I've been following the stock market and investing for decades. As they say, I've seen them come and go. Rarely have I seen an IPO that has angered and incited opinion like the one of Beyond Meat (BYND) that took place last month.
I don't know if it's the product, the idea that it's a "millennial" thing, or that the value of the stock has skyrocketed since its IPO, but something has set-off the ire of the investing community.
I'm reading comments about how horrible the product is for our health, how it will be a flash in the pan (pun), and how it isn't any better than eating meat. At least two of those things are fallacy.
I've been eating these burgers for about a year. Not every day, of course. They're kind of expensive ($6 for two in the freezer section) so I generally buy a package every two weeks or so. I enjoy the taste, and I feel good about eating something that isn't either clogging my arteries or my intestines. Win-win.
Some of the derogatory comments I have seen focus on the idea that it's a "processed food." OK, it's a veggie burger, and as such, it has to be processed. Burgers don't grow on trees. Next.
Some say, "I can't pronounce the ingredients, so I'm not eating it." Well (above) there is a list of the ingredients. If you can't pronounce them, I blame the education system.
Big companies like (my favorite) DelTaco have been using their product in their meatless tacos, and other fast-food joints have embraced it as an alternative for health-conscious diners.
Investments aside, there is something about eating healthy that angers people. I'm not sure what it is, but I've experienced it first-hand. It's a kind of resentment that we aren't mainstream - buying take-out food, eating giant plates of who-knows-what -- I hear it. "Oh, you eat healthy," as though it is some sort of anti-social behavior. "Come on, join us in poisoning yourself." No, thank you.
Hey, I know pizza tastes good, and I love a fast-food burger every now and then (had one two weeks ago and hated myself for the past two weeks) so, it isn't beyond me (pun) to enjoy so-called "bad for me" food. I choose not to make a habit out of it.
Frankly, I'm glad that the stuff tastes good to me. I've heard it referred to as "eating cardboard," "tree bark" or something worse that makes me want to go off and eat somewhere else. Like John Candy's Uncle Buck character who admitted, "There's something about this hat - it angers people," my food angers people, and I don't know why.
I'm not asking you to eat it - I'm just asking you to allow me to eat it. Is that too much to ask? Maybe.
I'm not asking you to invest in BYND - quite the contrary. It's way up since its IPO and headed back to earth. There might be a point at which it's a value, but it will have little to do with the product itself and mostly to do with the public's acceptance of it. That's kind of sad, since alcohol, tobacco, and recently, pot stocks have garnered a lot of attention and continue to trade lustfully on the market.
Why isn't there room for something that might actually be good for you?
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