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