
Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding - randtrain34
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-impossible-foods-funding/impossible-foods-raises-200-million-in-fresh-funding-idUSKCN2592WV
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mrpigeonpants
I've been using their meat in things like pastas and tacos and it's slightly
tastier. The thing that hit me is that we consume so much meat in a heavily
processed way that it seems silly a creature should have to suffer and die to
make it. I'm all for aged steaks and prosciutto in moderation, but a large
portion of the meat is consumed in nugget or other forms that don't really
respect the sacrifice of the animal or pollution created.

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tashoecraft
Agreed. I’ve switched to eating mostly vegan because most meat I used to eat
was sort of just filler. If I go out somewhere and they specialize in
something meat related and I know it’s going to be amazing, then I’ll get it.

Eating lots of heavily processed chicken, cow and pigs just isn’t worth the
many costs to environment, animal wellbeing, and potentially personal
nutrition.

I recommend everyone to consciously lower their meat intake. It doesn’t need
to be forever or for every meal.

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ddorian43
Where do you get enough protein to maintain muscle integrity ?

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drenvuk
I'm not a vegan but beans and rice go a long way.

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jschwartzi
Beans also have tons of fiber. You can easily get 20 grams of mostly soluble
fiber from a bowl of beans.

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garblegarble
Great! While I do think plant-based diets are at their most delicious and
healthy when they don't try to imitate animal products, I think it's a reality
that many people (who want to avoid/minimise animal products) don't want to
change the type of food they eat, just the components.

I've really been enjoying the Burger King impossible burger - they've much
better texture, flavour and juicyness compared to Burger King's beef patties
(not a particularly high bar, mind you!). They're definitely at their best
prepared with a slice of cheese, though. Perhaps Impossible will tackle that
soon...

Edited: to note that I was referring to people who didn't want to eat meat,
not the general public

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copperx
Dayia cheese is in my opinion, superior than cheese in applications such as
burgers. However, looking at the ingredients it looks unhealthier gram by gram
vs cheese. But if it spares the suffering of one animal I'm all for it.

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OJFord
I've never heard of it before, but having just had a look, it seems like an
imitation of the worst kinds of 'cheese'.

I don't doubt it can beat squares of plasticy crap and bags of shredded
rubber, but do you think it's superior to actual cheese, that isn't
artificially coloured or machined into a weird shape and texture?

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copperx
Better than gourmet cheese? No. But in certain foods where cheese is not the
main ingredient, such as burgers, sandwiches, and pizzas, yes, it can be
superior.

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OJFord
I didn't say 'gourmet' though, I just wouldn't personally put one of those
rubber squares or anything out of a bag even on a burger, because I think its
horrid. I would use real cheese cut from a block that hasn't been coloured
some rancid colour, even if cheap decidedly non-gourmet cheese.

This stuff looks like it's modelled off the horrid stuff, rather than
imitating anything that I would want to eat, so I just wondered what you were
comparing it to in saying it's superior.

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thelazydogsback
I'm not a vegetarian, but also think that killing an animal when there's
another option should be avoided -- and when I grill the IB's, they taste just
like meat and even pass the 12 yo test. (The key is on the grill - fried up,
not as good.) I'd love to see the time when we all eat meat only as a special
occasion (<= once every few weeks) and giving thanks and respect to the
animal. And the environmental benefits are huge. (Beyond is pretty good too,
but not quite as beef-like, esp. if not well-done.) Now if they make a _bacon_
that's just as convincing, I will definitely be celebrating!

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Aaronstotle
There is a startup called Mission barns that aims to make lab grown bacon. I'm
not sure how close they are to market but I believe they've done a batch
trial.

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Mizza
Somebody brought these burgers to a cookout, and I gotta say, they went faster
than the real meat did!

I tried cooking them at home on the stove and it was a disaster, but they were
awesome off of the grill.

They definitely need some good sauces to really make the burger, but they
texture and taste were both really good.

I really hope they can drive the cost way, way down. If these were side by
side on the shelf and priced $2 less than the "real thing", they'd take over a
good chunk of the whole market in a very short time.

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dtwest
I imagine meat alternatives will really take off once they are cheaper than
meat. There seems to be a lot of potential for cost savings if you don't need
to raise a large animal to create the product. So far I haven't seen much of a
cost advantage to meatless products, but perhaps with more funding this would
be achievable. While I don't thing Impossible tastes better or even as good as
the real thing, it isn't too far off. Having a price advantage would tip the
scale for many people, especially in the fast food space.

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jedberg
Impossible should lobby for a carbon tax, which would skyrocket the price of
meat, making their option more affordable.

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moltar
Impossible meat production doesn’t use carbon?

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Forbo
Far less than beef: [https://impossiblefoods.com/mission/lca-
update-2019/](https://impossiblefoods.com/mission/lca-update-2019/)

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Cactus2018
Recommended short story _Food of the Gods_ -Arthur C. Clarke

[https://books.google.com.au/books?id=hbAqAAAAQBAJ&lpg=PT75&o...](https://books.google.com.au/books?id=hbAqAAAAQBAJ&lpg=PT75&ots=Fyo9gNkRJC&pg=PT75#v=onepage&q&f=false)

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moltar
Highly recommended reading is Sacred Cow book. It’s the most well researched,
fact based, science based book thus far that is pro meat.

[https://www.sacredcow.info/](https://www.sacredcow.info/)

Impossible ingredients are pretty bad and aren’t that good for the environment
either. Soy production is extremely destructive.

Here’s the list: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil,
Natural Flavors, 2% Or Less Of: Potato Protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast
Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt,
Mixed Tocopherols (Antioxidant), Soy Protein Isolate, Vitamins and Minerals
(Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Niacin, Pyridoxine
Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12).

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HaloZero
Do you have a good source on why soy production is harmful? I think the idea
is that it's not AS harmful. Regardless of the land damage that soy production
takes it's not as bad as the land needed for animals & the food to feed those
animals.

Side benefit: also factory farms can totally be a source of another fucked up
disease. They pump those animals with antibiotics and put them in bad
environments a lot of the time.

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Forbo
The vast majority of soy production is for animal feed. By diverting that
directly to feeding people, you eliminate an entire trophic level.

Edit: Failed to mention that a lot of deforestation is done to facilitate the
growth of soy. Take for example the Amazon.

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moltar
Yeah, and we shouldn’t feed animals soy. I’m for that 100%. So we should fight
for that. If everyone stops eating meat and starts eating soy we won’t be
growing much less of it. We just transfer the problem from one place to
another.

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actuator
Not if you remove the inefficient conversion in the middle. The whole argument
is, cattle is inefficient conversion of plant based sources into meat.[1] If
instead, we just eat the plant based sources, we would need to grow less of
them. Also, we don't really need to restrict ourselves to soy, there are other
plant based foods to eat. There are cultures which are dominated by vegetarian
food, so we don't even have a lack of recipes to cook.

[1] can be biased: [https://impossiblefoods.com/mission/lca-
update-2019/](https://impossiblefoods.com/mission/lca-update-2019/)

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redorb
I feel like this level of funding and therefore expected future worth is only
possible if laws were passed to limit proper meat cultivation..

I have never so far felt the urge to pay more for non-beef, beef.

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edouard-harris
The interesting thing about the alternative meat industry isn't where the meat
puck is, but where it's going (if you'll pardon the pun).

Making soybeans taste like a supermarket hamburger almost certainly uses a
very similar organizational skillset as making soybeans taste like, say, a
Kobe beef burger - or some other meat option that's currently default-
expensive. So the thesis is likely that their intellectual capital is now
mature enough that they can iterate their way up the price / quality spectrum
to win meaningful market segments.

My guess is Impossible's valuation is probably justified, even if the investor
story is a _disjunction_ of "scale will eventually bring prices to parity or
better with most real meat options" and "R&D will eventually produce flavor /
texture profiles that transcend those of most real meat options". People eat a
heck of a lot of meat, in a heck of a lot of varieties. And of course, the
folks who invested will have gotten a look at the non-public numbers too.

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actuator
Are there any variants of plant based products which could compare to
extremely high protein/calorie ratio foods, foods like egg white and chicken
breast.

The ones I have eaten/seen till now seem quite bad if you look at the overall
composition. Sure, they have decent amount of protein from the legume they
come from but the overall composition is not good. There are certain variants
of Tofu with low fat/carb count but I don't know of any other besides
supplements.

~~~
bgee
Gluten-based food?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_(food)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_\(food\))

Edit: judging from this food nutrition label, the protein/calorie ratio is
quite extreme...[0]

[0]: [https://images-na.ssl-images-
amazon.com/images/I/61D08CfuRzL...](https://images-na.ssl-images-
amazon.com/images/I/61D08CfuRzL._SL1200_.jpg)

~~~
actuator
Thanks, I just searched for that. Those are some extreme numbers[1] and there
seem to be a lot of dishes in East Asia that are making use of it, not sure if
the use is just as an additive.

I wonder why it doesn't come up a lot in protein rich food discussion. I will
try to read up more about it.

[1] [https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-
details/168147/n...](https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-
details/168147/nutrients)

~~~
betamike
Just for some additional search terms, seitan is a form of prepared Vital
Wheat Gluten.

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sargun
I'm surprised their valuation didn't go up very much. $3.61B -> $4.03B.

~~~
vikramkr
A hedge fund was involved, maybe this is a preparation for an IPO? Get some
institutional public investors on board?

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rglover
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs-
gocza6t8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs-gocza6t8)

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ArkVark
Why not just eat the soy beans directly? This stuff is just glorified
processed food.

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Alupis
Probably because a hamburger is tasty?

It's an open secret things like "Impossible Meat" and others are really not
healthy for you - certainly not a healthier alternative than just eating beef.
They are higher in calories, and contain a lot more oils.

Instead, it's for people who wish not to eat meat for whatever reasons
(personal choice, religion, etc)... and now they can have a tasty alternative
at the next Backyard BBQ.

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jariel
Cost. As soon as this is materially cheaper than meat it will become the
'filler' used on so many burgers, taco places etc. and they'll do it without
telling customers. Then so many people who would otherwise 'not like this
stuff' have to internalize the fact 'they are already eating it widespread'.
And even more directly, 40% of consumers are _extremely_ price sensitive
(think dollar store) and will buy the cheapest thing making 'real meat' a
luxury.

I'm not against meat but I do view 'vegetarian strategic path to meat
elimination' as entirely economic.

People care more about their money than anything that's how it will happen in
my view.

That said - if it tasted 'really good' I don't mind at all now and again
personally and I feel probably most people feel that way as well. If I had
burgers once every two weeks and 1/3 of them were 'good vegan' I would fall
into just considering it 'another choice in the menu' type of thing, which I
believe a lot of folks will go for.

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Alupis
> As soon as this is materially cheaper than meat it will become the 'filler'
> used on so many burgers, taco places etc. and they'll do it without telling
> customers.

This already exists. Tofu is commonly used in fast food as a meat "filler",
and very few people notice as it is. Tacos at Jack in the Box "May Contain Soy
Products", and more.

Making "Impossible Meat" is always going to be more expensive than Tofu
fillers, simply because it's processed to a much higher degree and requires a
lot of ingredients.

