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Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

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Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Environmental, ethical, or dollar cost?

Dollar cost. I'd love to switch away from beef burgers for a health and ethical reason, but can't justify a $15 burger when most burgers at a nice restaurant are $10 where I live.

At Whole Foods you can get two beyond burger patties for about $8

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#112

Going to stay away from this, myself. For the same reason I eat oranges instead of drinking Sunny Delight and eat sausage rather than eat sausage-flavored potato chips. Flavor is our evolved way of our bodies telling us what our body wants to eat. "Impossible burgers" are just a simulation of food.

Sausage isn't really very natural.

There is a fun analogy with Sunny Delight, with the use of cheap inputs and lots of flavoring.

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#113
post #97

I'm happy to see that fat and protein are the main ingredients. http://impossiblefoods.com/images/faq/nutrition-facts.png A lot of veggie imitation meats are low on fat and protein and extremely high on processed carbs.

I wish they would list the phosphorus contents. I'm on dialysis and require high protein requirements every day but must restrict phosphorus. If I knew this number I could better account for it in my diet. Unfortunately phosphorus is not required in current labeling requirements.

That's a shame.

Curious, how do you normally figure out the phosphorus content ? Is there a guideline somewhere that gives you an adequate estimate ?

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#114
post #9

I remember reading the original impressions of the Impossible Foods ground meat and thinking it was just media buzz. I promise you it is not. At Momofuku's Ssam Bar in the East Village of NYC, you can order an off menu item called Spicy Pork Sausage and Rice Cakes. It's not really off the menu - the item has simply been around so long and is so well known to regulars that they left it off to make room for new dishes.…

This is a neat comment, but as someone who's been to a couple different Momofuku places (incl. Ssam Bar) but never had that dish: how heavily spiced is it? The dish is inspired (simultaneously) by Mapo Tofu and Bolognese --- it's supposed to literally be Ssam Bar's take on Mapo Tofu --- which suggests to me that the quality of the pork is probably not all that important to the overall dish. A good hamburger, on the o…

That really depends on the type of burger. Occasionally, I enjoy a good In n Out Burger. I don't expect their meat quality is particularly good.

"Patty melt" style burgers are generally less reliant on meat quality as long as you can get a good, crunchy, umami seat on the thin mean patty or patties.

I suspect the thicker higher end style burgers would be more reliant on the quality of the beef.

However, for economic reasons, they are probably the necessary target of impossible meat until they reach a scale large enough to compete with cheap beef.

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#115

I'm happy to see that fat and protein are the main ingredients. http://impossiblefoods.com/images/faq/nutrition-facts.png A lot of veggie imitation meats are low on fat and protein and extremely high on processed carbs.

> A lot of veggie imitation meats are low on fat and protein and extremely high on processed carbs.

Which makes them pretty bad, even worst for dieting.

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#117
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried the Impossible Meats burger - it was nowhere near as tasty as a beef burger. I think it could be improved drastically by just adding a little MSG tho.

A friend in LA got my brother and I to try impossible burgers (he's pescatarian, I'm vegawarian): we agreed it was not that great.

What does vegawarian mean?

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#118

Going to stay away from this, myself. For the same reason I eat oranges instead of drinking Sunny Delight and eat sausage rather than eat sausage-flavored potato chips. Flavor is our evolved way of our bodies telling us what our body wants to eat. "Impossible burgers" are just a simulation of food.

> Flavor is our evolved way of our bodies telling us what our body wants to eat.

We don't really live the way we evolved to live, though. I can get the high calorie foods hunter gatherers sought out to see them through lean times delivered to me at my house while I sit around in my underwear.

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most burgers are improved with MSG, it is a miracle salt.

And msg is generally considered safe these days?

I think of it like gluten, or lactose, for most people its fine, but some people definately don't tolerate it and only they need to avoid it. If you have the enzymes required to process it then you're fine, if your genetics are missing something required for processing it then you'll have problems.

Re: Impossible Foods has raised $75M for its plant-based burgers

#120
Tried an Impossible Burger for the first time the other day. In a burger with lots of condiments and toppings, it was OK, but not something I'd order again. When I took a bite of it by itself, it tasted like cat food.

Since there are so many positive reviews, I wonder if it just wasn't prepared correctly? The restaurant had only started serving it a few days earlier.

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