While the burger wasn't exactly the same experience as biting into an actual meat burger, it fit in perfectly well with the fast food environment. You may think that a quick stop into McDonald's or some other fast food joint will get you an entirely natural and simple burger, but boy would you be surprised. Calculate the fillers and preservatives and it is difficult to find wholesome food and fast in the same place.
Disclaimer: I am currently on a Keto regiment, which means the majority of my food is made with a high percentage of fat and is primarily considered whole food, since I am using basic ingredients in everything. I do not work on behalf of the meat industry, so any questions I have or caution I provide is out of the concern for the majority of people as a whole.
The Beyond Meat burger has come into the mainstream food venue as an apparent solution to the world's problem with meat consumption, treatment of animals and also climate change. While no animals are directly harmed in the production of these meatless meat products, I worry about the humans that may be harmed by the political and economic motives behind the scenes.
Each burger contains four main ingredients along with other trace amounts of items to help mimic an actual burger patty and act as preservatives. In total, your Beyond Meat burger contains a total of 20 ingredients.
Lets compare the almost twenty ingredients found in this burger with the one ingredient found in your traditional home made burger, which is beef. Granted, not all beef is the same, but at the end of the day it still remains a whole food if you make it from scratch.
From a health standpoint, I have to question how healthy this kind of item really is. It is no surprise that North Americans have an addiction to meat, but can we really protect the environment and address this addiction by pumping ourselves with additives?
As we move forward with a growing global population, the need to reign in our diets and control portion sizes will become even more important. Frankly, obesity is a simple side effect of the marketing and campaigns present to push the illusion of cheap and quick food to a busy population. The Beyond Meat burger hopes to address this by saving the cows, but if anything appears to be jumping on the very same bandwagon with an ethical label as its main focus.
Animal rights activists are praising the introduction of this option, since it is 100% vegan, even though it is created in a lab.
God forbid we eat GMO plants from Monsanto, but the franken-burger from Beyond Meat, thumbs up, no questions needed!
The Environment:
Aside from saving the cows from factory farms, which is a legitimate argument, the company hopes to address climate change, since cows eat grass and require space to roam, not to mention they emit methane from their burps, which captures heat much more than simple carbon dioxide does.
On the surface this seems like a huge win for the planet, we avoid farming a living creature, push to reduce meat consumption and in doing so potentially remove a source that contributes to 1/3 of global methane, right?
Not necessarily unfortunately, because if you actually look at the stats with a wide angle, you see a much different story. While cows produce methane, so does every other animal currently living on the planet, does that mean we should limit populations of those species too?
More importantly, the biggest contributors of methane still come from human production, specifically in the form of plastic production and oil & gas extraction. Methane is produced as a byproduct during the extraction process and plastic products such as bags and wrappers actually produce methane when they are exposed to a heat source or direct sunlight.
While reducing the amount of livestock would definitely help overall, you have to be weary of a company selling you a product that makes it money, especially if it claims that said product is a large part of the solution through its marketing. Unless you are a nonprofit or government body, nobody is saving the planet unless it serves their own agenda directly.
Another point to consider is the transportation and packaging of the burger. The ingredient list is long, but is most likely not being sourced in a relatively local setting. Which means that although your generic meat burger may require energy to grow, slaughter and form, your meat substitute may actually match this carbon output when you consider the refining and transportation required to supply facilities with the main ingredients. Not to mention, as stated above, plastic products create methane and surprise, the Beyond Meat burger is wrapped in the stuff!
Traditional meat burgers do require animals to be slaughtered, but in most cases are sourced from local farmers. This is something we need to do more of, since a push to source local foods allows us to reduce the amount of fuel needed in delivering this food, especially from places overseas.
The Politics of Food
Yes, even food enters the realm of politics and the Beyond Meat burger is no exception.
Companies have been working hard to ensure that they are protected from the detrimental effects their food products can create. This is why you do not see class action lawsuits against fast food giants, because legislation exists that puts the onus on the consumer to eat in moderation.
Then you have specific groups that endorse a certain lifestyle, especially in the vegan community, who, on the radical side, often profess that animal consumption is the ultimate evil in society. These groups have money and a voice behind them, so when you see something like the Beyond Meat burger enter the market, it is no surprise that misinformation and hype can allow people to not take a second look and join the hype.
Is the idea of a meatless burger cool? Sure it is, but I personally believe that switching over to a meat substitute like this will not help the environment very much, aside from making a bunch of companies waving the vegan banner much wealthier.
Heck, Tyson foods, which is one of the three largest producers in America for meat products is also a supporter for the Beyond Meat burger. That's no different than an oil company investing in a company working on solar panels. Contribute to the problem, while investing in a great optics project for your marketing!
If you want to really save the environment and live healthier, you may have to perform an audit on your grocery list, but not with Beyond Meat.
Adopting a vegan diet can be helpful, but you can still live with a Mediterranean diet and improve not only your health, but also your reliance on factory farmed goods.
We need to place more emphasis on natural ingredients and whole foods in order to get ourselves back into a state of balance. This means cooking at home more and questioning the ingredients many companies are using, which in most cases only help their bottom line in the end.
Save the cows by eating less of them, but save yourself and society by demanding farming techniques that are sustainable and involving yourself more in the production of meals served to you and your family.
It isn't easy, especially in a world of busy schedules and rising food costs, but it is necessary if you want to impact on the world in a positive way, without making too much of a drastic lifestyle change and still keeping things natural.
I am interested in hearing your feedback from this entry, so as always, feel free to drop me a line or two.
-The Political Road Map-
