Thread

1. Balgair · 1790269015 · focus · HN ↗

   Man, I'm so glad I don't trade stocks.

   I was so convinced that these meatless meats were going to be the next big thing.

   One thing I think they missed out on was getting to 'close enough' and 'much cheaper' and then just pivoting.

   Like, why stay with simulating the 5 or so animals we harvest? Just go off and make up new ones!

   Like, here's a jackalope burger, or a unicorn burger or something. Tie into marketing!

   "Exclusive to BurgerKing, the Iron Man 5 burger! Now through August 29th only!"

   Put in some strange spices, vary the texture, give it a red and gold swirl, let the imagination run wild.

   Can you imagine what business a Spiderman burger patty or sausage link would do? K-Pop demon hunters branded chicken-ish nugget like things?

   1. hydrogen7800 · 1790270033 · focus · HN ↗

      I always wondered why they tried to mimic "real" meat rather than just making it its own thing. Gluten free cakes are another example. I suppose you need to first penetrate the market/general consciousness first before inventing a whole novel food.

      1. hn_throwaway_99 · 1790273635 · focus · HN ↗

         There is some confusion I think in what this article is about. It's specifically about lab grown animal cells, which was always crazy expensive and never produced a good tasting meat due to the lack of integrated fat.

         That is very different from stuff like Beyond and Impossible Burgers which aim to mimic the taste of meat with plant ingredients. If anything, lab grown meat cells were at a huge disadvantage to the Beyond/Impossible crew, who could make a better meat for cheaper and was more appealing to customers (if I'm going to forego an animal product, I'd rather have a plant version than a frankenmeat version).

         But to your point, I really liked Impossible Burgers specifically because they were the only plant-based alternative that really satisfied a craving for meat. There were veggie burgers for years prior, and they were "its own thing", but I'd always feel hungry after eating one. I like Impossible Burgers because it satisfies all my hunger for meat but I'm not killing an animal in the process.

         1. swiftcoder · 1790282294 · focus · HN ↗

            > It's specifically about lab grown animal cells, which was always crazy expensive and never produced a good tasting meat due to the lack of integrated fat.

            These days they are growing animal fats in bioreactors too, albeit separately from the proteins, and then sort of 3D printing them into one another to achieve a meat-like taste and texture. It's conceptually pretty cool, even if the results appear to be underwhelming.

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