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Comment by silent_cal | Hacker News Reader

Talk about a solution in search of a problem

In the United States, Cool Whip[1] is the most popular 'whipped topping', demonstrating an incredibly high demand for imitation whipped cream. Possibly higher than real whipped cream. 130 million consumers in 2020 of Cool Whip. [2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Whip

https://www.statista.com/statistics/281278/us-households-mos...

The fact that there is high demand for industrial sludge doesn't make it any better.

I don't disagree with you philosophically but the fact is that this is a solution with an obvious problem: how to make gobs of money.

By the way, by your argument that cool whip is sludge, wouldn't making something better than it, that still meets the demand, be worthwhile?

I take your point, but I actually don't think that making money and meeting demand are always worth doing. The pornography and drug industries are two obvious examples.

I mean there are several companies trying to make plant-based cream alternatives for coffee. This could lead to a plant-based whipped cream alternative. Most plant-based creamers don't have the fat content to be good as quality creamers. The more successful ones use coconut and fava beans. (Successful as in achieving quality texture, not economic)

Plant-based substitutes for animal products are a total fail. Just look at margarine and "Beyond Meat". I'll pass in on this Frankenstein experiment as well.

Margarine is a multibillion dollar industry.... And has been around since the 1800s...

don't confuse being unaware of an industry with there being an apparent lack of applications for this.

Ok dude

That's a pretty snarky response. Between the popularity of dairy products (and whipped cream in particular), the problems caused by obesity, the environmental impact of dairy cattle, and a growing segment of the population that has a moral objection to raising them for food production. You really need someone else to spell out the practical applications of an advance in growing something like this in a lab?

To be fair, the are already whipped cream substitutes that don't rely on milk proteins (which this product does).

Aside from the reduced calorie angle, the new product is inferior to plenty of existing products for the rest of your criteria.

Edit: not to mention they only replicated the texture, not the taste. Getting a whipped cream flavor with the same or similar sweetness (not something lactic bacteria are good at) is probably going to undermine whatever health benefit you would get.

You think growing synthetic bacteria cream in a lab is going to be better for the environment and people's health than getting the real stuff from a dairy farm?

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