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Comment by COGlory | Hacker News Reader

There's a certain tone to this whole story that makes me chuckle. Far more people are eating pizza and hot dogs and box mac and cheese, but the news story is about making one of the most expensive, elitist, niche foods vegan, like it's some sort of necessary triumph on the path forward for humanity.

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In addition to the points brought up by other commenters, have you had vegan pizza or hot dogs?

Vegan hotdogs are honestly fine and good enough. Thinking back to when I ate meat, I'd rather have a vegan hotdog than a budget one made from who knows what.

And pizza and pasta are quite amendable to being vegan without substitutions if one wishes- don't add cheese and you're done?

With respect to the item they have chosen to create, I think there's a solid rationale. Oysters are considered a delicacy, not to mention their fame of being (supposedly) and aphrodesiac.

So the oyster is a good showpiece to replace, if you can do it successfully.

I still think the whole fake meat business is misguided, but I ranted about that in another comment.

Trying to sell people a knockoff food 'delicacy' seems akin to trying to get people to buy cubic zirconia instead of diamonds or pyrite instead of gold. That is, the knockoff could be almost indistinguishable from the real thing but people are going to prefer the genuine article anyway.

I personally enjoy the oysters at my local fish shop, when i happen to be there on their 'oyster day' and they have them laid out on ice. If it weren't for that, oysters would never enter my psyche; I've never been at the supermarket thinking damn I'm really craving oysters. And if I did happen to see a bag of oysters next to a bag of foysters in the freezer section, you can bet I'm not buying either. I cant be alone on this.

I think in this case it has some value because of the ritual or the mystique of oysters. There is something about their presentation, their distinctive texture and flavor, and of course the ancient belief that they increase sexual virility.

In a supermarket, oysters don't fit. There is nothing exclusive or sexy about most grocery stores.

But when you're at a nice restaurant terrace hanging out over the ocean, and you receive a large sculptured platter of ice with 6-12 oysters on the half shell, garnished nicely, it is a special thing. Coke vs champagne.

Exactly my sentiments as well!

What's next, plant-based fugu based on the reasoning that it 100% eliminates the possibility of tetrodotoxin poisoning? Part of the reason puffer is considered a delicacy is there's a non-zero chance it could kill you. Not because it is so yummy.

Oysters are fleshy slime balls, and I'm able to get past the texture and actually enjoy the taste because of some je ne sais quoi. Slime grown in a lab and artificially flavored does not share the same mystique.

> So the oyster is a good showpiece to replace, if you can do it successfully.

But the whole reason that these niche "delicacies" are expensive and sought after in the first place is pretty much solely due to their uniqueness and rarity, not because they have some intrinsic amazing flavor. It's like I can replace diamonds with cubic zirconia, but that ignores the reasons people buy diamonds in the first place.

I don't think oysters are rare though.

As for flavor, I can attest that good oysters have a distinctly nice (if acquired) flavor. Two to three chews, then a swallow. Served chilled.

Diamonds, on the other hand, only have a legitimate industrial use. As a "precious stone" they are not legitimate and only appear as such because of marketing and lots of terrible tactics. And for industrial uses, manufactured diamonds are superior. So this isn't really the same as oysters or other consumables.

Well, a lot of new processes start where you can make money at small scale. Then you improve on it as you scale and address bigger markets, where you need larger scale to be profitable.

they're cheap in FL unless you're ordering some variety that requires shipping - but that's in the same vein as non-local seafood. elitist? your bias is showing - oysters are harvested and eaten by all walks of coastal inhabitants. if fancy restaurants are your only point of reference I'd suggest expanding your experiences.

Vegan pizza, hot dogs and mac are pretty widely available.

Oysters are elitist!?

Depends on whether you live next to oyster shoals, in which case they might well be what poor people eat, or in South Dakota, where every oyster needs to be shipped live at least a thousand miles.

I think it used to be the opposite until we ate too many of them. Supply/Demand.

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