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Burger King is introducing a vegetarian patty from the start-up Impossible Foods

nytimes.com

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Re: Burger King is introducing a vegetarian patty from the start-up Impossible Foods

#51

Post by Touche »

malvosenior wrote: post #41
54mf wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it is better! Part of the goal is to provide a "gateway patty" to make it easier for meat-eaters to reduce their consumption. Good for their health, good for the environment, good for the animals. (Also, I've been vegan for years and _love_ the Impossible burger.)

> Good for their health It's definitely not clear that eating meat is bad for your health. In fact there's plenty of evidence to suggest it's good for you.

Also the impossible burger has about the same amount of calories as an 80% lean ground beef burger, so it's no better as far as calories are concerned.

Re: Burger King is introducing a vegetarian patty from the start-up Impossible Foods

#52

Post by Scoundreller »

wlesieutre wrote: post #33
Scoundreller wrote: post #29

In terms of resources used in their production, a $6 burger expends more resources than a $3 burger. For those worried about the ethics of eating animals, I can understand the extra $3. For those just worried about other wastes (eg: losing 90% of the food value by feeding it to cattle), this isn’t a magic bullet, for now. Those extra $3 went into something else, whether it was a complicated energy-intense process, or…

> In terms of resources used in their production, a $6 burger expends more resources than a $3 burger. The meat/dairy industry in the US is subsidized to the tune of $38 billion, there's a little more to it than "Costs more at the store so it must cost more resources to make."

Sounds like you’ve identified the real problem.

Though the other plant inputs in this burger are probably subsidized too.

Either we need to subsidize the impossible burger, or properly tax/desubsidize agriculture.

Re: Burger King is introducing a vegetarian patty from the start-up Impossible Foods

#53

Post by Touche »

hugg wrote: post #4

Is it really better to make something "like" a meat product instead of just making a good vegan/vegetarian product? Since going lacto-ovo vegetarian myself, I just want tasty food, doesn't matter if it's "like" a meat product.

Same here, I prefer a black bean burger to one of these. I don't dislike the impossible burger but still have the uncanny valley sensation while eating them.

Re: Burger King is introducing a vegetarian patty from the start-up Impossible Foods

#54

Post by lucideer »

hugg wrote: post #36
lucideer wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This question comes up quite often. I'm with you insofar as I also prefer a good vegetarian* product, but tbh, in my experience, almost every vegetarian burger (for example) one encounters day-to-day is in no way trying to "be" meat. Falafel patties, beetroot patties, sweetcorn patties, whole portobello mushrooms as patties, etc. I'd say the added diversity added by faux-meat products is not harmful. * I'd like to sa…

Yeah I think those kind of alternatives are fine, since they don't really try to push "its just like meat!!" message, they all have distinct flavours.

Well, what I was really trying to say is—I don't really mind the "it's just like meat!!" products. I may personally prefer the "it's just vegetables" products, but having more options is fine.

Re: Burger King is introducing a vegetarian patty from the start-up Impossible Foods

#55

Post by bckygldstn »

Scoundreller wrote: post #29

In terms of resources used in their production, a $6 burger expends more resources than a $3 burger. For those worried about the ethics of eating animals, I can understand the extra $3. For those just worried about other wastes (eg: losing 90% of the food value by feeding it to cattle), this isn’t a magic bullet, for now. Those extra $3 went into something else, whether it was a complicated energy-intense process, or…

That would only be true if meat production costs accounted for externalities. That $3 meat burger might cause $7 of damage to the environment.

Re: Burger King is introducing a vegetarian patty from the start-up Impossible Foods

#56

Post by ForHackernews »

Scoundreller wrote: post #29

In terms of resources used in their production, a $6 burger expends more resources than a $3 burger. For those worried about the ethics of eating animals, I can understand the extra $3. For those just worried about other wastes (eg: losing 90% of the food value by feeding it to cattle), this isn’t a magic bullet, for now. Those extra $3 went into something else, whether it was a complicated energy-intense process, or…

You really cannot strictly equate price with "resources" like this. Does a $10,000 designer shirt require 1,000 times the resources of a $10 t-shirt to produce?

I imagine they are charging a premium for the impossible burger because it's a novelty and they think they can get it. Time will tell if that pricing model is sustainable in the long run.

Re: Burger King is introducing a vegetarian patty from the start-up Impossible Foods

#57

Post by lm28469 »

robin_reala wrote: post #43
istjohn wrote: post #28

I really hope McDonalds adds a veggie burger to their menu soon, too. I try to avoid meat, but often end up eating it in fast food for the convenience and due to a lack of alternatives.

Where are you? There’s a full vegetarian menu in Sweden: https://www.mcdonalds.com/se/sv-se/hela-menyn/vegetariskt.ht...

I saw these menus in France, Germany and UK too.

Looks like it isn't available in the US though, https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/about-our-food/our-food-y...

Re: Burger King is introducing a vegetarian patty from the start-up Impossible Foods

#58

Post by bitesociety »

I'm an angel investor in both plant based meat and clean meat and I'm actually more optimistic for plant based meat becoming better than animal meat in the short term. The rate of innovation has been really impressive and momentum is picking up steam.. once prices get under animal meat huge amounts of people will switch

Re: Burger King is introducing a vegetarian patty from the start-up Impossible Foods

#59

Post by crazygringo »

I had the impossible burger at Momofuku and... it's just nothing like a burger, the two big differences being in flavor and in texture. (It looks the same as a regular burger.)

In flavor, it just doesn't have it. It has the same char flavor that a burger has... but without any meat flavor behind it, which is of course most of the flavor of a hamburger. Which makes sense, of course, because there's no meat. It's like picking up what you think is a Coke only when you taste it it's just sparkling water.

And then in texture it's quite different too. As if meat, instead of being ground (with all the satisfying texture that still has), were somehow blended into something more like a smooth paste before cooking. It isn't physically substantial or satisfying to chew, just mushy.

Since I'm not vegetarian, it's definitely not something I would ever order again because it doesn't have flavor and doesn't have texture. I'm not even talking about as a substitute, I'm just talking about as food period. Just give me some roasted veggies instead which have both flavor and texture. I mean, I love vegetables.

Or if you want a vegetarian "burger", a meaty Portobello mushroom is waaaay tastier.

But the Impossible Burger just feels like the worst of all worlds -- not satisfying like meat (just nowhere close), but also not satisfying as vegetables or any kind of "real food" at all.

Re: Burger King is introducing a vegetarian patty from the start-up Impossible Foods

#60

Post by moosey »

astura wrote: post #37

I'll 100% be giving it a try (I'm already a long time vegetarian though). I like that it's BK doing this because BK has served a veggie burger (Morningstar Farms Patty) for around ~14 years, so they should be familiar with the demand for meatless products. I remember when they first introduced a veggie burger, I wasn't sure the demand would be there, but it seems to have worked out. So it remains to be seen if they'l…

Carl's also has the beyond burger, which I personally think is superior. My wife disagrees, and prefers your standard veggie burgers (we are vegans of 15 years).
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