During the pandemic, plant-based meat consumption and media coverage exploded. Now, a host of trend pieces decry its demise. That shift is no organic accident.
The real reasons plant based meat has not taken off is very simple.
Price
Taste (or texture for some people)
When both of them are comparable to animal meat, we will see mass adoption.
There is no conspiracy. The front group mentioned here isn’t active beyond North America…yet there is no adoption in Asia either.
I said much the same on the Behaw thread. If price parity was there or a sliiiight premium, I’d probably be at least 80% veggimeat. And then as said on another comment, once mcD’s/etc starts using it due to price, people won’t think twice about eating and buying it. I don’t think the need or want will be reducing long term as we give it what climate change has in sure for us, so whoever cracks scaling production will have it made.
I feel texture is there on most of the bigger name products, and as someone who doesn’t usually seek out veggies, I loooove Beyond’s flavor profile.
In the U.S. prices for meat are artificially brought down through subsidies. I searched around and saw that in 2015 the cost of beef was brought down to roughly 1/6 the cost.
If we subsidized plant based meats like that they would be less than half the cost of beef. That would bring more people to eating it (not everyone, but many) and that should in theory reduce emissions for all those supplemented purchases.
If you’re interested, please read my reply to someone else here. Subsidies are not direct to ranchers or meat costs, and applying them to meat retail prices is disingenuous. Many subsidies are actually paid by the farm industry, even ranchers (only benefitting Big Ag), and so actually increase meat prices
I buy meat from a butcher, from a ranch that provides most of its own feed in grass and buys the rest cash (I use feed for my example because feed subsidies are one of the biggest… unfortunately, those go to a small number of megacorporations only). They benefit from zero subsidies, but have to pay for some of those subsidies whenever they sell beef. I pay within $1/lb of Grocery Store prices.
Of course money is ultimately zero sum in its way, but it’s arguably grains and vegetables that might take some of the heat if those subsidies were removed. Why? 44% of farmer income is feed subsidies: the government buying grain that is often grown in fields that won’t grow anything else anyway. This keeps grain costs down (for obvious reasons) but also fills farmer margins so they aren’t forced to raise prices on other crops.
The real reasons plant based meat has not taken off is very simple.
When both of them are comparable to animal meat, we will see mass adoption. There is no conspiracy. The front group mentioned here isn’t active beyond North America…yet there is no adoption in Asia either.
I’m in south America and there’s a lot of plant based burgers available. And you know what? The cheapest costs double of a 100% beef burger.
Coincidentally, the half beef, half soy protein burgers are half price of 100% beef burgers, 1/4 of full plant based burgers.
Why is that? The half soy burgers are made by the same companies as the full beef burgers, might be related to economies of scale?
Possibly subsidies too, government there might be subsidizing cattle farming.
I live in SA. This ismisinformation. Its absolutely cheaper to buy plant based meat alternatives (beans) than to buy dead animals here.
I said much the same on the Behaw thread. If price parity was there or a sliiiight premium, I’d probably be at least 80% veggimeat. And then as said on another comment, once mcD’s/etc starts using it due to price, people won’t think twice about eating and buying it. I don’t think the need or want will be reducing long term as we give it what climate change has in sure for us, so whoever cracks scaling production will have it made.
I feel texture is there on most of the bigger name products, and as someone who doesn’t usually seek out veggies, I loooove Beyond’s flavor profile.
In the U.S. prices for meat are artificially brought down through subsidies. I searched around and saw that in 2015 the cost of beef was brought down to roughly 1/6 the cost.
If we subsidized plant based meats like that they would be less than half the cost of beef. That would bring more people to eating it (not everyone, but many) and that should in theory reduce emissions for all those supplemented purchases.
If you’re interested, please read my reply to someone else here. Subsidies are not direct to ranchers or meat costs, and applying them to meat retail prices is disingenuous. Many subsidies are actually paid by the farm industry, even ranchers (only benefitting Big Ag), and so actually increase meat prices
I buy meat from a butcher, from a ranch that provides most of its own feed in grass and buys the rest cash (I use feed for my example because feed subsidies are one of the biggest… unfortunately, those go to a small number of megacorporations only). They benefit from zero subsidies, but have to pay for some of those subsidies whenever they sell beef. I pay within $1/lb of Grocery Store prices.
Of course money is ultimately zero sum in its way, but it’s arguably grains and vegetables that might take some of the heat if those subsidies were removed. Why? 44% of farmer income is feed subsidies: the government buying grain that is often grown in fields that won’t grow anything else anyway. This keeps grain costs down (for obvious reasons) but also fills farmer margins so they aren’t forced to raise prices on other crops.
So yeah, 1/6 is true, and 100% unusable data.
TVP has been cheap for a long time. Black bean burgers are like the cheapest thing you can make, magnitudes cheaper than animals.