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Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

arstechnica.com

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Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#41

Post by derekp7 »

maxxxxx wrote: post #19
jlawson wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The goal isn't just to have a "veggie burger bleed", it's to replicate the experience of eating meat. Perhaps they have failed so far (according to your taste test), but the goal is valid. If someone can find a way to make a product near-indistinguishable from meat without raising and killing animals, it would be a massive victory for the environment (meat production is CO2-intensive), for the cause of bringing decen…

I think for that purpose it's better to work on lab-grown meat. Making veggies taste like meat seems misguided to me. Either eat real veggies or eat real meat.

One thing I've noticed about the cuisine from cultures that have a high number of vegetarians in them, is how they don't try to imitate meat, but they don't taste/feel like a plate of vegetables either. They manage to achieve tasty meals that are in a category of their own.

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#42

Post by maxxxxx »

glass_of_water wrote: post #37
maxxxxx wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have nothing against Impossible Burgers. I just don't think it's a contribution to better nutrition or a cultural change away from meat. It's a gimmick. My objection against imitation meat is the same I have against sugary breakfast cereals. They make people believe that they are doing something healthy but in reality they are eating highly processed food that has purely been created for taste and not for nutrition…

From a nutritional standpoint, I agree that it would be unfortunate if people replaced healthy foods in their diet with the impossible burger. But I think part of your position is predicated on the idea that real meat (specifically ground beef in this case) is healthier. I don't think it's clear yet whether or not that's the case. Would you be willing to elaborate on the culture change point? Do you think that too fe…

I don't eat meat (for ethical reasons) but I personally don't think meat as such is unhealthy. I know plenty of meat eaters who are very healthy. I think most people just eat way, way, way too much meat. Same for sugar. Some is fine but if everything you eat and drink is sugared up like crazy it starts to become a problem.

So far the Impossible Burger is very expensive and even if it were cheaper it's still not good enough make most people move over from beef. It's a cute novelty item and should be treated as such. On the other hand if lab grown meat ever becomes viable that would be a real game changer in my view.

I am starting to sound like a zealot which I really am not usually...

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#43

Post by jameslk »

Meat substitutes seem symptomatic of overpopulation (i.e. animal agriculture wasn't much of a problem in the past millennia). With potential food and water shortages or regulatory pressures in the future, perhaps the outcome will be meat substitutes feeding the masses while only the wealthy will be able to afford real meat.

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#44

Post by maxxxxx »

derekp7 wrote: post #41
maxxxxx wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think for that purpose it's better to work on lab-grown meat. Making veggies taste like meat seems misguided to me. Either eat real veggies or eat real meat.

One thing I've noticed about the cuisine from cultures that have a high number of vegetarians in them, is how they don't try to imitate meat, but they don't taste/feel like a plate of vegetables either. They manage to achieve tasty meals that are in a category of their own.

I don't eat meat myself and I tell people who try to become vegetarian to not go the imitation meat route but instead learn to appreciate vegetables for themselves. Indian cooking is excellent for that.

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#45

Post by smnrchrds »

melq wrote: post #38

I know this is a stupid thing to get upset about, but it annoys me SO MUCH that they refer to it as something that 'bleeds'. Real burgers don't bleed! Nor do steaks, or any other cut of beef you might purchase at the grocery. The red, translucent juices that come out of a burger or steak are red for the same reason the meat itself is red: myoglobin. Not blood.

English is not my first language, so I always assumed blood and bleeding refer to any red liquid. I mean, we talk about blood oranges [0] and bleeding trees [1] and no one assumes there is any real blood involved.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_orange

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corymbia_opaca

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#46

Post by spuz »

smnrchrds wrote: post #45
melq wrote: post #38

I know this is a stupid thing to get upset about, but it annoys me SO MUCH that they refer to it as something that 'bleeds'. Real burgers don't bleed! Nor do steaks, or any other cut of beef you might purchase at the grocery. The red, translucent juices that come out of a burger or steak are red for the same reason the meat itself is red: myoglobin. Not blood.

English is not my first language, so I always assumed blood and bleeding refer to any red liquid. I mean, we talk about blood oranges [0] and bleeding trees [1] and no one assumes there is any real blood involved. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_orange [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corymbia_opaca

That's true, but when you are talking about meat, it's usually safe to assume 'bleed' means to 'bleed blood'.

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#47

Post by [deleted] »

spuz wrote: post #46
smnrchrds wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

English is not my first language, so I always assumed blood and bleeding refer to any red liquid. I mean, we talk about blood oranges [0] and bleeding trees [1] and no one assumes there is any real blood involved. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_orange [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corymbia_opaca

That's true, but when you are talking about meat, it's usually safe to assume 'bleed' means to 'bleed blood'.

[deleted]

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#48

Post by craftyguy »

acheron wrote: post #39
melq wrote: post #38

I know this is a stupid thing to get upset about, but it annoys me SO MUCH that they refer to it as something that 'bleeds'. Real burgers don't bleed! Nor do steaks, or any other cut of beef you might purchase at the grocery. The red, translucent juices that come out of a burger or steak are red for the same reason the meat itself is red: myoglobin. Not blood.

Thank you, I thought the same thing. If your meat has blood coming out of it, you need a new butcher.

For folks who don't know, actual blood in meat is a quick way to spoil the meat. No one wants that.

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#49

Post by toomuchtodo »

glass_of_water wrote: post #25
clankfan wrote: post #15

I've had several impossible burgers and they completely live up to the hype. They taste very good indeed. But I have noticed a slight uptick in anxiety after eating them, maybe 30 mins after or so. This anxiety comes out of the blue, the first few burgers I had, I had zero health or safety thoughts in my mind that might have precipitated the anxiety. Interested if anyone else has had a similar experience.

I always get this wheezy feeling like a little bit of fluid is building up in my lungs after I eat the impossible burger. I don't know what causes it; the only thing I can think of is maybe the unusually high iron content (at least compared to anything else in a plant-based diet).

Could you be having an allergic reaction to an ingredient?

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#50

Post by sampo »

rcdmd wrote: post #8

They're baking up soy hemoglobin in yeast and purifying it to add to non-meat burgers. This is particularly neat considering how complex the human heme synthetic pathway is. I suspect even in soy, it's more than just producing a "pre-(a-)"protein-- you'd have to make a few other enzymes along the heme synthetic pathway and provide an environment conducive to them working. It does make me wonder, why soy? Corn and ric…

This paper (Figure 2) lists the protein sequences of 14 different plant hemoglobins. I am no expert, but they don't seem too different to me, any of them.

http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/plantphysiol/115/3/1259....

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