Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 266 posts

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#11

Post by acchow »

L_Rahman wrote: post #9

I remember reading the original impressions of the Impossible Foods ground meat and thinking it was just media buzz. I promise you it is not. At Momofuku's Ssam Bar in the East Village of NYC, you can order an off menu item called Spicy Pork Sausage and Rice Cakes. It's not really off the menu - the item has simply been around so long and is so well known to regulars that they left it off to make room for new dishes.…

I tried the Impossible Meats burger - it was nowhere near as tasty as a beef burger. I think it could be improved drastically by just adding a little MSG tho.

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#12

Post by ZenoArrow »

twelvechairs wrote: post #4

Tofu/soy burgers have been around for >20 years already. How is this significantly different? [Edit: way to be downvoted instantly for asking a serious critical question. Remember when hn prided itself on a higher level of discussion than reddit?]

To give you some idea of what's different:

http://youtu.be/ebNeUihciDI

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#13

Post by concinds »

cbhl wrote: post #8
concinds wrote: post #3

> Soy I wonder how the community here will respond to this. Most here seemed upset by the male-infertility story from a week or two ago. Turning around to gush over soy would be completely incoherent. "Soy as health food" is diabolically false.

Their "soy leghemoglobin" doesn't come from soy though. It comes from GMO Algae. Presumably they could reprogram that algae to produce a different hemoglobin-like molecule.

Check the ingredients list:

>Full Ingredient List:

>Water, Textured Wheat Protein, Coconut Oil, Potato Protein, Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Leghemoglobin (soy), Yeast Extract, Salt, Soy Protein Isolate, Konjac Gum, Xanthan Gum, Thiamin (Vitamin B1), Zinc, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12.

>Contains:

>Soy, Wheat

This contains soy. My comment stands.

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#14

Post by acchow »

twelvechairs wrote: post #4

Tofu/soy burgers have been around for >20 years already. How is this significantly different? [Edit: way to be downvoted instantly for asking a serious critical question. Remember when hn prided itself on a higher level of discussion than reddit?]

It tastes much better than tofu/soy burgers of the last 20 years.

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#16

Post by concinds »

koverda wrote: post #7
concinds wrote: post #3

> Soy I wonder how the community here will respond to this. Most here seemed upset by the male-infertility story from a week or two ago. Turning around to gush over soy would be completely incoherent. "Soy as health food" is diabolically false.

This seems to be one molecule from the soy plant.

No, this burger contains both soy leghemoglobin and soy protein isolate. I assume you thought I was referring only to the first one.

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#17

Post by bllguo »

Haven't tried it but certainly a noble cause, I hope they succeed.

> “I love VCs and particularly the ones that invested in us,” Brown had said. “But it’s truly astonishing how little diligence they do in terms of the actual science that underlies some tech companies.”

Recent headlines on Theranos, Juicero, uBeam really drive this point home

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#18

Post by ZenoArrow »

concinds wrote: post #10
ZenoArrow wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Most here seemed upset by the male-infertility story from a week or two ago." Do you have a link to that story?

Actually only 6 days ago. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14855796

No explicit mention of soy, plus "The analysis did not explore reasons for the decline".

Furthermore, it's said that plant-derived oestrogen does not act in the same way as human-derived oestrogen. I'll find a link...

EDIT: Link...

http://www.pcrm.org/health/cancer-resources/ask/ask-the-expe...

"Phytoestrogens, being weak estrogens, are like small, private planes with few passengers and no cargo, yet they still occupy the Jetway after landing. When phytoestrogens occupy the cell, normal estrogens cannot. Plant estrogens do not eliminate all of estrogen's effects, but they do minimize them, apparently reducing breast cancer risk and menstrual symptoms.

For men and boys, the phytoestrogens in soy do not appear to have any effect on hormone levels and have not been shown to affect sexual development or fertility. Research studies show that men consuming soy have less prostate cancer and better prostate cancer survival."

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#19

Post by cbhl »

concinds wrote: post #13
cbhl wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their "soy leghemoglobin" doesn't come from soy though. It comes from GMO Algae. Presumably they could reprogram that algae to produce a different hemoglobin-like molecule.

Check the ingredients list: >Full Ingredient List: >Water, Textured Wheat Protein, Coconut Oil, Potato Protein, Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Leghemoglobin (soy), Yeast Extract, Salt, Soy Protein Isolate, Konjac Gum, Xanthan Gum, Thiamin (Vitamin B1), Zinc, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12. >Contains: >Soy, Wheat This contains soy. My comment stands.

Those labels are because the compounds could trigger a soy allergy, because, y'know, they're chemically identical.

Notice that all the "soy" falls in the "2% or less of" bucket. This is not the same as a soy burger. Have you eaten one?

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#20

Post by nicpottier »

I tried a Beyond Burger, which I believe is the main other horse in this "veggie burger" race and I was pretty impressed. It doesn't have the "plant blood" that seems to be Impossible's secret sauce, but on a bun, with ketchup, lettuce and tomato I thought it was pretty great. Great enough that I'd order it instead of a normal burger if it was widely available.
Post reply on HN