Why Twitter’s Co-Founders Are Betting Big On A Vegan Meat Startup
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* There are ethical vegetarians (like me) who like the taste of meat well enough, but dislike the baggage that comes with it. If "fake meat" actually tasted like meat then I would eat it occasionally. Generally speaking other fake meats do not taste like meat.
* People who converted to vegetarianism can have cravings for what they grew up with. For me, the main thing I miss is buffalo wings.
All of that said, I think part of the point of this startup is to convert some meat eaters into accepting fake meat as an occasional substitute.
Is it the way some animals are treated, or the killing altogether? If the former, why not buy your meat from more "humane" sources like free range farmers etc. ?
(edit: to be clear, this argument has failed to sway me, i still love eating meat. It's just something interesting that i've heard before and thought was worth sharing. There may or may not be actual statistics to back this argument up.)
Environmentalists usually compare meat to calorie dense vegetable sources, like grains & legumes. That's fair because it's impossible for a human to eat enough broccoli to stay alive -- it takes about the same amount of energy just to digest the broccoli as you get from it.
The "standard" metric for meat conversion is that it takes 12 pounds of wheat to make 1 pound of beef. But that's very misleading. Cows generally don't eat wheat. Naturally raised cows eat grass. Cows eating grass in midwestern North America is probably the closest we can get to its natural ecosystem, which used to be dominated by mammoths eating grass until they were killed off, then by bison eating grass until they were killed off. But humans can't eat grass. Cows have four stomachs and a rumination habit that ensure that it is efficiently digested.
Even feedlot cattle are much more efficient than the 12-1 metric would have you believe. The feed barley and feed corn varieties that are grown to feed cattle yield at rates 2-8 times better than the high-protein wheat varieties fed to humans. Not too mention the fact that when you feed corn to cattle you feed them the entire plant. Humans just eat the seeds.
That's probably a worse nutritional profile. Naturally raised meats are rich in the healthy saturated fats, such as stearic acid.
And I thought the cholesterol boogy-man had been thoroughly debunked by now.
Please link a properly conducted study that shows that naturally grown meat is unhealthy, or that the saturated fat from naturally grown meat is unhealthy. Most fat studies don't differentiate plant based saturated fats with meat based ones or with trans-fats. Most meat studies don't differentiate between red meat and processed meat. It's not the meat in the hot dog that makes the hot dog unhealthy.
That doesn't seem to be the consensus. There are many studies that meat is unhealthy (I'm not sure what you mean by naturally grown, perhaps hormones?). Red meat in particular is considered to be very unhealthy. Also you can get stearic acid from other sources that don't have that much saturated fat and cholesterol.
Red meat studies generally consider hot dogs to be red meat. The very few studies that separate unprocessed red meat from processed red meat find that unprocessed red meat is just as healthy or even healthier than poultry meat.
>Red meat studies generally consider hot dogs to be red meat.
I don't think that is generally the case. There is this study that differentiated between the two [2] and the conclusion was that there was an increase in health risks for unprocessed, but the processed variety was worse.
I understand that it's not good to use one study as proof (or for that matter any number of studies) but there seem to be more than just this one.
[1] http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/switching-to-grass-...
[2] http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=11348...
Yes, meat might be "bad" for you. Meat might be an ineffective use of resources. Killing animals may be wrong. But, for meat eaters, part of the enjoyment is the hedonistic pursuit.
Lots of vegetarians and vegans have expressed their opinions, so let me weigh in as someone who hasn't eaten a single vegetable for over 12 years: I love meat, and to many people like myself, these alternative meats are about as much a replacement as aspartame is for sugar.
I'm perfectly healthy though. 20/20 vision, competitive for several sports, can code/sleep/socialize, and I don't really get sick anymore either.
I'll take a vitamin supplement when I remember, which usually ends up being 2-3 times a month.
It's really not as limiting as you'd think.
Factory farming is a significant contributor to many negatives in the environment. Methane, fertilizers and hormones/chemicals that seep into groundwater, fresh water usage, and transportation are massive contributors to environmental damage.
Disclaimer: I'm a chef, I love meat, and I'm descended from farmers. I still believe this is the future, once someone nails the texture/flavour issue. I've been looking into in-vitro meat, but it still looks a ways off http://new-harvest.org/substitutes.htm
Being able to manipulate the fat content and marbling, re-introduce heirloom breeds, and all produced with a fraction of the footprint makes this a delicious opportunity.
The real question is the length of the roadmap, it's been decades that people have been working on this.
However, good for them. Meat is environmentally unsustainable and is unhealthy (for both givers and receivers).
Soy/Tofu, on the other hand, IS unhealthy - particularly for men.[1][2]
[1] - http://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/soys-negative-effects [2] - http://www.healthiertalk.com/why-tofu-wrecks-your-brain-0246
> Dr. Lewi's case report on James Price's condition was published in the May/June 2008 edition of Endocrine Practice, a journal read by many of the nation's in-the-trenches endocrinologists. Thanks to this, doctors now have a newly documented agent to consider when evaluating gynecomastia.
By these standards, the case for the unsustainable and unhealthy nature of meat is airtight. But if you want a more reliable source, seek out the UNEP report on sustainable resource management.
If one was to look at the entire scientific literature honestly and soberly, I think the evidence would overwhelmingly support the claim for soy health benefits.
There is also lots of material on how much more expensive meat product is. Here's just one: http://www.ajcn.org/content/78/3/660S.full
The two articles you list are not particularly compelling.
I'm sure almost everybody will agree that processed meats are unhealthy. But please don't say that red meat is unhealthy just because processed meats are usually made from red meat.
How about the FAO:
This report aims to assess the full impact of the livestock sector on environmental problems, along with potential technical and policy approaches to mitigation. The assessment is based on the most recent and complete data available, taking into account direct impacts, along with the impacts of feedcrop agriculture required for livestock production.
The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global. The findings of this report suggest that it should be a major policy focus when dealing with problems of land degradation, climate change and air pollution, water shortage and water pollution and loss of biodiversity.
Livestock’s contribution to environmental problems is on a massive scale and its poten- tial contribution to their solution is equally large. The impact is so significant that it needs to be addressed with urgency. Major reductions in impact could be achieved at reasonable cost.
Vegan isn't just about meat, it also proscribes eggs and milk. There are a lot of foods that are better if you have some decent egg and milk analogs.
But mainly, people eat vegan for ethical or health reasons. So maybe they still really like meat-like textures and flavors, but have strong reasons for not eating actual meat.
Almost as if evolution had bred them into meat-eating animals!
Nah, that's crazy talk.
Vegans who are vegans for health reasons - dumb dumb dumb. A cursory biological examination of the human body demonstrates that we are omnivores. That means the human body has adapted over tens of millions of years to eat both plants and animals.
Additionally, many vegans will go heavy on soy and wheat based foods. There are many health issues surrounding soy (citations my other comment in this thread), and wheat products are not particularly healthy.
The arguments for veganism for health reasons is largely unsupported by any sort of actual science.
I don't think humans have been around that long and that our ancestors were probably not meat eaters, since most other apes don't eat meat.
The consensus is that red meat is unhealthy and there are healthier alternatives to get similar nutrients. Instead of eating other meat as well, soy provides a similar amount of protein without the saturated fat or cholesterol.
There's also the impact the meat industry has on the environment and I think the reason for someone being vegan isn't just necessarily one thing but can be several reasons for their decision.
Actually if you have an even basic understanding of biology and how factory farming works in the United States you'd know that this isn't totally true. A large majority of meat sold in supermarkets, fast food and chain restaurants in the US use meat that is non organic and absolutely full of antibiotics. In addition, between bovine growth hormone, mad cow disease, pink slime, the link between cardiovascular health and red meat, etc, are you actually going to make the argument that eating a vegan diet has no health benefits?
>Additionally, many vegans will go heavy on soy and wheat based foods.
Funny, as a vegetarian I (and all others I know) eat a very balanced diet that doesn't include an excessive of anything. But since you're happy to throw around generalizations, many carnivores will go heavy on fried chicken and big macs. There are many health issues surrounding obesity, heart disease, and diabetes linked to these.
Different arguments.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pescetarianism#Health_considera...
Why wouldn't you?
She would love to eat fake meat if it tasted as good as the real thing. I would try it too - just to reduce my iron and acidic intake from all the meat I currently eat. There's a market for this. Not just about "vegans".
Assuming we keep advancing technologically, there will come a time when "fake" meat is indistinguishable from real meat, at least as healthy, cheaper and more environmentally friendly to produce. When this happens, that is when people will start eating it en masse.
When enough people have started eating it and given enough time, politics will step in to ban farming animals for food. This will take quite a while because there will be a hard core of people who want to keep farming and eating animals. I imagine this part alone will take a couple of generations.
I like the taste of meat but don't want to be a party to torturing animals. Not sure how eating whatever tastes good and fits with my morals is a cop out.
I mean, the ethics of eating animals aside (obviously, I don't feel very strongly about that, I mean, if i was willing to eat meat to save another hour a night of effort) plant-based protien has the potential to be vastly more efficent... read: cheaper, read: could feed vastly more humans, or the same number of humans with fewer resources input.
Seems to me like a great thing with a whole lot of potential to change the world in a very real and positive way just from a food efficency standpoint. A real meat substitute could have the effect of another 'green revolution'
I'll gladly gobble up any meat/vegan replacement that offers the same texture and 'chew-ability' as chicken (I've weaned off beef and pork best as I can, and try to limit myself to just fish and chicken for my inner carnivore). Not just for environment's sake but also I can sleep just a bit better at night.
We all have our vices – meat's one of mine. I look forward to the day when I no longer crave meat!
I've never understood the fake meat thing, I eat alot of meat but don't go around looking for fake vegetables. Even when I go to a vegetarian/vegan restaurant rarely do I find the imitation dishes to be anywhere near as good as the originals, however, there are a lot of great vegan/vegetarian dishes that are much better than any of the faux dishes.
It just makes more sense that if you prepare the ingredient as well as possible it will turn out better than if you place a restriction on yourself first (like, "make it taste like meat").
Meat substitutes currently are terrible, the textures and flavors are completely off. BeyondMeat supposedly creates a chicken strip that takes like the real thing, and has the same cooking properties which is extremely exciting.