McDonald's McPlant is Coming For Beyond Meat's Crown (inputmag.com) 86
McDonald has announced plans to introduce its own plant-based burger option to the menu in select markets as soon as next year. From a report: The company made its plans public this week at an investor meeting. The McPlant -- the McPlant! -- uses a fake-meat amalgamation of McDonald's own creation, rather than partnering with an existing plant-based company like Impossible Foods as other chains have. (Beyond Meat and McDonalds co-created the plant-based patty .) "McPlant is crafted exclusively for McDonald's, by McDonald's," McDonald's international president Ian Borden said at this week's meeting. The reveal is a pretty drastic reversal of McDonald's public-facing strategy around plant-based options. If Borden's initial announcement is to be believed, the company doesn't just see it as a single menu option -- rather, McDonald's hopes the McPlant will prove successful enough to extend to a full plant-based menu.
Even French Fries?!! (Score:3)
Trying to imagine what form of plant-based material will replace their perfect fries.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
They picked the wrong partner here. Impossible burgers are fantastic, in comparison to Beyond burgers. Impossibles only issue is the crumbliness of the patty, which truth be told isn't that bad. Beyond doesn't taste like meat, which... maybe fits McDonalds?
If the burgers are good, then fine. The wife and I often have veggie burgers with some of my hommade bacon on them. Yummy!
Hopefully they won't be like some I've tasted, which have asoggy texture, and are way overspiced.
I do like a few of the veggie burgers, but if a vegan diet is so good, why do they keep tying to make stuff that's like meat?
Re: (Score:2)
but if a vegan diet is so good, why do they keep tying to make stuff that's like meat?
I'd assume the diet stems health/moral related reasons instead of disliking meat? I have no inclination to eat burgers (vegan or otherwise).
Re: (Score:1)
but if a vegan diet is so good, why do they keep tying to make stuff that's like meat?
I'd assume the diet stems health/moral related reasons instead of disliking meat? I have no inclination to eat burgers (vegan or otherwise).
A vegan diet is pretty tough to do without supplements, so health is kinda iffy. Moral? More complicated. If synthetic meat becomes available and tastes and textures are good, I'll become whatever that is overnight. I do love animals. But I understand we must kill to survive, be it plants or animals.
Re: (Score:2)
A vegan diet is pretty tough to do without supplements, so health is kinda iffy
A misguided diet practiced in the spirit of being healthy then? I just meant someone cutting out meat for a reason other than the dislike of consuming it.
Re: (Score:1)
A vegan diet is pretty tough to do without supplements, so health is kinda iffy
A misguided diet practiced in the spirit of being healthy then? I just meant someone cutting out meat for a reason other than the dislike of consuming it.
A vegetarian diet can work out, as long as a person gets complete protein and some needed enzymes. And I've known a number of Vegetarians many are fine folk
A vegan who thinks that their diet choice is healthier, yeah, I'd call that misguided. There's some science there.
The sort of diet that has a mix of protein, fat and non starchy carbs is more natural. Should be no need for supplements.
I don't want to bust on people for morals, but we need what we need. A tiger is not immoral by nature, and a co
Re: Even French Fries?!! (Score:1)
Beyond doesn't taste like meat,
I think it does but I haven't had a real burger since '89.
Re: (Score:2)
I believe they're trying to replace the juiced cow in the fries with a pepper-based product.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Even French Fries?!! (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
"I'm not sure from the information that the beef flavor contains animal ingredients."
Raspberry flavored stuff like yogurt also have 'natural' flavors created from a black fungus slime that is related to the one living in your shower, which is pure Nature.
Strawberry 'natural' flavor is created out of wood chips, also pure Nature.
Re: (Score:2)
High quality "natural raspberry flavor" is made from beavers. Always has been.
Re: (Score:2)
That it doesn't say it contains beef is not disputed by anybody. Everybody can agree that they are not required to write the word "beef" on their fries.
And yet.
Re: (Score:2)
100% anus free.
Re: Even French Fries?!! (Score:1)
Should be easy because... (Score:3)
Beyond Meat tastes awful.
Re: Should be easy because... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
But do they really taste like meat?
I don't dislike Beyond Meat or Impossible Meat. However their claims that it tastes like meat seems bunked to me. It still tastes like a veggie burger, perhaps with more of a meat texture.
Re: Should be easy because... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: Should be easy because... (Score:4, Funny)
Well... yes. But keep in mind all burgers aren't equal. Are they equal to the *best* hamburgers I've ever had? No. Are they better than the worst hamburgers I've ever had? Yes.
Now I like burgers cooked to medium, which is technically undercooked by USDA standards. You cannot reproduce that with plant-based burgers. They cook up to the reasonable facsimile of a beef patty that is well-done or slightly less. Honestly if you're mouth wasn't primed to experience something weird you probably wouldn't notice.
Fast food operations cook burgers fully well-done for food safety, then make up the flavor deficit with condiments and add-ons -- onions, pickles, catsup, mustard, cheese, bacon. Once you add all that you could sell patties made of shredded cardboard and many people wouldn't notice. Back in the day fast food restaurants commonly used cereal fillers in their patties, and if you ordered a plain hamburger it would taste pretty weird -- like a kitchen sponge that had been used to top up spilled beef juice.
Re: (Score:1)
Now I like burgers cooked to medium, which is technically undercooked by USDA standards. You cannot reproduce that with plant-based burgers.
Actually, with Impossible you can. It even has that metallic bloody taste. As someone who likes his burgers not still mooing, the fact that I found an underdone Impossible burger to be equally as repulsive as the real thing is a testament to how close the stuff is to real beef.
My understanding is that it's perfectly safe to eat "undercooked" Impossible burger, but I still couldn't get past it. My brain just kept screaming "Undercooked beef! No!"
Re: (Score:2)
I have a feeling that "perfectly safe" is exaggeration. While slaughterhouse conditions mean every package of hamburger is bound to be contaminated, plant based foods can host bacterial contamination too. The process of reproducing the texture of ground meat creates a lot of surface area to grow on.
Re: Should be easy because... (Score:2)
Ah,.. oh...
At the same time I'm thinking you just blabbed their secret recipe, and things suddenly make sense. Weird.
Re: (Score:2)
Agreed Beyond Meat is good. I've grilled as burgers at home and made meatballs. I've always thought that these should be the perfect match with fast food burgers.
The people complaining about the quality haven't really been to a fast food joint in a while. McD's, Burger King, Wendy's, and the rest are barely 'meat' in their own right. Generally the reason for going is to get a meal in under 5 minutes
As another poster mentioned, if you get a plain burger from one of these places with nothing on it, it's b
Re: (Score:2)
South Park handled this perfectly.
https://southpark.cc.com/video... [cc.com]
Take everything I say with a grain of salt (Score:2)
I stopped eating Beef/Chicken/Pork years ago because I just plain don't like them and they're not all that healthy (Fish is, but good luck getting it w/o mercury) but I grew up on a diet of burgers and fries and it tastes like I remember.
As for why anyone would eat it? Nostalgia. McDonald's food is objectively terrible. It's super low quality so it's heavily spiced
Re: (Score:2)
The worst fake meat I ever tasted was from KFC UK, it was dry and hard, bland, flavourless, actually it honestly reminds me of cardboard.
Inaccurate Headline (Score:1)
Beyond Meat and McDonalds co-created the plant-based patty
Re: (Score:2)
uses a fake-meat amalgamation of McDonald's own creation, rather than partnering with an existing plant-based company
Beyond Meat and McDonalds co-created the plant-based patty
co-creating isn't partnering? Even if it wasn't complete bullshit what benefit do they hope to gain by splitting hairs?
This whole article is garbage just like mcdonalds food.
Again? (Score:3)
msmash should talk to BeauHD [slashdot.org] about this.
McYuck (Score:4, Insightful)
Yuck. I prefer to eat tasty animals.
Re: (Score:3)
You are not the target audience.
McDonalds isn't out to replace the Meat Menu, but just give a Vegetarian Alternative for those who want to reduce the amount of meat.
Re: (Score:1)
You are not the target audience.
McDonalds isn't out to replace the Meat Menu, but just give a Vegetarian Alternative for those who want to reduce the amount of meat.
Sure. But I alway like to note that if someone just doesn't like the taste of meat products, fine. I've worked in a college environment and been abused by vegans enough that I'm a little sensitive to the virtue signalling aspect of some of this stuff.
My turning point was after spending most of a lunchtime hungry while a vegan grilled the waitstaff and the manager to make certain there was no meat that ever got near her food, I finally had enough. It was my first spouting of the fact that all life is prec
not yuck not great either (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I fail to see a Ronald McDonald holding a gun to your head to order it
Re: (Score:2)
Rats in a dumpster (Score:1)
They talk about McPlant competing with the Impossible Burger and all I can envision are two rats fighting in a dumpster. Sure, one might win, but it's still trash.
If you're going to eat junk, might as well go all in on it. Not as if these plant replacements are any better than the beef they're supplanting.
Ultra processed food (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ultra processed food (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, the cholesterol.
It isn't necessarily "fine", but it is slightly better. Lots better if you look at manufacturing impact vs beef cattle in land area, water, antibiotic use, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
A McD's quarter pounder has 39 mg of cholesterol. The USDA recommends no more than 300 mg a day. So a quarter pounder once in a while isn't going to be all that bad for you assuming your eat healthy most of the time.
Re: (Score:1)
You say "cholesterol", I reply "what kind of additives will it have to make it tasty? The kind that, on the long run, proves to cause some kind of mental disorder, like, for REAL example, colorant E110?"
You PRESUME it IS slightly better. Where are your proof?
To me, lots better if you actually eat beef than the "no one knows what's in there" with it's truly "manufacturing impact" (do you know how many acres of land do you need to create one of those McCreepy?, how many galons of water, pesticides, etc.?)
Seri
Re: (Score:3)
The additives to make it tasty are called "spices", in most cases. Beyond Meat ingredients are here: https://www.beyondmeat.com/about/our-ingredients/ [beyondmeat.com]
The environmental impact, one recent study though the multiple I've seen all seem to say about the same: https://www.fastcompany.com/90241836/meatless-burgers-vs-beef-how-beyond-meats-environmental-impact-stacks-up [fastcompany.com]
If you have specifics, fine, but your hand waving "no one knows what's in there" is simplistic FUD and easily disproved. Considering the antibiotic
Re: (Score:1)
Seriously, you can call however you want the additives but that doesn't mean they stop being "additives". Beef has no E110, meanwhile in the list of ingredients you posted it is, alongside other things like paper pulp (methyl-cellulose), which I use to as glue when bookbinding. Be my guest.
The environmental impact link you posted is nothing but crap (and I'm an environment & energy resources engineer, so I know what I'm talking about). Plant-only food requieres SO MUCH MORE land, water, industrial proce
Re: (Score:1)
Seriously, you can call however you want the additives but that doesn't mean they stop being "additives". Beef has no E110, meanwhile in the list of ingredients you posted it is, alongside other things like paper pulp (methyl-cellulose), which I use to as glue when bookbinding. Be my guest.
HEY! I ate glue when I was a kid, and I turned out awesome!
Re: (Score:1)
The additives to make it tasty are called "spices", in most cases. Beyond Meat ingredients are here: https://www.beyondmeat.com/about/our-ingredients/ [beyondmeat.com]
The environmental impact, one recent study though the multiple I've seen all seem to say about the same: https://www.fastcompany.com/90241836/meatless-burgers-vs-beef-how-beyond-meats-environmental-impact-stacks-up [fastcompany.com]
If you have specifics, fine, but your hand waving "no one knows what's in there" is simplistic FUD and easily disproved. Considering the antibiotics and questionable things fed to pigs, cows and chickens, and the contamination from the slaughter process, there isn't any room to speak on "whats in there".
How do you feel about the effects of increased phytoestrogens and other endocrine disrupters? https://www.sciencedirect.com/... [sciencedirect.com]
There are issues with both men and women. The interesting thing is that some folks like to hate on endocrine disrupters like Bisphenol A, they seem to believe that the various phytostrogens aren't doing the same thing.
It isn't that we shouldn't be eating such plant based food, it's mainly that just like vitamains, or meat, it is very possible to get too much.
Re: (Score:1)
Quote: "It isn't that we shouldn't be eating such plant based food, it's mainly that just like vitamains, or meat, it is very possible to get too much."
Agreed, but where did I write that we should eat ONLY meat?
My POV is that replacing meat with ultra-processed-not-natural-at-all-processing plants AS REPLACEMENT of a direct-to-plate organic material (cut meat from the animal and eat) is NOT MARVELLOUS at all and it have SERIOUS downsides (both ecological and biological speaking).
Re: (Score:1)
Quote: "It isn't that we shouldn't be eating such plant based food, it's mainly that just like vitamains, or meat, it is very possible to get too much."
Agreed, but where did I write that we should eat ONLY meat?
My POV is that replacing meat with ultra-processed-not-natural-at-all-processing plants AS REPLACEMENT of a direct-to-plate organic material (cut meat from the animal and eat) is NOT MARVELLOUS at all and it have SERIOUS downsides (both ecological and biological speaking).
I'm not certain where you got the idea that I said that you said that we should eat only meat.
My point is that as omnivores, our physiology is such that we need a balanced diet. Eating too much meat is not good for a person. Eating too many Soy products and other phytoestrogens is not good for a person. Eating too many simple carbohydrates is not good for a person. I eat a lot of garden veggies like peppers and tomatoes, and greenbeans. I don't know of any downsides of eating too much, but I wouldn't wan
Re: (Score:3)
From some of what I've read, it seems like the plant based "meats" may actually be worse for you overall than just eating lean meat. All the supplemental garbage they have to pump into them to make them taste vaguely like the memory of what meat maybe could have tasted like ends up having an overall negative impact on the health benefits.
I won't argue against the environmental impact, but there are health concerns that still haven't properly been addressed. Granted, nobody going to McDonald's is really wo
Re: (Score:3)
If you compare the Whopper to the Impossible Whopper, the major benefits seem to be a lot less cholesterol and no trans fat. They have similar calories / sodium / etc. If you compare to Burger King's older veggieburger, the BK Veggie, it had 2/3 of the calories, half the fat, even less cholest
Re: (Score:1)
Yeah, the cholesterol.
It isn't necessarily "fine", but it is slightly better. Lots better if you look at manufacturing impact vs beef cattle in land area, water, antibiotic use, etc.
Kinda. That less impact thing is a function of too many people. I've always wondered if this is a step along the way to eating processed vat grown algae in order to support ever more humans on the planet.
Re: (Score:2)
Did I miss something?
A lot.
I assume intentionally, or I'd try to explain a few specific parts. But if that would be useful, you'd have said something useful, instead of whining that oranges aren't anything like your basket of apples.
Re: (Score:2)
Not all processing is equally likely to introduce preservatives, synthetic contaminants or carcinogenic byproducts ... you really have to approach each processing step on its own merits.
The reason Ultra processed foods are bad (Score:3)
This food tastes awful (naturally) so they cover it up with a shit ton of sugar and salt. Then they add a ton of preservatives. In small quantities the preservatives are safe, but people who eat that kind of food tend to a) overeat and b) tend to eat nothing but processed foods, resul
The war against so-called "Ultra processed food" (Score:2)
The war against so-called "Ultra processed food" is financed by the meat industry. It started right about the time plant-based replacements started to appear, and it's not from a few years ago either. Anyone old enough will remember the lawsuits against margarine to stop them from adding yellow dyes to it.
Who defines "Ultra processed food" anyway? If you look at how it's made, even freakin' wheat flour is ultra processed. White sugar? Same thing.
Meat is pure, you say? Do you have any idea how many antibioti
Re: (Score:2)
It's not fine. It's just better than the alternative. That's sort of deciding whether it's better to breathe in secondhand smoke or exhaust fumes.
People don't eat hamburgers because they want a healthy meal. But beef is an awful protein because it costs so much resources to make. The feed conversion rate is 17:1, if you include everything including land and water, it falls to 50
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
We all know that ultra processed food are bad...
It's not quite \that simple.
If we break it down there are two primary, if slightly related, complaints against processed foods.
In order to understand the first though it helps to understand ourselves and our appetites more clearly. We, and by that I mean most people without an eating disorder or unusual medical or genetic condition, actually have a number of separate appetites. These are for: Protein; Carbohydrate; Fat; Salt; and Calcium. Not all of them have the same 'weight' however when it comes to deter
Re: (Score:1)
Better than Beyond Meat? (Score:1)
Didn’t like the sound of it the first time p (Score:1)
McDupe (Score:2)
You forgot to put the "Mc" in front.
Beyond Meat is partnering with McDonalds on this (Score:1)
Since Beyond Meat is helping McDonalds develop this product, per the article's update, I'm sure they aren't too concerned.
They also need new meatless insects (Score:3)
And the bugs that buzz around the restaurant are McFlies.
The title of this article is misleading (Score:4, Informative)
If you refer back to the Monday Slashdot article on this same subject*, you'll see: "Beyond Meat, a pioneer of plant-based meat substitutes, said it co-created the plant-based patty that will be part of the McPlant platform with McDonald's"
*c'mon guys, really? Do you even read your own newsfeed?
Re: (Score:2)
Fuck veggie beef (Score:3)
What is Wrong with America!!! (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Who is the target market? (Score:2)
There are enough non-beef eaters in India to make this extremely viable. It will make for some interesting additions to the current chicken-heavy menu. I'd otherwise expect it to be a bit of an experimental novelty around the rest of the world. I would personally be tempted to try it at least once, but if I'm going to McDonalds I'm generally going there for real cow meat.
Re: (Score:2)
McToxic; McMalnutrition (Score:2)
LOL. vegetarians are sooo funny. (Score:2, Informative)
Such BS all over.
The delicious taste of plant. (Score:1)
awesome news (Score:3)
The best thing you can do for the environment as an individual is not eat meat.
Mcdonalds is one of the few fast food restaurants with zero vegetarian entres. The only one really is a mcmuffin hold the meat, and quite regularly they stick bacon on there anyway. Every other main course has meat in it. Supposedly the more popular fast food in the world should be able to do better than that and it appears they are trying. Big props.
Which plants does it contain? (Score:1)
Why does their press release fail to tell us if it is based on soy, or some mixture of beans and vegetables?
McSoylent Green is people (Score:2)
You are what you eat.