Why Not Just Eat the Plants?

Within the small whole food, plant-based community, fractured as it is, it is often observed that it is hard to make a profit selling the “secret” to healing many chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. As “plant-based” takes a small but growing share of the marketplace for ideas, we see more enterprises offering meal delivery services, for example, to make it easier, cheaper, tastier, or more convenient to eat healthy, plant-based meals. No one needs to subscribe to any of these, but I can understand someone choosing to, given their personal cost-benefit analysis. They get something for their money that they are willing to pay for.

Of course, there are a lot of marketers trying to cash in on the buzzword “plant-based” despite offering products that are highly processed, high in salt, high in sugar, full of palm oil, and in every way failing to meet my standards for whole food, plant-based. I don’t blame them for trying. No one is forcing me to buy it. For most of their customers, it will mean eating healthier than they otherwise would, albeit not as healthy as me.

It’s a different business model that is currently baffling me. It is January, 2023, and there is an ad blitz of commercials on TV for a company that is promoting whole food, plant-based food, but they want you to consume it in the form of capsules. They claim they produce the capsules from the highest quality fruits, vegetables, and spices. They reference the research showing how healthy it is to eat whole food, plant-based, but they are selling pills! You would have to take a lot of pills to get a full day’s nutrition. Would people take their use of the capsules as an excuse to eat junk food? Like taking a dozen capsules of multivitamin in the morning so you can eat burgers and pizza all day?

It seems they are doing okay revenue wise, given the TV ad blitz. I concede that if one eats burgers and pizza all day, it would be better to add these flash-dried fruits, veggies, and spices than not to. But it adds unnecessary expense, does not provide convenience, and destroys any possible enjoyment that could come from eating food. And you would get far less fiber and nutrients than I get eating my way.

So I wonder who is the customer for this product. Why not just eat food made of plants?