 Recently, alternative meat sources like Beyond Meat and Impossible Burgers have been making great headwinds towards widespread market adoption. Towards the end of 2019, they began partnerships with several prominent companies testing alternative meats in their product lines. With alternative meats moving into the marketplace, it's worth asking, are they even better than traditional meat, especially when they're served alongside your McDouble? Don't forget to like and subscribe, and let's jump in. There are a lot of people who have very strong feelings about fake meat. Some say it's great, since its production can completely bypass large-scale animal slaughtering, while others say its taste and texture can never replace the real thing. Alternative meat has been tried for a long time. John Harvey Kellogg, yeah, that Kellogg, developed meat replacements from nuts, grains and soy way back in the 1800s, and during the world wars, meat shortages led to a popularity in creating fake meat dishes from a variety of nut and plant-based sources. At least in recent years, the resurgence in fake meats have been spurred on by two companies, Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. While the general makeup of both companies' product lines are similar, they get their protein from very different sources. Beyond Meat from peas, while Impossible Foods are soy-based. So are plant burgers better? Well, it depends what you mean by better. In terms of nutrition, not exactly. As you can see, plant-based burgers have more fiber and about the same amount of total fat, but have a lot more sodium, and depending on which brand you get, may have less protein. So while they're healthier in some aspects, they're less healthy in others, and on the whole, not significantly healthier. While some of these burgers may have less protein, one thing to keep in mind is, at least in the US and Canada, people eat way more meat than they need to. On average, adults require 50 grams of protein a day, but in the US and Canada, the average adult consumes more than 90 grams per day. So even if a plant-based burger has a little less protein, that isn't an inherent deal-breaker. At best, there's no clear winner in terms of nutritional content between plant-based meat and traditional meat, especially at places like McDonald's and Burger King, where you're washing down your burger with a large fries and Diet Coke. But not everyone eats alternative meat because they think it's healthier. Many have more moral justifications. The burger industry has a problem, and it's these guys, specifically this part. Cows fart, and they fart a lot. An individual cow releases about 100 kilograms of methane per year, a greenhouse gas 23 times more potent than CO2. Spread across the nearly 100 million cattle in the US, that means cows produce the weight of 30 Empire State Buildings in methane every year. And that's before you consider all of the other greenhouse gases involved in the raising, feeding, slaughtering, packaging, and transportation of meat before it gets to your grill. Overall, livestock account for 15% of total worldwide greenhouse gases every year. Meanwhile, beyond meat and impossible foods, faux burgers have less than half that carbon footprint. Although, to be fair, a plain old bean patty has a tenth of a footprint, so there's still better alternatives. Today, alternative burgers are about 30% more expensive compared to traditional burgers, so part of that can be solved by basic supply and demand. Plant-based meat makes up only 1% of the market, but as that grows, economies of scale tell us that the per unit cost will start to go down. And it's predicted that in the near future, plant-based meat will actually be cheaper than traditional meat. And it's not hard to see why. To get a pound of meat, you need to wait 18 months as a cow grows, whereas soy and pea harvesting times are only two months. And basic thermodynamics tell us that plants will always be a much more efficient energy source compared to any herbivore. And as time goes on and more money is pooled into plant-based foods, their textures and tastes are likely to continue to come in line with traditional meat, potentially stealing away many meat-eaters. So it looks like cow's days on the shelves may be numbered. Even if the texture and taste are never 100% perfected, it's hard to imagine once plant-based meats are cheaper than their alternatives, they won't cannibalize the meat industry. Then, maybe cows will become like horses, a once prevalent species that humanity largely retired after finding better alternatives. Well, that's it for today's episode. Don't forget to share your thoughts down in the comment section below. If you liked the video, be sure to subscribe with notifications on so you never miss an upload. And remember, there is always more to learn.