• Pennomi@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    edit-2
    5 days ago

    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.

    • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      5 days ago

      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

      • RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        4 days ago

        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”

        • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          4 days ago

          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.

          • RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            4 days ago

            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.

      • Pennomi@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        5 days ago

        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.

    • jballs@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      4 days ago

      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.