It’s been a few years since the Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat burgers began showing up in grocery stores and restaurants. Despite their popularity, critics note that high-tech meat alternatives don’t exactly deserve a health halo. Perhaps in response, Impossible Foods released its 2.0 version in 2019, with 36% less sodium and 43% less saturated fat. Late last year, Beyond Meat announced its plans to debut a newer, leaner patty with less saturated fat as well.
This seems like a good thing—companies making their products healthier is always a step in the right direction, isn’t it?
And that’s the rub: While most people know overconsumption of meat is directly linked to diseases such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and certain kinds of cancers, they’re still eating it in record amounts. The USDA predicted that 2020 will be yet another year where more meat was consumed per person than ever before (the exact totals are still being tallied).
In other words, the reason Impossible and Beyond products have taken off in a way that earlier, vegetarian-targeted brands such as Boca and Gardein never quite did is not their nutritional profile. It’s the fact that they actually taste good. The great opportunity of these innovative, super-realistic meat alternatives is their potential to convince die-hard meat eaters that they can, in fact, eat satisfying and delicious food without relying on animals. Making comfort food healthier at the expense of taste decreases the chances that consumers will make the switch, and reinforces the message that plant-based food is for health nuts and hippies.
If fast-food-like meat analogs are the only way to convince a significant portion of the population to reduce their meat intake, so be it. We can’t wait for the entire human race to have a health epiphany in order to make collective change. The planet’s future depends on us taking action now. I’ll meet you at Burger King.
Brian Kateman is cofounder and president of the Reducetarian Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy to create a healthy, sustainable, and compassionate world. Brian is the editor of The Reducetarian Cookbook (Hachette Book Group: September 18, 2018) and The Reducetarian Solution (Penguin Random House: April 18, 2017).