S07.E17: SmartPlate, Bee Free Honee, Float Baby, MTailor

[zxy556575]

I love this forum, I truly do. Such good points all around. And a sincere tip of the hat to people who take the time to know and care about what they're eating. I'm more of a heedless drive-through person myself, but I trust we can still be friends.

 

I probably need to read up on veganism, but surely there must be more than one type of adherent? I can imagine both a "worker bees of the world, unite!" group and also a "plant-based diet for health reasons" group. The latter probably wouldn't object to the idea of honey qua food, right?

 

To be honest, honey is one of those foods that make me gag if I think about it too much; flying insects and whatnot. I've been really wrong before about the appeal of items on this show, but I simply can't see this being a big seller.

[bilgistic]

If the annual Greek Festival used fake honey in the baklava I buy from it, I would riot with pitchforks and torches.

[Sarahsmile416]

As a diabetic when I saw the Smart Plate initially, I thought, "What an awesome idea"...then, when I heard the price point and heard all of the Sharks' input, I quickly changed my mind!

But, honestly, the concept is very interesting to me...it's too bad this guy's product is so very flawed!

[starri]

I probably need to read up on veganism, but surely there must be more than one type of adherent? I can imagine both a "worker bees of the world, unite!" group and also a "plant-based diet for health reasons" group. The latter probably wouldn't object to the idea of honey qua food, right?

By the strictest definition of "vegan," you cease to be one the moment you use any animal-derived product:  honey, eggs, silk, wool.

 

If your diet is plant-based but still includes honey, you're a vegetarian.

[KaveDweller]

I don't know if using Bee Free helps or hurts the bee population.  In the bee ladies' defense, I don't remember them saying that it helps the bees, I thought it was brought up by one of the sharks and the other sharks held on to it.  I got annoyed at Kevin (and he has been less annoying lately) for harping on them for having so little in sales for 16 years of business, especially after she pointed out (again) that the mistake that lead to bee free honey happened 16 years ago, and they haven't been trying to sell it for that long. At least the other sharks were able to understand.  

 

I thought the point was supposed to be that if bees start to disappear and there's a honey shortage, we could use their product. But when the sharks started talking about saving bees, what were they going to say?

 

Regarding the BeeFree being cheaper... is it? They claimed some ridiculously high prices for honey.

 

The prices they quoted for their product were comparable with farmer's market honey where I live, and a little higher than store bought honey. 

 

They kept talking about the price of organic honey, which I would imagine is more expensive than regular honey. 

 

I probably need to read up on veganism, but surely there must be more than one type of adherent? I can imagine both a "worker bees of the world, unite!" group and also a "plant-based diet for health reasons" group. The latter probably wouldn't object to the idea of honey qua food, right?

 

There's definitely a range of things people who call themselves vegan/vegetarian eat. The technical definition of vegan is that you can't eat honey, but I'm sure there are people who call themselves vegan and do eat it.  Just like there are people who call themselves vegetarian and eat fish.

Edited February 16, 2016 by KaveDweller

[bilgistic]

And they would actually be pescetarian.

I say this because anytime I tell people I'm a vegetarian, they inevitably say, "Do you eat fish?" No, because I'm a vegetarian.

[theatremouse]

I think what the ladies were trying to imply is that over-harvesting honey (due to high demand from humans) is contributing to colony collapse...which if it were true, would make their angle on "saving bees" fine. But a) no one really knows why colony collapse is so widespread recently and b) if anything more people have been getting into beekeeping and that's good. (Not that everyone is aware or taking up beekeeping, but among people who've heard enough about it to care, there's growth there. And certainly removing a reason for people to take up beekeeping does not help bees.) Maybe some big-corporate beekeepers are over-harvesting and boo them, but this product doesn't really do anything about that at all. On the "save bees" front, I think they have a little bit of a straw man, but we didn't get a ton of data on what they're really claiming just from the show so I'm sort of reserving judgement, just a smidge.

For vegans, it's true both that by definition to be vegan implies not eating honey at all, but also true that different people have different reasons for being vegan (or attempting it, or calling themselves vegan) and thus it varies how strictly they adhere. Someone who goes vegan for health or medical reasons only is more likely to make a casual exception now and again. Someone with more of an "ethical treatment of animals" perspective, and/or an "eating/using animal products is bad for the environment" is less so.

The other sort of unspoken thing with this pitch is: are the women sincere? Now, I'm not saying they aren't, but with certain products that, for example, appeal to vegans or people with certain allergies, I'm sure plenty of entrepreneurs want that niche because those people are willing to pay a premium, shop at Whole Foods, maybe buy into some pseudoscience, etc. There's money to be made there. As long as they don't say anything patently false they can get sued over, if people are buying what they're selling, they'd be glad to make money off of it. It's the difference between "our product is better because..." and "our customers prefer our product because...". It doesn't actually have to be better. People just need to think it is.

Edited February 16, 2016 by theatremouse

[KaveDweller]

And they would actually be pescetarian.

I say this because anytime I tell people I'm a vegetarian, they inevitably say, "Do you eat fish?" No, because I'm a vegetarian.

 

I am also vegetarian and get asked that question all the time.  Often by the same people. Then they ask if I eat eggs, and I'm like, yes, because I'm not vegan.

[nobodyyoucare]

Just say you don't eat or use things produced from the bodies of the land creatures. You have people that call themselves vegetarians that eat chicken. That is animal protein. Just say you don't eat meat from mammals. 

 

Far too often vegans/vegetarians come off as cult members trying to convert people to their cult. 

 

See I am a member of PETA. People Eating Tasty Animals. A herbivore is just a poor hunter. Deer eat baby birds and squirrels when they have the chance. Chickens will eat meat including chickens. Pigs will eat other pigs and even humans hence why probably a lot of people killed by feral hogs in the US are never found. 

 

I will never understand those that willingly cut themselves off from eating or drinking potentially tasty things. See I want to drink one of these even though it scares me somewhat. 

[yeswedo]

Can we please move on from the debates on what is / is not vegan / vegetarian, etc unless it's relevant to the episode? 

 

Off-topic diet discussions can always continue in the Small Talk thread. Thanks!

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

Nuttin' Honey
While the people making a honey substitute have no problem securing a deal with the Sharks, the same can't be said for other would-be wheeler-dealers appearing on this week's episode.

[columbot]

Baby lady said that her techniques show increased growth in babies. Why do I want my baby to grow faster? Is there something wrong with the way babies age now? Why do I need them to get bigger even faster?

 

The honey people may be the only presenters I've seen on this show who had a food product but didn't come out with samples (I could be wrong about that, but can't remember anyone else).

[designing1]

The honey people did offer a tray of samples.

[starri]

Baby lady said that her techniques show increased growth in babies. Why do I want my baby to grow faster? Is there something wrong with the way babies age now? Why do I need them to get bigger even faster?

I don't believe she said anything about their physical growth, she talked about supposed science that said they hit their development milestones sooner.

[aradia22]

Assuming the plate worked, I was into it at first when I thought it was weighing the food and then it seemed more about taking a photo of the food and that just seemed like astretch in terms of accuracy.

 

Really, idiots (I mean the sharks)? Why would you sell the inner tube devices and tubs for at home use? Can you imagine all the lawsuits from drowned babies? Sometimes the sharks just spout nonsense to be superior.

 

I felt a bit bad for the shirt guy. He didn't seem unreasonably arrogant. Everyone just piled in on him to spin the narrative a certain way. I get that the show is manipulative but sometimes their forced narratives are worse than American Idol.

Edited February 22, 2016 by aradia22

[designing1]

 

Why would you sell the inner tube devices and tubs for at home use? Can you imagine all the lawsuits from drowned babies?

 

Sure there'd be lawsuits because there's no sense of personal responsibility these days. That doesn't mean the lawsuits would succeed. Clearly this isn't a "set it and forget it" item; you don't leave a child unattended around water, even if they're in a full-body flotation device. Who's to say there won't be "drowned babies" at the spas? 

[sadiegirl]

I'm watching this episode again and I cannot believe the guy was going to sell that 'smart' plate for $200.  And you'd only be able to use it at home.  And I wonder how you wash it.  I'm assuming it can't go in the dishwasher - and if you had a 4 person family, that's $800 for dishes.  IMO, that's crazy money.