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Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

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Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#201

Post by moate »

DDebbieDDowner wrote: post #152
moate wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Most" doesn't mean "only". Non-heme iron is real, I promise. Hell they could really cheat and just throw ferrous sulfate directly in the mix rather than using naturally occurring iron in the veggies.

"Most" doesn't mean "only". Non-heme iron is real, I promise. No, it means that the Non-heme is less bioavailable i.e less efficiently absorbed from the body.

If I give you 100G of iron at 10% bioavailabilty , and Tom 10G at 100% absorption, who absorbed more iron?

If you insist on reading the statement as "this burger has non-heme iron at quantities comparable to heme iron in meat that will also be just as bio-available" then yes, it's impossible.

However, I was trying to point out that there are several ways of reading that statement without it being marketing doublespeak.

TL;dr- I think we're arguing different points here.

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#202

Post by cr0sh »

screye wrote: post #46
danharaj wrote: post #6

That's really cool. Although I wish there were more vegan food that didn't try to replicate non-vegan textures and flavors. Imitation can only be playing catch-up. The best vegan and vegetarian food does its own thing.

Being born in India, I've had the privilege to eat vegetarian meals that can rival even the best meat based meal. While I welcome 'impossible' meat replacements, it is funny that the meat reduction movement is looking at such impractical and immature products instead of simpler solutions such as bringing veg friendly cuisines to the fore. I am opposed to advocating for cold-turkey veganism though. Milk products and e…

> vegetarian meals that can rival even the best meat based meal

I like a few Indian dishes, so I can appreciate what can be done in the vegetarian space.

Even so, I'd find it difficult to believe that any of them could match a properly cooked smoked BBQ beef brisket in flavor or texture.

Though I'm sure more than a few would make good side dishes, or work well with the brisket as an ingredient.

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#203

Post by belltaco »

barrkel wrote: post #151
pstuart wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I do not consider animal lives worth valuing For the sake of discussion, do you have a pet? Or have loved ones that have a pet? If you were to torture that pet would you feel anything? Would your loved ones object for any reason?

Well-being of animals is distinct from slaughtering them for food. The beef I buy comes from cows that roam in fields, usually in Ireland. They're not unhappy then, as I can attest having grown up in the countryside. And the fact there are so many of them means the total lifetime happiness (of the cows at least) probably outweighs their death, if it's done humanely.

As a thought experiment, would people be okay with humans being grown for meat, given a happy life and then slaughtered humanely?

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#204

Post by hombre_fatal »

gadders wrote: post #190
puranjay wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love meat but I've always struggled to reconcile my love of eating it with my love of animals. I would be happy to pay a premium if it meant I could get meat-like taste without the guilt

I'm not sure if I'd eat this burger, but if lab-grown meat was available and as good as the natural alternative, I think I would definitely switch. Sadly if everyone did this it would probably mean we would only see cows, sheep etc in zoos, rather than grazing in fields.

The industrial meat/ag complex loves that you think of their products as coming from the sort of happy pasture-grazing farms you see on the side of the highway.

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#205

Post by rflrob »

gnicholas wrote: post #192

Does anyone know what the retail pricing is likely to be? A restaurant owner I talked to says he pays $11/lb for the stuff. If they ramp up production then they may be able to lower the price a bit. Or they could just spend VC $ to subsidize the price and gain market share. Either way, I'm excited to try it out when it's available!

I have no particular insight, but I would guess the price will be a dollar or two per pound more than you would pay at Whole Foods for an organic ground beef with roughly comparable fat percentage. Any more than that and I would think they would have trouble moving enough product to make it worth it.

In restaurants, the price of the food is a relatively small proportion of the total cost, so having slightly expensive ingredients doesn't make a proportional difference in price. At the grocery store, however, you see exactly what you're paying for the meat itself, and I would think if it's vastly more than a comparable product, they'd have trouble moving much quantity.

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#206

Post by tptacek »

firethief wrote: post #187
tptacek wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easy to win the argument that plant-based foods are more efficient to mass-produce than CAFO meat, but you might need to be careful generalizing; pigs and chickens fed forage and scrap are supposedly pretty efficient as well. (I have no idea if there's an efficient way to scale beef).

Efficiency and scalability are not the same thing. Does forage not have high land requirement? If there were a massive demand for scrap, would it be met by something other than scrap farming?

No, the point of forage is that it does not spend arable land generating crops for livestock. That's the meaning of the term.

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#207

Post by cr0sh »

syedkarim wrote: post #156

I've had the Impossible Burger at a restaurant as well as the Beyond Burger at Epic Burger. I'm not sure which tastes more like meat, but the Beyond Burger is far tastier. I sometimes daydream about that sandwich.

I recently noticed that the Beyond Burger was being sold at Safeway in my area (Phoenix), the only downside was price:

About $12.00 for two 1/4 lb patties...

...for that amount, there are plenty of other cuts far cheaper and much more tasty.

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#208

Post by dashundchen »

puranjay wrote: post #182
mrspeaker wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more excited about where they go after they get passed the "uncanny valley of meat". If they can nail it, they'll get bored and move on to new and weirder flavors and textures. Hook it up to Watson and you don't just get new recipes, but they're combined with new meat! ( https://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/trends-news/ar... )

I wonder if they can somehow replicate the flavor in bones. I'd love to make stock or a stew, but so much of the "meaty" flavor comes from bones

I eat plant-based and don't know what bone broth tastes like, but I assume very savory from the others descriptions

When I want to cook savory foods, there's certain things you can look to:

1. Miso pastes. There's several kinds but in a regular American grocery with international sections you'll usually find a mild white miso and a slightly more pungent red one. Both are usually savory. I am sure Chinese and Japanese groceries will have more options.

2. Seaweed

3. Certain vegetable broth brands - "Better than Bouillan" vegetable stock, with the green label, is extremely savory

4. Less of an impact, but certain foods, like lentils and tempeh can impart an earthy, savory flavor

You'd be surprised how many flavors you can get mixing these in various quantities, along with other seasonings such as liquid aminos, liquid smoke, nutritional yeast, roasted tomatoes, and soy sauce.

Re: Meat-free 'Impossible Burger 2.0' tastes even closer to the real deal

#209

Post by woodrowbarlow »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #147

The 1.0 version was not very good, at least to this meat-lover. I tried it at White Castle several months ago and I'd never order another one. Here's hoping the 2.0 version is good enough to move me further in the vegetarian direction.

i've had the chance to try it at multiple restaurants, and the experience varied quite wildly. i think that, in the early days, the hype buildup was strong mostly because the limited release allowed the company to provide one-on-one training to chefs. now that they've opened up their availability significantly, i imagine that much of the training has gone out the window.
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