Right now you can buy “plant-based” alternatives to burgers, bacon, and sausage anywhere from fast food chains to restaurants to grocery meat cases. The companies who make them say they are better for animals, the climate, and human health, too — that these products will drastically cut into meat consumption, curtail meat production and save us from the catastrophic effects of climate change. Are these products any different from the vegan products that preceded them? Are they actually good for us? And are they the best solution to our industrial agriculture problems?

We also examine what it means to compare these products with their industrial meat counterparts instead of comparing them to more sustainably produced meat, or to truly plant-based protein sources, like beans.

This is part one of a two-part look at fake meat.

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