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Thoughts on Beyond Burger and other fake meat

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Replies

  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,581 Member
    edited February 2020
    This whole thing is clearly a money grab.

    And how the person behind the counter should've somehow known he was vegan because he asked for no mayo? I ask for no mayo all the time, and I'm definitely not vegan. I just don't like mayo. :|
  • brittanystebbins95
    brittanystebbins95 Posts: 567 Member
    I was vegetarian for awhile and I loved black bean burgers.
    The ones that claimed to taste like meat though?
    Gag me. They taste awful.
    At least, in my opinion they do.

    If you like it, eat it. If not, eat something else.

    Seriously, though, try a black bean burger. I eventually gave up vegetarianism, the day I caught myself sneaking bites of bacon in secret after my family had all finished breakfast :D Even as a failed vegetarian and now a meat eater once more, I still buy black bean burgers on occasion.
    They are SO good.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    lkpducky wrote: »

    Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, Potato Protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Soy Protein Isolate, Mixed Tocopherols, Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Sodium Ascorbate, Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Vitamin B12.

    You saying that zinc and vitamins A, B, and C are bad for you?

    Not to mention non-heme iron.

  • WildlyCurly
    WildlyCurly Posts: 151 Member
    I was vegetarian for awhile and I loved black bean burgers.
    The ones that claimed to taste like meat though?
    Gag me. They taste awful.
    At least, in my opinion they do.

    If you like it, eat it. If not, eat something else.

    Seriously, though, try a black bean burger. I eventually gave up vegetarianism, the day I caught myself sneaking bites of bacon in secret after my family had all finished breakfast :D Even as a failed vegetarian and now a meat eater once more, I still buy black bean burgers on occasion.
    They are SO good.

    Those are so good. I like vegetarian options that don't try to taste like real meat. I feel like the more they try to make it taste like meat, the worst it tastes. I am not a vegetarian since I still eat meat occasionally, but I like taking breaks from eating meat sometimes to see what other options are out there.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,843 Member
    edited February 2020
    While I agree that some, probably most, people defending their meat-eating by disparaging meat alternatives are just circling the wagons on what they're used to and defending the morality of their choices, I was challenging the idea that one particular industry is not following what is today a common business practice.

    It is possible both for

    (1)
    "big cattle" isn't sending people to these forums to hate on veggie burgers.

    to be false (as it would take only two individuals associated with, connected to, or hired by the cattle industry for it to be true) and

    (2)
    I don't think most of the disagreers here have anything to do with big cattle

    to be a correct belief (as it would only take one more than half of the disagreers to not have anything to do with big cattle).

    Companies of all kinds pay people to influence discussions in social media. It's not remotely an unusual thing. When you see first-time posts from someone touting a supplement, a named diet that has books and other products associated with it, directing you to a specific website, do you really think none of them are doing so for a financial motive? Some bloggers are paid (in money or in goods) to say positive things about specific products. Pretty much any company of a decent size or sophistication has social media specialists in their communications departments. But nobody in the beef industry tries to influence public opinion in forums where meat alternatives are discussed?


    ETA
    Since you're not in the U.S., perhaps you are unaware that the cattle industry's tactics in the U.S. have included getting laws passed to prevent labeling that in any way suggests that meat alternatives are in fact "meat" alternatives, getting laws passed people from saying anything bad about beef, and suing people for saying anything that suggests there might be health advantages for trading some saturated fat animal products for unsaturated fat plant protein products. I'm not seeing them getting queasy over the idea of paying for some social media influencing.
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Holy propoganda, Batman.

    Yes, suing those who call your product unhealthy is a telltale sign that you're sending people and bots to infiltrate the forums of a calorie counting app, create profiles, rack up hundreds of unrelated comments and wait for the opportunity to attack veggie burgers when a thread finally arises.

    ETA: I'm not a member of big cattle (my uncle used to have a few cows but I'm a suburban guy) but I can see the reasoning behind labeling restriction against calling a product "meat" which doesn't contain meat.
    Maybe I'm naive but I just dont see that as nefarious even if you can argue that it may be unnecessary.

    ETA ETA: Also, it is not common business practice to infiltrate forums incognito.
    It is becoming common business practice to advertise on Facebook, Instagram, etc. and sponsoring posts/creators on social media is still an emerging trend but even this is still not yet the business standard (most companies still have enough old school influence to believe they should only focus on larger advertising campaigns and value celebrity endorsements above social media content creators).
    Even with sponsored posts, there is a great deal of regulation placed on the content creator and sponsorships must be disclosed.
    So no, undercover "agents" infiltrating small forums like this one for the off chance that a thread about veggie burgers will come up is not at all standard business practice.
    The kind of bots/spammers you're referring to just show up and create a spam thread as their first post.
    mmapags wrote: »
    I just wish there was some kind of warning before reading posts like the one you quoted so that I can put my tin foil hat on before I read them.

    Lynn isn't asserting that Big Cattle is definitely in this thread, she's saying that Ag-Gag laws are a thing and paying social media influencers is a thing (BTW, far from all sponsorship is disclosed correctly), and it's not beyond the realm of possibility that Big Cattle does have people surreptitiously shilling in forums where they think they'd get the most benefit.

    I haven't seen the numbers for the US, but in the UK, meat sales are definitely down:
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/red-meat-sales-hit-as-800-000-people-go-vegetarian-kpz2k3xnz
    https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/veganuary-vegan-vegetarian-red-meat-eater-data-a9267116.html
    https://www.plantbasednews.org/culture/meat-bosses-vow-reclaim-january
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/americas-cattle-ranchers-are-fighting-back-against-fake-meat-11574850603

    It would be naive to think 100% of tactics to push back are going to be above board.
  • RichieBlasco
    RichieBlasco Posts: 3 Member
    Hydrogenated oil ingredients I believe — issue with highly processed foods is usually about snuck-in ingredients that increase inflammation, introduce oxidative stress/free radical damage, carcinogens/toxins, etc.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,930 Member
    Imma just gonna drop this here:

    5mcu2sibfjyh.jpg


    B)

    I hope you post that in the "If it didn't have calories" thread.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Hydrogenated oil ingredients I believe — issue with highly processed foods is usually about snuck-in ingredients that increase inflammation, introduce oxidative stress/free radical damage, carcinogens/toxins, etc.

    But the ingredients don't mention any Hydrogenated oil... unless you are mistaking coconut oil for one.

    Some posts in this thread make me think that ingredients people simply incorrectly
    believe are in a food can be inflammatory and stressful. 🙄🤣

    Heh.
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    Imma just gonna drop this here:

    5mcu2sibfjyh.jpg


    B)

    Shut up and take my money!!!
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,581 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Imma just gonna drop this here:

    5mcu2sibfjyh.jpg


    B)

    Shut up and take my money!!!

    Someone needs to make a "Beyond Cauliflower" one. Because cauliflower pizza crust, cauliflower rice. :D
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,816 Member
    Imma just gonna drop this here:

    5mcu2sibfjyh.jpg


    B)

    Arby's is apparently making a meat based carrot and testing it out in certain restaurants.

    https://www.fastcompany.com/90368896/arbys-is-making-carrots-out-of-meat-yes-meat
  • Eric77206
    Eric77206 Posts: 10 Member
    Negative
  • magnusthenerd
    magnusthenerd Posts: 1,207 Member
    Hydrogenated oil ingredients I believe — issue with highly processed foods is usually about snuck-in ingredients that increase inflammation, introduce oxidative stress/free radical damage, carcinogens/toxins, etc.

    But the ingredients don't mention any Hydrogenated oil... unless you are mistaking coconut oil for one.

    I would think hydrogenated oils would be in less use in the US since the ban on added trans fats.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,023 Member
    MikePTY wrote: »
    Imma just gonna drop this here:

    5mcu2sibfjyh.jpg


    B)

    Arby's is apparently making a meat based carrot and testing it out in certain restaurants.

    https://www.fastcompany.com/90368896/arbys-is-making-carrots-out-of-meat-yes-meat

    Considering I couldn't find any follow up articles, I don't think enough people reacted to their trolling to warrant attempting to actually sell it, unless they're slating it for April 1 :smiley: