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posted by martyb on Friday June 24 2016, @03:53AM   Printer-friendly
from the Let's-get-Mikey! dept.

Several startups are trying to take plant-based meat alternatives to a new level. They include Impossible Foods, which has created a meatless burger that contains heme, a molecule that contributes color, taste, and texture to meat:

This summer, diners in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles will get their hands on a hamburger that's been five years in the making. The burger looks, tastes and smells just like beef — except it's made entirely from plants. It sizzles on the grill and even browns and oozes fat when it cooks. It's the brainchild of former Stanford biochemist Patrick Brown and his research team at Northern California-based Impossible Foods.

[...] It's not the only faux meat company selling bloody plant patties. Last month, Los Angeles-based Beyond Meat made headlines when it released the Beyond Burger, its pea protein burger that sizzles like real meat and "bleeds" beet juice. The burgers quickly sold out after debuting at a Whole Foods in Boulder, Colo. Beyond Meat's investors include Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Gates is also backing Impossible Foods. So is billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and Google Ventures. All told, the company has raised some $182 million in seed funding. Last year, Impossible Foods turned down Google's offer to buy the company for $200 to $300 million.

The Impossible Burger is more than just peas and carrots smashed together: It's the result of some pretty high-tech research. Brown's team analyzes meat at a molecular level to determine what makes a burger taste, smell and cook the way it does. He wants his burgers to be squishy while raw, then firm up and brown on the grill. He believes everything from an animal's fat tissue to muscle cells can be replicated using plant compounds.

The true test? Making the plant-based substance carcinogenic.


Original Submission

Related Stories

Lab-Grown Chicken (and Duck) Could be on the Menu in 4 Years 16 comments

A company called Memphis Meats has announced that it has developed artificial/synthetic/lab-grown/cultured chicken and duck meat. The company's press release says it plans to sell cultured meat products to consumers as soon as 2021. Duck is identified as key to the mainland China market, which consumes more of it (over 6 billion pounds annually) than the rest of the world combined:

The quest for artificial meat inches forward—the company Memphis Meats announced today it has developed chicken and duck meat from cultured cells of each bird, producing "clean poultry." The firm provided few details, although participants at a tasting reportedly said the chicken tasted like, well, chicken. Below is a repost of a story originally published 23 August 2016 on some of the regulatory challenges and questions facing Memphis Meats and other companies pursuing artificial meats.

[...] So far, none of these synthetic foods has reached the marketplace. But a handful of startup companies in the United States and elsewhere are trying to scale up production. In the San Francisco Bay area in California, entrepreneurs at Memphis Meats hope to have their cell-cultured meatballs, hot dogs, and sausages on store shelves in about 5 years, and those at Perfect Day are targeting the end of 2017 to distribute cow-free dairy products. It's not clear, however, which government agencies would oversee this potential new food supply.

Historically, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulates meat, poultry, and eggs, whereas the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees safety and security for food additives. FDA also approves so-called biologics, which include products made from human tissues, blood, and cells, and gene therapy techniques. But emerging biotechnologies may blur those lines of oversight, because some of the new foods don't fit neatly into existing regulatory definitions. "Cellular culture raises a lot of questions," says Isha Datar, CEO of New Harvest, a New York City–based nonprofit founded to support this nascent industry.

To help provide answers, the White House last year launched an initiative to review and overhaul how U.S. agencies regulate agricultural biotechnology [DOI: 10.1126/science.349.6244.131] [DX]. And the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, D.C., is working on a broader study of future biotechnology developments and regulation, with a report slated for release at the end of this year. In the meantime, industry leaders are thinking about how their potential lab-based foods might be handled by regulators. One approach, they tell ScienceInsider, is to show that their product is similar to an existing product that testing has already shown to pose no hazards. "Most food regulation is about aligning new products with something that's already recognized as safe," Datar notes.

Related: Producing Beef has the Greatest Impact on the Environment Compared to Other Animal Based Foods
Real Vegan Cheese: Coming From a Yeast to You
Would You Try Silicon Valley's Bloody Plant Burger(s)?
Lab-Grown Pork Closer to Reality

Right now, manufactured meat is as real as a flying car.
- Anonymous Coward, 2014


Original Submission

Cargill, Bill Gates, Richard Branson Backed Memphis Meats Expects Meat From Cells in Stores by 2021 39 comments

Submitted via IRC for takyon

Cargill Inc., one of the largest global agricultural companies, has joined Bill Gates and other business giants to invest in a nascent technology to make meat from self-producing animal cells amid rising consumer demand for protein that's less reliant on feed, land and water.

Memphis Meats, which produces beef, chicken and duck directly from animal cells without raising and slaughtering livestock or poultry, raised $17 million from investors including Cargill, Gates and billionaire Richard Branson, according to a statement Tuesday on the San Francisco-based startup's website. The fundraising round was led by venture-capital firm DFJ, which has previously backed several social-minded retail startups.

They made the first ever chicken and duck meat that were produced without the animals.

The company expects to have a product in stores by 2021.

"They're the leader in clean meat. There's no one else that far along," says venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, whose firm led Memphis Meats' recent $17 million Series A. Before he met Valeti in 2016, Jurvetson spent almost five years researching lab-grown meat and meat alternatives, believing the market was set to explode. "They're the only one that convinced me they can get to a price point and a scale that would make a difference in the industry," he says.

Cargill is the largest privately held corporation in the United States in terms of revenue ($109.7 billion in 2017).

Source: https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/10/cargill-bill-gates-richard-branson-backed-memphis-meats-expects-meat-from-cells-in-stores-by-2021.html

Previously: Lab-Grown Chicken (and Duck) Could be on the Menu in 4 Years

Related: Lab-grown meat would 'cut emissions and save energy'
Producing Beef has the Greatest Impact on the Environment Compared to Other Animal Based Foods
Real Vegan Cheese: Coming From a Yeast to You
Would You Try Silicon Valley's Bloody Plant Burger(s)?
Lab-Grown Pork Closer to Reality


Original Submission

Meatless "Beyond Burgers" Come to Fast Food Restaurants 58 comments

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Meatless 'Beyond Burgers' come to Carl's Jr. restaurants

The competition in lab-made veggie burgers is heating up. Beyond Meat has brought its burgers to more than 1,000 Carl's Jr. locations in the US, marking its Beyond's largest restaurant deal to date. Order a $6.29 Beyond Famous Star and you can eat a vegetarian (sorry vegans, there's American cheese) burg that tastes much like its conventional beef counterparts. You can also pay $2 to add a Beyond patty to other burgers on the menu. [...] You can already eat Impossible burgers of various sizes at White Castle, Hopdoddy, [and] Umami Burger

The veggie burgers won't be available at Hardee's (a nearly identical fast food chain operated by the same parent company). Sorry, "flexitarians".

Big Beef Prepares For Battle, As Interest Grows In Plant-Based And Lab-Grown Meats

The U.S. meat industry is gigantic, with roughly $200 billion a year in sales, and getting larger. But the industry faces emerging threats on two fronts: plant-based meat substitutes and actual meat grown in labs. Plant-based meat substitutes are a lot more, well, meaty than they used to be. They sear on the grill and even "bleed." They look, taste and feel in the mouth a lot like meat. Savannah Blevin, a server at Charlie Hooper's, an old-school bar and grill in Kansas City, Mo., says the vegetarian Impossible Burgers on the menu are popular with the meat-eating crowd. "I had a vegetarian actually turn it away, because it reminded them so much of meat, they sent it back," says Blevins. "It's delicious," she adds.

The industry that makes these products is taking off, growing 20 percent a year. "Business is booming," says Todd Boyman, co-founder of food company Hungry Planet. "We just can't keep up. We're actually having to expand our production facilities to keep up with the demand that's out there for this type of food."

[...] The meat industry is focused on shaping the regulatory environment for its new competitors, taking into account lessons learned from the rise of plant-based milks.

Previously: Would You Try Silicon Valley's Bloody Plant Burger(s)?
Impossible Foods Just Raised $75 Million for Its Plant-based Burgers
Inside the Strange Science of the Fake Meat that 'Bleeds'
FDA Approves Impossible Burger "Heme" Ingredient; Still Wants to Regulate "Cultured Meat"

Related: U.S. Cattlemen's Association Wants an Official Definition of "Meat"
Missouri Regulates Use of the Word "Meat" by Food Producers


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @04:10AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @04:10AM (#364682)

    I'm not some fake vegan hipster who pretends to be vegetarian. I am vegetarian, and I have been since early childhood. As soon as I was sentient enough to refuse to eat animal products, I refused, even when my parents tried to make me.

    Color, taste, and texture are exactly the attributes of meat that I absolutely cannot tolerate, so no. A "meatless" substitute would taste exactly like meat to me, and I would not eat it.

    Silicon Valley hipster idiots know nothing of vegetarianism. Because they are all faking it.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Friday June 24 2016, @05:11AM

      by Immerman (3985) on Friday June 24 2016, @05:11AM (#364730)

      I think you're in a minority. Most of the vegetarians I know choose the diet for ethical reasons, and a few for health ones. Very few choose the diet because they find meat disgusting. We have millions of years of omnivorous instincts informing us that meat is an extremely nutritious and efficient food source - aka it's delicious.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @05:39AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @05:39AM (#364748)

        All of the vegetarians I meet choose the diet strictly for social reasons. Not ethical. Not health. Social. To impress idiots. Because they are crowd followers.

        • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday June 24 2016, @01:17PM

          by Immerman (3985) on Friday June 24 2016, @01:17PM (#364897)

          Perhaps you should stop hanging out with people you think are idiots then?

      • (Score: 2) by CoolHand on Friday June 24 2016, @12:06PM

        by CoolHand (438) on Friday June 24 2016, @12:06PM (#364875) Journal

        I think you're in a minority. Most of the vegetarians I know choose the diet for ethical reasons, and a few for health ones. Very few choose the diet because they find meat disgusting. We have millions of years of omnivorous instincts informing us that meat is an extremely nutritious and efficient food source - aka it's delicious.

        Are you really sure we're omnivores? I think the evidence more leans to the fact that we're herbivores, and we're too damn smart for ourselves. So, we figured out how to eat meat for survival advantage, but our bodies are not designed for it.. Think about it, we don't have natural weapons (claws, large canines, large jaws) to naturally take down prey. We have to outsmart it and use tools to do it, because we're not evolutionary designed to do it. Also, although giving some short term survival advantages, animal products are poison to our system and horrible for us. We're not made to digest and process animal fats. They give us all kinds of problems. So, if we weren't so damn smart, I think it's very likely we'd still be herbivores, or at least 99% herbivore.. http://www.vegan-nutritionista.com/humans-are-herbivores.html [vegan-nutritionista.com]

        --
        Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job-Douglas Adams
        • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Spelli on Friday June 24 2016, @01:07PM

          by Spelli (6123) on Friday June 24 2016, @01:07PM (#364895)

          That carnivore/herbivore comparison chart is a load of bull. You can't pick and choose what suits your theory best.
          Even cows will eat a dead rabbit if it suddenly pops up - the calorie/time ratio is just too good to pass up, even wrongly equipped digestive tract.
          What about our carnassials? What about the gall bladder (predominantly a carnivorous trait)? We also have the proper enzymes to digest meat. Get a man on a diet consisting of almost only meat, and he'll have highly concentrated pee just like a carnivore. (That one i actually tested on myself, when my meat-filled freezer went kaput during summer)
          Humans are extraordinarily flexible diet-wise.

          We did not hunt most of our prey as a lion or most other carnivores do today. We exhausted them by exploiting our energy-efficient bipedal mode of locomotion and their escape behaviour - most animals will sprint away when they feel threatened until the threat is gone. We just followed their trail at a leisurely pace until they sprinted again, etc. repeat until prey is utterly exhausted. Lab experiments with mice show that when exposed to similar stimuli, many will actually die of a heart attack caused by wildly fluctuating adrenaline levels before becoming bodily exhausted.

          Disclaimer: I'm a biologist master student, and sorry for the mediocre english.

        • (Score: 4, Informative) by Immerman on Friday June 24 2016, @01:22PM

          by Immerman (3985) on Friday June 24 2016, @01:22PM (#364899)

          Look at our cousins - the great apes are pretty much all omnivorous. They don't need claws or fangs for grasping prey - they have hands for that, and primarily hunt prey considerably smaller than them so that hands are more than adequate. We also lack the wide, flat molars that are typical of herbivores, and our jaws used to be considerably larger - they started shrinking about the time we started making stone tools (no longer needed to use our teeth for ripping through hide and other tough foods), and the trend notably accelerated when we harnessed fire (which softened food and increased the calories available to our digestive systems, so we could eat less and more easily)

          That's not to say we're adapted to eat a *lot* of meat, most Americans probably eat more than is healthy, but it's pretty obvious that we've been opportunistic predators since long before we became tool users. And some branches of humanity have spent thousands of years as primarily carnivorous after colonizing ecosystems like grasslands that contained primarily plants our digestive system can't do much with. Not long enough for major evolutionary changes, but smaller adaptations like the ability to digest milk as adults don't necessarily take long.

          Pro-tip - if you want to get a solid idea of what we're evolutionarily designed to eat, you're probably better of talking to biologists than some website that starts with a false dichotomy between carnivores and herbivores and barely makes a tip of the hat to omnivores at the very end.
           

        • (Score: 4, Interesting) by TheLink on Friday June 24 2016, @04:21PM

          by TheLink (332) on Friday June 24 2016, @04:21PM (#365003) Journal

          Where's the omnivore section? There's no need for fangs and claws. Chimps eat monkeys, bush babies, etc. Our digestive tract is nothing like herbivores nor do we eat our excrement like rabbits.

          There's lots of scientific evidence that humans do better on a diet that includes fish. Definitely better than being pure vegetarians. There's some scientific research that indicates that pure vegetarianism isn't "normal" or good for humans: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/vegetarian-gene-linked-to-heart-disease-and-cancer-risk-scientists-find-a6959291.html [independent.co.uk]
          Sure seems like it would take many more generations of evolution before those populations get better at being pure vegetarians. Meanwhile I'm sticking to being an omnivore.

          Even many supposed herbivores aren't pure vegetarians. Red deer don't have fangs and claws and yet some eat lots of birds, eating more than some supposed carnivores AND it seems healthier for them to do so: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/08/0825_030825_carnivorousdeer.html [nationalgeographic.com]
          http://io9.gizmodo.com/field-cameras-catch-deer-eating-birds-wait-why-do-deer-1689440870 [gizmodo.com]

          But many vegans don't let scientific facts get in the way their "religion".

          By the way humans are not like most other mammals. Humans are one of animals in the world that has an additional digestive organ outside our bodies. The part outside is sometimes called a kitchen. Because of that we can eat an even wider variety of foods while not having to carry around a bigger and more complicated digestive system for most of the day ;).

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 26 2016, @07:59AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 26 2016, @07:59AM (#365958)

            Humans are one of animals in the world that has an additional digestive organ outside our bodies. The part outside is sometimes called a kitchen.

            How many humans can survive on a pure vegetarian diet that has uncooked and unprepared food (e.g. no kitchen)? Can they manage spending all day munching leaves in their mouths like gorillas? You can survive on eating nuts but are there enough nuts for you to forage?

            If they require a kitchen to be pure vegetarian then the digestive system comparison is misleading isn't it? I'd accept tools to crack nuts (stones are common), but blending nuts in a blender. And stuff like tempeh is definitely out since it involves soybeans being cooked and prepared.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 25 2016, @12:16PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 25 2016, @12:16PM (#365514)

          We're not carnivores nor herbivores. We're omnivores.

          We can't digest cellulose as well as herbivores. We are not ruminants and we do not have this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindgut_fermentation [wikipedia.org]

          As for a fruit only diet, some can do it but many others can't (diabetes or they might even get pancreatic cancer).

          We can survive as vegetarians, and we can survive as carnivores (e.g. Inuit diet - vitamin c from skin and livers: http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/questions/question/3329/ [thenakedscientists.com] ).

          But it is difficult for us to thrive on such diets.

    • (Score: 2) by tfried on Friday June 24 2016, @08:35AM

      by tfried (5534) on Friday June 24 2016, @08:35AM (#364821)

      I do eat meat, but I don't need a whole lot of it. Moral reasons do play a small role in that, but in fact, I'd find the thought of having to eat meat every day, or even every other day, rather unappetizing. By this reason, I simply fail to see the point of products like these (for me, personally, at least). Functional substitutes - stuff I can put in a burger, slices of something that I can put on my bread, ready prepared chunks of whatever that I can simply toss in a pan or on a grill without washing or cutting - all of that is great. Taste substitutes: I don't get it.

      My theory is that for many people - especially some very healthy minded ones - meat is essentially the only source of fat and salt in their diet. If no other food on your plate contains a grain of salt, it's no surprise you'll fight for that chunk of meat...

    • (Score: 2) by Jesus_666 on Saturday June 25 2016, @05:06PM

      by Jesus_666 (3044) on Saturday June 25 2016, @05:06PM (#365662)

      You're not the target demographic here. This is not about giving people who don't eat meat a more meat-like experience. This is about giving people who do eat meat a vegetarian alternative they're going to like. If we can come up with a cheap, realistic meat substitute we can reduce actual meat consumption without somehow having to convince everyone to completely change their dietary habits.

  • (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Friday June 24 2016, @04:26AM

    by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Friday June 24 2016, @04:26AM (#364693)

    Making it carcingenic is easy: just burn it a bit.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @04:38AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @04:38AM (#364702)

    It's got blood coming out of its wherever. 🍔

  • (Score: 2) by WalksOnDirt on Friday June 24 2016, @04:46AM

    by WalksOnDirt (5854) on Friday June 24 2016, @04:46AM (#364710) Journal

    Meatless is fine by me. It takes a lot more effort to raise an animal than a plant. My only problem is with why it should be so much more expensive?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @05:02AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @05:02AM (#364722)

      If they figure out a way to make simulated meat from Iowa corn, it could be as cheap as real meat. Either that, or if Iowa moves its caucuses to a later date...

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday June 24 2016, @05:19AM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday June 24 2016, @05:19AM (#364737) Journal

      Impossible's plant burger is still more expensive to produce than beef patties. But Brown says the goal is to increase production so the "meat" becomes less expensive than ground chuck. The company is already leasing a 66,913-square-foot manufacturing facility in Oakland to ramp up production.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
  • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Friday June 24 2016, @05:10AM

    by Snotnose (1623) on Friday June 24 2016, @05:10AM (#364729)

    Some 15 years ago my 20 something daughter lived with us. She went on a minor vegan kick (didn't bother me. As the cook I cook dinner, if you don't want to eat it cook your own). She loved boca burgers. One day I was hungry, had nothing to eat that didn't require 30 minutes time, and there were Boca burgers available.

    Know what? Those things were damned tasty. Not tasty enough to make me give up my own cow-burgers, but if cow wasn't available I'd eat the things. Never mind they cost 2-3 times what cow did.

    That's the short and simple of it. I don't eat cows cuz I hate them, I eat them cuz they're tasty and cheap. Same with pigs, chicken, and fish. Give me an alternative that is just as tasty, and about the same price, and I'll switch in a heartbeat. Try to guilt me out of chicken due to overcrowding or whatever, I'm eating chicken.

    / Not a dick in the kitchen
    // Don't like shrimp? Fine, I won't make shrimp when expecting you
    /// Don't like meat? Tough turkey tits, you're on your own.

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
    • (Score: 2) by darnkitten on Friday June 24 2016, @05:39AM

      by darnkitten (1912) on Friday June 24 2016, @05:39AM (#364747)

      Huh. I'll have to try Boca--which variety did you eat?

      The vegetarian/vegan burgers I've tried are OK for a few bites, but not great, and none of 'em held together properly on the grill stove or in the oven. Could be intentional, though--I live in cattle country.

      OTOH, I was at a local diner the other day, and I could have sworn that the burger I received was NOT meat. The flavor was alright, but it had an unpleasant chewy texture that I did not care for. Eugh.

    • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Friday June 24 2016, @05:49AM

      by captain normal (2205) on Friday June 24 2016, @05:49AM (#364750)

      You should try a cricket burger. https://draxe.com/cricket-flour/ [draxe.com]

      --
      When life isn't going right, go left.
      • (Score: 2) by darnkitten on Friday June 24 2016, @06:03AM

        by darnkitten (1912) on Friday June 24 2016, @06:03AM (#364757)

        Now that is something you aint gonna find in rural Montana...

        Maybe Missoula...

        • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday June 28 2016, @06:14PM

          by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday June 28 2016, @06:14PM (#367190) Journal

          Uh, yeah, not. Montanans don't eat bugs. Maybe if you're east of the divide you might, might eat a rattlesnake or Rocky Mountain oysters, but never bugs.

          --
          Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @05:56AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @05:56AM (#364754)

      She went on a minor vegan kick

      Of course she did.

      She loved boca burgers.

      Which means she was faking it.

      Boca burgers are trying too hard to taste just like meat, so fake vegans who pretend to be vegan can claim plausible deniability.

      I have eaten one hot dog in my life, and I have eaten one boca burger in my life. I threw up each time.

      • (Score: 2) by darnkitten on Friday June 24 2016, @06:13AM

        by darnkitten (1912) on Friday June 24 2016, @06:13AM (#364761)

        Oh, some hot dogs are good--not many, and not often, I grant you.

        Usually, you eat hot dogs to remind yourself why you don't eat hotdogs.

        --like candy corn. or grape jelly. or Kool Aid--or any of the thousand-and-one so-called foods you loved as a kid and occasionally nostalgia-crave until you actually taste them again as an adult .

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @06:19AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @06:19AM (#364762)

          what the hell is wrong with you people? I love hot dogs.
          I know I shouldn't eat them very often because they're not healthy, but I love them.

          • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday June 28 2016, @06:16PM

            by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday June 28 2016, @06:16PM (#367193) Journal

            I gotta say I find myself agreeing with anti-hotdog sentiments. I can't take store-bought, brand-name hot dogs like oscar meyer or ballpark. I don't know if they changed their formula or if my body changed, but eating them now makes me queasy. The last kind I could take were natural ones available at the Polish market down the avenue, but they're gone now.

            --
            Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday June 24 2016, @08:12PM

          by tangomargarine (667) on Friday June 24 2016, @08:12PM (#365120)

          Except for the part where basically every single thing that you can eat is bad for you somehow.

          --
          "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
      • (Score: 4, Informative) by wonkey_monkey on Friday June 24 2016, @07:26AM

        by wonkey_monkey (279) on Friday June 24 2016, @07:26AM (#364787) Homepage

        You're an idiot.

        Eating non-meat products that taste like meat is not "faking it." If anyone's being a hipster, it's you.

        --
        systemd is Roko's Basilisk
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @10:00AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @10:00AM (#364847)

          I Couldn’t Stop Eating Meat

          I was enthusiastic about becoming a vegetarian. My understanding was that certain foods, such as corn and lima beans, could be mixed together to form complete sets of protein – valuable proteins that would enable me to keep running my Unreal Tournament fan site without the frequent nausea and unconsciousness that accompanied my efforts to cease eating alltogether.

          The first day without meat was fine. I had a craving for a hot dog shortly after lunch, but I ate some yougurt and then licked the aluminum foil lid until the cravings passed some thirty minutes later. Dinner consisted of what vegetarians call “quiche,” which is pronounced “quiche.” It’s like a pie, but there’s no meat, not even the obvious choice of bacon – which seemed very strange to me.

          By the third day the traffic on my Unreal Tournament fan site was up. I think this is because, possibly while I was feeling faint in the late morning, I replaced my webpage background pattern with a brilliantly tiled .gif image of raw, tasty ground beef.

          The sixth day was almost my worst. I had taken some tofu and mashed and kneeded it until it was roughly the shape of a turkey leg. Then I inserted a curling iron into it, to pretend it was a bone. I forgot it was on. Tasty, though. Worth the pain. I had seconds.

          The seventh day I blacked out.

          My eighth day as a vegetarian was my last. I awoke covered in foam that seemed to be eminating from my mouth. I crawled to a soup kitchen and stole a barbecue fork from a man wrapped in a garbage bag. As if in a dream I watched myself standing on a table threatening passers-by. “Meat!” I shouted. “Meat! Meat! Meat! Meat! … Meat! Meat! Meat! MEAT! … Meat!” A woman in white was serving soup. It was potato soup. They had no meat that day. I had a fork.

          The woman in white was delicious.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @05:20PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @05:20PM (#365036)

            Strangest delicious sausage creepypasta I've ever read.

      • (Score: 2) by tibman on Friday June 24 2016, @01:35PM

        by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 24 2016, @01:35PM (#364906)

        Hot dogs have an extremely wide quality margin. Generally the more expensive it is the fewer buttholes and lips are blended into it. I will never eat hotdogs at someone else's cookout for that reason. People buy the cheapest garbage. Plants generally don't suffer from that kind of problem.

        --
        SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
      • (Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Friday June 24 2016, @05:28PM

        by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Friday June 24 2016, @05:28PM (#365040) Journal

        Not everybody has a weak stomach. Sucks to be you, I guess.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @08:24PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @08:24PM (#365127)

        I have eaten one hot dog in my life, and I have eaten one boca burger in my life. I threw up each time.

        We can't withstand tastiness of this magnitude!

        Up it comes

    • (Score: 2) by CoolHand on Friday June 24 2016, @11:59AM

      by CoolHand (438) on Friday June 24 2016, @11:59AM (#364871) Journal

      That's the short and simple of it. I don't eat cows cuz I hate them, I eat them cuz they're tasty and cheap. Same with pigs, chicken, and fish. Give me an alternative that is just as tasty, and about the same price, and I'll switch in a heartbeat. Try to guilt me out of chicken due to overcrowding or whatever, I'm eating chicken.

      / Not a dick in the kitchen
      // Don't like shrimp? Fine, I won't make shrimp when expecting you
      /// Don't like meat? Tough turkey tits, you're on your own.

      Would you give it up for the environment? Animal agriculture is one of the worst things we have going against the environment, and is not sustainable for the population as a whole, even with current "factory farming" processes. Check out the documentary Cowspiracy [cowspiracy.com] for some eye-opening enlightenment in this area..

      Would you give up meat for your health? Animal fats are what causes high cholesterol, a lot of heart disease, possibly a lot of cancers. There have been studies showing a switch to a whole foods plant based diet will quickly reverse about all that ails you. Your body wants to heal itself, the only thing holding it back is all those animal products.. Check out the Documentary "Forks Over Knives" [forksoverknives.com] for an eye-opening experience on that..

      --
      Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job-Douglas Adams
      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @04:23PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2016, @04:23PM (#365005)

        I've seen Cowspiracy.

        I'm a farmer.

        I was caught between paroxysms of hilarity and paroxysms of rage at the lies, disingenuity and crazy, boxers-on-head level of conspiracy theory madness.

        If you want the real deal, go take a few courses on agricultural practice, on zoology and botany, on ecology and so on. Maybe do a few farming internships.

        Animal agriculture in the US of A isn't a saintly exercise of self-denial, but neither is it the last plague brought by the horsemen of the apocalypse either. Animal agriculture has been downright beneficial in some ways - and all you people who like to eat row crops while you complain about burning oil had better be prepared to pull the tilling machinery yourselves, if neither tractors nor horses are doing the job.

        As for the heart health thing, I know a world-class, renowned cardiology researcher. He loves him some rare steak. I've eaten at his place. It's pretty good.

        By all means, watch your propaganda videos. Then do your own analysis, and make it well-rounded.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 25 2016, @03:13PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 25 2016, @03:13PM (#365605)

          There are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when they are shown, those who do not see. - Leonardo da Vinci

    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday June 28 2016, @06:12PM

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday June 28 2016, @06:12PM (#367189) Journal

      I second boca burgers. I love beef but can't eat it anymore. Boca burgers taste better than many varieties of beef patties, and there's an added bonus that they're not greasy and don't leave you feeling greasy after having eaten them.

      They are expensive, though. Pity.

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
  • (Score: 2) by looorg on Friday June 24 2016, @06:47AM

    by looorg (578) on Friday June 24 2016, @06:47AM (#364771)

    I don't like my beef or burgers bloody so why would I want plants to "bleed" beet juice? If I wanted to eat plants I would. Choosing not to eat it is a choice and this just doesn't seem to change that. I'll stick with meat - I don't really see how it can be improved upon. Unless the product becomes cheaper, better and healthier (not 'or') it's just never going to be an option in my mind - it's like the science people that wants to tell me that eating bugs is going to be the next thing and is super-great .... riiight. Not happening.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by anubi on Friday June 24 2016, @08:05AM

      by anubi (2828) on Friday June 24 2016, @08:05AM (#364814) Journal

      I do not believe they are "preaching to the choir",

      rather, they are "preaching to the meat-eaters".

      --
      "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
      • (Score: 2) by CoolHand on Friday June 24 2016, @12:16PM

        by CoolHand (438) on Friday June 24 2016, @12:16PM (#364879) Journal

        I do not believe they are "preaching to the choir",

        rather, they are "preaching to the meat-eaters".

        Bingo! They are preaching to those that are trying to convert to a plant-based diet. Also, to those, that aren't in it for ethical reasons, and want to "blend in" during cookouts and at restaurants, etc... Since going vegan, I try not too eat too many tasty vegan burgers, as they're not as healthy as a whole food plant based diet, but my normal wife, just keeps buying me beyond burgers, ben & jerry's vegan "ice cream", etc.. she doesn't understand, but I don't fight it too much.. I do enjoy on occasion, and she's already being fairly cool with the lifestyle change, so I don't want to push it..

        --
        Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job-Douglas Adams
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by TheRaven on Friday June 24 2016, @11:42AM

      by TheRaven (270) on Friday June 24 2016, @11:42AM (#364864) Journal
      Things like burgers and hot dog sausages are already so far away from anything recognisable as coming from an animal (and often include a lot of bits of the animal that you wouldn't immediately think of as 'meat') that a vegetarian alternative doesn't seem to much of a stretch. Chicken nuggets are made by throwing all of the bits of a chicken that aren't recognisably meat into a centrifuge and then taking the stripe in the middle that's mostly not feather or bone. Fake meat sounds pretty appetising in comparison.
      --
      sudo mod me up
      • (Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday June 26 2016, @09:12AM

        by anubi (2828) on Sunday June 26 2016, @09:12AM (#365974) Journal

        You make it sound like how catfood is made. I looked at some of mine under the microscope.

        A helluva lot of wet shredded feathers in it.

        --
        "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday June 24 2016, @05:11PM

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday June 24 2016, @05:11PM (#365031) Journal

    I'm all for it. I'm an omnivore but could see myself going vegetarian if the price and availability were right (for example, if these became a staple item at $FASTFOOD_JOINT). Also can't wait for "vat meat" to come online and hit price parity. Once that's up and running I'll never eat the products of slaughter again.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...