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Comment by DogOnTheWeb | Hacker News Reader

I'm excited to see all of the animal-alternative food companies coming through the pipeline. This space is really undergoing a renaissance.

I think most people would choose alternatives if they had similar taste, texture and price to "the real deal". Best of luck to them.

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> I think most people would choose alternatives if they had similar taste, texture and price to "the real deal"

I, personally, would not. I like to know that what I'm eating has a known affect on my body; people have been eating beef for a long time, we know what it does and why. Whilst I appreciate this isn't a sweet chemical replacing sugar with little to no study into the long term side effects, do we know what the long term impact is? How does the change in diet need to be balanced with other changes?

Try the beyondmeat.com products. Here is a list of ingredients for the chicken strips - stuff we've been eating for a long time as well. And don't forget, beef and other meat coming from large scale factory farms is pumped full of hormones and antibiotics.

Beyond Meat’s Beyond Chicken (Southwest Style Strips) Ingredients:

    Water,
    non-GMO soy protein isolate,
    pea protein isolate,
    amaranth,
    vegan chicken flavor (maltodextrin, yeast extract, salt, natural flavoring, sunflower oil),
    non-GMO expeller-pressed canola oil,
    non-GMO soy fiber,
    carrot fiber,
    white vinegar,
    spices,
    garlic extract,
    salt,
    onion extract,
    evaporated cane juice,
    dipotassium phosphate,
    titanium dioxide (for color),
    potassium chloride,
    paprika extract.

> And don't forget, beef and other meat coming from large scale factory farms is pumped full of hormones and antibiotics.

I believe this is a problem limited to North America.

> non-GMO soy protein isolate > pea protein isolate

I understand that these come from natural products, but when was the last time you added 'pea protein isolate' to a salad? You haven't - you added some peas, which contain some protein, but also contain fiber, vitamins and a bunch of other things I don't know enough about. This was kind of my point, we're putting natural products in, but using them in ways that we've not used before.

At least in the UK, IMHO we'd be better off teaching people to cook properly, rather than buying ready meals, improving the standard of take aways and ensuring that food complies with a reasonable minimum standard of ethics and environmental impact.

You're right - people should be tought how to cook better etc.

> I believe this is a problem limited to North America.

This problem is limited to the large scale meat industry (factory farms and such) - which are all over the world.

Where do you think your cheap Tesco chicken comes from or the meat from KFC, burger king etc comes from?

If you're buying direct from a butcher who gets their meat from grass fed free roaming animal farms, well then respect for not supporting the large scale meat industry. Unfortunately most people can't afford to buy meat from these places, as it's expensive.

You should check out these videos to understand where the meat comes from and how it's being produced

Meet your Meat (narrated by Alex Baldwin) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RX88IGJ35g

Earthlings https://vimeo.com/209647801

> Pea protein isolate - [...] but when was the last time you added 'pea protein isolate' to a salad?

I appreciate the word 'isolate' makes it sound unnatural, but really pea protein is consumed by fitness people etc. It's doesn't have a taste and can be added to salads if you want to, but usually you put it in your post workout shake. Check out the following how it's being made - pretty harmless. I'd rather have this than flesh from an animal.

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Pea-Protein-Powder

> [...] reasonable minimum standard of ethics

What do you think this would be? When it's not about your survival, how do you kill a sentient being that doesn't want to be killed and actively tries to avoid pain and suffering if it can?

More about pea protein, which you might find interesting:

"Scientific Studies

According to Medical News Today, research from Canada found that pea protein powder may help help reduce hypertension and chronic kidney disease. Researchers extracted pea protein hydrolysate from the yellow pea and fed a small dose each day to lab rats bred to have polycystic kidney disease. After eight weeks, these rats showed a 20 percent drop in blood pressure. Dr. Rotimi Aluko, the study's head researcher, said that eating the yellow peas in their natural state would not produce the same benefits as the extracted pea protein, which can only be activated with special enzymes."

from https://livewell.jillianmichaels.com/pea-protein-5427.html

"Undoubtedly better for the environment than a carnivorous diet"

I think this quote is extremely dubious. How many of these companies study what the beyond organic movement is going with restorative agriculture. Having cows eat and poop grass is a really good thing for rebuilding what industrial farming has done to acres of land across the US.

This just smells of short cutting a process very similar to industrial farming that got us into this position to begin with.

Would you welcome the scientific challenge, though? A couple new hypotheses to environment improvement?

Here is a study by the UN that basically says to stop or reduce our meat consumption - as our current meat eating habits destroy the environment.

http://www.unep.fr/shared/publications/pdf/dtix1262xpa-prior...

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