y ago

I think Impossible is fine as a casual ground beef substitute. It tastes okay (not amazing) in burgers and would be fine in any sauce. The problem is its price is eponymous: Impossible for consumers to, pun intended, stomach it. Sell it for 75% of 80/20 ground beef’s price and it will fly off the shelves. At 250-400%, nope.

joshjob42 4y ago
True, but they say in the article that "Pricing, which has already come down, could match beef as early as the end of the year, [Impossible's CEO] says, as his costs continue to improve with increased efficiency.“ That suggests to me that certainly by sometime in '24 we ought to see Impossible Beef down to cost parity with 80/20 (so ~$5/lb or so) which I think would really start to drive a transition. I'd certainly not buy animal beef anymore I don't think, unless it was some crazy good stuff for a special occasion.
- sokoloff 4y ago
  I can regularly buy 80/20 ground beef at $3/lb at the retail level (family pack, on sale) and I’m sure commercial food service is buying it cheaper than I’m buying it at retail. The transition acceleration happens closer to $2.50/lb than $5/lb, IMO. Even matching beef price would be significantly welcome progress though, as one of my kids eats vegetarian. It doesn’t taste “better” to most people, so the transition has to be driven by a non-taste metric. That leaves price or ethics, and I know which way I’m betting on the US consumer, especially in a high-inflation, likely recession environment.
  - shrikant 4y ago
    IMHO, this sort of thing is not really going to be a consumer-driven change. If the commercials for meat alternatives are compelling enough even in the face of lobbies and subsidies, capitalism will drive the big fast food chains to market these more aggressively at more attractive price points and nudge consumer preferences in that direction.

ranguna 4y ago

Beyond and garden gourmet taste amazing and I love beyond's texture.

avhception 4y ago

The taste and smell was the killer for me. I wanted to like it and tried the burger patties, but they taste really weird. I'm not even sure if it's the beef itself or the seasoning. Maybe I should try the "ground beef". But the burger patties just taste really weird to me, not good at all. Guess I'll be waiting for lab-grown real meat.

gernb 4y ago
which one did you try? impossible burger was great for me. beyond, not so much
- avhception 4y ago
  Not really sure, depends on who had a partnership with BurgerKing Germany.
  - kuschku 4y ago
    In that case, you may have gotten actual beef. Burger King Germany recently had a scandal where it turned out for quite a while they didn't stock enough vegan patties and served regular beef patties while pretending they were vegan.

johnywalks 4y ago

Tough choice. Weird goo that was grown in a lab by people that have no idea what they're doing OR natural food we've been eating since the dawn of time.

SiempreViernes 4y ago
The idea that the American beef industry produces anything like the meat primeval hunter gatherers subsisted on is hilarious!
spicymaki 4y ago
> natural food we've been eating since the dawn of time. I don't know if you seen the factory farms that produce chicken and beef? There is nothing natural from the dawn of time from that. They are loaded with antibiotics, and they are naturally selected for maximum meat production. Deli meats and hotdogs sure are natural products made of some amalgamation of random animal parts. Some people speak as if everyone procures their meat from Eden's organic farm in New Zealand where the animals are hugged to death. It really is not the case for most people.
- jononomo 4y ago
  Beef is not factory-farmed. All cows are raised grazing on grass and are taken to feedlots for fattening only just prior to slaughter. Cows don't go through the torture that chickens and pigs go through.
  - Attrecomet 4y ago
    > All cows Entirely untrue.
  - spicymaki 4y ago
    > Beef is not factory-farmed. That seems to go against common knowledge. Cows spend about a few months to a year on a feed lot which is most likely a concentrated feed lot (CAFO is a factory farm). Veal seems to be especially cruel. Dairy cows seem to have it pretty bad for around five years from start to finish.