WEBVTT - Beyond Meat is Building Burgers, Sausage from Plants

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<v Speaker 1>Behind the scenes at Beyond Meat. What's going on. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>rich Demiro. This is rich on Tech. Beyond Meat is

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<v Speaker 1>a company that's recreating favorites like burgers and sausage, but

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<v Speaker 1>from plants. The company sells their products at whole foods

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<v Speaker 1>and other grocery stores, but they're often sold out because

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<v Speaker 1>of demand. They just opened up a brand new twenty

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<v Speaker 1>six thousand square foot research and development facility just south

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<v Speaker 1>of Los Angeles International Airport. Recently, I got to take

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<v Speaker 1>a tour and do a taste test of some of

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<v Speaker 1>their items, including a brand new one, a breakfast patty.

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<v Speaker 1>I had it in a sandwich that was basically a

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<v Speaker 1>vegetarian sausage McMuffin. The breakfast patty has double the protein

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<v Speaker 1>of pork sausage, lower fat, and no cholesterol, and it

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<v Speaker 1>was amazing. I would gladly eat this on a regular basis.

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<v Speaker 1>It's actually made from pea protein, mung beans, rice, and sunflower.

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<v Speaker 1>You'll be able to find that soon, hopefully through a

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<v Speaker 1>drive through. I talked to Beyond Meats founder and seat

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<v Speaker 1>Ethan Brown, and I asked him, why is doing all this?

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<v Speaker 2>So I looked at I think an important question, which

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<v Speaker 2>was do you need animals to reduce a piece of meat?

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<v Speaker 2>And after learning a lot about what meat is, I

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<v Speaker 2>came to inclusion you really don't. And this effort here

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<v Speaker 2>at the Matta Beats Project is a now ten year

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<v Speaker 2>effort to try to prove that you can build a

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<v Speaker 2>piece of meat directly from plants. And if you think

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<v Speaker 2>about that, what the animal's doing is they're consuming a

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<v Speaker 2>large amount of vegetative matter. They're using a digestive system,

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<v Speaker 2>they're using their skeletal muscular system to then produce what

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<v Speaker 2>we call meat in the form of muscle. And what

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<v Speaker 2>we're doing is taking the same material plant material, and

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<v Speaker 2>we're taking the amino acids from it, our protein, the

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<v Speaker 2>lipids or the fat, we're taking trace minerals, and then

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<v Speaker 2>we're taking a lot of water, because meats a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of water, sixty to seventy five percent water, sixty to

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<v Speaker 2>seventy percent water, and we're combining those in the architecture

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<v Speaker 2>of meat. And we're doing that through a system of heating, cooling,

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<v Speaker 2>and pressure that restitches the protein into the form of

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<v Speaker 2>muscle or meat, and so we essentially bypassed the animal.

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<v Speaker 2>The consumer is getting really clean protein directly from plants

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<v Speaker 2>in the same emily an experience that they would if

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<v Speaker 2>it came from an animal.

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<v Speaker 1>The new facility is all about coming up with new

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<v Speaker 1>products and perfecting their existing products. We saw engineers, scientists

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<v Speaker 1>and food technologists all working with various machines like an

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<v Speaker 1>electronic nose, a texture analyzer that sees how you chomp

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<v Speaker 1>down on a burger, and we saw the way they

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<v Speaker 1>make natural coloring from plants like beats.

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<v Speaker 2>I think the general concepts, you know, sounds easy, but

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<v Speaker 2>when you start to try to match molecules and you

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<v Speaker 2>try to deliver the sensory experience of animal protein using

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<v Speaker 2>all plants, it becomes more difficult. And so an example

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<v Speaker 2>of that is there are thousands of molecules that make

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<v Speaker 2>meat tastes like meat, So we have to find what

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<v Speaker 2>those molecules are, and then we have to find analogous

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<v Speaker 2>where the same ones in plants and match them and

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<v Speaker 2>then try to get them to perform the same way

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<v Speaker 2>that they overform underheating on a stove, and you know,

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<v Speaker 2>as they cool down, have them look the same in

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<v Speaker 2>terms of transition in the appearance. So you know, it

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<v Speaker 2>gets more and more complex. Did you get closer and

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<v Speaker 2>closer to the animal protein equivalent that you're trying to

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<v Speaker 2>build directly from plants.

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<v Speaker 1>While Brown himself is a vegan, he does not denounce meat.

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<v Speaker 1>He sees beyond me as offering an alternative to what's

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<v Speaker 1>already out there, something that even meat eaters like myself

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<v Speaker 1>would want to eat.

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<v Speaker 2>The only thing that I know is that you know,

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<v Speaker 2>throughout human history and even before human history, when we

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<v Speaker 2>were evolving about two and a half million years ago,

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<v Speaker 2>we made a decision that we're going to become more

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<v Speaker 2>rather than less carnivorous, and that's become part of who

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<v Speaker 2>we are. You know, the animal protein consumption is a

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<v Speaker 2>big part of our tradition, our religion, our own cultural experience.

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<v Speaker 2>And so to advocate that people don't eat meat, I

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<v Speaker 2>think is a really bad idea. I think to present

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<v Speaker 2>a new form of meat that provides all the upside

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<v Speaker 2>of meat in terms of the protein, the satiating experience,

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<v Speaker 2>but it's simply made for plants is the right idea.

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<v Speaker 2>The analogy I use most frequently is to think about

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<v Speaker 2>this like the mobile phone to the landline. No one's

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<v Speaker 2>out there defending the landline people, just like the new

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<v Speaker 2>mobile phone, and we have to create products for so

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<v Speaker 2>compelling that people are drawn to ours and not necessarily

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<v Speaker 2>even debating it.

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<v Speaker 1>One thing to know about beyond me. They're doing all

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<v Speaker 1>this science, but this is not frankin food.

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<v Speaker 2>They have to use all natural ingredients. They can't use

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<v Speaker 2>genetic modification, which by the way, they would love to

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<v Speaker 2>use to make things easier. Sure, but we believe that

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<v Speaker 2>we need to really respectful that. You know, Mom's going

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<v Speaker 2>to be feeding us through our kids. I feed it

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<v Speaker 2>to my own children. So we need to understand everything

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<v Speaker 2>that's in there. We need a consumer we they'll understand

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<v Speaker 2>it and feel very comfortable. So we use ingredients that

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<v Speaker 2>people are very familiar with. You know, our protein right

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<v Speaker 2>now comes from peas, it comes from sunflower seeds, It

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<v Speaker 2>comes from recognizable sources. Same with our fats, and so

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<v Speaker 2>you have to be careful. You can apply cutting edge

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<v Speaker 2>science to this, but you have to remember that at

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<v Speaker 2>the end of the day, food is very intimate and

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<v Speaker 2>people want to eat things that are familiar to them.

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<v Speaker 1>So back to my taste test, I tried some brought

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<v Speaker 1>worse that could fool anyone at a backyard picnic. It

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<v Speaker 1>even had the same texture and snap as the real thing.

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<v Speaker 1>The burger was good, but I could tell it wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>the real thing, But I do want to try this

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<v Speaker 1>one again. It had a bit of a smokier note

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<v Speaker 1>than your typical burger. Plus I ate it at the

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<v Speaker 1>end when I was really full. The breakfast patty, like

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<v Speaker 1>I said earlier, was the first thing I ate, and

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<v Speaker 1>there's no other way to describe it except delicious. I

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<v Speaker 1>really want to be able to get that through a

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<v Speaker 1>drive through so I can eat it on a regular basis.

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<v Speaker 2>So I set a goal for myself, which is now

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<v Speaker 2>I'm running out of time on so I got to

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<v Speaker 2>hurry up what I said by the time my kids

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<v Speaker 2>can drive, and I set this goal years ago that

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<v Speaker 2>they'd be able to go to a McDonald's or a

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<v Speaker 2>Wendy's or a Burger King or any major of fast

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<v Speaker 2>food place and be able to get a Beyondburger or

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<v Speaker 2>it's you know whatever we're calling it at the time,

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<v Speaker 2>and it wouldn't be an event. It'd be like, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>someone who orders a fish file at someone was a

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<v Speaker 2>Byonburger and it's kind of just normal. So they're thirteen

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<v Speaker 2>and fourteen now, so I got a couple more years.

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<v Speaker 1>One thing I tried it Beyond Meat that I wish

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<v Speaker 1>they would sell was this vegan cheesecake they had. It

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<v Speaker 1>was unbelievable, but they told me it was just a

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<v Speaker 1>test kitchen item because they have a really good chef there.

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<v Speaker 1>But they have no plans to bring it to market.

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<v Speaker 1>But I think they should make a decision to do

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<v Speaker 1>some beyond meat desserts. Thanks so much for listening. If

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<v Speaker 1>you want to see my TV segment on Beyond Meat,

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<v Speaker 1>just go to my website. It's richon tech dot TV.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Richdemiro. I'll talk to you real soon.