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posted by martyb on Tuesday March 06 2018, @01:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-not-an-Impossible-Burger dept.

Blending around 70% ground beef with 30% chopped mushrooms could reduce the environmental impact of beef:

The idea is that mixing chopped mushrooms into our burgers boosts the umami taste, adds more moisture and reduces the amount of beef required for a burger. And reducing the need for beef has a big impact on the environment. According to the World Resources Institute [WRI], if 30 percent of the beef in every burger in America were replaced by mushrooms, it would reduce greenhouse emissions by the same amount as taking 2.3 million vehicles off of our roads.

[...] Richard Waite, from the World Resources Institute, is thrilled. "I think it's great!" he says. WRI has been pushing the blended beef-mushroom burger as a candidate to become one of America's most-served menu items, which WRI calls "power meals." According to Waite, the list of the top 20 meals served by food service companies currently contains only one plant-based item, a veggie wrap. The rest are meat-centric, including four versions of the classic hamburger.

Many niche burger makers and school cafeterias have joined the blended burger bandwagon. In the dining rooms of Stanford University, Waite says, it's the only kind of burger you'll find. But Sonic's 3,500 drive-in restaurants represent a huge boost to the concept.

Here's a recipe for a roasted mushroom base and beef-mushroom burgers.


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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday March 06 2018, @03:49AM (14 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 06 2018, @03:49AM (#648351) Journal

    thought too much about the environmental impact of high density cattle farming

    First, maybe you should define "high density cattle farming". Industrial scale, also. Most American cattle farmers are pretty small scale, and they aren't they aren't exactly "high density". Let me stick a disclaimer in here: I AM NOT defending the big commercial operations! The thing is, most beef comes from individual farms and ranches. The big operations are big - but there aren't all that many of them.

    I suspect that you might be a city boy, and you've seen very little of America's country sides. You've watched a couple documentaries, in which an activist group has portrayed animal husbandry as a gross, evil, cruel, inhumane business. And, you've gobbled up a couple more documentaries about how much the cattle industry pollutes the environment. Well, those documentaries aren't exactly the norm.

    Groups like PETA mostly have their heads up their butts, and contributors to those groups are mostly just virtue signaling tools. Life in rural America just isn't what all those activists would have you believe.

    Cows fart. Big deal. Cows happen to be ruminants. Do you know what that means? They have more than one stomach. They produce a lot of gas in the process of digestion. Do you know what other animals are ruminants? Deer, buffalo, elk, sheep, goats, and more.

    You like nature, right? Well, before the white man arrived, and destroyed a lot of nature, buffalo wandered this land in the millions. Elk probably not so numerous, but deer probably competed in terms of numbers. Ruminants are everywhere. And, they all fart like mad. That's nature.

    Why you wanna mess with nature? You need to concentrate on reducing the number of internal combustion engines, and stop worrying about cattle. Cattle aren't unnatural, at all. They HAVE replaced the huge herds of buffalo, or American bison. But the cattle are probably a close approximation of the former herds of buffalo.

    Run along now - verify my statements if you like. Then, get out there and protest against automobiles. Leave the burgers on the hoof alone!

    Oh - here is a list of ruminants for you - https://www.animalwised.com/ruminant-animals-full-list-and-fun-facts-206.html [animalwised.com] Just for fun, you might look some of them up. Which of them are on endangered species lists? Which of them once numbered in the millions, or maybe even billions, but have been reduced to hundreds of thousands - or less? I leave you to learn, and to think. Maybe after you've put things in a more proper perspective, we can discuss the issue of bovine pollution some more.

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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Whoever on Tuesday March 06 2018, @04:06AM

    by Whoever (4524) on Tuesday March 06 2018, @04:06AM (#648355) Journal

    So, let's start with numbers:

    there are just under 100M cattle in the USA, while the deer population is estimated at less than 1/3 of that.

    Most American cattle farmers are pretty small scale, and they aren't they aren't exactly "high density".

    That is an irrelevant number. What's important is what proportion of the livestock are in large farms that confine their livestock.

    Approximately 80% of livestock were sold by farms with confined livestock.
    https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/home/?cid=nrcs143_014121 [usda.gov]

    You were saying?

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @05:08AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @05:08AM (#648367)

    Their diet has changed. Cattle nowadays are fed corn. Corn makes them expel gas far more than when grazing grasses. I'm not saying how much that contributes to climate change, only that looking at the raw head counts isn't good enough.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @11:13AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @11:13AM (#648450)

      Corn is a grass.

    • (Score: 2) by Taibhsear on Tuesday March 06 2018, @03:32PM

      by Taibhsear (1464) on Tuesday March 06 2018, @03:32PM (#648526)

      Do you have a citation for the relative amounts of gas production of grass vs corn? I'm genuinely curious how large the difference is.

  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:02AM (9 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:02AM (#648389) Journal

    They HAVE replaced the huge herds of buffalo, or American bison. But the cattle are probably a close approximation of the former herds of buffalo.

    Replace them with huge herds of kangaroos - they fart much less methane [theguardian.com].

    Just don't try to milk them (especially the males) you may end gutted [youtube.com].
    And don't punch them unless they are busy keeping your dog in a headlock [nationalgeographic.com].

    (if you really want to know, you'll have to try it yourself, but the taste of kangaroo meat is pretty close to the one of a veal, except some more herby overtones and a somehow tougher texture)

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday March 06 2018, @10:37AM (8 children)

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday March 06 2018, @10:37AM (#648441) Journal

      "(if you really want to know, you'll have to try it yourself, but the taste of kangaroo meat is pretty close to the one of a veal, except some more herby overtones and a somehow tougher texture)"

      I can attest to that. It's tasty.

      If we all start eating kangaroos, though, will PETA complain we're eating Kanga and Roo?

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 06 2018, @12:08PM (7 children)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 06 2018, @12:08PM (#648462) Journal

        If we all start eating kangaroos, though, will PETA complain we're eating Kanga and Roo?

        Mate, I dare you to eat a kanga [kangaloader.com]
        Roo meat is available at major retailers downunder.

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday March 06 2018, @01:47PM (6 children)

          by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday March 06 2018, @01:47PM (#648485) Journal

          Kanga and Roo [wikia.com]

          Did you miss the reference because you were looking at it upside down? ;-)

          I'm impressed you can get kangaroo meat anywhere in Australia. I've longed for the native meat, buffalo, to be widely available in America, but no luck.

          --
          Washington DC delenda est.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:57PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:57PM (#648512)

            Hmm I find that odd, because I have no issues here in Colorado finding buffalo meat.

            All of the major grocery stores in the area sell buffalo. One of them even sells ground kangaroo along with elk and boar.

            https://www.thebalance.com/sprouts-farmers-market-profile-1325948 [thebalance.com]

          • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday March 06 2018, @04:09PM

            by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 06 2018, @04:09PM (#648538) Journal

            I've eaten a lot of beefalo, starting with my sophomore year of high school. The local burger/ice cream stand somehow acquired some buffalo, and started a breeding program. Beefalo is great stuff! Buffalo meat is good, but, somehow, it never lived up to my expectations. It compares to average to good quality beef, but it's just not really special, IMO.

            The superior meat, IMHO, is either angus, or brahma, or a mix, called brangus.

            Of course, everyone has an opinion, right? If you like buffalo meat, I hope you can find all you want, at reasonable prices.

          • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:51PM (2 children)

            by Grishnakh (2831) on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:51PM (#648639)

            I've longed for the native meat, buffalo, to be widely available in America, but no luck.

            Do you only shop at Walmart or something? You can get buffalo at any decent grocery store these days; I even saw some (ground) at Costco last time I was there.

            It's not as easily available as regular beef, but that's because it's more expensive and Americans are cheap, but it is out there. But you're not that likely to find it at crappy stores.

            • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday March 06 2018, @08:55PM (1 child)

              by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday March 06 2018, @08:55PM (#648682) Journal

              Hardly. I'm in Brooklyn. We have Costco, BJ's, Sam's, Whole Foods, Fairway, you name it. None of them carries buffalo. The meat seems to be more available in the West now than when I was a kid, and that's good, but it doesn't seem to made it to the East Coast yet.

              It being NYC, I'm sure I could find it at some specialty shop if I looked really hard, but I don't want to pay $15/lb for it or make special trips to Queens. Tja, not a need, only a minor want.

              --
              Washington DC delenda est.
              • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday March 06 2018, @09:50PM

                by Grishnakh (2831) on Tuesday March 06 2018, @09:50PM (#648727)

                Hardly. I'm in Brooklyn. We have Costco... None of them carries buffalo. The meat seems to be more available in the West now than when I was a kid, and that's good, but it doesn't seem to made it to the East Coast yet.

                I saw it in a Costco in a small city in Virginia a little south of DC. I wonder if there's just something weird about NYC. Or maybe I was just lucky at Costco that day.

          • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 06 2018, @09:22PM

            by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 06 2018, @09:22PM (#648710) Journal

            Did you miss the reference because you were looking at it upside down? ;-)

            Well, part of it, yes it came from "upsidedown look" - I was giving you a "taste" of what the usual bloke in outer suburbs here will have in mind when he hears "kanga".
            Otherwise, yes, the reference was missing from my culture.

            --
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford