It doesn’t taste that good, it smells weird when cooked, it isn’t actually healthier, it’s typically more expensive than real meat as it’s “premium”, the nutritional value is suspect… the list goes on and on
The problem is its price is eponymous: Impossible for consumers to, pun intended, stomach it. Sell it for 75% of 80/20 ground beef’s price and it will fly off the shelves. At 250-400%, nope.
That suggests to me that certainly by sometime in '24 we ought to see Impossible Beef down to cost parity with 80/20 (so ~$5/lb or so) which I think would really start to drive a transition. I'd certainly not buy animal beef anymore I don't think, unless it was some crazy good stuff for a special occasion.
The transition acceleration happens closer to $2.50/lb than $5/lb, IMO. Even matching beef price would be significantly welcome progress though, as one of my kids eats vegetarian.
It doesn’t taste “better” to most people, so the transition has to be driven by a non-taste metric. That leaves price or ethics, and I know which way I’m betting on the US consumer, especially in a high-inflation, likely recession environment.
If the commercials for meat alternatives are compelling enough even in the face of lobbies and subsidies, capitalism will drive the big fast food chains to market these more aggressively at more attractive price points and nudge consumer preferences in that direction.
Weird goo that was grown in a lab by people that have no idea what they're doing OR natural food we've been eating since the dawn of time.
Long list of chemicals with unproven value? We have a bad track record with trying to engineer our own ‘healthy’ food. See: margarine for example.
Impossible/beyond is great as a vegetarian as a rare treat (different flavors than normal veggies, loaded with umami — I don’t love them or anything but there are some recipes they work well with). I might have it once every couple months or so, often when a thoughtful friend invites me to their bbq and brings some impossible patties so I’m not left out...
But to actually use it as a meat replacement, like for several meals per week? It feels like we’re going to look back on that in 30 years like we do now for margarine.
PS: there are a million delicious vegetarian dishes that don’t need any fake meat, you kind of stop wanting the impossible/beyond stuff after you’re vegetarian for a little while
What's wrong with it for reducing cholesterol intake? Butter has gotten very expensive, too.
I don't know if you seen the factory farms that produce chicken and beef? There is nothing natural from the dawn of time from that. They are loaded with antibiotics, and they are naturally selected for maximum meat production. Deli meats and hotdogs sure are natural products made of some amalgamation of random animal parts.
Some people speak as if everyone procures their meat from Eden's organic farm in New Zealand where the animals are hugged to death. It really is not the case for most people.
Entirely untrue.
That seems to go against common knowledge.
Cows spend about a few months to a year on a feed lot which is most likely a concentrated feed lot (CAFO is a factory farm). Veal seems to be especially cruel. Dairy cows seem to have it pretty bad for around five years from start to finish.