Live data from Hacker News

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

nytimes.com

331–340 of 663 posts

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

#331
post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, even with the lengths this comment went to present a working framing I still don't accept it. Either cannibalism is so objectionable that I'd refuse to patronize a restaurant that served human flesh, or I'd probably not mind them being cooked side-by-side. That might be a bigger things for vegans, by buying even vegetarian stuff from burger king you're supporting a company that financially motivates a lot of acti…

I'm struggling to think of suitable analogue that would work for someone who eats meat. If you have a better suggestion ill go with that. You're trying to bring logic into a moral decision. While I agree that that's the way I would approach it, it isn't the only way to approach it. As I said I'm a meat eater so I don't follow all the logical steps to being vegan, but that logical step I do understand.

I think the closest analogue you can find is peanut allergies, but (as far as I've ever seen) no body has that sort of anaphylaxis reaction to meat or the taste of it.

Cooking the burger in beef/pork fat would likely be noticeable, but that is pretty trivial to avoid and _usually_ grills are crudely scraped down between different grillings, that will remove everything but trace amounts.

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

#332
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people seem to go vegan because they're emotionally off-kilter. I'm in a few vegan Facebook groups and I've seen posts where people are way over-reacting to food cooked on the same surface, or talking about their emotional breakdown over the suffering of animals. I'm vegan almost two years and I'm pretty sure I ate mayo on a burger two weeks ago. I ordered it explicitly without, but sending it back would just cr…

> Some people seem to go vegan because they're emotionally off-kilter. And a lot of people have religious reasons for not eating meat.

Well, you're both saying the same thing. Adhering theists are mentally and emotionally stunted.

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

#333

I've had an impossible burger, and cooked very well it almost made me pull my waiter aside and verify I wasn't eating meat. Also ate meat for decades, so I also am very familiar with it.

I'll echo the sentiment. The local Safeway sells Impossible Bratwursts.

They are honestly delicious. We grilled them on a fry-pan. The flavor and texture are almost perfectly there. It's just a bit spongy, and the depth of the umami/savory flavor isn't quite as deep. But if I hadn't known they weren't meat, I'd have been fooled. Throw a few of them on a grill or beer-boil them, put some mustard down over top, little kraut, I'd never know they weren't meat.

If the burger patties are anywhere near as good as the brats, then I think they'll sell a billion of them. For hearth-health and calorie density alone, I'd order them nearly every time.

Living in the future has a few perks!

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

#334
post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of the biggest and best studies on nutrition told us that processed food is not very good for us : Study links heavily processed foods to risk of earlier death https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/11/study-links-...

There is an association between processed foods and poor health outcomes. There are some processes that have a clear causal link with poor health, most obviously the use of nitrates in meat preservation. It is not clear that all (or even most) processing is harmful.

Another aspect of this is that processed foods require less calories for your body to metabolize, since they are already partly broken down. While that doesn't specifically increase the rate of exposure to pathogens/toxicity, it does increase the net calories consumed in an already high-calorie category, and contributes to obesity.

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

#335

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…

Interesting. I really like the Beyond Burger (and their sausage) but the one time I had the Impossible Burger, it tasted like a pretty generic veggie burger. Maybe the restaurant ran out and substituted.

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

#336
post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm struggling to think of suitable analogue that would work for someone who eats meat. If you have a better suggestion ill go with that. You're trying to bring logic into a moral decision. While I agree that that's the way I would approach it, it isn't the only way to approach it. As I said I'm a meat eater so I don't follow all the logical steps to being vegan, but that logical step I do understand.

I think the closest analogue you can find is peanut allergies, but (as far as I've ever seen) no body has that sort of anaphylaxis reaction to meat or the taste of it. Cooking the burger in beef/pork fat would likely be noticeable, but that is pretty trivial to avoid and _usually_ grills are crudely scraped down between different grillings, that will remove everything but trace amounts.

An allergy isn't a moral choice. Not eating meat is, for many people at least.

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

#337
post #187

The most interesting thing about this particular announcement is that it may normalize plant-derived meat-substitutes among the typical fast-food-burger eating population, and not just the mostly-vegetarian folks (like myself) who will spend $10 on an Impossible Burger at a fancy sports bar. Within a decade this might just be normalized, and nobody will make much of it.

Yep. I'm not at all a vegetarian, but I will definitely try it, and if it's as good as they say, I see no reason to not prefer it. There's a small subset of the population for whom meat consumption is some kind of cultural statement, but most really only just care about taste, I think. If the same taste can be had in a healthier package and without killing anything, it's a win-win.

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

#339
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people seem to go vegan because they're emotionally off-kilter. I'm in a few vegan Facebook groups and I've seen posts where people are way over-reacting to food cooked on the same surface, or talking about their emotional breakdown over the suffering of animals. I'm vegan almost two years and I'm pretty sure I ate mayo on a burger two weeks ago. I ordered it explicitly without, but sending it back would just cr…

Interesting. Speaking as a carnivore, I find eating human flesh morally wrong, and would be quite insulted if someone cooked my burger next to some 'man' burger. So I can understand their point of view.

Yeah, I’m a happy meat eater and will actively defend having meat options at workplace cafeterias for example, but that is exactly the analogy that pops to mind. I would be grossed out eating meat cooked on the same grill as human meat, and expect vegans to be grossed out the same way by food cooked on the same grill as animal meat.

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

#340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Will do! How did you find V2, compared to V1?

My impression of Impossible Burger v1.0 was that the pinkish/uncharred bits had an odd sweetness and moisture/texture that made it most distinguishable from a beef burger. With 2.0, the texture is a bit more firm and beef-like, and it seems they've put less emphasis on the 'bleeding' which I think has reduced the sweetness as well.

I had a notion that I intended to test with v1.0 that it would be more convincing if you charred the hell out of it and made it more like an overcooked burger, however I never did test it, and I also read that it didn't perform well (fell apart, etc) if too overcooked. However, I did really like the flavor and texture of the most charred bits of the burgers I did have.

Post reply on HN