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

nytimes.com

201–210 of 663 posts

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

#201

The real change is going to happen when people can't tell a difference in taste and Walmart starts selling synthetic meat at a substantial discount to meat. At that point the consumer won't care just like the consumer doesn't care if their strawberry flavored cereal has real strawberries in it.

Strawberry flavoured cereal and synthetic meats are miles apart - if we're talking lab grown meat that's amazing - it's tender meat that has no ethical issues. If you're talking the impossible burger, that's a burger that again has no ethical issues and a minor compromise in taste. Nutritionally it's basically equivalent to a normal burger. Strawberry flavoured cereal is nothing like a strawberry, and can't possibly…

There can be ethical issues surrounding lab grown meat, mostly around how much energy it takes to produce lab grown meat, and the nature of that energy production.

My guess is that beyond will soon be cheaper than regular meat, but that the requirements for creating lab grown are simply going to be too great to be able to compete economically or ecologically. I'm going to be very happy to be proven wrong someday, but that's my initial, knee-jerk reaction.

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

#202

Are they cooked separately from the meat burgers? Some people don’t care, but some definitely do. Carl’s Jr. doesn’t keep their Beyond Burgers separate, apparently.

Just out of interest, what's the reasoning behind a strict separation of the two? I understand it in the case of gluten free products because that can really have health implications, but when you are vegan for ethical reasons it shouldn't make a difference, right? But I'd say this is great news either way. I like meat, but when there's a way to get the same taste and texture without the bad consequences for animals…

If it's for religious reasons (kosher, halal, etc) then those rules apply

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

#203
post #3

> Burger King’s chief marketing officer, Fernando Machado, said that in the company’s testing so far, customers and even employees had not been able to tell the difference between the old meaty Whopper and the new one. Ugh. First: The vegetarians that I know don't like meat. So making a veggie burger that tastes like the thing they don't like is just dumb. Second: When I tasted an Impossible Burger, it was awful. It…

Funny I guess as a super meat lover I tried the Impossible burger and like it a lot even though it doesn't quite taste like beef it tastes good on it's own.

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

#204

The Impossible Burger is the best veggie burger I've ever had. I was a vegetarian for 10 years, and have now been a pescatarian for 8 years. It has been 18 years since I have had a proper cheeseburger, and since then I have had many thousands of veggie burgers. Cheeseburgers are probably my favorite food, and I haven't had one in 18 years. If someone told me that the world would end tomorrow, I would go out and eat a…

I've had an impossible burger 1.0 and felt it was basically like a crappy but passable burger.

Waiting for the 2.0 one to hit places near me. Which version are you talking about?

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

#205

I tried the impossible burger and personally didn't notice a difference. The boyfriend tried a bite, and liked it, but could taste something off. I'm kinda excited to see where both the impossible burger goes, and where other restaurants take this. Also for the price to come down, it was like $3 more than the boyfriend's burger

There's a version 2.0 with different ingredients that supposedly tastes even closer to real meat. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18855695 I tried version 1 and it tasted indistinguishable from meat.

For me Impossible Burgers are like watching a movie:

My brain knows it's fake deep down, but it doesn't break my suspension of disbelief enough to keep me from enjoying it.

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

#206
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?

It is basically the vegetarian version of an unhealthy burger. If you wouldn’t normally eat a whopper for health reasons, then you have no reason to start eating this.

Actually a real burger is often healthier then a carb loaded veggi burger. We should finally move beyond the 'red meat' bad analysis that has unfortunately dominated scientific discourse for a long time.

A burger is fat and protein and there is very little reason not to eat if for health reasons for normal people.

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

#207
Every modern society, looking back fifty years, condemns behavior once considered normal (male-only voting, interracial marriage bans, jailing gays, etc).

I'm convinced industrial animal agriculture will be one of the things today's society is condemned for, fifty years from now.

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

#208
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?

Nutrition facts: https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/3600189392... Ingredients: https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/3600189374... Saturated fat numbers don't look great. Also, TONS of salt which isn't great either. sigh oh well, maybe some day.

That saturated fat and salt are bad has been falling out of favor scientifically for a long time. They specifically built the burger to be like a normal burger because many people actually consider it a healthy thing to eat.

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

#209
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.

I'd be surprised if it happened in the states. They don't even have vegetarian french fries.

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

#210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a version 2.0 with different ingredients that supposedly tastes even closer to real meat. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18855695 I tried version 1 and it tasted indistinguishable from meat.

I’m curious about this. I had the first generation many times and found it to be pretty good. After the second generation came out, I went to my favorite place to get the IB (Gotts in Palo Alto) and asked if they had the new recipe. They seemed uncertain at first but then said they did. I ordered it and it was fine, but not as good as I’d seen in online reviews. Honestly, if I was told it was the first generation, I…

I was at The Counter on California Ave. over the weekend, and they confirmed they had the v2 recipe. Maybe give that a try!
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