The death of woke-fake meat

Fake meat sales are now plunging because of high prices and being too ‘woke’ for consumers ⁠— here’s the 1 timeless takeaway for investors

The Captain
likes real meat, real food

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Fake meat. . .

Is that something that is purchased at the adult super store?

Sorry, In Chicago near Boys Town”

Staying in a quaint little Best Western Plus near Belmont Harbor.

I like Best Western it is like Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans

You never know what you are going to get.

Cheers
Qazulight

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I both do and don’t get the whole fake meat thing.

Why bother trying to make something that isn’t meat try to taste like meat?
If I were a vegetarian and really missed the taste of meat, maybe I’d try an imitation meat product.
But, veggies and grains can taste good if they are well-prepared.
I’m happy to eat tasty vegetarian meals, but they don’t have to pretend to be something they are not.
We have tried to up our vegetable consumption and downplay the meats. I still like the occasional burger or steak, etc… but I would give up meat before I gave up cheese. Don’t think I could be a strict vegan.

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On a whim I tried the Beyond Meat sausage patties recently. Taste-wise they were slightly better than vegetarian sausage patties I’ve tried in the past. Texture-wise I thought they were fairly close to real meat.
It’s like drinking Dr. Pepper 10 vs Diet Dr. Pepper — better but still not as good as the real thing.

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# being too ‘woke’ for consumers ⁠

What a reactionary pile of drivel…yes, I read the article.

I quite like Morningstar Farms, product of Kellogg’s. My local store no longer stocks the pizza flavored, tomato-basil, and portabella ones. The “Grillers Prime” isn’t as good as it once was. The “spicy black bean” is very tasty. The “garden veggie” variety tastes like egg fo young. The “original chik” tastes much like fast food place chicken nuggets, or a Burger King chicken sandwich. Scanning over their web site, I am reminded of other varieties that my local store no longer offers: roasted garlic and quinoa, and Mediterranean chickpea.

So, has the author ever tried any of these products? Is he trying to gain eyeballs by leveraging the “anti-woke” narrative that has taken hold in the shinier parts of the country? Or is he a shill for meat producers, trying to drive customers away from veggie products by pasting a “woke” label on them?
/rant

Steve

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What does ‘woke’ have to do with fake meat? Makes your narrative read like a childish schoolyard taunt.

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I should have read ahead. Steve covered it better than I did.

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I really don’t understand calling a product woke. Is Tsla “woke” because it’s in the Green space?

Andy

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I like vegetables that taste like vegetables and meat that tastes like meat. You get more variety with veggies but they can’t substitute for the satiety of a good steak or BBQ pork.

The Captain

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Anyone who decides on food, vaccines or other vital choice based on politics is a pure idiot. Ditto for investments.

Wendy

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“Woke” seems to be the new boogyman, replacing the “Godless Commies”, the Islamic boogyman, and all those Hispanic “drug dealers and rapists”. Various (thought leaders) are telling their followers the big threat to “traditional family values” is wokeness. Now they can smear anyone or anything, without depending on race or religion, by pasting a “woke” label on their target.

The idiocy of someone who chooses products based on whether the company is “woke” , or not, is irrelevant. Being accused of being “woke” can cause a company to be boycotted by tens of millions of people.

Steve

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Not so much for investments. If party X pushes for a lot of infrastructure spending then CAT might be a good investment. If party Y pushes for a lot of overseas military engagements, then aerospace companies might be logical.

DB2

Check out Upside Foods, formerly known as Memphis Meats. Been working for about 7 years on cell-grown meat.

So it would be real meat, same great taste, no hormones or antibiotics…healthy as can be. But with no need for farmland for food stocks to feed the animals, nor any need for land for animals to graze on.

Not an environmental expert, but remember reading about methane emissions from animals being a higher contributor to global warming than my SUV.

Once they get costs down and can scale, this is a game-changer.

A lot of folks seem spooked by it, though. Artificial ingredients? No problem. Tons of weird ingredients in “fake” plant-based meat products? No problem. Healthy a great-tasting cell-grown meat? Freaks some people out.

But I think it is a big part of our future.

Dreamer

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You are missing the point. The issue is “woke” being used to blackmail companies. I have posted before about certain financial management companies that are being excluded in Texas and West Virginia, because the (L&Ses) in those states have decided the company’s are “woke”. Florida revoked Disney’s special development district because they claim the company is “woke”, specifically that Disney spoke out against the state’s homophobic laws. Will having a workforce that is not 100% white, straight, and Christian, result in the company being banned, boycotted, and hounded, because they are painted as “woke”?

Steve

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As noted at the time, the companies are not excluded from doing business in those states. They are not eligible for state contracts. Looking in the other direction, some states ban state business travel to other states. California, for example, has bans on 17 or 18 states.

However, I didn’t miss the point. I was responding to Wendy’s comment that politics shouldn’t be incorporated into investment decisions.

DB2

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Any worse than blackmailing companies for not being green or whatever your political preference happens to be?

The Captain

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Morningstar is our favorite and it is a staple in our house. And we’ve been eating it for MUCH longer than all those new fake meat products have existed.

I read a comment here (?) a few days ago about someone who won’t pick up day contractors at Home Depot because the founder of Home Depot, who doesn’t own any of the company anymore, and isn’t involved with the company anymore, contributes to conservative causes and candidates. I chuckled.

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I wonder if the same person boycotts Chick-fil-A or Hobby Lobby because of the owner’s religious extremism?

The issue we need to be mindful of is when “thought leaders” use the power of government to punish corporations because they deem management to have “woke” policies.

Steve

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Not being eligible for state contracts sounds like a ban to me.

Please provide information on the states that California sanctions, and why.

Steve

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