Alternative Protein vs Big Meat (Second Request)

[upbeat music] Hello, everyone, and welcome to Second Request, the Capital Forum's podcast where we explore solutions to monopoly problems.

I'm Teddy Downy.

And I'm Arjun Singh.

So, Arjun, today's episode focuses on alternative proteins.

Before I get into the antitrust questions around that, Arjun, let me ask you, are you familiar with alternative proteins? Like, have you had a Beyond Burger before?

I have.

Um, I'm a meat eater, so I generally don't get them, and if I'm being honest, like, if I'm gonna have vegetarian food, I tend to want a vegetarian forward dish, not, like, a dish that looks like meat, but I know in my head is not meat, and it sort of tastes like meat.

But I do have friends who, you know, like, some of them swear by them.

I have this one friend who he was feeling kinda climate conscious, wants to cut down his meat consumption, and he said that, like, basically, they helped him go from, like, an all-carnivore diet to being a full vegetarian.

So that says something.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm with you.

I tried to be pescatarian for a little bit and did not appeal to me.

If I wanted to eat meat, I would just eat meat.

I, I wasn't, like, super excited to eat fake meat.

But that said, maybe not s- maybe it's not for you, maybe it's not for me, maybe it's for friends of ours.

But alternative meat is very popular these days.

McDonald's is selling them.

Uh, Burger King is selling, uh, you know, alternative meat burgers.

It's a growing market, and I talked to Andy Fitch and Cynthia Hanewalt, who are both at the Sabin Center at Columbia, and they say there should be antitrust enforcement and action in making sure the alternative protein market stays competitive.