Plant Based Fail: The Empty Promise Of Animal Meat Displacement

Plant Based Fail: The Empty Promise Of Animal Meat Displacement

Share to Linkedin NEW YORK - DECEMBER 29: A butcher arranges meat products at a grocery December 29, 2003 in New York ... [+] City. U. S. agriculture officials on December 28 insisted there was no risk to consumers from meat recalled in the first U. S. case of mad cow disease. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) It has been a rough couple of weeks in the media for the plant-based meat category. The major black eye came from a BusinessWeek cover story by Deena Shanker with the painful title, "Fake Meat Was Supposed to Save the World. It Became Just Another Fad" and subtitle, "Beyond Meat BYND and Impossible Foods wanted to upend the world's $1 trillion meat industry. But plant-based meat is turning out to be a flop." The reaction from the vegan echo chamber was swift and childish. Impossible Foods resorted to calling the article "another opinion piece" and oddly relied on Reddit users to defend the company, taking out a full-page ad in the New York Times NYT . Such an exorbitant and useless spend seems especially ill-timed given this week's news of the company cutting 20 percent of its workers. Meanwhile, social media exploded with