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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, b

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

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