Fake meat: As Beyond Meat sales fall, have we had our fill?

NOT to replace meat nutrition-wise. For example: protein content is often not that great, and relatively expensive per gram of protein, compared to say, dairy, nuts or legumes.

NOT to replace meat taste-wise. Maybe manufacturer meant to. But meat taste+texture is hard to imitate. Just appreciate these products for their taste, not as meat drop-in.

Same applies to plant based cheese substitutes. I happen to have a packet here:

Main ingredients: water, coconut oil, various starches & some colorant + "aroma's". Doesn't taste like cheese, almost 0 protein, salt (2g/100g) on the high side, no vitamins. Yet similarly priced as real cheese.

I'm happy to see these products & try 'm all. But most leave me unimpressed. And too expensive. If I want pea protein, I'll buy a bag of dry split peas, not highly processed product containing it.

I suspect most vegetarians & vegans are like that - they've moved on. Meat eaters either won't try these products, period, or they did once & weren't impressed.

If you want a hamburger that didn't involve an animal, or top your pizza with some 'fake cheese': sure why not. But that's about it.

I am looking forward to some other stuffs:

Solein: https://solarfoods.com

Although more protein supplement than "food", imho. But very interesting nutritional profile.

Some US company is doing similar thing.

And so-called "precision dairy": (iirc) yeast cells that produce protein which is chemically & structural very similar (if not the same) as those in cow milk.

Feed into existing dairy process, and voila: cheese, yoghurt, etc, etc, without a cow (or even grass!) in the loop.

Neither of these are approved / available in EU... yet. But will be, I think - these are not GMO's but naturally occuring organisms. Kind of like brewing beer.