In 2019, the future of vegan meat looked rosy. Beyond Meat was on the verge of going public and the media could not get enough of juicy, bleeding, plant-based burgers that would make lentil pucks a thing of the past and convince a whole generation of meat-eaters to try vegan fare. Things were so good that a few attack ads warning consumers that the ingredients and processing involved in making plant-based burgers was something to be afraid of didn't seem worth making a fuss about. In retrospect, that may have been a mistake, says Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown. In the intervening years, enthusiasm for vegan meat peaked then waned'with Beyond Meat's share price taking a hammering in the process. Now Brown is answering those attack ads head on'switching up the ingredients to make a healthier Beyond burger and launching new sausages that lean into the whole vegetable aspect of plant-based meat. But are tweaked recipes enough to turn around the fate of vegan meats' WIRED spoke with Brown...
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