Random Stuff - Chapter 322

Dr. Patrick Brown is a vegan. He gave up meat a long time ago for his own ethical reasons.

And while he believes his moral standards of veganism are “right” and true and compassionate, he understands something a lot of people don’t: that you can’t change other people’s behavior by appealing to their moral code.

In fact, he knows that exactly the opposite will happen when you try to persuade someone this way: they’ll double down and call you a f.u.c.kface and won’t invite you to their birthday party.

So instead of proselytizing to the world about the moral and environmental impacts of eating meat or protesting outside of a major meat production facilities with a smug sense of moral superiority, he decided to appeal to something much more fundamental to human nature: their taste buds.

Brown’s goal is to replace all animal-based meat production by 2035. To do that, he is trying to create food that 1) tastes/looks/smells/feels as good or better than real meat and 2) is at least the same price, if not cheaper.

Dr. Brown started a company, Impossible Foods, the creators of the meat-free, plant-based Impossible Burger. His goal with the Impossible Burger is to create something that mimics ground beef in every way—appearance, texture, smell, and, of course, how it tastes—using no animal products whatsoever.

And the Impossible Burger 2.0 appears to have come pretty damn close to doing just that.

By appealing to human nature rather than railing against it, Brown has already made an incredible impact on the world, and he appears to just be getting started.

Had he been like most zealots in the environmental and animal rights world and prattled on and on about how unethical it is to eat meat in the modern world, reigning down his judgment on everyone else with indignant fury—well, no one would have listened to him.

And more importantly, he would have had virtually zero impact on the way we think about food production.