Bye bye MEAT! How will the post-meat future look?

[Funky_monks]

Yup and that's a conversation that a lot of vegans and vegatarians seem to find hard to swallow. Whatever you choose to eat, the thing that you shit out will definately be marketised by the same corporations eventually. They will dine out on your ethical choices as much as turkey twizlers.

Thats the thing that I find baffling - it is possible to find small local producers of meat, although with more and more small abattoirs closing, its getting more difficult to produce.

It's never going to be possible to find a synthetic, processed meat substitute that hasn't been made by a massive industrial food processor because of economies of scale.

 

[8ball]

It's never going to be possible to find a synthetic, processed meat substitute that hasn't been made by a massive industrial food processor because of economies of scale.

I’m sceptical about literally saying “never”. But otherwise fair point.

 

[editor]

That is because Ed has you on ignore, the online equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and going "la lalala" when presented with an argument you don't like

Actually, the concept it's more like when someone comes up to you in a pub and talks the same blinkered bullshit non-stop that you decide to move to the next table.

 

[editor]

I do have a problem with quotes from the Gruaniad and 'Nut Muncher Weekly' being used as any sort of cogent argument, but then again I willfully ignore these threads generally they devolve to the same old tropes.

Anyway, I have sausages to make....

Yet you don't seem to have a problem bigging up the Guardian when they're giving your upmarket produce "rave reviews".

 

[editor]

Breadcrumb in the first two, nothing in the Italian. I don't use rusk as I don't like it.
I also do bespoke bangers over 2kg in quantity, and have made everything from Lamb Merguez to Pork and Liquorice Allsort

So you've turned a discussion about a non meat future into a showcase for your unaffordable meat products, complete with photos. Stay classy.

 

[editor]

I think that talking from the other end of the trade from the Supermarkets and Nandos of the world gives a bit of balance and shows that there are still people in the meat industry who are passionate about animal husbandry, welfare, provenance and treating customers and produce with respect .

I always appreciate that what I sell was once a living creature so I try to buy the best I can and treat it accordingly.


ETA this week a have a 15 year old ex-dairy British White rare breed side of beef that lived its whole life on a nature reserve on grass.

That has had a good long life and will be treated as something special by me and my customers

Could you hazard a guess as to what percentage of animals eaten in Britain enjoy such a delightful, bucolic life before they're slaughtered?

 

[Mr Retro]

It's never going to be possible to find a synthetic, processed meat substitute that hasn't been made by a massive industrial food processor because of economies of scale.

What I will never understand is why, from vegans to carnivores, everybody can’t unify under the umbrella that meat substitute is poison.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

What I will never understand is why, from vegans to carnivores, everybody can’t unify under the umbrella that meat substitute is poison.

Because that's an idiotic view?

 

[souljacker]

JBS (one of the companies mentioned in that article) is big on developing synthetic plant based meat alternatives.

For the millionth time: The meat "industry" (ie processors) and the plant based alternative industry are (mostly) the same people.

So are ABP who have had a plant based division for at least ten years. They keep the businesses separate but you are still essentially buying vegan products from Associated Beef Products.

 

[butcher]

So you've turned a discussion about a non meat future into a showcase for your unaffordable meat products, complete with photos. Stay classy.

Unaffordable eh?

So you know my pricing structure.

I was asked about sausages so supplied the information.

Eta: obviously I have managed to stay in this business for 17 years by seeing unaffordable products people don't want when they are shouting out for oh! So cheap meat substitute and imported fruit

 

[butcher]

Actually, the concept it's more like when someone comes up to you in a pub and talks the same blinkered bullshit non-stop that you decide to move to the next table.

Well we both know that feeling

 

[butcher]

Yet you don't seem to have a problem bigging up the Guardian when they're giving your upmarket produce "rave reviews".

Yes a subjective view about food.

Unlike a peer reviewed journal.

Sorry I have to explain this

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Could you hazard a guess as to what percentage of animals eaten in Britain enjoy such a delightful, bucolic life before they're slaughtered?

So you're saying that the world would be a better place if more people were like butcher and his customers? Not sure what the point of this post is otherwise.

Problem with threads like this one and the ones you start is that the premises of the threads are highly questionable. But you appear only to be interested in a certain kind of discussion wrt farming. When are evil meat-eaters going to stop destroying the planet?

 

[editor]

So you're saying that the world would be a better place if more people were like butcher and his customers? Not sure what the point of this post is otherwise.

That is some truly ridiculous argument you've just dreamt up. I'm just commenting on the reality that very, very, very few people buy - or can afford - such luxury meat.

Such high-end production is statistically irrelevant.

 

[editor]

Unaffordable eh?

So you know my pricing structure.

I was asked about sausages so supplied the information.

Eta: obviously I have managed to stay in this business for 17 years by seeing unaffordable products people don't want when they are shouting out for oh! So cheap meat substitute and imported fruit

In your very own words:

"We are not cheap"

 

[Mr Retro]

Because that's an idiotic view?

I don’t mean tofu or tempeh or similar. I mean stuff like beyond meat and similar products made of things I wouldn’t put in my body.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

We don't currently feed the planet in an affordable, sustainable, humane way. Changing that is the challenge, is it not? A discussion of how we might change it shouldn't presuppose the solution, particularly when, if you dig into it a little, it is clear that the problems are far from straightforward or uncontested.

But hey ho, let's dig up something someone posted 13 years ago about how someone at the Guardian liked his sausages, evil hypocrite that he clearly is.

 

[Mr Retro]

We don't currently feed the planet in an affordable, sustainable, humane way. Changing that is the challenge, is it not? A discussion of how we might change it shouldn't presuppose the solution, particularly when, if you dig into it a little, it is clear that the problems are far from straightforward or uncontested.

That would be a sensible debate. Urban75 is not for that. It’s for making your argument from a hidebound position that is in no way going to change.

 

[butcher]

In your very own words:

"We are not cheap"

Well there is a difference between cheap and good value.

Obviously I won't be suitable for everyone's pockets, but the little old ladies who want 100g of mince can shop with me and avoid wasting what they don't want.

Some on lower incomes actually enjoy treating themselves to decent meat and often my prices are close to supermarket ones.

Perhaps you think the less well off should not enjoy a good quality of meat if even once a week.

I know it is probably hard to imagine from your Brixton penthouse, but I do get a varied cross section of social demographics in my shop.

If we are looking at prices why not question the cost of Meat substitute for poor families.

Faux meat is essentially a middle class food in this country.

 

[butcher]

That is some truly ridiculous argument you've just dreamt up. I'm just commenting on the reality that very, very, very few people buy - or can afford - such luxury meat.

Such high-end production is statistically irrelevant.

Do you do consultancy work=======? Only you seem to know more about my customer base than I do, I wonder how I have managed all these years.....

 

[butcher]

On topic with the original question, it looks like a plant based future will still be pretty meaty

Most plant-based meat alternative buyers also buy meat: an analysis of household demographics, habit formation, and buying behavior among meat alternative buyers - Scientific Reports

The promise of novel plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs) to lessen the health and environmental impacts of meat consumption ultimately depend on market acceptance and the extent to which they displace meat in consumers’ diets. We use household scanner data to provide an in-depth analysis of...

www.nature.com

 

[8ball]

I don’t mean tofu or tempeh or similar. I mean stuff like beyond meat and similar products made of things I wouldn’t put in my body.

Soy protein good, pea protein bad.

 

[butcher]

If we are ln about meat and the class struggle here is a nice piece from the vegan review on why veganism is viewed as classest,

Why veganism can be associated with classism - The Vegan Review

Veganism can often be classist, as low-income families struggle to afford specialty foods and keep up with this evergrowing movement.

theveganreview.com

 

[bcuster]

 

[butcher]

And finally, the bloke who raises my beef is a one man band council Tennant farmer who deals with me because I pay him a fair price and he likes the fact that local people enjoy his produce.

What a pair of bastards we are eh?

 

[bcuster]

no one said that here...

 

[Mr Retro]

Soy protein good, pea protein bad.

More like:
Ingredients in tofu (minimal processing): Soya beans and a coagulant of some sort
Ingredients in Beyond Meat (ultra-processed): Water, Pea protein isolate, Expeller-pressed canola oil, Refined coconut oil, Cellulose from bamboo, Methylcellulose, Potato starch, "Natural flavor", Maltodextrin, Yeast extract, Salt, Sunflower oil, Vegetable glycerin, Dried yeast, Gum arabic, Citrus extract, Ascorbic acid, Beet juice extract, Acetic acid, Succinic acid, Modified food starch, Annatto

Somebody who eats a vegan or vegetarian diet for health reasons and uses a meat substitute such as Beyond Burger or Richmond meat free sausage or similar has already lost the argument.

 

[Spymaster]

If we are ln about meat and the class struggle here is a nice piece from the vegan review on why veganism is viewed as classest,

Why veganism can be associated with classism - The Vegan Review

Veganism can often be classist, as low-income families struggle to afford specialty foods and keep up with this evergrowing movement.

theveganreview.com

Veganism has always been a middle class/tory thing. They're the most likely to be able to afford it. It also explains the attitudes of the most vocal ones.

 

[Mr Retro]

Ingredients in a beef burger (no processing): beef.

 

[butcher]

no one said that here...

Well you are right and it was a knee jerk reaction.

I do get a bit twitchy on the assumption that good quality meat is the preserve of the wealthy in the UK.

I have a nice bunch of customers and my business is between a big council estate and a well heeled area. We get about 70/30 from the council estate.