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Comment by basisword | Hacker News Reader

What’s the nutritional and health verdict on the fake meat products generally so far? Seems like we’re encouraging people to replace the least processed part of their diet with something completely processed. That seems like a bad idea and it seems like the kind of thing we’re going to really regret in 100 years when we trace back a load of diseases to it. This is just a gut feeling though - is there any research?

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I don't think a lot of health claims are made about these, it's either an ecological argument, a moral (killing animals is bad) argument, or both. After all I think we all understand that it's more than possible to reduce or eliminate meat without having to eat highly processed frankenfood recreations of meat. I'd be much happier eating foods that make the best of non-meat ingredients without trying to imitate the taste and texture of something it just... isn't.

A black bean "burger" can be a joy, a greasy Beyond Burger is never a good time. If I really want the experience of a hamburger, no amount of TVP and coconut oil is going to replicate that experience anyway.

The worst part about this is that many places that I used to eat at have replaced their delicious black bean burgers with impossible meat.

I am not a vegetarian or vegan, but I used to love the vegetarian options and would often opt for things such as a black bean or portobello burger.

Now I just get a regular burger.

A lot of plant-based meat substitutes are effectively a very dense/high-protein (gluten) bread loaf. Not excessively exotic or processed compared to other common foods.

I wouldn't really call this completely processes. It's just soy flour mechanically processed with some seasoning. I'd put it into the same category as fish sticks or chicken nuggets. Not something I would eat every day, but if someone wants to do it, they'll be fine.

...Fish sticks and chicken nuggets are some of the more iconic "highly processed foods" out there though? And think about it, "just soy flour with seasoning" sure, but what about the "meat" on the bones? That's going to be soy flour and a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fats, binders, textural elements, seasoning, thickeners and so on.

Basically the soy-flour bones are just one additional element, it's not like people are going to be buying them on their own, they'd realize that they're just seasoned dog treats.

Oh no, some fats and fibers.

I can't think of anything that is more processed than fish sticks or chicken nuggets.

Plant based pork ribs.....

So blending a fish and pressing it back together with some flour is the most processed thing you can think of? If that's the case, maybe there is nothing wrong with processed foods.

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