Edit: To elaborate a bit, I think foods like this may fall in an unfortunate valley where they are too similar to meat to please some vegetarians but insufficiently similar to meat to please some meat eaters. I tried the impossible burger because I had heard some complaints from meat eaters that it was not "meaty" enough for them - meaning it might not be too "meaty" for me.
And imagine the impact if these just displaced 50% of beef patties at fast food joints.
I'd love to see a world where the bottom shelf of meat isle is completely plant based.
Why not use beans, or mushrooms? Or quinoa? Or cauliflower? Or lentils? All cheaper and healthier. And if they don't make sense in your dish...why eat that dish? Food combinations are endless; find something you like made up of the food you want to eat.
I'm not lecturing. I also love meat, but I have trouble wrapping my head around "vegetables and other stuff smashed together to simulate meat". Seems easier to just eat the vegetables.
Edit: this got asked a lot, so I'll all a related question instead. Is it possible for a burger to have "good taste and good texture" but also not remind you of beef?
Try a turkey burgers, a chicken burger, a black bean burger, ect... There's so much better variety in veggie burgers, (and they don't cause the run to the bathroom, if you know what I mean.)
And, if you ever find yourself in India, try McDonald's vegetarian burgers. Nothing like beef, but still delicious.
Think of a "burger" as a style of sandwich. Some of us are so used to "hamburger" that it's hard to imagine the patty being anything else.
Honestly, it's worth trying a veggie burger. (A lot of people order them with bacon on top.) As long as you stay away from the "I can't believe it's not meat" style, they're delicious.
Ever had a turkey burger? The meat has a different taste and texture from beef, but it's not bad.
Also see alligator, elk, deer, chicken sausage, etc. "Exactly like beef" is not the end-all-be-all of "satisfyingly meaty", even when you only include actual meat.
Yes! I had one today for dinner in fact. The one I ate today the patty was made with mushrooms, tempeh, and wheat berry. Greens, aioli, pickes & pickled vegetables on top.
So an excellent ground beef substitute for “utility” use. Nobody’s buying a fast food hamburger to savor the delicious, high-quality beef or as part of a carefully-planned fitness and nutrition strategy.
Can’t wait to see how the pork variant works out.
4chan says that it raises oestrogen, but I was treating this as usual 4chan trolling.
The point being, the more people you get to skip a meat meal by eating a veggie alternative, the better it is for whatever your reasons for avoiding meat are.
Or just something to eat sometimes as a way to reduce your personal "meat footprint."
I've joked before that if I ordered an Impossible Burger and got served a regular one, I wouldn't know :)
It does feel kind of weird eating it. There's definitely a part of my brain that protests when I take a bite. But it's also kind of novel, and I do still occasionally miss meat -- there's also a part of my brain that feels really good while I'm eating it. I like what they're doing, and I'm happy to occasionally grab one when I see it offered.
The thing is, vegetarian food is already really good -- I don't feel like I have a problem finding tasty, nutritious non-meat dishes that are filling, satisfying meals. And that's getting progressively better, not because new foods are being invented, but just because restaurants are getting better at adding vegetarian dishes that aren't just token options. I don't think there's a need for a brand new breakthrough in that area. There is no need to swoop in and invent a compelling dish for vegetarians, we have plenty of them.
It's the space in-between vegetarian and carnivore that needs innovation.
There are vegetarian meat-substitutes that I already avoid because my aversion to feeling like I'm eating that specific meat outweighs the novelty, even though they're not that convincing. I still think it's fine to have these kind of weird "in-between" foods -- my "I don't want to be reminded of that" is someone else's "this is close enough that I could give up or cut back on the real thing." I first started down a vegetarian route once I found a taco-meat substitute that I liked; I might not have even made that initial decision to start cutting back on meat if that product hadn't existed.
I'm not even sure it's "healthy". The entire purpose of the product is to taste and feel like real meat. Although, I'm with you in that I don't understand why anyone would want to eat a food with a mile-long ingredient list because it's "like the real thing". There are plenty of healthy vegetarian alternatives to hamburger, obviously.
It's owned by Nestle which isn't my favorite fact in the world, there are plenty of other brands though that make super healthy burgers out of things like lentils, quinoa, and black beans. Or of course, roll your own.
I would probably try to counteract this with lower-sodium pasta sauce, or less soy sauce.
People probably add salt when they cook pork, though.
You probably wouldn't eat an animal burger everyday, so you probably shouldn't eat one of these daily.
The particular fats in these plant replacements are not too similar to what you would find in real meat.
(Though to be fair even real american pork is pretty different to what it was traditionally, because of modern pork feed.)
I think it boils down to - everything in moderation, including moderation.
(See https://youtu.be/vCHPhIzOUOw for a reasonable review.)
I think there are health concerns here but not so much as a meat replacement.
I don't think there's a health concern in eating any kind of burger infrequently.
That being said, yeah, it's definitely a treat. Coconut oil is not the best thing for you.
Would there be a different process for "lab-grown" meat ?
Does anyone know if such approval processes are substantially different on different sides of the Atlantic ?
(Not trying to spread FUD at all, just curious.)
My favourite (chain fast food) non meat burger option so far has been the one that McDonalds recently released in New Zealand - it's a deep fried, crumbed mashed potato patty with other vegetables in it too. Doesn't pretend to be meat but is delicious.
Where did you have this burger? My experience with Impossible Burgers (at The Counter) is not at all like this. They were a pretty good facsimile of meat. I’d go so far as to say they changed my opinion on meat substitutes.
Previously, I was in the same camp as all those here saying they prefer delicious food that doesn’t pretend to be meat - but I think I’d choose an Impossible Burger over that now if I was in the mood for a burger.
A well prepared veggie burger is a very different experience from one that's just been thrown on a grill and taken off when it's hot. I've noticed some huge gaps in quality at different restaurants.
Also will add my vote that Impossible is doing a way better job imitating meat than Beyond is, just in general.
The White Castle Impossible Slider is much better than the Burger King Impossible Whopper, IMHO, especially if you want a real demonstration of the similarity to beef.
https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/3600189374...
Has the McAloo Tikki made its way to New Zealand?
My bias is obvious, but I really feel the world needs to get more into Indian food. No other cuisine does vegetarian food as well.
Agreed, when cooking myself (which I do a lot) it's usually Indian recipes. I really came to enjoy the food after I turned (mostly) vegetarian and went to visit friends in Rajasthan many years ago. I used to eat Indian meat dishes (especially curries) but found that I like actually like the vegetarian ones better. It is very easy (and cheap) to cook really good (and healthy; I don't use ghee etc as in the original recipes) and tasteful vegetarian food.
This is absolutely my favorite kind of vegan food.
The beyond burger tastes like paint and actually gets more red when you cook it. The impossible burger is red when raw, but turns brown and firm like beef when cooked.
I also tried a Hungry Planet burger which was chewier and tasted stronger and was probably more beef-like overall. Again I don't think it'll deceive anyone but it was pretty good.
Haven't yet managed to get hold of an Impossible Burger but it's on the list.
man, they used to have this in Singapore as well but it's no longer on the menu here.
I welcome Impossible Pork, looking forward to trying it.
I am one of those weird people who doesn’t like to eat inhumanly raised animal products, but I just don’t care what other people choose to eat.
I was really hyped up to like it, but found it only somewhat like meat. I was impressed with the texture inside. The outer crust reminded me of warm cardboard. To be fair, I might have burned it so I do want to try it again. Really keen to try an Impossible Burger (anyone know if there’s somewhere in Australia that serves them?).
My whole place smelled sickly sweet after cooking it as well. I’ve seen some people describing it as smelling like cat food, which I’d agree with.
I think coconut oil is somewhat like cilantro, in that certain people get a soap like taste from it, based on some kind of genetic trait.
Though it does have less aldehydes than some other types of oils, which goes against my theory. It does, however, have a fair amount of decanal, one of the aldehydes in cilantro.
Would "soap like" describe the unpleasant flavor at all?
Personally I don't think they're particularly healthy - I'll stick to chick pea patties or the occasional beef patty. They are highly processed.
It really shouldn’t be weird. It should be the default. Almost No one would purposely harm an intelligent animal yet it’s to norm to support industries that do.
Except for the fact that human beings have been purposely harming intelligent animals for food for millenia.
Thought experiment: is it ethical to eat animals that have been genetically engineered to be braindead?
Just because I cycle to work and don't own a car for environmental reasons, doesn't mean I think car owners are assholes - I have owned a car in the past, may do again in the future, sometimes get taxis and lifts, and have plenty of friends and family members with cars.
I wish the world had more people like you... I suspect there will be less wars.
But the real achievement will be Impossible Bacon.
Just shared the exact same sentiment with a friend; while I'm no committed vegan or vegetarian, if I see an impossible burger on a menu at a burger bar, I'll happily order one.
If they manage to make a passable and just as enjoyable impossible bacon strip, oh boy.
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/impossible-pork-whats-it-made-of...
edit: reading more closely it seems that you just have to be clear to observers that it's not actually pork.
(Next two paragraphs quoted:
For example, if one wishes to drink almond milk while eating meat, he needs to indicate that it is in fact almond milk, not regular milk, which is forbidden. In the olden days, this was done by popping some whole almonds into the milk. Today, this can be achieved by having the container on the table, making it clear that it is almond milk.6
The same would need to be done in order to serve a veggie burger that resembles meat, topped with real cheese, or to serve a beef burger under a slice of imitation cheese. It’s fine to eat, provided that the package is nearby and visible, or its parve identity is spelled out on the menu, receipt, etc.
...end quote.)
> "CHOW contained spun, plaited, and woven protein molecules, capped and coded, carefully designed to be ignored by even the most ravenous digestive tract enzymes; no-cal sweeteners; mineral oils replacing vegetable oils; fibrous materials, colorings, and flavorings. The end result was a foodstuff almost indistinguishable from any other except for two things. Firstly, the price, which was slightly higher, and secondly, the nutritional content, which was roughly equivalent to that of a Sony Walkman."
Neil Gaiman - Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
Although, these particular preparations might be closer to MEALS:
> "MEALS was CHOW with added sugar and fat. The theory was that if you ate enough MEALS you would a) get very fat, and b) die of malnutrition."
And natural here does not mean not artificial. Natural food is the food we've been designed to eat.
I'm vegetarian and I would definitely eat it, and most of my vegetarian friends would as well (assuming they figure out how to produce it without fetal bovine serum, which isn't vegetarian). But certainly everyone is different. I imagine some people will still have ethical qualms, and I know a number of vegetarians who don't like the impossible burger because they don't like the taste and texture of meat, so presumably they wouldn't like lab-grown meat either.
Actually, there are fringe but growing number of people who hate vegans because vegans kill and torture plants. Plants after all have senses and can feel and communicate with each other. And they find people who eat fruits disgusting since fruits are a plants' womb and eggs.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170109-plants-can-see-hear-...
https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/plants-have-feelings...
Just like vegans, these people have too much time on their hands and an unhealthy desire to feel morally superior to others.
Though I always wondered if the animal rights type of vegetarians eat this stuff, I would suppose they consider it a grotesque display or a mockery to dress up plant matter as animal murder.
https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/scie...
Some people, you will never convince to eat veggies instead, especially if they taste way worse than the meat they love. But if you have an alternative that tastes just as good, if not better, than meat, and is cheaper (with economies of scale), they would be more willing to go with the veggie option.
Well, yes, your wondering is exactly right. Long-time vegan here. (I think most "animal rights type of vegetarians" are vegan–what's done to cows in the dairy industry isn't pretty.) Butchers, ads for eating lambs etc start to seem horrific. I'm not at all interested in fake meat. Yes, the very idea seems grotesque. There's plenty of delicious vegetarian cuisine from around the world without needing or wanting fake meat, fake cheese etc. I haven't missed, wanted or craved meat once in..uh..gee, almost 30 years.
Upvoting this for the pure surreality of this one point
With further innovations and economic of scale, you'd imagine that one day they'll substantially undercut the [heavily subsidized] meat industry.
Not an economist (and I doubt even they'd know), but I feel like at x% the price of meat, they'll capture y% of the market. And, it'll snowball, as the meat industry loses market share, prices will go up.
The thing about meat is that it tastes good
>Though I always wondered if the animal rights type of vegetarians eat this stuff
Some don't like it, but I do. As long as it resembles processed meat instead of intact animal parts (like chicken wings, for example), I'm not bothered by it at all. It might as well be any other processed plant-based food to me.
Yes, sourcing ingredients for plant-based meat alternatives still takes resources and, given enough scale, that demand will have negative environmental impacts... But growing plants is still an order of magnitude better than farming animals.
The only way to reliably (and amicably) decimate global population growth, and therefore growth in the West, is eliminating global poverty and allowing universal access to contraceptives everywhere. If you achieve this, it doesn't matter what people eat or do; and arguably, it only matters currently in terms of how it impacts the pace of environmental destruction, not whether or not it gets destroyed.
It just doesn't get into peoples heads that more converts to green slime will not save the world.
Meat has 2 levels though, you need the industry to feed the pork too. If you skip that step and directly feed us, that's much less production.
> And that means, among other things, a huge increase in already high demand for coconut and palm tree oil
If it does require more coconut and palm tree oil, then that's what we will fix next.
If you ask me, it's because they've simply been a way to refine sugars and fats into purer forms. This allows us to consume more of them more efficiently, which is an issue especially as our populations are becoming more, not less, sedentary.
I see no evidence that the processing required for "impossible" foods is similar in that respect (but I'm no food scientist).
I think all people need an occasional look at where their food comes from. The amount of animal shit (rodents and the slaughtered animals themselves) in commercially sourced meat has increased in the last decade. If you stood a person in front of a meat grinder and said, "Here, now we throw in the appropriate legally-allowed amount of poop into the mix", fewer people would be in line to buy the end product.
Or if they were allowed to go visit the factory chicken farms and see the sick, diseased chickens that end up on their dinner plates, I think they would be unable to eat it.
Do people not realize that the recent laws aimed at preventing information gathering from factory farms is designed to prevent them from learning what they are really eating?
I tried a Beyond Burger for the first time last night (and again tonight). I wasn’t expecting this, but: it looks like a burger, it cooks like a burger, it smells like a burger, and it tastes like a burger (including texture).
That said, I will likely never buy it again, and have no interest in trying new products from Impossible Foods.
My main problem with it is the lack of clarity around how healthy engineered foods like the Beyond Burger really is. Sure, it doesn’t have the cholesterol of real meat, but is a heavily processed alternative really any better?
That's what the nutrition facts label is for. "Being processed" doesn't magically make food worse than non-processed food.
For the Beyond Burger in particular, it's directly comparable to ground beef: roughly similar fat content (depends on the lean/fat blend you get for the beef), more sodium but no cholesterol, similar protein levels, and a bit more miscellaneous stuff like potassium, iron, and phosphorous.
No but being processed at a factory means that it can be treated in a way that makes non-processed food or home-processed superior. By definition, processed food bought from the supermarket is not fresh and has already lost nutrition and it will stay in a supermarket for weeks. No matter how many preservatives you add it's old food. Processing often increases the surface area which makes it easier for bacteria to spread and the food to oxidize. Meanwhile the most significant "processing" you do at home happens a few hours or minutes before eating. Nobody is arguing that left overs are superior to eating food on the same day it's cooked.
The heuristic that factory processed food is worse still holds. In theory you could make healthy processed food but there is no economic incentive for that so it is the exception, not the rule.
The other problem I think is that over time these meat substitutes will evolve to improve sales, and if the biggest buyers are fast food chains, that evolution will tend in the wrong direction.
I know what you're thinking... Impossible Human could make Soylent Green a vegan movie.
Why are beyond/impossible not investing in a healthier alternative
Healthy vegan meat substitutes are a crowded space.
Impossible and Beyond went for flavour and price with mass distribution, a novel market segment.
One of my favourite burger joints recently shifted from offering Impossible v2 to v3 for their patty, as v3 supposedly resembled meat more closely.
However, I thought that v2 tasted much better while avoiding the “uncanny valley” of meat substitutes... I wish they would keep them all available rather than phasing out older versions.
Dairy farmers make 70% of their earnings off of subsidy
