4 ms·

Scientists just invented a soybean that taste like pork

LatteLazy 3y ago
I think actually competing with meat will be exceptionally difficult. I don't understand why startups don't start smaller: how about a soy bean with a full, balanced profile of amino acids for humans and very little else? Taste can be manufactured after. I also note they carefully avoid referring to these are what they are GMOs or any references to concerns around soy intake (though I think those are mostly unfounded?)
- billynomates 3y ago
  Soy beans already contain all essential amino acids
  - LatteLazy 3y ago
    I thought (happy to be corrected) that some are in quite small quantities, hence you have to eat a LOT of beans to get all of the one(s) least available there?
    - adrian_b 3y ago
      In many places the information about amino-acid content in vegetables is not presented in a useful form. It should always be presented by specifying how much you have to eat daily to cover the body necessities. For example 167 g of lentils per day ensures adequate quantities of all amino-acids, except methionine, while 500 g of wheat flour per day ensures adequate quantities of all amino-acids, except lysine. Searching now quickly the Web, I see a claim that 4 cups per day of soybean should provide all amino-acids. I have no idea how much a cup of soybean is, but I assume that it is more than 100 g, so 4 cups might mean more than 500 g, which is too much to eat daily for an average human, without gaining weight. The only way to eat so much is to use a preparation method that separates proteins from starch. Where I live, in Europe, using soybean as the main source of proteins for human consumption would be impractically expensive. If meat is avoided, here it is much cheaper and simpler to use a combination of lentils or peas with home-made wheat bread from which most of the starch is removed by washing the dough before baking, which results in a bread highly enriched in proteins.
      - LatteLazy 3y ago
        Thanks
- JoeAltmaier 3y ago
  All modern foods are 'GMO' in that they are genetically modified by humans for palatability. The whole 'GMO' thang is a scary story used to manufacture outrage or something. No requirement to use the language of fear to describe your own products.
  - LatteLazy 3y ago
    We can argue over terms, but if there was no differences between selective breeding and modern techniques, we would not both with modern techniques...
    - JoeAltmaier 3y ago
      Faster. More accurate. Better selectivity. The old technique was 'let somebody fool around in their back yard and hope they don't make poison or kill the plant or create a superweed'. Today it's 'make the flavor better without doing something random as well' After all kudzu and bermudagrass were 'naturally genetically modified'. That worked out great.
      - benj111 3y ago
        >The old technique was 'let somebody fool around in their back yard and hope they don't make poison or kill the plant or create a superweed How is GM less likely to do this? I'm not against GMO per se. But we don't have the controls in place if something completely novel has unintended consequences. Selective breeding is slower and more limited, which at present is a feature.
        JoeAltmaier 3y ago
        Well, so far the 'natural' foods have a monopoly on invasiveness and superweed generation. So I'll just bat that ball back at you: doesn't doing it carefully and deliberately (instead of randomly and blindly) have a better chance at a better outcome? Yes, it does.
        3y ago
JoeAltmaier 3y ago
I wish folks would quit harping on this. Make soybeans more delicious - wonderful! Whether they are 'like pork' is irrelevant. Pork is different from chicken and beef and gator and rabbit... let these new foods taste like themselves. We can come up with good recipes for them too.
- PretzelPirate 3y ago
  Many consumers want the taste of pork, and perhaps this will help them get it without causing the death of an animal. People don't seem to want recipes for new flavors, they want to eat what they already like and in a more sustainable and less harmful way.
  - JoeAltmaier 3y ago
    That flies in the face of so much evidence. People don't want new flavors? Every snack food in the store is all about the new flavor. Every restaurant that opens downtown is about new recipes, new fusions and on and on. You can get people to eat delicious things pretty easily. The fewer that eat pork the more expensive it becomes. Luring them to the cheaper, tastier alternative is an obvious ploy. Better than disappointing folks again and again with false claims of 'tastes just like pork' or whatever.
    - PretzelPirate 3y ago
      When I go to the store, I see the same old flavors rebranded as something new and maybe put on a new medium (ex: casava chips). When I see people grocery shop, they aren't looking for exotic meats, they want chicken breasts and ground beef. People attach themselves to specific products and specific flavors for life (some people are lifelong coke drinkers and hate Pepsi). People like what's familiar and they find comfort in it. Unless you have a killer marketing plan to get consumers to try your new flavors, betting on comfort and familiarity and differentiating on something the consumer is passionate about, such as cost or climate impact, is a winning strategy.
      - 3y ago
aradox66 3y ago
The synthetic plant based meat foods are missing the point - the flavor comes from the fat, not the protein! Plant based whey, or heme, or pork protein isn't gonna do it. We want the fat!!
ThinkBeat 3y ago
I dont think something vegetable will taste and feel the same as real meat. It is a blidn alley. Instead focus on making food with plants that taste good. You tell someone, this hamburger made with "plant based derivative" will taste just the same as the real working. The guy bites into it and is immediately disappointed. If instead you can say here is a burger that is plant based. I think it tastes pretty good. The guy bites into it and evaluates the taste on its own. perhaps it takes ok. Focus on making great plant based food that takes good on its own. Not telling your thing is just like steak, because it is not. We have rich and old cultures in the world that are mostly based on plant-based foods with natural ingrediens.

I think actually competing with meat will be exceptionally difficult. I don't understand why startups don't start smaller: how about a soy bean with a full, balanced profile of amino acids for humans and very little else? Taste can be manufactured after. I also note they carefully avoid referring to these are what they are GMOs or any references to concerns around soy intake (though I think those are mostly unfounded?)

billynomates 3y ago
Soy beans already contain all essential amino acids
- LatteLazy 3y ago
  I thought (happy to be corrected) that some are in quite small quantities, hence you have to eat a LOT of beans to get all of the one(s) least available there?
  - adrian_b 3y ago
    In many places the information about amino-acid content in vegetables is not presented in a useful form. It should always be presented by specifying how much you have to eat daily to cover the body necessities. For example 167 g of lentils per day ensures adequate quantities of all amino-acids, except methionine, while 500 g of wheat flour per day ensures adequate quantities of all amino-acids, except lysine. Searching now quickly the Web, I see a claim that 4 cups per day of soybean should provide all amino-acids. I have no idea how much a cup of soybean is, but I assume that it is more than 100 g, so 4 cups might mean more than 500 g, which is too much to eat daily for an average human, without gaining weight. The only way to eat so much is to use a preparation method that separates proteins from starch. Where I live, in Europe, using soybean as the main source of proteins for human consumption would be impractically expensive. If meat is avoided, here it is much cheaper and simpler to use a combination of lentils or peas with home-made wheat bread from which most of the starch is removed by washing the dough before baking, which results in a bread highly enriched in proteins.
    - LatteLazy 3y ago
      Thanks
JoeAltmaier 3y ago
All modern foods are 'GMO' in that they are genetically modified by humans for palatability. The whole 'GMO' thang is a scary story used to manufacture outrage or something. No requirement to use the language of fear to describe your own products.
- LatteLazy 3y ago
  We can argue over terms, but if there was no differences between selective breeding and modern techniques, we would not both with modern techniques...
  - JoeAltmaier 3y ago
    Faster. More accurate. Better selectivity. The old technique was 'let somebody fool around in their back yard and hope they don't make poison or kill the plant or create a superweed'. Today it's 'make the flavor better without doing something random as well' After all kudzu and bermudagrass were 'naturally genetically modified'. That worked out great.
    - benj111 3y ago
      >The old technique was 'let somebody fool around in their back yard and hope they don't make poison or kill the plant or create a superweed How is GM less likely to do this? I'm not against GMO per se. But we don't have the controls in place if something completely novel has unintended consequences. Selective breeding is slower and more limited, which at present is a feature.
      - JoeAltmaier 3y ago
        Well, so far the 'natural' foods have a monopoly on invasiveness and superweed generation. So I'll just bat that ball back at you: doesn't doing it carefully and deliberately (instead of randomly and blindly) have a better chance at a better outcome? Yes, it does.
        3y ago

JoeAltmaier 3y ago

I wish folks would quit harping on this. Make soybeans more delicious - wonderful! Whether they are 'like pork' is irrelevant. Pork is different from chicken and beef and gator and rabbit... let these new foods taste like themselves. We can come up with good recipes for them too.

PretzelPirate 3y ago
Many consumers want the taste of pork, and perhaps this will help them get it without causing the death of an animal. People don't seem to want recipes for new flavors, they want to eat what they already like and in a more sustainable and less harmful way.
- JoeAltmaier 3y ago
  That flies in the face of so much evidence. People don't want new flavors? Every snack food in the store is all about the new flavor. Every restaurant that opens downtown is about new recipes, new fusions and on and on. You can get people to eat delicious things pretty easily. The fewer that eat pork the more expensive it becomes. Luring them to the cheaper, tastier alternative is an obvious ploy. Better than disappointing folks again and again with false claims of 'tastes just like pork' or whatever.
  - PretzelPirate 3y ago
    When I go to the store, I see the same old flavors rebranded as something new and maybe put on a new medium (ex: casava chips). When I see people grocery shop, they aren't looking for exotic meats, they want chicken breasts and ground beef. People attach themselves to specific products and specific flavors for life (some people are lifelong coke drinkers and hate Pepsi). People like what's familiar and they find comfort in it. Unless you have a killer marketing plan to get consumers to try your new flavors, betting on comfort and familiarity and differentiating on something the consumer is passionate about, such as cost or climate impact, is a winning strategy.
    - 3y ago

aradox66 3y ago

The synthetic plant based meat foods are missing the point - the flavor comes from the fat, not the protein! Plant based whey, or heme, or pork protein isn't gonna do it. We want the fat!!

ThinkBeat 3y ago

I dont think something vegetable will taste and feel the same as real meat. It is a blidn alley. Instead focus on making food with plants that taste good. You tell someone, this hamburger made with "plant based derivative" will taste just the same as the real working. The guy bites into it and is immediately disappointed. If instead you can say here is a burger that is plant based. I think it tastes pretty good. The guy bites into it and evaluates the taste on its own. perhaps it takes ok. Focus on making great plant based food that takes good on its own. Not telling your thing is just like steak, because it is not. We have rich and old cultures in the world that are mostly based on plant-based foods with natural ingrediens.