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Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

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Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#161

Do vegan/vegetarians really want something that reminds them of meat products? Why not just make a good meat-free sandwich that doesn't imitate another product?

I'm not personally a vegetarian but my partner is.

I like the meat substitutes because it gives me that nice umami and chewiness I do not get out of a lot of vegetarian dishes.

Meat sets off pleasant, primal signals in the brain. Having a vegan dish that can replace that is good in my opinion.

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#162
post #3

Congrats to that team for building a great product. I hope they see a lot of success. Long term, I hope plant based meat alternatives become commoditized. If there are a bunch of alternatives that taste just as good and importantly are cheaper than meat , most people will switch. That's a huge win for the environment (and also animal rights), and I can't wait to see it happen.

I am not getting this. Highly processed foods are the source of all problems and people cheer up for synthetic food!

Are you really not getting this, or just making straw men? "That's a huge win for the environment (and also animal rights)". The comment seems pretty clear to me.

If it's just straw men... nothing is black and white - the same people who say boo to "synthetic foods" (which is obviously a massive scale too) are not the same people who say "meat production is bad for long-term human survival". The issues are complex and overlap in weird ways.

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is about the only kind of vegan proselytizing that I can stomach. If you can make food that tastes as good as meat, with nutrition similar to meat, and sell it at a lower price than meat, I will switch overnight, and never look back. And it would be nice if it came in bulk forms, rather than just as pre-formed patties. I eat ground beef a lot more often than I eat burgers. Until then, good luck with the test kit…

This. I want my tacos and burgers to taste like tacos and burgers. I don't care whether it's "real" beef or not. If someone's selling 80/20 that's blended with some plant product (or even just 100% plant product) and it's substantially cheaper than 80/20 and tastes about the same then that's what I'm gonna buy. So far no option like that exists on the shelf. All the fake meat options cater to the people who shop at w…

Most of the meat you get from the ‘easy’ places like supermarkets tastes terrible anyway, compared to quality meat from a specialist store. I’ve long ago stopped eating chicken almost completely because of this, in the end you just taste whatever you serve with the chicken, and you get a certain bite from it that is easily imitated using ‘fake meat’.

I’m pretty sure I will never be a strict vegetarian, but I honestly don’t see the point of eating cheap mass-produced meat over some more environmental- and/or animal-friendly produced alternative anymore. Quality over quantity please. I cannot understand how so many people disagree, especially those who claim to love meat.

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I do not consider animal lives worth valuing For the sake of discussion, do you have a pet? Or have loved ones that have a pet? If you were to torture that pet would you feel anything? Would your loved ones object for any reason?

Well-being of animals is distinct from slaughtering them for food. The beef I buy comes from cows that roam in fields, usually in Ireland. They're not unhappy then, as I can attest having grown up in the countryside. And the fact there are so many of them means the total lifetime happiness (of the cows at least) probably outweighs their death, if it's done humanely.

My reply was to a very specific (and obviously troubling to me) statement: "I do not consider animal lives worth valuing".

I totally get that there's a difference between the scenario you're describing and factory farms. In fact, I've posited before that those animals would never have any life if there wasn't a demand to eat them at some point.

But the statement in question reads as "I don't give a fuck what happens to any animal". My question about pets wasn't meant to be tricky, it was trying to ascertain if the statement was an absolute or a general lack of care of where his food comes from.

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well-being of animals is distinct from slaughtering them for food. The beef I buy comes from cows that roam in fields, usually in Ireland. They're not unhappy then, as I can attest having grown up in the countryside. And the fact there are so many of them means the total lifetime happiness (of the cows at least) probably outweighs their death, if it's done humanely.

Please, describe to me this 'humane killing' process, what does it look like?

I believe it's the equivalent of being shot in the head. If it's quick and clean, it's probably about as humane as can be, save for sedating first.

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I say whatever sells more non-meat burgers is good. Telling a die-hard meat eater to just eat a mushroom or some eggplant is not going to be effective.

I'm a die-hard meat eater and I'd eat a lot of a tasty veggie sandwich patty. I need more veggies in my diet but it's hard to get enough without cooking. It doesn't have to be a fake burger. Just something tasty for a healthy daily dose of vegetables. For me, soy doesn't qualify. It's one of the most common crops in the world and there's already enough of it in other things I eat.

> I need more veggies in my diet but it's hard to get enough without cooking

How so? On face value this feels like an excuse for simply making poor diet choices. If I'm mistaken, then... cook?

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#167

I've had the Impossible Burger at a restaurant as well as the Beyond Burger at Epic Burger. I'm not sure which tastes more like meat, but the Beyond Burger is far tastier. I sometimes daydream about that sandwich.

I agree. I'd heard the hype about Impossible so I was excited to try it when I finally saw it available at a restaurant near me, but found that it tasted pretty similar to a Morningstar Farms Griller's Prime patty. Since it cost me as much to sub an Impossible patty as to buy a whole bag of Griller's Prime, I wasn't impressed.

The Beyond Burger though, man that's good. I haven't had real beef in years, but people tell me it looks and smells pretty similar when cooking and I think the taste and texture are really close too. I love 'em.

I really wish the Beyond Sausage shortage would end.

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suggest other plant protein sources, like soy or pea. Wheat, in particular, has a terrible amino acid profile for humans [0]. Aside from making it so that anyone with coeliac can't consume their burgers, it's just not as effective for humans as animal protein. Pea and soy, however, are nearly as effective and much better for the earth/environment. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3887888

The incomplete protein thing is a myth [1]. The amino acid profile of single ingredients is almost never a concern in practice, because meals nearly always contain complimentary proteins. It's actually really difficult to avoid complimentary proteins if you have anything like normal dietary habits. Furthermore, it's not even necessary for every meal to provide all essential amino acids, as long as your diet isn't chr…

Even with all that being said, it would still make sense to make sure a burger is a source of complete protein - you know, just like the original article. Closer to optimal food, fewer worries, greater value, etc. etc.

So, is the IB 2.0 a source of complete protein or not? I'm asking this from a pure "what's the spec sheet here" point of view.

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#169
post #11

I'm really curious about the "fake meat" products that exist in other countries. In the Netherlands, there's been enormous growth both in the number of vegetarians and in the number of "fake meat" products that have become widely available, and the quality of the latter has improved dramatically. Before, these products were mostly useful for the non-vegetarians wanting to prepare a meal for vegetarians without having…

There's been kind of a boom in vegetarian ready-made foods in Finland. I think it started with Pulled Oats (https://goldandgreenfoods.com ), but soon after that appeared in stores, several of the major food producers came out with their own vegetarian meat-substitutes, with varying degrees of emphasis on replacing meat and veganness etc. There's even a "healthier" ground pork that has carrots mixed in.

I'm not a huge fan of the new batch of products personally, although I see people buy them quite a lot. The products are usually roughly comparable to organic ground beef in price. Personally, I find cooking vegan from scratch is cheaper and tastier, but I guess it's not really a fair comparison - I also think homecooked meat is better than storebought patties.

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#170
post #67
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to feel this way until I tried an impossible burger (1.0, I presume). I thought the only way to allow the more carnivorous of us to have a satisfying meal while eliminating animal suffering was to grow petri dish meat. Impossible burgers seriously nail the taste and texture and nutritional proportions. It also seems like it will be much more cost effective to create them than the aforementioned petri dish burg…

I find this interesting. I tried an Impossible Burger a while ago and I didn't find it to taste like meat at all.

Ditto. But the restaurant wasn't exactly 5-star either. It seems they're not completely fool-proof for inexperienced cooks.
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