Plant based tuna?

[Figgy1]

Am I the only one who just hates the term "plant-based"? Can't we come up with some better descriptor? "Yes, I would like a serving of plant please."

I myself prefer “vegan”, but I suppose “plant-based” sounds more broadly marketable and avoids some of the negative baggage that unfortunately come with veganism.

Part marketing and part the term used by some in the medical community when putting somebody on a vegan diet, again marketing

 

[LittleBuford]

Yes. I do. I do not believe anything should be permitted to be labeled as "milk" if it did not come from a mammal. I'm totally serious. Calling something "almond milk," "soy milk," etc. is just factually wrong and, IMHO, amounts to false advertising.

The powers that be in the EU agree with you.

Plant-based food industry fights EU proposal to ban dairy comparisons

A new rule banning food companies from comparing plant-based products to dairy in their marketing could be agreed by European Union negotiators this week, despite protests from firms including Danone, Nestle and Unilever.

www.reuters.com

Personally, I think it’s a lot of fuss over nothing. If we can handle “peanut butter”, why is “almond milk” such a problem?

 

[Screamface]

You wrote, "People just lie for the virtue signal." Perhaps mockery isn't the right word for it, but it's certainly scathing, which is hardly better, and may even be worse.

I still stand by this. People claim it's like real meat because they like the idea. It's not. If it was, then new products wouldn't be claimed to be even better and closer to real meat. That doesn't mean people can't eat or enjoy it. I understand the advertising aspect. It doesn't explain the people who aren't tasked with advertising it also making those claims. Doesn't mean people can't enjoy it or are wrong for enjoying it.

I do indeed like it. It fulfils an important need for me.

Good for you. Happy for you. My post wasn't about you.

Which is not a problem from the perspective of most people who choose plant-based alternatives. They're not the ones who fill these threads with anger and judgement whenever the topic comes up.

I just find it interesting. I'm not even against it. I thought it was an interesting thing to add to the discussion. Sorry.

Growing up in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, which has a very big focus on health, plant-based foods is is nothing new. My grandparents were eating it back in the 60’s. Here is an article I found interesting

https://www.soyinfocenter.com/HSS/loma_linda_foods.php

I personally enjoyed the meat substitutes from the past. It's the current crop that's come over the last decade or so that I don't think are as good.

We've have some vegan fish and chip restaurants here that have been around for decades that were always nice and fine. Whatever they were doing then. Is not the same as the new branded vegan options that are becoming available at most fish and chip shops.

We even have a vegan burger chain here in Auckland that predates stuff like beyond burger, Lord of the Fries. Their burgers are better than the new fake meat branded patties.

 

[LittleBuford]

I still stand by this. People claim it's like real meat because they like the idea. It's not.

Which people, though? Where are you getting the idea that hordes of deluded/dishonest vegans are claiming that plant-based alternatives are exactly like the real thing?

The first time I tried an Impossible Burger (in WDW, as it happens), I did indeed struggle to believe it wasn’t real meat, because I’d never tasted such a convincing plant-based approximation before. But it didn’t take long for the novelty to wear off and the differences to become more perceptible. I don’t know a single person who would insist that there’s no difference.

 

[Screamface]

Which people, though? Where are you getting the idea that hordes of deluded/dishonest vegans are claiming that plant-based alternatives are exactly like the real thing?

The first time I tried an Impossible Burger (in WDW, as it happens), I did indeed struggle to believe it wasn’t real meat, because I’d never tasted such a convincing plant-based approximation before. But it didn’t take long for the novelty to wear off and the differences to become more perceptible. I don’t know a single person who would insist that there’s no difference.

I can only be anecdotal. I can just point to how when things like Beyond Burger started popping up I would see reviews and coverage of it. Talk of how it bleeds and is like the real thing. I would see posts on social media of people I did and didn't know talking about trying it. How it was like the real thing. It was a virtue signal about being in San Fran, trying it for a while.

Then I finally tried it a few years later. It wasn't like the real thing. Then I would see news articles, post about a new version and new brands, types and different kinds of new versions. With claims that it is even close to real meat. Just irked me.

 

[LittleBuford]

I can only be anecdotal. I can just point to how when things like Beyond Burger started popping up I would see reviews and coverage of it. Talk of how it bleeds and is like the real thing. I would see posts on social media of people I did and didn't know talking about trying it. How it was like the real thing. It was a virtue signal about being in San Fran, trying it for a while.

Then I finally tried it a few years later. It wasn't like the real thing. Then I would see news articles, post about a new version and new brands, types and different kinds of new versions. With claims that it is even close to real meat. Just irked me.

As I said, when I tried it for the first time, I thought the waiter had accidentally brought my partner (whose burger it was) the real thing. My partner, a vegan who hasn’t eaten meat since childhood, was so thrown by the burger’s taste and texture that he asked me to check it for him. And even though I do still eat real meat on occasion, I too couldn’t be sure that what I was tasting was a plant-based substitute, and so I called the waiter over and he explained that it was a brand-new product that had left others similarly surprised.

At no point during this incident were my partner and I virtue signalling. Who would we have been virtue signalling to? It was genuine amazement on our part that they had come out with such a meat-like vegan burger. Just because others’ reactions to these products don’t match yours, it doesn’t mean they’re lying or trying to appear virtuous.

 

[UNCgolf]

I think the plant-based meat industry is the kind of thing that had a quick rise and will likely have a quick fall -- it's apparently already not doing well at the moment. There are continual advances towards lab grown meat that doesn't involve farming and slaughtering animals, and I imagine most people that aren't eating meat for ethical reasons would prefer to eat actual meat if the ethical issue is removed.

Not that there can't still be ethical issues with lab grown meat, and there will probably still be people in the intended market who won't eat it either for ethical reasons or because of other concerns (like GMO plants). I also don't think the plant-based meat industry will disappear entirely. It's just that the potential eventual combination of lab grown meat and other plant-based products like veggie/black bean burgers (there are plenty of vegetarians/vegans who prefer them over Impossible/Beyond products, which is part of the reason Impossible/Beyond aren't performing that well) will probably turn the plant-based meat into a small niche product.

 

[NelleBelle]

Its not anywhere near the same.

Precursor, sure, in the same way that sh**** 1930s food is the precursor to food made today.

Agree that some of the foods they’re making today are different; and some would argue, my DH among them, it’s way better! I personally like my “old” style of fake meat best. I’m not a fan of the taste of meat nor the texture and I’d rather not have something that close to it, if that makes sense?

 

[GimpYancIent]

Vegetables are definitely part of a healthy diet, not new and not news, the issue is taking perfectly good vegetables, grinding them into a paste, adding chemicals in an attempt to make the concoction look & taste like meat then marketing it as a meat substitute. Vegetables ARE vegetables not meat substitutes and have their place in any diet, all the processing and chemical alteration has no place in any healthy diet.

 

[LittleBuford]

Vegetables are definitely part of a healthy diet, not new and not news, the issue is taking perfectly good vegetables, grinding them into a paste, adding chemicals in an attempt to make the concoction look & taste like meat then marketing it as a meat substitute. Vegetables ARE vegetables not meat substitutes and have their place in any diet, all the processing and chemical alteration has no place in any healthy diet.

That’s not your call to make. Nor does it have to be either/or: I eat real vegetables alongside the processed stuff.

 

[GimpYancIent]

That’s not your call to make. Nor does it have to be either/or: I eat real vegetables alongside the processed stuff.

My opinion and yes I can make it!

 

[LittleBuford]

My opinion and yes I can make it!

You’re absolutely entitled to your opinion. It’s deciding what others should and shouldn’t eat that I was referring to.

 

[FutureCEO]

Vegetables are definitely part of a healthy diet, not new and not news, the issue is taking perfectly good vegetables, grinding them into a paste, adding chemicals in an attempt to make the concoction look & taste like meat then marketing it as a meat substitute. Vegetables ARE vegetables not meat substitutes and have their place in any diet, all the processing and chemical alteration has no place in any healthy diet.

The problem with with a lot of plant based meats. So expensive and way too much salt. I bought faux chicken tenders once and while good, I stopped buying after a couple times because of the salt.

Fake seafood is not here yet near me. Or maybe it is and I haven't look hard enough.

 

[SteveAZee]

Yes. I do. I do not believe anything should be permitted to be labeled as "milk" if it did not come from a mammal. I'm totally serious. Calling something "almond milk," "soy milk," etc. is just factually wrong and, IMHO, amounts to false advertising.

Mylk?

 

[Lilofan]

The problem with with a lot of plant based meats. So expensive and way too much salt. I bought faux chicken tenders once and while good, I stopped buying after a couple times because of the salt.

Fake seafood is not here yet near me. Or maybe it is and I haven't look hard enough.

And can affect my health. I went to BK and bought the buy one get free Impossible Whopper. It tasted good but I felt lethargic. I could not believe how much sodium was in them.

 

[FutureCEO]

Why not just tell it like it is? Here's an example:
View attachment 702728 The word veggie is much smaller than the all caps MEAT. It's NOT MEAT, so they should never have that larger than the word veggie. So yes, they are trying to fool people. Now, if they add, in smaller letters than veggie - meat substitute - so it isn't the main font, that might be ok. There is no mention that this is a meat substitute anywhere, and to me, that is completely false advertising.

Again, I couldn't care less if someone wants to eat this, but it is not MEAT and should not have that word in bold letters on the front. MEAT comes from cows, pigs, etc. Just my humble opinion of course, and I know most here will probably disagree with me, and that's ok.

The point of marketing is to fool people. ie...soda and fast food

 

[Lilofan]

The point of marketing is to fool people. ie...soda and fast food

And its a multi billion dollar industry and that's why health care industry is also a multi billion dollar industry. Back in the day no fast food places near me were open 24/7.

 

[Hockey89]

I rest my case

 

[LittleBuford]

I rest my case

What is this in reference to?

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

What is this in reference to?

His case was tired.