[3rodents]

Beyond Meat aren't unique, there are dozens of brands offering the same product. Tens of millions of people eat these type of products. Any (or most) burger-serving restaurant in Europe will have a Beyond Meat or equivalent on the menu. They're not always advertised as vegan (because of preparation and extras) but these fake burgers are very popular, for many reasons.

[Den_VR]

At the time it was a unique product. My alternatives reminded me more of basically black-bean patties than beef. Then impossible meat did it better, industry decided there was money in this direction, and now there’s “or equivalent” everywhere.

[peacebeard]

That's a really good point. Maybe in part because Beyond had a highly visible IPO they became the poster child for the success or failure of meat alternatives but in reality their story is pretty much just their own story.

[markdown]

Fake?

In my part of the world, a burger is a type of sandwhich, and the definition doesn't require meat. So it's a burger whether it contains beef, fish, chicken, a vegan patty, a large slice of tomato, or whatever.

[goosejuice]

What part of the world, and how recently? Sure a burger is a sandwich, likely being a spin off of Hamburg steak.

Given all sandwiches, what in your part of the world makes a sandwich a burger? I think for many of us it's a ground patty. If said patty isn't meat, yes we might say that is fake as in an imitation of the original. It's not a negative thing.

[deaux]

> What part of the world, and how recently? Sure a burger is a sandwich, likely being a spin off of Hamburg steak.

The 95.8% of the world population that isn't in the US. This is simple to deduce because everywhere else calls "a piece of fried chicken in a burger bun" a "chicken _burger_". Only the US calls it a "chicken sandwich". Some of Canada might now use the latter through US influence - any Canadians here?

KFC is a representative example, they call them "KFC chicken sandwich" only in the US, "burgers" effectively everywhere else.

[goosejuice]

I suspect Commonwealth or Asia. Is your definition of sandwich cold things between sliced bread and burger hot things in a bun?

A piece of hot chicken between bread in Italy would likely be a panino, france a sandwich, spain a bocadillo, Portugal sandes, Japan a sando, mexico a torta, Argentina a sanguche.

I think you overestimate how many people use burger for things that don't refer to the American concept. A lot of cultures have hot sandwiches and thus (ham)burger is often distinctly the American concept of a ground beef patty. Where this breaks down outside of the Commonwealth is often from cultures without things in bread that got exposed to the generic burger via fast food chain terminology. Not surprising there.

[deaux]

What are you even arguing about? KFC and McD uses "Burger" everywhere outside of NA. There's nothing left to discuss besides that, it shows that indeed the rest of the world all calls it a burger even though it's not a ground meat patty. Good luck finding a country outside of NA where they call their chicken burgers a "chicken sandwich".

> Is your definition of sandwich cold things between sliced bread and burger hot things in a bun?

A _burger bun_ makes it a burger.

[goosejuice]

Asking questions and giving background isn't arguing. Thanks for answering one of my questions.

> Good luck finding a country outside of NA where they call their chicken burgers a "chicken sandwich".

I gave you several examples already. There's a whole lovely world of food outside of fast food.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangucher%C3%ADa?wprov=sfla1

[deaux]

This comment getting downvoted is one of the most "US Defaultism" expressions I've seen on HN. Should've posted it when the US is asleep!