Cattle Ranchers Revolt Against Trendy Fake Meat

Beef producers fight back against fake meat industry

As the new generation of realistic imitation meat products like the Impossible Burger and Beyond Meat surge in popularity and lab-grown meat technology gets more affordable, cattle ranchers are fighting back: “In recent weeks, beef and farming industry groups have persuaded legislators in more than a dozen states to introduce laws that would make it illegal to use the word meat to describe burgers and sausages that are created from plant-based ingredients or are grown in labs,” the New York Times reports. The fight is echoing dairy farmers’ efforts to prevent non-dairy milks from being labeled as milk — a battle that the dairy industry lost.

And in other news...

• Celebrity power couple John Legend and Chrissy Teigen skipped the Grammys this year and invited Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to come over for a pizza party instead. [Page Six]

• A new website is dedicated to ensuring experimental bartenders don’t serve unsafe cocktails by providing a database of hazardous ingredients and tools. For instance: Did you know Moscow Mule mugs can leech copper into drinks, and that fat-washed drinks (in which a spirit is infused with an ingredient such as bacon) can present a botulism risk? [NY Times]

• Hooters is offering free wings on Valentine’s Day to anyone who rips up a photo of their ex right then and there, for diners who find chicken wings more valuable than their dignity. [People]

• A minor league baseball team in Colorado is the first pro sports team to ban peanuts from its stadium, creating a safe haven for highly allergic sports fans. [KSRO]

• KFC and Pizza Hut are testing a pizza collab that involves gravy, popcorn chicken, and corn. Thankfully, this fast-food abomination is only available in the UK. [Mirror]

• Finally, remember President Obama’s “latte salute” scandal? Probably not, but Trevor Noah does: