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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

#171

Post by 54mf »

tecleandor wrote: post #124
inciampati wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cravings are probably a sign that you are missing something essential that is in the burger. It tastes good because it is nutritious. I would eat a burger occasionally to stay healthy.

No, it doesn't taste (or smell) good because it's nutritious. The cravings are a psychological reflex of remembering something you liked the taste, nutritious or not. There's people who doesn't consider charring meat having a good odour, and that doesn't make it less nutritious. There's super tasty things which are horribly un-nutritional, or even poisonous. That goes both for smell and taste.

"The cravings are a psychological reflex of remembering something you liked the taste, nutritious or not."

Nailed it. We used to have summer dinners at my grandparents when I was a kid, complete with grilled burgers. It is, in large part, emotional.

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

#172

Post by stevekemp »

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…

> Much more flavour than the meat versions.

No. A different flavour, perhaps.

A decent burger tastes good, be it meat or non-meat. Burger-King appeals to the majority and is not going to be making the best burger of any kind, just a "standard" one.

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

#173

Post by gnicholas »

belltaco wrote: post #74
notwhereyouare wrote: post #11

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.

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 would have believed it. I wonder if some restaurants are still working through their stock of the first generation patties?

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

#174

Post by scott_s »

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 proper cheeseburger.

I have some experience in this area, is what I'm trying to say. The flavor and texture is the closest to actual meat I've ever had. And that, then, is the key for a lot of people: they don't want a veggie burger that simulates meat. Which is fine! I do, and I imagine the market for close-to-meat veggie burgers is bigger than obviously-not-meat veggie burgers.

Others in the thread have mentioned the Beyond Burger, which is also good. But the Impossible Burger, for me, is way better. I have had my Impossible Burgers at Bareburger. At home, I went with Morningstar Farm's Grillers Prime for a long time, but about a year ago they changed the recipe, and I did their black bean for a while. I have since discovered if I season the Griller's Prime while I'm frying it, it comes out much better.

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

#175

Post by 13rac1 »

belltaco wrote: post #76
crazygringo wrote: post #59

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…

Maybe try version 2.0, if that wasn't version 2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18855695

There is a significant difference between the v1 and v2. v1 is a reasonable copy of a meat burger. v2 is nearly indistinguishable. Many restaurants are just now finishing up their v1 stock, so you may still see it around.

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

#177

Post by jonfw »

scott_s wrote: post #152
iheartpotatoes wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. But there's a difference between drinking a glass of water and glass of bleach. You are claiming they are equivalent. There's something called "context" in reading comprehension, it is when words take on the meaning relevant to the discussion. In this case, "chemicals" is shorthand for "bad chemicals." I don't understand why so many people fail to understand this and have to make this inane, childish observati…

Because when people talk about "chemicals", they are often flirting with the appeal-to-nature fallacy ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_nature ).

Given the nature of evolution, I think that the appeal to nature in nutrition is a much more substantive argument than can be immediately dismissed. Grossly speaking, natural foods have also existed for longer and been better studied, meaning we are more likely to know about the impact of natural foods than newer foods that aren't yet common to our diet.

While "better because natural" isn't some infallible nutritional law, it serves as a very solid rule of thumb for those of us who don't have the time or motivation to more thoroughly study the science behind it.

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

#178

Post by jrochkind1 »

XaspR8d wrote: post #69

White Castle has had Impossible Burgers available for about a year now. Just interesting to see the trend emerging from what I would consider the "bottom-most" market segment. I suppose they had the most to gain from drawing in a meat-averse audience. Whatever your feelings on this particular product, it seems that the perhaps-inevitable decline of the traditional meat industry is going to take place on many fronts (…

You also can't really taste the beef in a white castle anyway!

(And don't get me wrong, I'm a white castle fan. I also would not be shocked if I can't tell the difference between beyond and beef in a white castle. I definitely can in a full size burger).

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

#179

Post by scott_s »

iheartpotatoes wrote: post #170
scott_s wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because when people talk about "chemicals", they are often flirting with the appeal-to-nature fallacy ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_nature ).

Right. It's a synonymous fallacy. We get it. Apparently we cannot move on until everyone is elevated to the same level of reading comprehension. Stop trying to score petty points, and discuss the issue that yes, there is some pretty nasty shit that is manufactured by chemical companies and put into our food, and stop trying to derail the argument to "own the libs." In other words: grow up.

I can assure you that I am never trying to "own the libs"; I am often the kind of person such people would want to own. But I do care about unstated assumptions about what is "good," when I fear those unstated assumptions are rooted in some form of magical thinking.
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