Plant-based meat stocks dip by ~ 70% as consumers turn away.

[Anna N]

Here.

“Getting meat eaters in the US to adopt plant-based alternatives has proven a challenge. Beyond Meat, which produces a variety of plant-based products, including imitations of ground beef, burgers, sausages, meatballs and jerky, has had a rough 12 months, with its stock dipping nearly 70%.”

[lemniscate]

I tried both a Beyond and Impossible burgers in restaurants a couple or more years ago.  They tasted...ok....but the flavor was like overly processed food.   Not to be too indelicate, both were tough on my digestion also.  So off my list they went.  

 

I'm a carnivore, but I love a good portobello "burger" and will pick it over beef most times I see one on a menu.   The best veggie burger I ever ate is Houston's/Hillstone version, but you're gonna pay upwards of $27-30 for it.  And worth it.

 

I just don't think those Beyond/Impossible tasted good enough to draw the carnivores over to them.

Edited September 26, 2022 by lemniscate (log)

[gfweb]

A haiku (more or less) to faux meat

 

The most processed food.

And expensive.

And not that good.

 

 

[lemniscate]

As plant based thing go, I really like Ikea's Huvudroll.   They are not trying to taste like meat, just tasty veggie balls.  In fact, I'm thinking of including these in Holiday meals as a side, even though no one in my inner circle is particularly vegetarian/vegan as an eater.

 

 

[TicTac]

It always amused me when people tried to convince themselves that this super processed patty 'o crap was somehow healthier than a piece of meat.

 

 

 

 

[CookBot]

1 hour ago, TicTac said:

It always amused me when people tried to convince themselves that this super processed patty 'o crap was somehow healthier than a piece of meat.

 

I think a lot of their customers are buying it for environmental reasons more than health reasons.

 

I've tried them in a few meals, and found them most successful in dishes where they're part of a mixture, like meatballs and or forcemeat fillings.  On their own, as in a burger patty, not as tasty.

 

 

[TicTac]

10 hours ago, CookBot said:

 

I think a lot of their customers are buying it for environmental reasons more than health reasons.

 

I've tried them in a few meals, and found them most successful in dishes where they're part of a mixture, like meatballs and or forcemeat fillings.  On their own, as in a burger patty, not as tasty.

 

 

Almost equally comical.

 

If only said customers did some research on the environmental costs (energy use from super processing, bi-product waste, etc) associated with production...

 

I would not touch these things with a 10' pole, but rather in your case, use beans or other binders in lieu. 

 

 

[Duvel]

I think regardless of the primary reason (environmental, health, Karma, …) to choose a non-traditional meat substitute, there are two additional factors playing in: taste/taste expectation & cost. 
 

Not everyone that signs up for the primary reason does feel that the other two factors can be satisfied. If you will, right now these three factors form a triangle in which you necessarily will have to compromise. There is a small part of the population that is able to compromise on price, and thus will get a product that is as close as currently possible to meat (and black bean quinoa patties do not fulfill anyones taste expectation as a meat substitute). They are also compromising on their primary reason, as you have rightfully pointed out, be it environmental or health-related, although not consciously but due to lacking proper analyses of the matter.
 

This is and - by market consensus - will be the target group for meat replacements, unless the third factor, price, will significantly drop - the McDonalds factor (you eat because of availability & affordability). Once and only if that would happen, companies like Beyond Meat would truly step out of a limited, yet currently moderately lucrative niche segment of the food industry. The market does not foresee this to be happening anytime soon, so the honeymoon phase on the stock market for these producers of plant-based products is unfortunately over …

Edited September 28, 2022 by Duvel (log)

[chromedome]

2 hours ago, TicTac said:

Almost equally comical.

 

If only said customers did some research on the environmental costs (energy use from super processing, bi-product waste, etc) associated with production...

 

I would not touch these things with a 10' pole, but rather in your case, use beans or other binders in lieu. 

 

 

Those life-cycle analyses have been done, and favor the plant-based product.* I'm working right now, and haven't the time to dig out those references, but can do so later if you're interested.

 

*Except when funded by the meat industry

[Katie Meadow]

It has always seemed to me that the market for these "meat wannabes" is limited. Many of us who are concerned about the environmental impact of eating animal protein have other options, which are usually going to be chosen by any number of complex factors: individual taste, philosophy, etc. Every choice is going to be a compromise of some kind. You can decide simply to not eat the worst offenders: beef, lamb (not really a factor in the US), endangered or unsustainable species or methods of capture that are most harmful.  Whether you chose to be a strict vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian or whatever your personal inclinations will usually be just that: personal--and will rarely be totally logical.

 

I eat beef at most a few times a year. If I get a desperate hankering for a green chile burger, I indulge. I try to buy good quality sustainably raised product. It's just me, but I don't feel like I need a beef substitute, but then I'm not that attached to beef. There are so many appealing ways to eat black beans other than making them into a patty and putting ketchup on them. What seems to be important is for everyone to do SOMETHING, no matter how inconsequential it may seem to others.  

 

 

[CookBot]

On 9/28/2022 at 10:57 AM, Katie Meadow said:

What seems to be important is for everyone to do SOMETHING, no matter how inconsequential it may seem to others. 

 

Amen.  Even a small effort at least signals awareness.

[Chimayo Joe]

There's been a lot in the news about using bugs as a protein source recently.  That has the potential to have a big impact.  Will people be willing to eat that?  I think it has a chance, maybe not as whole bugs but as a ground ingredient to boost protein content of foods.  I'm not familiar enough with the taste of bugs to know if something like a cricket burger would sell.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

In the infrequent times I find myself at a McDo or clone, I order a veggie burger.    This long before the hyped and funded Beyonds came to be.    It's simply that I prefer to source my protein decently.    And since I only eat rare beef, the difference between any veggie burger and a fast food burger is negligible.  

 

[chromedome]

A new product from Beyond, and a more nuanced take on the slowdown in demand.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/10/24/23416694/beyond-meat-steak-tips-vegan-plant-based

 

We've actually bought a rival product from a small producer, because my poor sweetie is jonesing hard for beef and can't have it. It was okay in a stir-fry, if a bit disappointing in a steak-sandwich scenario. When the Beyond product arrives here in Canada, we'll certainly try it out. On a related note the third iteration of their hamburger recently hit the stores, and I can report that they have indeed improved the flavor again.

 

Would I be buying these if my GF could still eat real beef? Maybe, albeit less often. I'd been curious about this specific niche since well before she was diagnosed, and tried both Beyond and Impossible for the sake of my own curiosity as they became available in Atlantic Canada. Neither a hater nor an evangelist, just an interested third party.

[chromedome]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-23/beyond-meat-jumps-after-revenue-surpasses-wall-street-estimates#xj4y7vzkg