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The problem with Beyond Meat is that it is insanely expensive. I could buy a free range, organic and grass fed beef burger for the price of their ultra processe
by makingstuffs 1y ago
The problem with Beyond Meat is that it is insanely expensive. I could buy a free range, organic and grass fed beef burger for the price of their ultra processed burger.
Don’t get me wrong, as a vegetarian, I think they taste nice. They are just too damn expensive and not particularly healthy which goes against why I am a vegetarian. In Europe we have so many alternatives that are insanely cheaper and, as an Indian, we have so many alternatives that haven’t been processed to within an inch of their life.
One thing I found to be a great homemade burger maker is simply getting some dried minced soy protein, mix with some eggs, breadcrumbs and seasoning before wrapping in some cling film and pressing it into a patty. Tastes great, holds it shape and has a burger like texture.
- raphman 1y ago> before wrapping in some cling film and pressing it into a patty Why do you wrap it? Couldn't you also form the burger patty without the cling film?
- whoknowsidont 1y agoPretty common thing to do to help limit cleanup and help shape the patties (regardless of what they're made of).
- makingstuffs 1y agoIt allows you to add some pressure to the patty while providing it a restricted space in which it can expand. By doing so the ingredients seem to form a much stronger bond (from my experience). I used to do the same with beef when I ate it. Also, rolling it into a ball and then wrapping before flattening gives a much better shape to the resulting patty
- bell-cot 1y agoIf you'd rather avoid the single-use-ish plastic, then wax paper usually works as well.
- globular-toast 1y agoIs this really a problem with Beyond Meat or a problem with our policies not correctly pricing meat due to not caring about the environment or animal welfare?
- carlosjobim 1y agoIt's the same policy whether it's real meat patties or beyond meat, because beyond beef has the same main ingredient as the feed for the cattle: soybeans.
- jplrssn 1y agoHow much soy does it take to raise 1kg of beef compared with producing 1kg of beyond meat?
- HDThoreaun 1y agoWhy does that matter? US ag subsidies are for crops. They effect cow prices the same as they effect beyond prices. Beyond is more expensive because it doesnt have enough competition.
- zahlman 1y agoBeyond Beef derives its protein from peas, and explicitly advertises "no soy".
- carlosjobim 1y agoYou're right. I was looking at the ingredient list of artificial meat and it was mainly soybeans, but I was probably looking at the wrong brand or outdated information.
- spwa4 1y agoA lot of people would say it is a problem with making the entire population pay for the moral preferences of a few.
- mgraczyk 1y agoWhy do you believe it's not healthy? Because of the processes food hysteria stuff?
- fakedang 1y agoIt's not hysteria. Beyond Meat uses way too much processing in their food. They literally have patented processes to alter protein structures.
- mgraczyk 1y agoWhat I mean is that clearly processed foods aren't harmful because they are processed. All the correlations go away when you control for basic things like sugar and vegetable consumption. The whole idea that processed foods are bad for health is a hysteria.
- ponector 1y agoTreating food with chemicals usually it's not good. Also you simply don't know what exactly are they doing. Like ultra processed american bread is not so good comparing with european wholegrain sourdough bread.
- mistercow 1y agoConsider how broad the phrase “treating food with chemicals” is, and you’ll start to see the problem with this kind of thinking. The word “chemical” includes literally everything that food is made of.
- mandmandam 1y agoParticularly pointless pedantry. We all know what they mean, and are to assume the best reading of what they're saying. Bread, the example they used, is a particularly stark example where Americans are subjected to stuff that is rightly banned in most of the rest of the world.
- libertine 1y ago> I could buy a free range, organic and grass fed beef burger for the price of their ultra processed burger. In many countries, it's a heavily subsidized industry. Even if you have VC funds, it's not the same as being backed by country subsidies. To be clear, I'm not making a judgment, just saying that meat would probably be a lot more expensive.
- npteljes 1y agoI think that for this exact reason Beyond Meat (or other alternatives) need a similar boost, in order to be financially competitive as well.
- libertine 1y agoThat's a political decision that needs to be applied to the alternative protein industry. However, given the current political climate and the acceptance of disinformation, that's going to be challenging.
- npteljes 1y agoIndeed, and indeed.
- carlosjobim 1y agoAren't they massively subsidized already? It's soybeans, after all.
- hombre_fatal 1y agoMost soybeans are fed to animals and only a tiny amount of soybean calories are converted into meat. So a soybean subsidy scales better in the meat industry and makes their product disproportionally cheaper.
- cultofmetatron 1y agoand unfortunatly cows raised on soybeans yields trash quality meat with high amounts of omega 6 vs 3.
- ribcage 1y ago[dead]
- robertoandred 1y ago> getting some dried minced soy protein, mix with some eggs, breadcrumbs and seasoning before wrapping in some cling film and pressing it into a patty Sounds like processing to me
- mind-blight 1y agoCool, we have a semantics issue. Processing can mean "any change to a food item" such as chopping, cooking, etc. In these kinds of conversations, it's often used as "significant alterations that are not possible or common outside of a food lab". E.g. I can do cured meats, or add corn starch to a soup at home. I'm not going to make partially hydrogenated oils or pink slime for chicken nuggets. If you're being genuine and trying to point out that it's difficult to draw a clear line between "good" and "bad" processing - absolutely! Processes that have been used for a long time (decades, hundreds, or thousands of years) are generally well understood and safer. Newer processes and changes have risks. So, "can I do this in my kitchen" is a great heuristic for trying to walk a very fuzzy line. If you're deliberately misunderstanding the intent to further an argument, get outta here with that BS :P
- trallnag 1y agoEnjoy your home-made herbs and spices instead of dangerous lab-made drugs, I guess
- mind-blight 1y agoI honestly want to know why you think trying to consume foods that have been through fewer processing steps is equivalent to rejecting medicine. Those are absurd comparisons to me. If I have a medical issue, the risks often outweigh the rewards. Chemo ain't good for you, but it's better than cancer. Artificial food coloring isn't necessary, and multiple dyes appear to contain carcinogenic contaminates. I can appreciate that chemo exists and avoid artificial dyes. The US food industry also has historically introduced a lot of unhealthy and/or poisonous additives that were later banned or recalled. Formaldehyde was added to milk in the early 1900s because the industry didn't want to adopt pasteurization. Partially hydrogenated oil as margarine was advertised as a healthier butter alternative in the 50s and 60s. There are cool things that come out of food labs (Xanthum gum is one of my favorites), but it seems weird to be condescending towards people for taking a reasonably cautious approach towards food - especially when there's historical and scientific evidence that backs the approach
- kaladin-jasnah 1y agoThe company's products in my and other people's views have caused a significant wane in vegetarian and vegan burger diversity. Gone are the chickpea and black bean burgers on menus—your only choice is Beyond Meat-esque burgers. As someone who doesn't actually really like how Beyond Meat tastes, it's unfortunate that it's the only option sometimes. As someone who likes food variety and practically needs it, eliminating choice is the worst. I have to concur about processing as well. Indian cuisine has so many unprocessed and nutritious meals that are vegetarian. So does Ethiopian cuisine. Mediterranean foods, Tex-mex, and lots of South American food can be made vegetarian. There are great ideas for burgers from here too. See https://www.shopdeepfoods.com/product/aloo-tikki-141-oz?pid=5898 https://www.shopdeepfoods.com/product/aloo-tikki-141-oz?pid=.... I've wanted to try some of the NYTimes vegetarian and vegan burger recipes when I get the chance. My point is, Beyond Meat seems to reduce the better-testing and less processed competition.
- null0ranje 1y agoIve never understood the drive to make meat substitutes instead of celebrating vegetarian cuisine. I’m not a vegetarian, but if I eat some dish that is vegetarian, why wouldn’t I want to celebrate the vegetable itself made from instead of trying to make some fake meat that never quite hits the mark?
- santoshalper 1y agoI think the idea was that Beyond Meat would be a "transitional" product that would provide an ever growing vegetarian/vegan population an option that was familiar to them. For example, if you do not care about celebrating vegetables, and just want to end animal cruelty, but you miss the taste of meat, then a beyond burger was supposed to be for you. The biggest problem they have is the exhorbinant prices, which relegate it to niche status.
- joshjob42 1y agoI think the idea was actually that it would give people who like the taste/texture/experience of meat an option to skip meat, and lower the bar for people to eat a more plant based diet, not cater to vegetarians or vegans. I'm not vegetarian or vegan, but I think eating meat is morally terrible, I just can't be bothered to go through all the trouble to not eat or use animal products when they're everywhere, cheap, and taste fantastic. But I enjoy Impossible's products immensely, and follow the artificial meat and dairy field closely, and have been long a champion of these efforts so as to make it easy to not cause any harm to animals rather than it being a royal pain in the ass.
- j_timberlake 1y agoI'd always hoped they'd bring the price down over time as economies of scale kick in, but man did that not happen. What a shame.
- trymas 1y agoI am on a same boat. Beyond meat is extremely expensive. Also from personal experience it neither appeals to vegetarians/vegans (too meat like, with sometimes “bloody” look) nor meat eaters (more expensive than the real thing, fake). But the biggest gripe for me - it greatly shows how much meat and dairy farming is subsidised (at least where I live). When chicken meat is 4-5€/kg (i see ofen discounts on chicken breast/wings for 2-3€/kg) and grains (rice, buckwheat) are ~3€/kg it just doesn’t make sense to me. Similar with milk vs alternative milks. Hence it doesn’t at all surprise me if you do some “lab grown” meat alternatives from plant proteins - you will have 5x more expensive product (if not more). With all this technological advancements it seems bizarre that we as a humanity still spend so much earth resources on growing animals for slaughter. I know it will not disappear and I don't wish that, but the amount of problems it causes is insane. Diseases (swine flu and avian flu are never ending problems, mad cow disease is one of the scariest things), completely destroyed water sources from pollution, overuse of antibiotics (because of prevalent infections and unsanitary conditions), etc.
- boston_clone 1y agoSounds like you've been successfully co-opted by Berman's propaganda [0]. Looking at my local grocer, Impossible Beef is currently cheaper per pound than several of the organic ground beef options. There is also consensus among American dietitians that vegan diets are suitable for all stages of life. Further, "ultra processed" does not have a common definition - could you share how Impossible Beef is so much different than TVP? Even TFA talks about this onslaught of misinformation - "CEO Ethan Brown has alleged significant “misinformation and misdirection” about the health profile of plant-based meat, and Beyond Meat has gone on the offensive to refute claims that its products are too processed.". 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Organizational_Research_and_Education https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Organizational_Rese...