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Comment by CWIZO | Hacker News Reader

A plant-based diet is cheaper than a regular diet: https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-11-11-sustainable-eating-chea...

Looking at Tesco online in UK: there's a soy protein 'mince' a £3.72/kg. Beef or chicken mince at £5. Quorn mycoprotein at £8.33. Beyond Meat at £13.

Out of the 5 vegan and 8 vegetarian options, only the soy protein is cheaper than meat.

I might replace one meal a week with the soy protein, but I'd be concerned about long term effects of phytoestrogen, especially on growing children? Mind you many foods have some hidden soy 'bulk' nowadays.

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/soy/ relates to understanding of health benefits/detriments of soy.

Why do you need a "minced meat" substitute anyway? Compare your minced meat to a can of beans which one is cheaper.

Moreover, it is well established research that most modern western diets contain too much animal products. If you think that living vegetarian causes so much problems, you need to explain how many cultures who live almost exclusively vegetarian (e.g. In some areas of India) without significant health problems.

The imitation meat stuff is always expensive. Going straight to that for protein betrays a lack of imagination or culinary knowledge.

How about beans, lentils, and frozen peas?

You wouldn’t use “meat replacements” though you’d just eat a vegetarian diet. If hundreds of millions of Indians can do it, so can westerners.

Change is hard for [some] people. Fail to acknowledge that and you'll fail to foment radical change.

That said, I merely posted this data because I looked it up and found it interesting as a comparison.

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