It becoming financially convenient was a result of decades of intentional policy. It’s now snowballing once it got there
It would have taken far longer to get here without government involvement if applications like space travel were the only reasons for earlier research and manufacturing
Oh I’m aware. I fully expect the same thing will happen to meat once we have cheaper meat substitutes. Yes, a ton of research money went into it but in the end, price is what matters for global adoption.
It is worth noting that you can already beat meat on price with things like beans, lentils, chickpeas, etc. Plant-based meats specifically are just more expensive because they’re building the economies of scale and putting some of their research costs into the price. Plant-based meats are also already cheaper than animal meats in some parts of the world
But yes, once that becomes much prevalent, sales will likely increase substantially
As a related note: this is also encouraging that a number of coffee chains are now dropping their non-dairy milk up charges after pressure from activists. Once they got Starbucks to do so, it’s spread to tons of chains. Even the worst plant milks are way better across all environmental metrics compared to dairy (yes even water weighted by scarcity), so it’s going to be good for the environment
In my case it’s just easier to work towards not eating meat as the plant substitutes are almost immediately rejected. The impossible burger I ate went through my system in a span that was so quick my gastroenterologist figured my body went “nope”
Yeah, it’s hard to convince most Americans to replace meat with plant based protein. Once a 1:1 replacement exists, it’ll consume (ha) the meat industry rapidly like we’re seeing with energy.
I was just talking about that same comparison yesterday! There are some big business interests in keeping older industries going. Whether it’s oil and gas, meat, or whatever. It takes a ton of political pressure over time to make change, but the truly biggest driver is cost. Once the alternative becomes cheaper, it will snowball.
It becoming financially convenient was a result of decades of intentional policy. It’s now snowballing once it got there
It would have taken far longer to get here without government involvement if applications like space travel were the only reasons for earlier research and manufacturing
Oh I’m aware. I fully expect the same thing will happen to meat once we have cheaper meat substitutes. Yes, a ton of research money went into it but in the end, price is what matters for global adoption.
It is worth noting that you can already beat meat on price with things like beans, lentils, chickpeas, etc. Plant-based meats specifically are just more expensive because they’re building the economies of scale and putting some of their research costs into the price. Plant-based meats are also already cheaper than animal meats in some parts of the world
But yes, once that becomes much prevalent, sales will likely increase substantially
As a related note: this is also encouraging that a number of coffee chains are now dropping their non-dairy milk up charges after pressure from activists. Once they got Starbucks to do so, it’s spread to tons of chains. Even the worst plant milks are way better across all environmental metrics compared to dairy (yes even water weighted by scarcity), so it’s going to be good for the environment
In my case it’s just easier to work towards not eating meat as the plant substitutes are almost immediately rejected. The impossible burger I ate went through my system in a span that was so quick my gastroenterologist figured my body went “nope”
Same. I just wanna work towards requiring less of it and enjoying real plants that aren’t masquerading as something else.
Black bean burger patty? Let’s go!
Molded soy isolate thing engineered to seem like beef or shrimp or cheese or whatever? Gut rebellion.
It’s pea protein isolates for me. I went from “I need to poop” to “JESUSCHRIST GET OUTTA MY WAY NOW” in seconds from that fake meat.
Yeah, it’s hard to convince most Americans to replace meat with plant based protein. Once a 1:1 replacement exists, it’ll consume (ha) the meat industry rapidly like we’re seeing with energy.
I’d argue “many people” is more appropriate
I was just talking about that same comparison yesterday! There are some big business interests in keeping older industries going. Whether it’s oil and gas, meat, or whatever. It takes a ton of political pressure over time to make change, but the truly biggest driver is cost. Once the alternative becomes cheaper, it will snowball.