posted by
LaminatorX
on Monday April 28 2014, @01:12PM
from the Soylent-Green-is-wait-nevermind dept.
from the Soylent-Green-is-wait-nevermind dept.
Bill Gates and the founders of Twitter bet millions of US dollars that meat lovers will embrace a new plant-based product that mimics the taste of chicken and beef. It has been hard to get meat substitutes to the dinner tables of Americans over the years, but the tech giants believe these newest products will pass the "tastes like chicken" test. Gates has met several times with Ethan Brown, whose product, Beyond Meat, is a mash-up of proteins from peas and plants.
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Plant-based Meat Mimic Taste Test
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 43 comments
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(Score: 2) by Techwolf on Monday April 28 2014, @01:14PM
Its been many years sense I've seen that movie. So would this be a RL soylent red, blue, green, or yellow?
(Score: 1) by hoochiecoochieman on Monday April 28 2014, @01:22PM
Someone will find that this is made of people, after all.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Foobar Bazbot on Monday April 28 2014, @01:24PM
So I guess people who eat only plants won't like this...
(Score: 4, Funny) by Nerdfest on Monday April 28 2014, @02:11PM
These people should give peas a chance.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Taibhsear on Monday April 28 2014, @01:26PM
I've never understood why vegetarians and vegans make such effort to take vegetables and try to turn them into meat shapes or flavors. If you don't want meat don't eat it. Just eat your veggies in their normal form. It just seems like it blows half the point of why they stopped eating meat to begin with. I happen to like veggies. It's not like they are flavorless cardboard. Why process them into flavorless cardboard patties to mimic the thing you hate?
(Score: 2) by Techwolf on Monday April 28 2014, @01:30PM
My theory is due to bad experiences as a kid being forced to eat bad tasting veggies or all the supermarket veggies have nearly no taste due to grown and harvested for cardboard taste due to less spoilage and therefore higher profits.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 05 2014, @05:03AM
eFI9c3 http://www.qs3pe5zgdxc9iovktapt2dbyppkmkqfz.com/ [qs3pe5zgdxc9iovktapt2dbyppkmkqfz.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by gidds on Monday April 28 2014, @01:37PM
(I'll bite... 'Bite'! Ha! Do you see what I did there?)
Depends why they're vegetarian.
If they're avoiding meat because they don't like the taste/flavour/texture/etc. of meat, then yes, they wouldn't find this sort of substitute very appealing either.
But if they're avoiding meat because they don't like the idea of eating dead animals, or because they don't want to cause death/cruelty to living creatures, or because their culture and/or beliefs preclude them eating dead animals, or because they have health/medical issues with eating some or all types of flesh, or because they worry about the environmental impact of raising creatures for food, then this might be a very tempting alternative.
(Or not. Everyone's different. I expect some vegetarians have got so out of the habit of eating meat that they probably fit into the first category even if that wasn't their original reason. And their may be carnivores who worry a little about some of the issues in the second category and would switch some or all of their meat-eating for the new stuff. And I'm sure there are other possibilities I've not thought of either.)
To digress for a moment. Two of the most important lessons I learned since my youth are:
All I have to learn now is where each of those applies...
[sig redacted]
(Score: 1) by NeoNormal on Monday April 28 2014, @03:32PM
> or because they don't want to cause death/cruelty to living creatures
These are the ones that I don't get. Plants are living creatures too... and when you're eating a fresh salad you're eating things that are ALIVE. At least we omnivores rarely eat live animals.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by WizardFusion on Monday April 28 2014, @01:38PM
It's so they can fit in with the rest of society.
If you are at a BBQ for example, the vegetarians want their food to fit in the same burger buns and hotdog buns as everyone else's.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Dunbal on Monday April 28 2014, @02:11PM
Strive to be different. Want to fit in.
Seriously some people are fucked. It's like the guy who insists that the Mac-book is the best computer in the world and worth every penny. Well good for him. But then he's on the forums complaining that certain software doesn't work on his computer, or that there are no patches for his computer, etc etc etc.
Seriously I admire and respect anyone who wants to be different. I despise them when they insist that absolutely everyone need to make sacrifices to accommodate their special needs, though.
(Score: 2) by bart9h on Monday April 28 2014, @02:15PM
Many veggies are great BBQed. Onions, carrots, eggplants, most of them indeed. Roll them in tinfoil with some garlic and butter, hmmmm.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Jerry Smith on Monday April 28 2014, @02:26PM
Bellpeppers, small potatoes, just add salt en pepper :d
But in all honesty: if a vegetarian sausage has all the characteristics of a 'real' sausage, including price, I'd switch. The more veggies, the better, and if it tastes like meat it's a winwin for me.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
(Score: 2) by Taibhsear on Monday April 28 2014, @04:33PM
Right. There's tons of great grilled veggies. Either in foil or as shishkabobs. They fit in perfectly with any bbq. But then some friends bring the boca burger type stuff and you just kind of don't know what to do with it. Doesn't change shape, size, texture, color... Can't tell when it's done cooking. And they taste awful in my opinion.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hatta on Monday April 28 2014, @03:17PM
What do burgers and hot dogs have to do with barbecue?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 28 2014, @01:38PM
We have made a terrible life decision to not eat meat.
And we hate it.
We can't admit we were wrong.
We must get others to join us.
(Score: 1) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 28 2014, @01:45PM
What are you talking about? The "normal form" for a cow or chicken isn't anything you want to eat. You like them cut up, flavored, and cooked for size, taste, and texture.
Vegetables are no different. Why do you begrudge people the right to prepare vegetables? Will you swear to never have a another ground meat dish or sausage again because it's been turned into a different shape than the cow or pig's body?
As far as making meat-alike analogs, people like having something to chew and a concentrated form of protein. That doesn't go away just because you stop eating animals. So everything from baked tofu and tempeh to wacko substitutes like Quorn and whatever Gates is up to, are valuable from taste, texture, and nutrition perspectives.
It's kind of hilarious how meat eaters prescribe a cult of asceticism on behalf of vegetarians - but you eat vegetables! How DARE you want variety and enjoyment in your food! That's what meat is for!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Foobar Bazbot on Monday April 28 2014, @01:50PM
I think most vegetarians* grew up eating and enjoying meat, and at some point decided to eat vegetarian not because they "don't want meat", but because they believe a vegetarian diet has health benefits that outweigh their enjoyment of meat, or because they find the slaughter of animals ethically troublesome. If one likes the taste of meat, but chooses not to eat it for health or ethical reasons, why not create a substitute with the taste, but without the problems?
* This may only be true in the US, or perhaps in Western countries generally.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Sir Garlon on Monday April 28 2014, @01:52PM
There are lots of reasons why people choose vegetarian options. For me, it was because mainstream American meat production is inhumane. I have no problem slaughtering animals but the conditions under which they're raised are appalling. There's also the economic consideration that a huge fraction of our grain production is used to feed livestock. If the US and European populations ate less meat then the environmental impacts of agriculture -- phosphate runoff, greenhouse emissions, etc -- would be less.
Probably the best poster I've seen promoting vegetarianism was on the subway in Boston. It just said something like, "Please consider going without meat one day a week, say Friday. That will save water and energy and contribute to a more humane world."
Science has long known that good vegetarian nutrition is possible. So I regard meat as a luxury that has negative externalities. If you can get something that tastes as good, with less of the bad effects, that's a win.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 29 2014, @02:52AM
mainstream American meat production is inhumane
Seeing cattle confined to feedlots, walking around in their own shit would change a lot of minds about "healthy" meat.
phosphate runoff, greenhouse emissions
...completely unnecessary use of antibiotics and the time bomb of antibiotic-resistant pathogens...
going without meat[...]will save water and energy
Folks need to become aware of the amount of water it takes to produce a pound of beef then look up the water to produce an equal amount of snow peas.
Hint: The comparison involves the phrase "orders of magnitude".
-- gewg_
(Score: 5, Insightful) by mhajicek on Monday April 28 2014, @02:23PM
I'm a ravenous meat eater, but I have high cholesterol and a bigger belly than I would like. If I can get the pleasure of eating meat while improving my health, saving money, and reducing my environmental impact, what's to lose?
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday April 28 2014, @03:40PM
WRT to the bigger belly thats almost certainly due to carb intake not protein intake, and knowing how processed food mfgrs work, the fillers and sweeteners and such will probably make you fatter than eating real meat.
Most of the enjoyment of meat comes from carmelization protein reactions on the cooked surface and flavorful oils/grease. So the veggie analog would be something like a plate full of chocolate-free brownies. Or a big sugar cookie. With predictable health impacts being worse than eating plain old meat.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday April 28 2014, @06:51PM
The appearance of hyper-masculinity to backwards barbarians? Not that I'm a vegetarian, but there's a lot of cultural judgement on these things that don't matter.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday April 28 2014, @02:57PM
I'm a vegetarian, and I only rarely eat the meat substitute products, but I understand why people use them:
1. If you've learned to cook with meat in everything, you're first instinct is to try to substitute in fake meat for real meat rather than using recipes that are entirely plant-based.
2. Some of them taste pretty decent.
3. They can provide nutrients that are harder to get if you don't eat beans and legumes regularly.
4. Some of them are convenience foods e.g. Boca burgers can be cooked in a microwave in 3-5 minutes.
The good news is that you can cook great vegetarian meals in the style of many of the world's cultures: ... ...
- Irish: Boxty. Add vegetables and a sauce.
- Italian: My personal favorite is pasta with basil leaves, fresh tomato, roasted garlic, and maybe some mozzarella cheese. Also, lots of varieties of pizza.
- Greek: Spanikopita, baklava, all sorts of creative uses of feta.
- Lebanese / Arabic: Falafel, hummus, baba ganoush,
- Indian: Dal, chana masala, samosas,
- Chinese: Stir fries can be made with vegetables at least as easily as with meat.
- Japanese: Ditto. Also, sushi with avocados, cucumbers, or other vegetables.
- Korean: Bibimbap without meat is common.
- Mexican: Just use black beans instead of meat.
Being vegetarian doesn't mean going hungry or eating only the unpalatable stuff you often find in vegan restaurants.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 28 2014, @03:11PM
You left out tofu and tempeh, though that's understandable ('cause they're both a bit icky). I'm still trying to perfect baked tofu so I don't have to get the underwhelming and expensive premade versions. It's really easy and there are plenty of recipes out there, but there's a little technique about pressing and cooking in the right vessel and picking the right marinade ingredients... When it's just right it's delicious and chewy.
Of course I understand you were just scratching the surface. Now to find out what "boxty" is...
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday April 28 2014, @03:18PM
I left out tofu and tempeh because they tend to be over-used, although you're right that can be delicious with various Asian cuisines.
Boxty is a potato pancake, often served with vegetables and a sauce, invented during the couple of centuries when the Irish basically had only potatoes to eat.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday April 28 2014, @06:46PM
What? I'm *not* a vegetarian, but tofu is excellent in soups and stirfrys. It takes on the taste of whatever you cook it with. I do generally prefer firm or extra-firm, but that's personal taste. Some people prefer soft tofu, and it's ok. Or you can even mash it up into a paste, add seasoning, and use it as a dip (not ideal, I prefer bean dips, but it works).
Why "icky"? Did you buy a preflavored one and eat it cold? (Some of those are a bit weird for my taste, though other like them. Heated they're generally ok, though I prefer different flavoring.)
For that matter, even soft tofu can be pretty good. Cut it in slivers and marinate it in rice wine vinegar and spices. Then mix it into an undressed coleslaw salad. take the marinade and add some oil and a bit of sugar and red pepper (not much) to use as a salad dressing. That's too fancy for me to generally bother with, but I've had restaurants do it with some added green papaya and crushed peanuts and it was delicious.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 28 2014, @01:35PM
There's a good reason why it is hard to put meat substitutes on my table. It's because I don't want meat substitutes.
Don't get me wrong, I have no trouble with food that doesn't contain meat. But I do have trouble with pseudo meat. If you want me to eat peas, give me peas. I like peas. Add rice, other vegetables, tomato sauce, some spices, and it can be great food. But if you try to feed me peas by making them taste like chicken, then no thanks.
(Score: 3, Funny) by nightsky30 on Monday April 28 2014, @02:27PM
How long until someone is actually allowed to copyright or trademark "Chickpeas"?
(Score: 2) by Covalent on Monday April 28 2014, @01:53PM
My neighbors are from China. Their children (same ages as mine) eat things my children would never dream of eating, and vice versa. What you're raised with is what tastes "normal" to you (see: Chitlins, Tripe, Vegemite, Sea Urchin, Menudo, and many other "delicacies").
The best way to get meat OFF of the table (and I think this is a good idea, if for no reason other than resource preservation and climate change) is to push on the "This is better for children" button. If you can make it tasty enough for the adults to eat it, too, all the better, but kids will get used to weird tasting food. It will still take a generation or two, but eventually you will have a society that is less fixated on eating meat.
You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.
(Score: 2) by quitte on Monday April 28 2014, @07:45PM
This is potentially dangerous. It is hard to get all the necessary nutrition with no meat whatsoever. Please don't push this on kids. On the contrary: Vegetarians raising kids, please be aware that this is dangerous and you need to make sure that you are providing all necessary nutrients.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 29 2014, @03:12AM
The only thing contained in meat that can't be gotten from plants is Vitamin B-12.
True, you can only get that from "animal products", but eggs or dairy will do and no animals have to die to feed you.
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 01 2014, @08:36AM
And even then, it's produced by bacteria anyway, so just take your cheap B12 pill instead.
(Eggs and dairy have some serious health risks in large amounts. Perhaps in small too.)
(Score: 2) by Covalent on Wednesday April 30 2014, @05:27PM
I did not suggest vegetarianism for children (or adults). Just significantly reduced meat consumption.
American's often eat meat 21 times a week (breakfast, lunch and dinner x 3). That is FAR more than we need.
You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 01 2014, @02:03AM
Menudo is tripe.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Monday April 28 2014, @02:15PM
http://science.slashdot.org/story/14/04/27/1743227 /bill-gates-twitter-founders-put-meatless-meat-to- the-test [slashdot.org]
Except Slashdot, ironically, has the more easily parsed headline.
At least I can repeat my comment:
"If it tastes like chicken and beef, it doesn't pass the "tastes like chicken" test."
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by weeds on Monday April 28 2014, @02:21PM
It's the texture or "mouth feel" as foodies call it. Many of the vegetarian versions of meat substitutes that I have had not only don't taste like meat, but they don't have the texture of meat either - yucc.
Get money out of politics! [mayday.us]
(Score: 1) by Oligonicella on Monday April 28 2014, @03:32PM
Exactly, and not just "foodies". Meat is fibrous and each class of meat is different. None feel like paste except when processed into paste. At the moment all this does is compete with pattee. So, to replace all meat we go through a huge manufacturing process to convert people to a vegetarian agenda - which will fail anyway unless forced on people.
(Score: 1) by hendrikboom on Monday April 28 2014, @03:21PM
When we visited England, also the fast-food places that served hamburgers also served similar buns with vegetable patties on them instead. THey were delicious, and they tested like vegetables. Back home in Montreal, I've tried in vain to buy patties like that. The patties they sell for vegetarians uniformly taste artificial and awful, not really like the meat they are emulating, and not at all like vegetables.
(Score: 2) by song-of-the-pogo on Monday April 28 2014, @05:37PM
When we were living in Germany, I was surprised to find the McDonalds there serve veggie mcnuggets and veggie big macs. They were, as you describe, patties/nuggets made of vegetables, appearing to be peas, carrots, etc, in a substrate of potatoes, all breaded and fried. Delicious stuff, as you said. It struck me as odd that, in the land of "meat and potatoes", I could so easily come by a tasty vegetarian option at a US-based fast-food joint, but not in the country of its origin. Not that I make a habit of frequenting McDonalds, or the like, being vegetarian. I can't even remember why we went in there in the first place. Must've either been boredom or desperation.
Back on topic... I was born vegetarian, if my parents are to be believed. For whatever reason, I had no interest in eating meat-based products (though I've no trouble consuming large quantities of animal protein in the form of eggs and dairy). I suspect it may have something to do with either the texture or the flavor (plus, conceptually, it's just "ookie" to me ... I was and still am a picky eater, and as there were ample vegetarian options where I grew up, my parents never pressed the meat issue). If food science ever succeeds in creating a vegetable-protein-based meat substitute that is truly convincing, I probably won't be able to stomach that either. I must be one of the few people on the planet who is perfectly content to have my soy-and-gluten protein wodge taste nothing like what it's trying to mimic. Then again, I have no real idea what it's supposed to taste like.
"We have met the enemy and he is us."
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday April 29 2014, @02:37AM
More to the point, I wonder what imbalances and deficiencies would result from switching to this stuff.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 28 2014, @03:28PM
I've tried a lot of meat substitutes (my sister's family is entirely vegan and are entirely strict about it) and frankly none of them seemed very much like meat. It probably has something to do with most of the people creating them not really eating meat. I remember my Brother-In-Law mentioning that one of the brands (it was one that I had tried) being "too much like meat" because it was greasy. Of course, the "grease" was vegetable oil and tasted completely different (more like oil than fat). But I don't think he was very familiar with the difference, since he wasn't actually eating any meat.
But heck, if they can make a better meat substitute than currently exists, I'm all for it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JeanCroix on Monday April 28 2014, @05:38PM