Meatless “chicken” and “beef” are becoming all the rage these days, as companies like Beyond Meat are proving that meat alternatives really do “taste like chicken” with no cholesterol or fat, as well as the fact that no animals are harmed in the making of these foods. Recently, Beyond Meat’s “chicken” was put to the test alongside real meat as the TODAY show anchors tried to identify which meat was animal-derived versus which was vegan. Turns out, the anchors couldn’t tell the difference!

The taste is so similar that some of the anchors even guessed wrong! Beyond Meat can sell for cheaper than your average chicken at the grocery store, meaning that this meatless alternative wins in both the financial and taste tests, but the only hurdle to a total meatless meat takeover is to get more people to switch to the alternatives.


Even still, there is no doubt that companies such as Beyond Meat are going to create a mass following. Technology mogul, Bill Gates, along with the founders of Twitter, Biz Stone and Evan Williams, have invested millions into the start-up company.

The company is gaining a lot of mainstream attention, and, last February, founder Ethan Brown also appeared on CBS’s “This Morning.” More recently, Beyond Meat asked Taco Bell to offer vegan options with mock meat at the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, Calif., with a creative campaign that took to Twitter.

Meat is being challenged with forward-thinking companies like Beyond Meat, and it’s only a matter of time before these start-ups become the new social norm. This is what the future of factory farming looks like — people making mock meat products in a factory, without the need for the needless killing of animals.

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