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Impossible Foods CEO Says The Plant-Based Sector Became Too 'Woke And Partisan'
(plantbasednews.org)
Pulling an Elon Musk and insulting your base? Bold move
this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2025
113 points (95.2% liked)
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The base as it is turned out too small anyways
Vegans/Vegetarians are not a small base in many parts of the world, but most vegan I know also don't consume like of impossible meats very much (once or twice per week at most?).
I genuinely like their products, but they are dramatically overpriced so we could never made them a regular part of our diet. Now they are on the shit list and they won’t be purchased again until this MAGA nazi is thrown out with a lead parachute.
He's not insulting anyone. He's describing the current political climate and a failing campaign. Everyone is looking to screech at a CEO rather than read.
And using “wOkE” to describe it, which instantly tells me someone is a childish idiot.
and a conservative. conservative is the sole user of woke, anyone says they arnt conservative but uses woke is being disengenious.
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(6 replies)
Anyone who uses “woke” or “partisan” as pejoratives is a fascist and a bigot. There is no spinning it otherwise or excusing it. He’s on the menu now instead of his companies products.
He brings up a good point in an utterly trash way.
Most people see “meat replacement” shit like impossible/beyond/morningstar/gardein/etc as “vegan/vegetarian” food. Thus, if they do not identify that way they pass it over.
Would it be best to convert said people to veganism? Of course. But is that likely a pipe dream? Probably also yes. And given that it is still a net benefit from both an animal welfare and climate perspective for meat eaters to integrate this stuff into their diet as much as possible.
The unfortunate truth is that veganism and animal welfare has absolutely played into the culture war bullshit and you will be lumped into the “sjw left” for not eating meat. He needs to work on how he delivers this message though because alienating the core demographic will just bankrupt the company (although oh well if so, fuck impossible). But at the same time the ultimate goal needs to be getting as many people as possible eating as little meat as possible. Unless you plan to make harvesting animals for food illegal somehow and if so good luck, I guess
That said in my experience most vegans don’t eat much impossible anyway. I don’t know how widespread this knowledge is but fwiw even though it is advertised as vegan that is only because it contains no animal products. Impossible utilized a great deal of animal testing that required destruction (read: euthanizing/killing) of the test subjects so that they could fast track FDA approval of soy leghemoglobin (branded as “heme”), the plant based analog for hemoglobin that gives impossible its “meaty” taste (and concerns about long term safety, especially if you eat a lot of it).
However this is not the only approach - beyond is big on being soy free so they do not use soy leghemoglobin. Instead they achieve the “meaty” flavor with a combination of amino acids, glutamates, and typical flavorings one would expect (smoke flavor, rest is unknown and proprietary. Thank the USA regulatory state for allowing this practice of hiding tons of shit under labels like “natural flavors”).
Impossible just sucks tbh. The interesting stuff is up and coming. Chunk foods is starting to get national distribution and is a far superior product (though expensive, unfortunately). It’s created through a process of fermentation of soy and wheat gluten. The end result is a product much closer to steak with a meaty flavor that avoids all the binders, preservatives, and flavorings that are in many other options (though you still get things like beet juice for color and coconut oil for fat content)
Or you know, just eat like, tofu and lentils
I don't really see why any carnist would eat a meat replacement that's 1) more expensive and 2) not as versatile and 3) less healthy
I'm vegan! Impossible is junk food. It's not a sustainable part of anyone's diet, it's a sometimes food for when you're feeling lazy or have a craving. There's basically no value here for carnists, they can just eat meat and have a better experience. Basically the only reason you'd eat Impossible is if you have ethical or political opinions that conflict with meat eating i.e. woke and partisan
Another CEO that doesn't understand his consumers, his market, his industry, or his purpose.
Impossible is just highly processed food. There are >50 decent vegetarian burger patty recipes that are easy, much cheaper, taste better and are far healthier. Even a Portobello burger is simpler and better.
I am an unrepentant meat eater, and I will fuck up a black bean burger on the reg. It's not a hamburger, but also it's not trying to be a hamburger. It's its own thing, and delicious. I love the choice of having either.
Impossible is just a hamburger. There's literally nothing unique about it outside of its creation, but this is food. Who cares about the journey, the important part is when it hits your mouth (speaking specifically about judging the food as food, the ethics of the journey ofc matter).
Impossible is a solution in search of a problem, and it misses the mark entirely. Guess that could change should they make it cheaper or healthier than meat, but they don't seemed inclined to do so.
Yeah the sky seems like he's as boring up his own company to make a reason
Yeah the sky seems like he’s as boring up his own company to make a reason
Did you use voice to text to make that comment? I'm thinking "the sky" was supposed to be "this guy," and I'm wondering how that could happen with autocorrect.
Yes I was
I like impossible/beyond.
I cook/eat a lot of it, making big cottage pies and the like, as tofu just doesn't taste good for replacing meat in these applications. I'm unfortunately gluten intolerant as well.
I do worry about the heme a bit, much more interested in beyond when given the choice.
it should be illegal to be a ceo
Maybe your product didn't sell well among vegans because you made it with animal testing? Just a thought.
100% this. Always find it so hypocritical when vegans ignore the 188 rats that were tortured then killed by the PBC Impossible.
For me the point for vegan food isn't animals not being killed but the whole the agriculture around it being more sustainable. Eating plant stuff more or less directly just gives more bang per buck.
Wtf.... The entire concept of plant based meat is a woke concept... These motherfuckers should be drug tested weekly and the results posted publicly, if I have to do drug tests to do my job, these cunts should too.
What would that achieve?
Having a lucid brain when making decisions that could affect tons of people. Like driving a school bus.
Adults can choose where to work or what to eat. Children require protection. I guess the example doesn't make sense to me.
I respectfully agree to disagree.
Of course they can. I never said the contrary. But an adult does not have the right to perform actions under the influence that could endanger others.
This is not even an anti-pot or anti-booze comment, if that's what you're assuming.
Nope, its not really that I disagree with you all that much. Private businesses get to male their own rules to a larger extent than public entities is all.
Not true. Private companies must abide to government regulations, so they don't get to make their own rules willy nilly, otherwise many of them would do really nasty stuff that harms people in the name of profits.
Ever heard of powder milk companies adding cardboard to fornula to keep costs down? Companies dumping toxic shit in rivers? Companies paying militias to overthrow democratic governments so they can sell more bananas? Pharma companies jacking up prices to life saving drugs? They don't have the right to do all this just because it's in some internal employee handbook.
But back to the original point, there have been cases in which company leaders making questionable decisions because they're not right in the head. So I understand OPs sentiment.
I think you're making his point for him. It shouldn't be "a woke concept". Aside from the fact that word woke has practically lost all meaning, the reality is that everybody (outside of the animal farming industry) wins if fewer people are eating meat less often. I agree with his point that they shouldn't be focusing on this as a "meat replacement," especially because that implies it's only appealing to people who avoid eating meat entirely. The goal of converting the entire planet to veganism is a pipe dream. Presenting this not as a complete lifestyle change, but as an additional menu option alongside traditional choices instead of in opposition to them is a much easier path toward incremental change. That stance has potential to reach people across political and carnivorous boundaries and reach the shared goal of climate and global health improvements, while also appealing to capitalist shareholders. It seems win/win.
ceo is too high on his own farts.
YOUR ENTIRE BRAND IS APPEALING TO VEGANS WHO ARE DAMN NEAR EXLUSIVELY LEFTISTS AND DEM VOTERS!
Oh fuck off Pete, stop blaming others for your failure to fulfill your sky high promises you made to your investors as you count your millions in your bank account.
Always fun when the CEO of a company exclusively serving left wing people start cozying up to the right.
it's almost as if corporate America values fascist ideologies over profits.
oh wait.....
Yeah, no. Those two go together pretty well.
This is just a guy cozying up to the right hoping for more business or favors while forgetting what his actual customers are. Not the first CEO to be that dumb
Beyond meat is better than impossible meat.
Agree. I always pick it over impossible given the choice.
Also it's made from pea protein which has fewer allergens. I have an allergic issue with soy and wheat it seems which makes my vegan diet even more challenging than it should be.
"The Plant-Based Sector" aka most of agriculture. Rather than worrying about how to target vegans, how to target meat-eaters, and how "woke" you should be, wouldn't a better image to project be one of having the main goal of producing things that are appealing to people who like to eat food?
woke is like 2 things to conservatives: something i dont like, and a problem(usually about bigotry) i caused but i wont admit it, because i would look weak(things like jokes).
And now Impossible is on the boycott list. Godammit.
It's not the marketing.
It's the food. It's getting closer but it's still more expensive for food that isn't as good.
Sounds like I don't buy that brand anymore
Bold move, Cotton...
You mean marketing anything to vegans is fucking impossible?
gestures to comments
Whatever, as long as people are eating less meat.
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