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

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

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 663 posts

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

#131

Post by seppel »

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."

$38 billion sounds like a big number, but there are a couple of sources online that claim that Americans eat about 50 billion burgers per year:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/the-hidden-costs-of-ham...

So even if all of the $38 billion went into burgers, it would not be much per burger.

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

#132

Post by rflrob »

yumraj wrote: post #90

I'm curious as to how Impossible burger compares on the health impact. I understand that it's plant based, but it seems to be highly processed and perhaps (not sure) loaded with bunch of chemicals and potentially unhealthy ingredients that make it taste like meat. Hopefully that is not the case and it's not just a meat substitute but is also healthy. Can anyone with more details please opine?

So the major thing that Impossible Foods puts in that "makes it taste like meat" is leghemoglobin, which is an ortholog of regular hemoglobin from cows blood, though in this case it was isolated from a legume. The argument, as I've heard it, is that since it's an oxygen binding molecule, it catalyzes all kinds of tasty reactions when you brown it.

They do list all their ingredients [0], and you can take a look and see whether there's anything objectionable to you. If you're going by the "5 ingredients or fewer" heuristic, then it doesn't qualify. Avoiding "chemicals" is impossible, since everything is made out of chemicals, and just limiting to naturally occurring chemicals is no better of a guideline because cyanide, asbestos, and arsenic are all "natural".

As a sibling comment notes, it's likely not significantly better or worse for you than a standard beef whopper

[0] https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/3600189374...

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

#133

Post by ma2rten »

ebg13 wrote: post #97

People should be aware that Burger King has had (MorningStar) veggie burgers for a very long time that they just don't broadcast. This announcement is not about introducing a vegetarian patty but rather about introducing a _specific_ vegetarian patty.

Note that the morning star patty is vegetarian, but not vegan. Also it is microwaved and not prepared on the grill.

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

#134

Post by djakjxnanjak »

josefresco wrote: post #118
ebg13 wrote: post #97

People should be aware that Burger King has had (MorningStar) veggie burgers for a very long time that they just don't broadcast. This announcement is not about introducing a vegetarian patty but rather about introducing a _specific_ vegetarian patty.

FYI there looks to be less saturated fat, and sodium in a MorningStar burger compared with the Impossible. * http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00028989100689

My first complaint about the nutrition of the Morningstar burger is the ratio of carbs to protien. Restaurants are already throwing tons of carbs at me. I really want protein in my burger patty.

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

#135

Post by udkl »

djakjxnanjak wrote: post #134
josefresco wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI there looks to be less saturated fat, and sodium in a MorningStar burger compared with the Impossible. * http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00028989100689

My first complaint about the nutrition of the Morningstar burger is the ratio of carbs to protien. Restaurants are already throwing tons of carbs at me. I really want protein in my burger patty.

Wait, are you really complaining about nutrition at a fast food restaurant ?

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

#136

Post by darkpuma »

ma2rten wrote: post #133
ebg13 wrote: post #97

People should be aware that Burger King has had (MorningStar) veggie burgers for a very long time that they just don't broadcast. This announcement is not about introducing a vegetarian patty but rather about introducing a _specific_ vegetarian patty.

Note that the morning star patty is vegetarian, but not vegan. Also it is microwaved and not prepared on the grill.

No way they could prepare it on the grill, unless they had a dedicated grill for it. Sharing the grill with real burgers would mean tons of meat grease contaminating the veggie burgers.

They're probably unwilling to dedicate the kitchen space for a vegetarian grill, so the microwave is the obvious choice. Microwaves won't cross-contaminate like a greasy grill will, and are already in the kitchen so the financial risk is minimized.

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

#137

Post by jvagner »

Frankly, I'm a little tired of the meat-substitute products, as they don't taste as good nor are they likely to be as healthy as a proper, whole-food plant veggie burger.

Impossible Burger 1.0 was vital wheat gluten based, and Impossible Burger 2.0 will be soy based. I'd probably rather have the 2nd over the first, but a lot of these announcements aren't specific about which formulation is being sold.

I have tried the Impossible Burger in a number of places, and to my taste, it's inedible. My girlfriend likes to try them, and the best we've had so far is at a fish & steak place in Phoenix (Dillon's, out on the west side, near Sun City).

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

#138

Post by rflrob »

tyfon wrote: post #129
yumraj wrote: post #90

I'm curious as to how Impossible burger compares on the health impact. I understand that it's plant based, but it seems to be highly processed and perhaps (not sure) loaded with bunch of chemicals and potentially unhealthy ingredients that make it taste like meat. Hopefully that is not the case and it's not just a meat substitute but is also healthy. Can anyone with more details please opine?

> loaded with bunch of chemicals and potentially unhealthy ingredients that make it taste like meat I never understood why one would want to make a veggie burger taste like meat. Properly made veggie burgers taste delicious by them selves. Much more flavour than the meat versions. But those are probably already on the menu and this is an addition to regular vegetarian burgers? Here in Norway we've had vegan burgers f…

> I never understood why one would want to make a veggie burger taste like meat.

Because most people find meat delicious and it fills a particular cultural niche in the United States in particular. Veggie burgers are tasty too, but if you are craving a beef burger, it's not the same thing, much like tofu is not a satisfying substitute for chicken, even if it's delicious when prepared as tofu.

You can try to change the tastes of millions or you can just make a less environmentally damaging substitute.

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

#140

Post by XaoDaoCaoCao »

udkl wrote: post #135
djakjxnanjak wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first complaint about the nutrition of the Morningstar burger is the ratio of carbs to protien. Restaurants are already throwing tons of carbs at me. I really want protein in my burger patty.

Wait, are you really complaining about nutrition at a fast food restaurant ?

Fast food doesn't necessarily have to be bad nutrition. I can cook a couple of eggs in a couple of minutes.

:^)

Post reply on HN