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

211–220 of 266 posts

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

#211

Post by b_ttercup »

awkwarddaturtle wrote: post #205

Is it just me or do posts about "vegetarian/vegan" foods, Tesla, or any flavor of the day seem to produce so many suspicious comments? It looks every other comment is trying to "sell" us something rather than being regular honest commenting. Reminds me of evangelicals or jehovah's witnesses trying to sell me their religion. Maybe knowing how social media works now has got me cynical. I'll never become vegetarian and…

Probably just you. This product is indeed capable of changing the world for the better if scaled up. "Saving it" is hyperbole. But it's not about making a nice meal for vegetarians, it's about sustainable meat consumption for a growing population.

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

#212

Post by vintageseltzer »

reycharles wrote: post #181
icanhackit wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a vegetarian who regularly makes curries from scratch, from soaking the lentils to grinding my own spices from whole seeds/pods and grilling paneer in tandoori paste, I can say it doesn't hurt to have the option when you've feel like having a burger, and it's a good way for people who want to make the switch to vegetarianism to know that their favourite junk foods are still an option.

Why do you soak the lentils?

Soaking lentils (and other legumes like chickpeas) cuts cooking time by about half.

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

#213

Post by jlebrech »

dEnigma wrote: post #177
mikekchar wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just want to point out that there are lots of ways to get umami. MSG is just one of them (and not really a great way IMHO). I cooked vegan at home for a long time (I'm not actually an ethical vegan, I just like vegan food). Konbu dashi will give you similar glutamate profiles, but tomatoes, fermented products like shoyu and miso, etc are simple ways to boost the umami as well. Usually the biggest trick in good vega…

Most of the things you list as MSG alternatives actually contain MSG; like tomatoes, konbu dashi, and many fermented products.

One is L-shaped (artificial and flavour enhancing) the other is natural.

http://science.jrank.org/pages/4433/Monosodium-Glutamate-MSG...

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

#216

Post by moretai »

awkwarddaturtle wrote: post #205

Is it just me or do posts about "vegetarian/vegan" foods, Tesla, or any flavor of the day seem to produce so many suspicious comments? It looks every other comment is trying to "sell" us something rather than being regular honest commenting. Reminds me of evangelicals or jehovah's witnesses trying to sell me their religion. Maybe knowing how social media works now has got me cynical. I'll never become vegetarian and…

Jesus will save the world.

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

#217

Post by bamboozled »

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.…

When visiting Europe I had a similar experience with "Seitan" [1] based sausages.

I quickly realised that what I like most about sausages isn't really the animal fat / flesh, it's the wheat, barley and or other spices + salt fried in oil that I enjoy. I should also add the texture which was easily reproduced with Seitan.

Also I found Seitan cheese burgers to be really, really good.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_(food)

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

#218

Post by infinite8s »

schitzapplebits wrote: post #193
fragmede wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In-n-Out burger patties are never frozen and the chain has a number of high-profile chefs as fans. Their beef may be ground and it's fast food, but McDonalds it ain't.

Freezing isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially for burger patties with a good amount of fat. I'd rather have that than something that's been sitting around in the fridge for too long. As long as it's frozen very quickly and defrosted properly, freezing is fine. In-N-Out meat is pretty good; it's just super thin. McDonald's is not good, but believe me, if McDonald's had a good burger patty, and if they wanted to f…

The critical thing about great fries is that they are fried twice, once to cook the potato and the second time for the crispy shell. The freeze step in the middle is likely just for transportation logistics.

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

#219

Post by graphitezepp »

jlebrech wrote: post #206
tptacek wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's never not been safe.

wrong, this is what they used to synthesise MSG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylonitrile I believe some MSG is still made with this and causes migraines and other heart issues, it's mostly phased out though, and can cause mixed reactions as the type of MSG isn't labelled, let alone MSG.

Your link has no mention of the subject being directly used to manufacture MSG, and only mention a link to glutamic acid being used for syntheses of it. This is not adequate evidence that Acrylonitrile was ever present in commercial MSG.

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

#220

Post by awkwarddaturtle »

b_ttercup wrote: post #211
awkwarddaturtle wrote: post #205

Is it just me or do posts about "vegetarian/vegan" foods, Tesla, or any flavor of the day seem to produce so many suspicious comments? It looks every other comment is trying to "sell" us something rather than being regular honest commenting. Reminds me of evangelicals or jehovah's witnesses trying to sell me their religion. Maybe knowing how social media works now has got me cynical. I'll never become vegetarian and…

Probably just you. This product is indeed capable of changing the world for the better if scaled up. "Saving it" is hyperbole. But it's not about making a nice meal for vegetarians, it's about sustainable meat consumption for a growing population.

>This product is indeed capable of changing the world for the better if scaled up. "Saving it" is hyperbole.

But "changing the world" isn't hyperbole?

> But it's not about making a nice meal for vegetarians, it's about sustainable meat consumption for a growing population.

What? Meat eaters aren't going to choose fake meat no more than vegetarians are going to choose fake vegetables/fruits.

People are still going to hunt, still going to keep livestock and still going to consume meat. We are omnivores after all.

Also, meat production is HIGHLY sustainable already. We waste tons of meat because we have such an excess of it.

Post reply on HN