Why the Fake-Meat Boom Has Stalled

In 2019, Beyondbeyond: On the far side of; more than; outside the limits of. — 超越；在…之外 Meat, an American start-up making beef-free burgers, went publicwent public: sold shares on the stock market for the first time — 上市 at a market valuemarket value: the total worth of a company's shares — 市值 of almost $4bn. The following year, US sales of plant-based meat jumped by 45% to $1.4bn. Many start-ups entered the market, and eveneven: Exactly, just, fully — 正好 traditional meat companies had a nibblehad a nibble: tried something on a small scale — 试水.

Today the picture looks very different. Sales of plant-based meat are falling, and Beyond Meat is now worth less than $400m. Its revenuerevenue: Income generated from business activities or taxes collected by a government — 收入；税收 shrank year on yearyear on year: compared with the same time in the previous year — 同比 for most of 2025. A YouGov pollpoll: a survey of public opinion, or the process of voting in an election — 民意调查；投票 for The Economist foundfound: To establish an institution or organisation, especially by providing money. — 创立；创办 that the share of American adults who regularly eat plant-based meat has stayed below 10%. Conventionalconventional: Based on or in accordance with what is generally done or believed; traditional. — 传统的；常规的 meat, meanwhile, is selling well. The industry says it is going through a correctioncorrection: a temporary, moderate decline in a market (not a crash) — 市场回调correction: A change made to rectify an error or inaccuracy. — 更正；修正；纠正, not a collapsecollapse: The act of collapsing — 倒塌. So what has gone wrong?

Price is one reason. Real meat is more expensive than it used to be, partlypartly: To some extent; not completely. — 部分地；在一定程度上 because cattlecattle: Large domesticated bovine animals kept for milk or meat; cows and bulls collectively. — 牛（总称）；家畜 herdsherd: A group of cattle or other large animals kept or living together — 畜群 are shrinkingshrink: to become or make something smaller in size, amount, or value — 缩小；收缩；减少herds are shrinking: the number of farmed cattle is falling — 牛群减少 and animal feedanimal feed: food given to farm animals, especially grain — 饲料 costs more. But thanks partly to farming subsidiessubsidy: Financial support or assistance, such as a grant — 补贴；津贴farming subsidies: money the government pays farmers to help them produce food — 农业补贴, real meat still costs less than its plant-based rivalrival: A person or thing competing with another for the same objective or superiority. — 对手；竞争者. A pound of beef mincemince: Meat that has been cut into very small pieces by a machine (British; US = ground meat) — 肉末beef mince: ground beef (British English term) — 牛肉末 at Walmart sells for $7.43, while the same amount from Impossible Foods costs $9.04. For a family shopping every week, that difference adds up.

Taste is another reason. Mark Cuddigan, boss of This, a British meat-free company, admits that some plant-based products are still "awful". One bad burger can stop a customer from trying again.

Fakefake: Not genuine; made to look real in order to deceive. — 假的；伪造的 meat has also become part of America's political debatedebate: A formal discussion on a particular topic in which opposing arguments are put forward — 辩论；争论. Robert F. Kennedy junior, the US health secretary, championschampions: publicly supports and promotes — 力推champions: publicly supports and promotes — 力推 the sloganslogan: A short and memorable phrase used in advertising or to represent a cause. — 标语；口号 "Eat Real Steak". Criticscritic: A person who expresses an unfavourable opinion; a professional reviewer of art, literature, or music. — 批评家；评论家 of plant-based meat argue that it is full of salt, fat and ultraultra: Extreme; going beyond what is usual or moderate — 极端的-processedultra-processed: food that has been heavily modified in factories with many additives — 超加工 ingredients. Impossible Foods admits that some of its products contain more sodiumsodium: A soft, silvery-white chemical element whose compounds, especially salt, are essential to life — 钠 than rawraw: Uncooked; in a natural state, not processed or refined. — 生的；未加工的 meat, but points out that few people eat meat raw and unseasoned — so the comparison is not fair.

A bigger problem is that plant-based burgers are officially classifiedclassify: To arrange or organise things into categories or groups according to shared qualities. — 分类；归类 as ultra-processed food. Their long ingredient lists and factory production methods place them in the same food category as crisps and Oreo biscuits. David Welch of Synthesis Capital, an investorinvestor: A person or organisation that puts money into financial schemes or businesses with the expectation of profit. — 投资者 in food techtech: Technology, especially as applied to a particular industry; a technology company or sector — 科技, argues that this comparison is misleading, but health-consciousconscious: Aware of and responding to one's surroundings; deliberate and intentional. — 有意识的；意识到的 consumers are making it anyway.

The industry is trying new strategies. One is to emphasiseemphasise: to show or state that something is especially important (British; US = emphasize) — 强调 nutritionnutrition: The process of providing or obtaining food necessary for health and growth. — 营养；营养学. Many plant-based products contain more proteinprotein: a nutrient that helps the body build and repair itself — 蛋白质protein: A nutrient found in food such as meat, eggs, and beans that is essential for body growth and repair. — 蛋白质 and more fibrefibre: a nutrient from plants that helps digestion — 膳食纤维fibre: A thread-like structure forming part of a material, or dietary material that aids digestion. — 纤维；光纤；膳食纤维 than real meat. Both Impossible and Beyond now print protein grams clearly on their packetspacket: A small cardboard or paper container; a block of data transmitted across a network. — 小包；数据包. Impossible has also partnered with a protein-richprotein-rich: containing a lot of protein — 高蛋白 bread and pasta company. Beyond has launchedlaunch: To start or set in motion something new; to send a spacecraft into the air. — 发起；推出；发射 a sparklingsparkling: Shining brightly with points of light; lively and engaging — 闪耀的 watersparkling water: bottled water with bubbles — 气泡水 with 20g of protein per can, and last year it even dropped the word "Meat" from its company name.

Some companies are also experimenting with half-meat, half-plant burgershalf-meat, half-plant burgers: burgers that mix real meat with plant ingredients — 肉菜混合汉堡. It might sound strange, but Tim Dale of Food System Innovations, a research group, says the real customer is the parent who wants to secretly add vegetables to a child's plate.

Other investorsinvestor: A person or organisation that puts money into financial schemes or businesses with the expectation of profit. — 投资者 are now putting money into cultivatedcultivate: To develop or improve something through careful attention and effort; to prepare and use land for growing crops. — 培养；培育；耕种 meatcultivated meat: meat grown in a lab from animal cells, not from a killed animal — 培育肉 — meat grown in a laboratory from animal cellscell: The smallest structural unit of a living organism; a small room for a prisoner. — 细胞；牢房. A few American states have banned or proposedpropose: To put forward a plan or suggestion for consideration; to intend to do something. — 提议；建议；打算 banning cultivated meat, but the federalfederal: Relating to or denoting a system of government in which power is divided between a central authority and individual states. — 联邦的 government appears more open to it. In Britain, cultivated meat has already received clearanceclearance: The act of removing unwanted things from a place — 清除received clearance: received official approval from regulators — 获批准 as pet food. Cost, however, is still a big barrierbarrier: An obstacle that prevents movement, progress, or access. — 障碍；壁垒.

Nick Cooney of Lever, a venture-capital firmfirm: A business or company, especially a small one. — 公司；商行, thinks that plant-based meat has suffered from the idea "that it's a 'fake' thing". Cultivated meat, being made of real animal cells, may avoid that problem and one day appear in normal meat aislesmeat aisles: the rows in a supermarket where meat is sold — 超市肉类货架. Uma Valeti of Upside Foods, a cultivated-meat company, sees the next ten years as the time to prove the industry can scalescale: To change the size of something whilst maintaining proportion; especially to change a process in order to produce much larger amounts of the final product — 扩大规模 upscale up: grow production to a much bigger size — 扩大规模. Movingmoving: Producing strong feelings of emotion, especially sadness or sympathy. — 感人的；动人的 too fast, he warns, could leave the whole alternative-meat business in trouble again.