That is a fair point. But then again, I don’t even remember the last time I was in a store that had honest prices.

This is one of those things that makes me feel the slightest bit more agitated and cynical towards people and society. We all know it’s manipulative, and that should be enough reason not to do it. So why does everyone who runs a business do it? Like yeah it does work, but is it really worth subtly eroding your own customer’s trust in you? There’s an invisible cost of goodwill here.

Both health and ethics reasons. Healthwise coconut oil has even higher saturated fat levels than palm oil does, but both are quite high.

Ethics wise coconut is similarly not sustainable, at least not in terms of being yet another monoculture. I would say it’s arguably not vegan because of the harm that comes to animals and their habitats because of the coconut industry.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/by-the-way-doctor-is-palm-oil-good-for-you

https://theconversation.com/our-love-of-coconut-oil-may-have-forced-some-species-to-extinction-141454

Yup, to be honest I’m surprised that Butler’s has zero direct competition. To the best of my knowledge there is no other whole-bean single-ingrediant meat substitute, all of the other closest competitors are tvp-based.

https://www.butlerfoods.com/

That’s where the soy curls come in. TVP would be a nice addition, but I lean more in favor of a whole-foods approach. TVP = chemically stripped soy, mostly protein. Soy curls are the whole beans boiled and reformed into a surprizingly incredible and versatile meat alternative.

As a vegan it might be strange and interesting to try to replicate the “authentic” Texas Red recipes. No beans, no tomato. The basic recipe would be an almost purely pepper-based stock, probably use both Beyond Ground and diced Beyond Steak. If I recall, the most original known chili recipe called for a substantial amount of added pig fat. I’m not big on high-fat foods in the first place, so to me it’s dubious whether to even include an alternative. But if I did, the most comparable choice would be coconut oil, but I avoid coconut/palm oil to the best of my ability, so probably a bit of added avocado oil would work best, though it’s worth noting that Beyond products are already high in one or the other of these (avocado Beyond is best). Spices don’t need to change.

But then, is that really superior chili? Sorry but midwestern bean and tomato/pepper extravaganza chili is way better, and will continue to be my main. But with some added crumbled soy curls? Gonna have to try that soon.