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The "Backlash" to Plant-Based Meat Has a Sneaky, if Not Surprising, Explanation
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this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2023
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Environment
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Classic plant-based recipes are usually better than the ones that try to replicate a burger with plants.
So I try to change habits and eat vegetarian recipes more often. Still like to eat burger, with chicken meat since it has a smaller impact on the environment.
I had assumed that a plant-based burger would be better for the environment than a meat based burger (including chicken) - or am I entirely wrong here? (I guess there is complexity depending on the type of "plant-based" burger and the type of meat and where it was sourced from etc)
Think of it in terms of inputs and outputs. This is drastically simplified with rounded numbers, but gets the point across.
I can take 1 acre of land, add seed, and 500,000 gallons of water. These are my inputs. From that, I get an output of 2000 pounds of grain. I could take that output and eat it myself. Or I could decide I want to grow meat.
If I grow meat, I need another 1 acre of land, another 100,000 gallons of water, and at least half of that 2000 pounds of grain from my first acre. Now I can grow a cow.
It is more efficient in terms of resource utilization to go directly from plant to human, instead of going from plant to animal to human.
I agree, that is the major reason I try to choose plant based options. I was just thrown by @Hirom saying about chicken being better for the environment, I'm assume they meant it's better than beef (which it is) but not as good as the plant-based versions.
Exactly, I meant chicken has less impact on the environment than beef. And chicken burger as an alternative to beef burger.
I think we should go harder into mycoculture and Insectivory. We can grow mushrooms or other fungus on our plant waste like wood, paper, and food scraps. We can also feed soldier flies, grubs, ants, termites or grasshoppers on farm and food waste.
Insects and fungi are also WAY more efficient than mammals like cows, or reptiles like birds. And they can both use waste material from agriculture without using up resources that we ourselves could use for ourselves.
I've never had an actual meat burger so I can't really say how this compares, but you can have pretty tasty meat-free burgers with plant based ingredients. For instance, a potato based patty, corn fritters, mushrooms all make for tasty meat-patty replacements. What I personally dislike though is those fake meat burgers, like the "Impossible Beef" one. A burger joint here recently got rid of their portobello mushroom burger and replaced it with an Impossible Beef one, so I gave it a try - and it was disgusting. The portobello mushroom one used to be absolutely delish, and I couldn't believe they replaced something so tasty, with fake beef. In saying that, my meat eating buddy tried the patty and he said it tasted just fine, almost identical to real beef. So it was my vego taste buds that rejected it, and there was nothing wrong with the fake beef apparently...
Anyways, I digress, I guess what I'm trying to say is, you can definitely have a tasty burger with plant based ingredients.