28 ms·

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

390 points by alangpierce 8y ago

malkia 8y ago
And probably still not a great choice for diabetics... Unless it's made only of fat & protein....
- nindalf 8y ago
  Speaking as someone who will likely be diabetic in a decade, that's just too bad. You can't solve every problem with a product like this.
  - jawngee 8y ago
    As a parent of a T1D, statements like these are mildly infuriating. I'm sure you're joking, of course, but being resigned to some idea that you are going to develop type 2 at some point is lazy and lame.
- sithadmin 8y ago
  Per the article: >It has as much bioavailable iron and protein as the same size serving of ground beef, with 14 grams of fat and 240 calories per quarter-pound patty. Also, per Impossible's site, changes to nutrition for the new recipe are: >The new Impossible Burger features 30% less sodium and 40% less saturated fat than the current recipe and just as much protein as 80/20 ground beef from cows The original recipe only has 5g of carbohydrates per serving, so assuming that remains constant, this doesn't seem terribly problematic for those on a low-to-moderate carbohydrate diet.
  - DDebbieDDowner 8y ago
    >It has as much bioavailable iron and protein as the same size serving of ground beef Which ofc it's nothing but marketing nonsense considering that the most bioavailable form of iron Heme-iron is found only in meats.
    - ufo 8y ago
      Impossible burger's recipe features large amounts of soy leghemoglobin, sourced from transgenic yeast.
    - moate 8y ago
      "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.
      - DDebbieDDowner 8y ago
        "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.
        moate 8y ago
        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.
  - jawngee 8y ago
    Protein affects blood sugar too. General rule for type 1's is to bolus insulin 50% of the listed protein as carbs. I don't agree with the parent poster's assertion either though.
- nickik 8y ago
  They designed this to be almost identical to meat. Its primary fat & protein. It was a design goal to match a normal burger specially for low carb people.
nindalf 8y ago
Congrats to that team for building a great product. I hope they see a lot of success. Long term, I hope plant based meat alternatives become commoditized. If there are a bunch of alternatives that taste just as good and importantly are cheaper than meat, most people will switch. That's a huge win for the environment (and also animal rights), and I can't wait to see it happen.
- toyg 8y ago
  Until the people currently destroying forests to grow cattle, start destroying forests to grow ingredients for these burgers. Soil depletion is also a thing. I still remember the argument for biofuel and where it ended up. More options in the mix is always good, but trying to replace everything with vegetable stuff is not going to work in the long run.
  - giarc 8y ago
    "but trying to replace everything with vegetable stuff is not going to work in the long run." But we have to eat... what do you recommend we replace our protein intake with?
    - stochastic_monk 8y ago
      I suggest other plant protein sources, like soy or pea. Wheat, in particular, has a terrible amino acid profile for humans [0]. Aside from making it so that anyone with coeliac can't consume their burgers, it's just not as effective for humans as animal protein. Pea and soy, however, are nearly as effective and much better for the earth/environment. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3887888 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3887888
      - nickik 8y ago
        The Impossible Burger is designed to use environmentally friendly ingredients that can scale. I don't understand what your issue is.
shadyrudy 8y ago
Glad this version is made without gluten, unlike the current Impossible Burger. In the mean time, Beyond Meat has been my goto burger for a few months.
- notacoward 8y ago
  I think Impossible (even v1.0) is more meat-like, but I actually like Beyond better. I like the ever so slightly stiffer chew and legume undertone. When I go to my favorite Seattle burger place (Lunchbox Lab) I go for the Beyond version and it's awesome. It's great that there are meatless options almost indistinguishable from real meat. It's also great that there are tasty options which resemble meat only slightly. And everything in between. The more the merrier.
- Raphmedia 8y ago
  I'm not even vegan and go for the Beyond Meat burger whenever I'm at A&W because it taste better than regular fast food burgers ... and I got to A&W instead of other chains because the burger is there.
- meej 8y ago
  I would love it if someone could figure out how to make meat substitutes that don't contain ingredients from the nightshade family, for those of us with nightshade sensitivity. They all seem to contain potato.
danharaj 8y ago
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.
- giancarlostoro 8y ago
  Well in this case it allows you to eat a burger if you like burgers. Me personally I eat vegan, vegetarian and non-vegan / non-vegetarian foods so it doesn't bother me as much.
- the_gastropod 8y ago
  Hear hear! These kinds of foods I think are handy for people transitioning to a more vegetarian/vegan diet, when they still crave "traditional" foods like hamburgers and hotdogs. But I think they also goof up public perceptions of what good veg* food is.
  - Jenz 8y ago
    As a non vegetarian (yet?), I must a agree.
- picodguyo 8y ago
  I say whatever sells more non-meat burgers is good. Telling a die-hard meat eater to just eat a mushroom or some eggplant is not going to be effective.
  - MarsAscendant 8y ago
    It's generally difficult to dissuade someone of their core beliefs. That's why political discourse often gets dirty and bloody. Language, too, oddly enough.
  - leereeves 8y ago
    I'm a die-hard meat eater and I'd eat a lot of a tasty veggie sandwich patty. I need more veggies in my diet but it's hard to get enough without cooking. It doesn't have to be a fake burger. Just something tasty for a healthy daily dose of vegetables. For me, soy doesn't qualify. It's one of the most common crops in the world and there's already enough of it in other things I eat.
antidaily 8y ago
Had one of these recently. I was shocked. The texture isn't 100% but very, very close and the taste was amazing. It was much flatter than photo; looked and tasted like Shake Shack.
- agitator 8y ago
  IMO the texture of the 2.0 Impossible burger is spot on. And the flavors are improved too. I would say its a huge improvement. Plus this one is grill-able. It honestly hits all of the targets for what I want in a burger. Super impressed.
searine 8y ago
I'd love to use this as a meat-replacement but can ordinary consumers buy it yet? I just want to make chili. Please let me give you money!
- philg_jr 8y ago
  Their website states that they are going to start shipping to grocery store chains in March of this year.
Vinnl 8y ago
I'm really curious about the "fake meat" products that exist in other countries. In the Netherlands, there's been enormous growth both in the number of vegetarians and in the number of "fake meat" products that have become widely available, and the quality of the latter has improved dramatically. Before, these products were mostly useful for the non-vegetarians wanting to prepare a meal for vegetarians without having to relearn how to do it (with actual vegetarians preferably preparing vegetarian-first meals, e.g. with nuts and beans rather than fake meat). However, nowadays these products have become so good that they're actually of added value to a meal in terms of taste. Interestingly, they do not appear to place as much focus on matching actual meat as much as the foreign products that are usually the subject of articles like these. Instead, they merely have to taste good and have good texture - it doesn't matter if it's still somewhat different from actual meat (sometimes they even taste better). At the forefront of this has been the Vegetarian Butcher (that's a brand name). They've recently been acquired by Unilever and will likely expand internationally more aggressively. I have the feeling that the Netherlands is friendlier to vegetarians, on average, than other Western countries, and if that will give them an advantage. Time will tell!
- 52-6F-62 8y ago
  Yves is really popular here in Canada. You can get it in just about every grocery store and some corner stores: http://yvesveggie.com/en/ http://yvesveggie.com/en/ That said, it's more traditional "fake meat", and probably not a close synthesis. I'm actually more curious about the lab grown meat as an alternative. It almost seems like that could catch up by the time anyone gets a veggie burger actually tasting like meat.
  - Vinnl 8y ago
    Judging by just the packaging and product range, that looks to be a year or two behind what's available in the Netherlands - though I guess it's just different as well, since we don't have that many things that resemble the deli slices. Still, I'd love to give them a try. And absolutely, I'm looking forward to see what lab-grown meats will become available, although I guess that taste will not be that surprising. If it's anything like regular chicken, then I'd still prefer the Vegetarian Butcher's chicken - it tastes differently, but better.
SupaFlyak 8y ago
Do vegan/vegetarians really want something that reminds them of meat products? Why not just make a good meat-free sandwich that doesn't imitate another product?
- dnhz 8y ago
  The product isn't for vegetarians.
- giarc 8y ago
  I'm not a vegan/vegetarian but I want this product. I'm concerned about the environmental cost of raising beef cattle and I'd like a better option. My family has already cut down our red meat consumption. We use ground turkey and chicken quite a bit. I still want the ability to grill a good steak once a month, but I'd love to use some of this ground meat in pasta sauces, taco's etc.
  - village-idiot 8y ago
    By the by, most of the original takes on cattle emissions were fatally flawed and retracted by their authors. It appears that US meat consumption represents about 3.9% of US emissions. That number is still falling as we get more efficient with our animal husbandry.
- philg_jr 8y ago
  A product like this is primarily for people who already eat beef, who may be wanting to cut back on their meat consumption. Most vegetarians/vegans I know would never bother trying a product like this.
- Vinnl 8y ago
  That depends on the person, but most of the vegans/vegetarians I know are not vegan/vegetarian because they are disgusted by the product, but because they have ethical concerns about the process that created it. If they can get the same taste experience without the ethical concerns, that's a net win.
- laurenbee 8y ago
propter_hoc 8y ago
Sort of interesting seeing this at the Consumer Electronics Show. Most food startups I've seen would never think of trying to exhibit at that kind of venue, but clearly it's an effective way for them to reach their target demographic with coverage like this. They're probably also exhibiting at food industry conferences, to get the restaurant & supermarket distribution deals, but CES gets them TechCrunch & HN readers.
picodguyo 8y ago
I'm happy to see continued growth in this area, but I'm disappointed to see them shifting more toward soy. I'll be sticking with the Beyond Burger for now.
- leereeves 8y ago
  I'd like to see more non-soy veggie convenience products myself. I'd like to eat a more varied diet full of fruits and vegetables, rather than simply replacing meat+dairy+grains with soy+soymilk+grains, but it's really hard to find non-soy veggie products without cooking everything from scratch.
- deleted 8y ago
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colordrops 8y ago
Does anyone else get indigestion after eating one of these modern meat substitutes?
- nickik 8y ago
  Very unspecific. Things that get tagged 'meat substitutes' are a large amount of different things with totally different stuff in them, there is nothing to generalize here.
  - colordrops 8y ago
    Ok, I just mean beyond beef and impossible burgers.
goda90 8y ago
Whether accurate or not, lots of opinion swirls around the effects that eating soy has on testosterone levels in men. Even if these plant based "meats" are indistinguishable in flavor and texture, they might end up losing to lab grown meat in the long run because of concerns like that.
- firethief 8y ago
  That sounds like concern trolling, but I'll bite: a meta analysis of controlled trials is unequivocal https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19524224 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19524224
  - wavegeek 8y ago
    Having looked at a few of these studies I found the following problems 1. Industry sponsorship. Which has been shown to produce wildly biased results. 2. Small, short term studies which can only find a "significant" (i.e. statistically significant) effect if the effect is large and immediate. In some of the studies an effect showed up close to statistical significance but the headline was "no effect found" 3. I don't know about this one, but some analyses have found that a majority of review papers were ghost written by industry PR hacks who them paid professors to put their names on them. I suggest read the papers closely and looking hard at sponsorship issues before believing them. Also note that these studies were on adult men. There is every reason to suspect that the developing male fetus is orders of magnitude more vulnerable to environmental hormone disruptors of all kinds.
    - village-idiot 8y ago
      Honestly, industry money is so prevalent in nutritional research that we might need to throw away everything after Ancel Keys and try again
ebetica0 8y ago
One of the smaller Asian grocers in New York City has made the best fake meat I've had by far, and I wouldn't be surprised if it sources for many of the vegetarian Asian restaurants in the city. http://www.maywahnyc.com/ http://www.maywahnyc.com/ I wonder how many other places exist in the world like it, and how much a little bit of marketing would do for them.
- jamesjyu 8y ago
  The tradition of "mock meats" in Buddhist culture is one of the oldest. I've found some of their veggie meats to taste really close to real meats, and they tackle things like fish and tuna, which hasn't been addressed much in the west. https://www.tastecooking.com/buddhist-mock-meats-paradox/ https://www.tastecooking.com/buddhist-mock-meats-paradox/
callumprentice 8y ago
In the early 70s, my dad worked at a place that (as a side business I think) made a meat substitute called KESP. He used to bring samples home and mum would make pies from it. Tasted awful if I remember correctly but I'm surprised it's taken this long to get to a viable meat alternative.
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phkahler 8y ago
Why do some vegans and vegetarians want to eat something that looks like meat? This is not to say vegans and vegetarians are the only market for plant-based "meat" or "burgers".
- peterwwillis 8y ago
  That's a great question. I asked this to a vegan some years ago. She explained that there is an entire culture of food surrounding meat. Meat-based foods are described in terms that sound wonderful, and people often describe how much they love those foods. She doesn't get to engage in that part of our culture because she doesn't eat those foods. It disconnects you from the people around you, and you feel left out. In Philadelphia, eating a cheesesteak sandwich is an experience that connects you to the people and history of the city. Besides just being a tasty food, it's an iconic part of the local culture. People like engaging with their culture. And for another reason, as this article[1] explains, one restauranteur wanted to create a casual place where a non-vegan could order a cheesesteak and decide, hey, this is pretty good even without meat. [1] http://www.philly.com/philly/food/20140320_And_the_best_vegan_cheesesteak_in_Philly_is___.html http://www.philly.com/philly/food/20140320_And_the_best_vega...
- PhasmaFelis 8y ago
  > Why do some vegans and vegetarians want to eat something that looks like meat? Why wouldn't they? Most humans are hardwired to enjoy meat, whether or not they choose to indulge. Vegetarianism/veganism as an ethical stance is about humane treatment of animals. Enjoying the taste and texture of meat is completely orthogonal. I've spoken to several people who think that veganism is just about personal taste, including a couple of actual vegans, and I don't understand where this idea comes from.
  - technofiend 8y ago
    >Vegetarianism/veganism as an ethical stance is about humane treatment of animals. No doubt, but there are health-related reasons to do it as well; I'm not as concerned about a plant-based meat substitute triggering my diverticulitis, for instance. I actively avoid eating burgers because too much red meat definitely does.
dreamcompiler 8y ago
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.
- deleted 8y ago
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- imjk 8y ago
  I wonder how much the purveyor makes a difference in the quality of the product (I'm hoping not much). I had the opposite experience as you, but I bought my Impossible from an Umami Burger and it was seriously a surreal experience for me and my gf. I was so pleasantly surprised by how good it was that we went back the next day to get another.
  - anyfoo 8y ago
    Same here, fiancée and I had one at Umami Burger and were very impressed, had several since then (and we do eat meat), and always introduce friends to it when they are in town. Also tried it at some non-chain (I believe) SF restaurant and they nailed it, too, though in both cases I can imagine they know how to prepare it.
  - henvic 8y ago
    Next time you go to Umami, you might consider asking for a portobello mushroom patty (it's not on the menu if I recall correctly). In my experience, it's better than the Impossible Burger at Umami. However, both are great. I don't eat any kind of meat. I've eaten the Impossible on a few places, and while I find it great in most, I went to this vegan restaurant in Florida and asked for it and almost couldn't deal with. It just tasted like real meat I almost threw it away a few times before deciding to give it a chance (and mostly just because it was expensive).
- woodrowbarlow 8y ago
  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.
syedkarim 8y ago
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.
- cr0sh 8y ago
  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.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
  I agree. I'd heard the hype about Impossible so I was excited to try it when I finally saw it available at a restaurant near me, but found that it tasted pretty similar to a Morningstar Farms Griller's Prime patty. Since it cost me as much to sub an Impossible patty as to buy a whole bag of Griller's Prime, I wasn't impressed. The Beyond Burger though, man that's good. I haven't had real beef in years, but people tell me it looks and smells pretty similar when cooking and I think the taste and texture are really close too. I love 'em. I really wish the Beyond Sausage shortage would end.
gnicholas 8y ago
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!
- rflrob 8y ago
  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.
ArthurBrussee 8y ago
I unironically can't wait to read release notes about newer versions of my food
- nwah1 8y ago
  Not only this, but we should have continuous integration testing. Each batch of every product should be run through a litany of health and safety tests, and such a thing could be crowdsourced.
  - groestl 8y ago
    Crowdsourced? Like what we did when we tried to feed cows to cows?
  - cwkoss 8y ago
    Would be cool if first X% of every batch got a discount, provided they submit a simple QA report.
- sf_rob 8y ago
  Soylent has proper release notes: https://soylent.com/pages/release-notes https://soylent.com/pages/release-notes
gnicholas 8y ago
If this does indeed taste like real meat, then they may move in the direction of making healthier products. That is, they've said from the beginning that their goal with the Impossible Burger is to mimic the taste and health profile of ground beef. But there's a lot of fat in there, and many people (like me) don't really ever cook with ground beef for that reason. But if they've nailed the taste, then perhaps they can start making something leaner, akin to ground turkey? For me, that would have a larger impact on my regular diet.
- ensiferum 8y ago
  The only thing worth eating there from keto diet perspective is the fat but it better be good fat! (No cheap vegetable oils or hydrogenated fats)
sremani 8y ago
As a person who was born in a family with tradition of vegetarianism, I find this "veggie meat" obsession fascinating and fear a future where I cannot even eat the one veggie burger on the menu.. because it tastes like a hamburger.
- dfxm12 8y ago
  Why wouldn't you be able to eat the Impossible Burger? Does your family have a tradition of vegetarianism because you don't like the taste of beef?
  - bigato 8y ago
    Some people who are vegetarians have or develop a strong aversion to meat smell, let alone flavor.
- mpg515 8y ago
  Do you honestly think that because a legit fake-beef burger exists that suddenly everyone will stop making black bean burgers or other varieties of patty?
jusonchan 8y ago
I wish they would release this into the supermarkets sooner than the end of the year though. I would love to include this in my weekly dinner options at home. I am not a vegetarian but I do like to mix things up and this will help to make one more dinner at home a veggie version. The price is the key part right now. Hopefully they can scale this fast and reduce the prices. My guess is that they are doing a controlled release to ensure a better chance of success for the product. Early feedbacks should help to correct issues.
- TarpitCarnivore 8y ago
  You can find the Beyond Burger pretty easily now, especially in Whole Foods, but the taste can be off putting to people.
fashionrob 8y ago
The other thing I am not seeing in the comments is that most store bought meat from big chains like Vons, Krogers, Walmart, etc- doesn't really taste that good. When cooked, likely chewy, dry and tasting "off". When we think of the "good burger" bite, we arnet thinking of discount ground meat from the market, we are thinking of a good burger from some restaurant.
- joe_the_user 8y ago
  Well, I like the taste of existing meat substitutes to be honest. The problem I have is that I find meat substitutes hard to digest and meat seems to help my digestion regardless of taste. As far as restaurants go, I'm not if the meat used by restaurants actually is better quality that supermarket ground beef. In my shallow exposure to restaurant food prep, I get the impression that restaurants in, say, the $8-12 burger range use the cheapest acceptable supplies and make it taste good with good equipment, sweat/salty/spicy recipes, and professional preparation. I think you need to go to Chez Panisse type restaurants before you get dishes where "the ingredients stand on their own" and there's a reason for that.
- greedo 8y ago
  Here's one. I buy grocery store ground chuck, and I've never had a restaurant burger that surpasses my own. Now fries are another thing, since I don't have a deep fryer.
dmitrygr 8y ago
They said 1.0 was "indistinguishable from meat" and yet when i was erroneously served it, i distinguished it quite easily. It had the texture of wet bread and the taste of stale wet bread soaked in rotting pig blood. Bring on the blind taste tests before claiming it tastes like meat.
Blinks- 8y ago
I wonder if they balanced the amino acid profile correctly, if this is not a complete protein then it wold detract from the main reason I eat meat, for simple exercise recovery. One of the problems I have with grain protein sources is they are rarely formulated in a way that allows for slow absorption and it forces me to look up what amino acids I need to supplement with.
tmaly 8y ago
I love the idea, but the saturated fat seems a bit high for a plant based food?
- foxyv 8y ago
  Most saturated fat is pretty healthy. It's probably coconut or palm oil. I would worry more if it had hydrogenated oils/trans fats.
- dczot 8y ago
  Yeah, plant-based and healthy are not necessarily the same. This at least free of cholesterol vs meat, but I think the main draw is the plant-based aspect rather than healthy.
foxyv 8y ago
I love a veggie burger but they are always so expensive at the supermarket. Maybe things have changed since I started eating meat again but being a vegetarian was really expensive.
p1necone 8y ago
Is the Impossible Burger much better than Beyond Meat? Because I've had the Beyond Meat patty (from a vegan chain called Lord of the Fries, their standard beef substitute is great) and it was awful - very obvious that it was made from plants (tasted like root vegetables with a weird chemical/metallic tang to me) and the texture was way off. It could have been prepared poorly though.
- zaksoup 8y ago
  I've only had beyond meat sausage but impossible burger at Umami Burger in Oakland is far and away the best meat substitute I've ever had. I'm looking forward to seeing impossible meat in supermarkets because it blows beyond meant out of the water.
- colechristensen 8y ago
  My partner had an Impossible Burger a while back and I found just the smell across the table to be rather off putting. She enjoyed it.
- fossuser 8y ago
  I had it at the counter and was pretty disappointed. I was excited to try it since I saw a lot of people talk about how similar it was to to meat and how you couldn't tell the difference. Maybe if you've been a vegetarian for ten years you can't tell the difference, but I thought it was pretty obvious. The outside was strangely crispy and the texture was off.
- WorldMaker 8y ago
  I do think that the Impossible Burger is much better than Beyond Burger. It's a lot of subtle things that Impossible gets right. (The fact that it "bleeds" is fascinating and interesting part of its appeal to old carnivore instincts.) That said there is room for both at the table and right now they both have different strengths (Impossible handles "medium rare" much better; Beyond hits greasy spoon / fast food "medium" or "medium well" better).
gioele 8y ago
BTW, the vegetarian products manufactured by Rügenwalder Mühle (available in most of EU) taste incredibly like their meat-based counterparts. This vegetarian salami fooled many friends of mine in various double blind experiments: https://www.ruegenwalder.de/en/products/vegetarian-salami-classic https://www.ruegenwalder.de/en/products/vegetarian-salami-cl...
ousta 8y ago
I tried 1.0 it was horrible. even a macdonald hamburger was more edible. I doubt that heavily process soybeans (known for developing breast in men) are the way to go. but who knows im not a marketing manager.
adam 8y ago
I'm curious if anyone else has stomach issues after eating the Impossible Burger, the Beyond Meat burger, etc.? Something about the protein isolate or who knows what else doesn't sit well with me. I've talked to others anecdotally about the same thing, but is this a widespread occurrence? It reminds me a bit of when Frito-Lay tried to introduce Olean into their potato chips and it gave everyone the 3's...
- scrooched_moose 8y ago
  My girlfriend and I tend to get them about once a month at a local restaurant and have no problem with them. Could it be something else in the meal? For instance, our restaurant serves it with vegan Bun, Cheese, and 1000 Island dressing; all sourced from other local businesses. Maybe it's one of those toppings?
- wavegeek 8y ago
  Yes I have the same problem, also the fake meat products are often loaded with ridiculous amounts of salt. The produce spiel claims reduced salt so it looks like this has been an issue with this product in the past.
wavegeek 8y ago
Would it kill them to provide some decent nutritional information? Like how much salt is in the product? I found in the past that all the palatable meat substitutes were loaded with salt.
- ruffrey 8y ago
  From their FAQ: 430 mg sodium in 3 oz https://images.ctfassets.net/hhv516v5f7sj/5p1YQzJxduEoC2gIWaWaEg/a23f00495d6d2e7edabbfd898a96fc6f/Oriole-1_85g_3_oz_Label.png https://images.ctfassets.net/hhv516v5f7sj/5p1YQzJxduEoC2gIWa... https://impossiblefoods.com/faq/ https://impossiblefoods.com/faq/
- charlesju 8y ago
  Isn't it just this? https://impossiblefoods.com/faq/ https://impossiblefoods.com/faq/ 430mg per patty which is about the same sodium as like canned tuna
sizzle 8y ago
Does anyone know the latest findings from studies that linked soy consumption to estrogen increase in men? The impossible burger being non soy based was a huge selling point for me...
- mhh__ 8y ago
  The soy-estrogen link is totally bunk/false IIRC
- cwkoss 8y ago
  Examine has a good writeup, jump to "Men’s health and testosterone" tl;dr: "Reasonable intakes of soy foods and soy isoflavones do not affect men’s testosterone levels, estrogen levels, or fertility, although case reports have documented adverse effects from incredibly high daily intakes of soy for 6–12 months. Men who are at risk of developing prostate cancer might reduce their risk by eating soy foods, but soy foods do not appear to benefit men who already have prostate cancer." The case studies regarding feminization seem to have been cases of people ingesting 300+g of soy protein a day for 6+ months. That amount of protein would require nearly 100% of your calorie RDA if eaten in soybeans, so it seems likely these two people had quite odd diets that could confound drawing conclusions these cases. If they were taking a soy protein extract, I would want to study if questionable supplement purity/contamination issues had any effect - solvents and heat could transform some of the isoflavones or solvents could remain in final product. https://examine.com/nutrition/is-soy-good-or-bad/ https://examine.com/nutrition/is-soy-good-or-bad/
- tropo 8y ago
  Haven't seen the classic video on it yet, so here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTSvLKY7HEk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTSvLKY7HEk
sebringj 8y ago
i tried at rubis diner the 1.0 version and i was surprised how good it was but was way too salty and krispy like some alternative meat but still meat. they are on the right track so am expecting greatness for 2.0.
surfmike 8y ago
The best fake meat patties I've ever had were the veggie patties ("Soul burger") at Hero burger in Canada. My wife (who is vegetarian) thought it was real at first and was upset they had made a mistake and had me try, and I also thought it was real. But it was actually vegetarian!
- l9k 8y ago
  So how did you make sure they weren't meat? That's a problem I would see for vegetarian. That mostly involves trust. A similar scenario already happens with halal and kosher food though.
  - surfmike 8y ago
    Well, I've had them many times since and just as good... So either this burger chain is fraudulently selling meat patties as tofu veggie, or they're legit.
MagicPropmaker 8y ago
I'm disappointed they switched away from seitan / gluten protein to soy protein. I just like wheat protein better, it feels better to me. But there's tremendous--and unfounded--pressure to eliminate gluten. Sad.
- okaram 8y ago
  It's not unfounded ... for whatever reason, it seems very few people are allergic to soy, whereas more than 1% of population (Americans ? not sure) have 'allergies' to gluten. My daughter has diagnosed celiac disease, so I'm glad for any pressure to eliminate gluten :) I'm also amazed at how many things you wouldn't imagine have gluten :(
  - MagicPropmaker 8y ago
    "Celiac disease" is not an allergy. It's an autoimmune response. https://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/celiac-disease https://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/celiac-disease
  - thebeefytaco 8y ago
    Soy is actually one of the the top 8 food allergies, which is why it's required to be listed on labels.
jameslk 8y ago
Nobody ever seems to question what's in these burgers. Just focusing on taste is not good enough. Any independent research/investigation (besides Impossible Food's own marketing materials) on the healthiness of the ingredients? Even if the ingredients aren't inherently unhealthy on their own, if I'm just eating a bunch of filler without much nutrition compared to real meat, that's still a problem.
- tschwimmer 8y ago
  A list of ingredients from the company's website: Water, Textured Wheat Protein, Coconut Oil, Potato Protein, Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Leghemoglobin (Soy), Yeast Extract, Salt, Konjac Gum, Xanthan Gum, Soy Protein Isolate, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Thiamin (Vitamin B1), Zinc, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12. source: https://impossiblefoods.com/faq https://impossiblefoods.com/faq Seems like a regular old veggie burger, with some more slightly exotic additives. I had not heard of Leghemoglobin, which appears to be some sort of hemoglobin-like protein found in legume plant roots.
nonbel 8y ago
These burgers are not a suitable nutritional replacement for beef. Beef contains cholesterol, zero carbs, and has a different vitamin/mineral profile. This stuff has no cholesterol and (a small amount of) carbs while also containing way more salt, thiamine (vitamin B1), and folate (vitamin B9): https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beef-products/6205/2 https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beef-products/6205/2 http://livablefutureblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/impossburger-nutritfacts-copy.jpg http://livablefutureblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/impo... FYI, both folate and thiamine over-consumption may be linked to cancer: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29529163 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29529163 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4178204/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4178204/ So while it is fine for people to eat it for "pleasure", it may be dangerous to trick the mind into thinking it is consuming a real burger.
- robotbikes 8y ago
  That is interesting but I don't think that it would be healthy for people to eat beef burgers as their primary source of nutrition either. What annoys me about the fake meat is that in the dystopian future soymeat was supposed to be everywhere and cheaper where real meat was a sought after expensive delicacy but due to government subsidies and hding the costs of environmental externalities real meat remains much cheaper than the fake meats in general. Just saying.
  - rjplatte 8y ago
    Nobody's saying that beef burgers are a good primary source of nutrition, but this product can't replace beef.
  - nonbel 8y ago
    The economics/politics of it is a different issue. I am concerned about the danger of tricking people's minds into thinking the body has consumed something with nutritional value other than it really has. Humans have been consuming beef for a long time.
    - 8y ago
georgespencer 8y ago
I've tried Impossible burger a couple of times in the last few months. Both were in New York - one in Soho House and one in Lucky's in Chelsea. The former cost about $25, and the latter about $13 (a burger in Lucky's runs about $8 so this is hugely expensive). The Soho House on was just about the most disappointing thing I'v ever eaten. It tasted like a bad veggie burger. The Lucky's one was fantastic, but whilst meatier, again didn't taste like meat. I think if you served me the patty by itself I'd be able to identify it as not being meat. My extremely limited sample has led me to conclude that the cooking skill is critical, and that you can go a long way towards persuading someone of a patty's 'meatiness' by dressing it in burger sauce, cheese, etc. I'm not quite sure that the mission here is something indistinguishable from a real burger, but if it is then it's not there yet. But a great mission and I'll continue to fork out absurd money for them whenever the urge for a beef burger strikes me.
alexc05 8y ago
I really can’t wait for these to show up in Canada
tracker1 8y ago
Is it also legume free? I'm allergic. Also, is the protein/amino profile complete and balanced? Also, I tend to believe (based on dieting research and other experiments) that protein sources should generally be consumed with 1:2 1g fat per 2g protein roughly speaking.
jafingi 8y ago
I tried the Impossible Burger 1.0 at Stanford, and it tasted really good! Not a 100% like meat, but good as an alternative. Looking forward to trying the new one.
dabos999 8y ago
There's no science behind meat affects the environment, fakenews as always, what else can you expect from journalists. Also a meat diet is the healthiest diet know to man. Too bad so many people are uninformed. For example a meat only diet is the natural cure for type 2 diabetes. www.justmeat.co Plants are medicine, not food.
- arijun 8y ago
  What? What about cows releasing methane, 10x more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide? Or the clear cutting of the amazon to make space for pastureland?
  - dabos999 8y ago
    All bs fed to you by journos and corporations, cow produced methane level has been stable for the past 20 years for example.
    - detaro 8y ago
      > cow produced methane level has been stable for the past 20 years for example. "The same amount of bad stuff has been produced for the last 20 years" isn't an argument for why less bad stuff wouldn't be good.
spacemanmatt 8y ago
Ew.
mises 8y ago
The concept of meat alternatives is interesting, but there are of course some possible issues. First, with soy: the jury is still on the effects on men. Maybe it's fine, maybe it's not. Until the full effects are known, I'm not comfortable risking growing breasts. It might not even effect most people, but if it does for some, I want to make sure I'm not one.[0] Also, it's possible that some chemicals in it cause cancer.[1] Though with that said, I've started to wonder if everything causes cancer in one way or another. Second, we don't know if some people are better/worse equipped to process soy. I'd analogize this to japanese having special gut bacteria to process sushi and seaweed.[2][3] Maybe those races which have eaten more can process better? Who knows. Maybe it could cause injuries to liver or kidney in people not as well equipped to process it? Large quantities of many things can do this.[4] Again, if we want to tell everyone to replace meat, further research is undoubtedly necessary. Lastly, thinking you ate something can make your body do certain things it normally does, even if you didn't. This is called the cephalic response.[5] If you've ever heard that looking at pictures of dessert can raise your blood sugar, this is the explanation. This is down to total guesswork, but who knows what could happen? Cephalic response means more hcl is secreted. Let's say we're calibrated to release 10 arbitrary units for meat, but 4 for veggie (meat takes more to break down). So you smell and taste meat, and release 10 units. But you eat veggie, so where does the rest go? What if it contributed to an ulcer or heartburn? And could this extend to the delicate balance of enzymes in the rest of the body? Sustainability is a laudable goal, but we shouldn't try to radically alter people's diets without being really, really sure that we're correct. I view anything less as irresponsible. Go back to when people thought fat was evil and sugar was fine, and so people got fat and diabetic. Let's all try to be more responsible this time. [0] https://worldnewsdailyreport.com/england-man-grows-breasts-after-drinking-too-much-soy-milk/ https://worldnewsdailyreport.com/england-man-grows-breasts-a... [1] https://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/soy-may-turn-on-genes-linked-to-cancer https://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/soy-may-turn-on-g... [2] https://www.wired.com/2010/04/sushi-guts/ https://www.wired.com/2010/04/sushi-guts/ [3] http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2010/04/japanese-guts-are-made-sushi http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2010/04/japanese-guts-are-mad... [4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4435388/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4435388/ [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalic_phase https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalic_phase

390 points by alangpierce 8y ago

malkia 8y ago

And probably still not a great choice for diabetics... Unless it's made only of fat & protein....

nindalf 8y ago
Speaking as someone who will likely be diabetic in a decade, that's just too bad. You can't solve every problem with a product like this.
- jawngee 8y ago
  As a parent of a T1D, statements like these are mildly infuriating. I'm sure you're joking, of course, but being resigned to some idea that you are going to develop type 2 at some point is lazy and lame.
sithadmin 8y ago
Per the article: >It has as much bioavailable iron and protein as the same size serving of ground beef, with 14 grams of fat and 240 calories per quarter-pound patty. Also, per Impossible's site, changes to nutrition for the new recipe are: >The new Impossible Burger features 30% less sodium and 40% less saturated fat than the current recipe and just as much protein as 80/20 ground beef from cows The original recipe only has 5g of carbohydrates per serving, so assuming that remains constant, this doesn't seem terribly problematic for those on a low-to-moderate carbohydrate diet.
- DDebbieDDowner 8y ago
  >It has as much bioavailable iron and protein as the same size serving of ground beef Which ofc it's nothing but marketing nonsense considering that the most bioavailable form of iron Heme-iron is found only in meats.
  - ufo 8y ago
    Impossible burger's recipe features large amounts of soy leghemoglobin, sourced from transgenic yeast.
  - moate 8y ago
    "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.
    - DDebbieDDowner 8y ago
      "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.
      - moate 8y ago
        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.
- jawngee 8y ago
  Protein affects blood sugar too. General rule for type 1's is to bolus insulin 50% of the listed protein as carbs. I don't agree with the parent poster's assertion either though.
nickik 8y ago
They designed this to be almost identical to meat. Its primary fat & protein. It was a design goal to match a normal burger specially for low carb people.

nindalf 8y ago

Congrats to that team for building a great product. I hope they see a lot of success. Long term, I hope plant based meat alternatives become commoditized. If there are a bunch of alternatives that taste just as good and importantly are cheaper than meat, most people will switch. That's a huge win for the environment (and also animal rights), and I can't wait to see it happen.

toyg 8y ago
Until the people currently destroying forests to grow cattle, start destroying forests to grow ingredients for these burgers. Soil depletion is also a thing. I still remember the argument for biofuel and where it ended up. More options in the mix is always good, but trying to replace everything with vegetable stuff is not going to work in the long run.
- giarc 8y ago
  "but trying to replace everything with vegetable stuff is not going to work in the long run." But we have to eat... what do you recommend we replace our protein intake with?
  - stochastic_monk 8y ago
    I suggest other plant protein sources, like soy or pea. Wheat, in particular, has a terrible amino acid profile for humans [0]. Aside from making it so that anyone with coeliac can't consume their burgers, it's just not as effective for humans as animal protein. Pea and soy, however, are nearly as effective and much better for the earth/environment. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3887888 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3887888
    - nickik 8y ago
      The Impossible Burger is designed to use environmentally friendly ingredients that can scale. I don't understand what your issue is.

shadyrudy 8y ago

Glad this version is made without gluten, unlike the current Impossible Burger. In the mean time, Beyond Meat has been my goto burger for a few months.

notacoward 8y ago
I think Impossible (even v1.0) is more meat-like, but I actually like Beyond better. I like the ever so slightly stiffer chew and legume undertone. When I go to my favorite Seattle burger place (Lunchbox Lab) I go for the Beyond version and it's awesome. It's great that there are meatless options almost indistinguishable from real meat. It's also great that there are tasty options which resemble meat only slightly. And everything in between. The more the merrier.
Raphmedia 8y ago
I'm not even vegan and go for the Beyond Meat burger whenever I'm at A&W because it taste better than regular fast food burgers ... and I got to A&W instead of other chains because the burger is there.
meej 8y ago
I would love it if someone could figure out how to make meat substitutes that don't contain ingredients from the nightshade family, for those of us with nightshade sensitivity. They all seem to contain potato.

danharaj 8y ago

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.

giancarlostoro 8y ago
Well in this case it allows you to eat a burger if you like burgers. Me personally I eat vegan, vegetarian and non-vegan / non-vegetarian foods so it doesn't bother me as much.
the_gastropod 8y ago
Hear hear! These kinds of foods I think are handy for people transitioning to a more vegetarian/vegan diet, when they still crave "traditional" foods like hamburgers and hotdogs. But I think they also goof up public perceptions of what good veg* food is.
- Jenz 8y ago
  As a non vegetarian (yet?), I must a agree.
picodguyo 8y ago
I say whatever sells more non-meat burgers is good. Telling a die-hard meat eater to just eat a mushroom or some eggplant is not going to be effective.
- MarsAscendant 8y ago
  It's generally difficult to dissuade someone of their core beliefs. That's why political discourse often gets dirty and bloody. Language, too, oddly enough.
- leereeves 8y ago
  I'm a die-hard meat eater and I'd eat a lot of a tasty veggie sandwich patty. I need more veggies in my diet but it's hard to get enough without cooking. It doesn't have to be a fake burger. Just something tasty for a healthy daily dose of vegetables. For me, soy doesn't qualify. It's one of the most common crops in the world and there's already enough of it in other things I eat.

antidaily 8y ago

Had one of these recently. I was shocked. The texture isn't 100% but very, very close and the taste was amazing. It was much flatter than photo; looked and tasted like Shake Shack.

agitator 8y ago
IMO the texture of the 2.0 Impossible burger is spot on. And the flavors are improved too. I would say its a huge improvement. Plus this one is grill-able. It honestly hits all of the targets for what I want in a burger. Super impressed.

searine 8y ago

I'd love to use this as a meat-replacement but can ordinary consumers buy it yet? I just want to make chili. Please let me give you money!

philg_jr 8y ago
Their website states that they are going to start shipping to grocery store chains in March of this year.

Vinnl 8y ago

I'm really curious about the "fake meat" products that exist in other countries. In the Netherlands, there's been enormous growth both in the number of vegetarians and in the number of "fake meat" products that have become widely available, and the quality of the latter has improved dramatically. Before, these products were mostly useful for the non-vegetarians wanting to prepare a meal for vegetarians without having to relearn how to do it (with actual vegetarians preferably preparing vegetarian-first meals, e.g. with nuts and beans rather than fake meat). However, nowadays these products have become so good that they're actually of added value to a meal in terms of taste. Interestingly, they do not appear to place as much focus on matching actual meat as much as the foreign products that are usually the subject of articles like these. Instead, they merely have to taste good and have good texture - it doesn't matter if it's still somewhat different from actual meat (sometimes they even taste better). At the forefront of this has been the Vegetarian Butcher (that's a brand name). They've recently been acquired by Unilever and will likely expand internationally more aggressively. I have the feeling that the Netherlands is friendlier to vegetarians, on average, than other Western countries, and if that will give them an advantage. Time will tell!

52-6F-62 8y ago
Yves is really popular here in Canada. You can get it in just about every grocery store and some corner stores: http://yvesveggie.com/en/ http://yvesveggie.com/en/ That said, it's more traditional "fake meat", and probably not a close synthesis. I'm actually more curious about the lab grown meat as an alternative. It almost seems like that could catch up by the time anyone gets a veggie burger actually tasting like meat.
- Vinnl 8y ago
  Judging by just the packaging and product range, that looks to be a year or two behind what's available in the Netherlands - though I guess it's just different as well, since we don't have that many things that resemble the deli slices. Still, I'd love to give them a try. And absolutely, I'm looking forward to see what lab-grown meats will become available, although I guess that taste will not be that surprising. If it's anything like regular chicken, then I'd still prefer the Vegetarian Butcher's chicken - it tastes differently, but better.

SupaFlyak 8y ago

Do vegan/vegetarians really want something that reminds them of meat products? Why not just make a good meat-free sandwich that doesn't imitate another product?

dnhz 8y ago
The product isn't for vegetarians.
giarc 8y ago
I'm not a vegan/vegetarian but I want this product. I'm concerned about the environmental cost of raising beef cattle and I'd like a better option. My family has already cut down our red meat consumption. We use ground turkey and chicken quite a bit. I still want the ability to grill a good steak once a month, but I'd love to use some of this ground meat in pasta sauces, taco's etc.
- village-idiot 8y ago
  By the by, most of the original takes on cattle emissions were fatally flawed and retracted by their authors. It appears that US meat consumption represents about 3.9% of US emissions. That number is still falling as we get more efficient with our animal husbandry.
philg_jr 8y ago
A product like this is primarily for people who already eat beef, who may be wanting to cut back on their meat consumption. Most vegetarians/vegans I know would never bother trying a product like this.
Vinnl 8y ago
That depends on the person, but most of the vegans/vegetarians I know are not vegan/vegetarian because they are disgusted by the product, but because they have ethical concerns about the process that created it. If they can get the same taste experience without the ethical concerns, that's a net win.
laurenbee 8y ago

propter_hoc 8y ago

Sort of interesting seeing this at the Consumer Electronics Show. Most food startups I've seen would never think of trying to exhibit at that kind of venue, but clearly it's an effective way for them to reach their target demographic with coverage like this. They're probably also exhibiting at food industry conferences, to get the restaurant & supermarket distribution deals, but CES gets them TechCrunch & HN readers.

picodguyo 8y ago

I'm happy to see continued growth in this area, but I'm disappointed to see them shifting more toward soy. I'll be sticking with the Beyond Burger for now.

leereeves 8y ago
I'd like to see more non-soy veggie convenience products myself. I'd like to eat a more varied diet full of fruits and vegetables, rather than simply replacing meat+dairy+grains with soy+soymilk+grains, but it's really hard to find non-soy veggie products without cooking everything from scratch.
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colordrops 8y ago

Does anyone else get indigestion after eating one of these modern meat substitutes?

nickik 8y ago
Very unspecific. Things that get tagged 'meat substitutes' are a large amount of different things with totally different stuff in them, there is nothing to generalize here.
- colordrops 8y ago
  Ok, I just mean beyond beef and impossible burgers.

goda90 8y ago

Whether accurate or not, lots of opinion swirls around the effects that eating soy has on testosterone levels in men. Even if these plant based "meats" are indistinguishable in flavor and texture, they might end up losing to lab grown meat in the long run because of concerns like that.

firethief 8y ago
That sounds like concern trolling, but I'll bite: a meta analysis of controlled trials is unequivocal https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19524224 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19524224
- wavegeek 8y ago
  Having looked at a few of these studies I found the following problems 1. Industry sponsorship. Which has been shown to produce wildly biased results. 2. Small, short term studies which can only find a "significant" (i.e. statistically significant) effect if the effect is large and immediate. In some of the studies an effect showed up close to statistical significance but the headline was "no effect found" 3. I don't know about this one, but some analyses have found that a majority of review papers were ghost written by industry PR hacks who them paid professors to put their names on them. I suggest read the papers closely and looking hard at sponsorship issues before believing them. Also note that these studies were on adult men. There is every reason to suspect that the developing male fetus is orders of magnitude more vulnerable to environmental hormone disruptors of all kinds.
  - village-idiot 8y ago
    Honestly, industry money is so prevalent in nutritional research that we might need to throw away everything after Ancel Keys and try again

ebetica0 8y ago

One of the smaller Asian grocers in New York City has made the best fake meat I've had by far, and I wouldn't be surprised if it sources for many of the vegetarian Asian restaurants in the city. http://www.maywahnyc.com/ http://www.maywahnyc.com/ I wonder how many other places exist in the world like it, and how much a little bit of marketing would do for them.

jamesjyu 8y ago
The tradition of "mock meats" in Buddhist culture is one of the oldest. I've found some of their veggie meats to taste really close to real meats, and they tackle things like fish and tuna, which hasn't been addressed much in the west. https://www.tastecooking.com/buddhist-mock-meats-paradox/ https://www.tastecooking.com/buddhist-mock-meats-paradox/

callumprentice 8y ago

In the early 70s, my dad worked at a place that (as a side business I think) made a meat substitute called KESP. He used to bring samples home and mum would make pies from it. Tasted awful if I remember correctly but I'm surprised it's taken this long to get to a viable meat alternative.

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phkahler 8y ago

Why do some vegans and vegetarians want to eat something that looks like meat? This is not to say vegans and vegetarians are the only market for plant-based "meat" or "burgers".

peterwwillis 8y ago
That's a great question. I asked this to a vegan some years ago. She explained that there is an entire culture of food surrounding meat. Meat-based foods are described in terms that sound wonderful, and people often describe how much they love those foods. She doesn't get to engage in that part of our culture because she doesn't eat those foods. It disconnects you from the people around you, and you feel left out. In Philadelphia, eating a cheesesteak sandwich is an experience that connects you to the people and history of the city. Besides just being a tasty food, it's an iconic part of the local culture. People like engaging with their culture. And for another reason, as this article[1] explains, one restauranteur wanted to create a casual place where a non-vegan could order a cheesesteak and decide, hey, this is pretty good even without meat. [1] http://www.philly.com/philly/food/20140320_And_the_best_vegan_cheesesteak_in_Philly_is___.html http://www.philly.com/philly/food/20140320_And_the_best_vega...
PhasmaFelis 8y ago
> Why do some vegans and vegetarians want to eat something that looks like meat? Why wouldn't they? Most humans are hardwired to enjoy meat, whether or not they choose to indulge. Vegetarianism/veganism as an ethical stance is about humane treatment of animals. Enjoying the taste and texture of meat is completely orthogonal. I've spoken to several people who think that veganism is just about personal taste, including a couple of actual vegans, and I don't understand where this idea comes from.
- technofiend 8y ago
  >Vegetarianism/veganism as an ethical stance is about humane treatment of animals. No doubt, but there are health-related reasons to do it as well; I'm not as concerned about a plant-based meat substitute triggering my diverticulitis, for instance. I actively avoid eating burgers because too much red meat definitely does.

dreamcompiler 8y ago

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.

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imjk 8y ago
I wonder how much the purveyor makes a difference in the quality of the product (I'm hoping not much). I had the opposite experience as you, but I bought my Impossible from an Umami Burger and it was seriously a surreal experience for me and my gf. I was so pleasantly surprised by how good it was that we went back the next day to get another.
- anyfoo 8y ago
  Same here, fiancée and I had one at Umami Burger and were very impressed, had several since then (and we do eat meat), and always introduce friends to it when they are in town. Also tried it at some non-chain (I believe) SF restaurant and they nailed it, too, though in both cases I can imagine they know how to prepare it.
- henvic 8y ago
  Next time you go to Umami, you might consider asking for a portobello mushroom patty (it's not on the menu if I recall correctly). In my experience, it's better than the Impossible Burger at Umami. However, both are great. I don't eat any kind of meat. I've eaten the Impossible on a few places, and while I find it great in most, I went to this vegan restaurant in Florida and asked for it and almost couldn't deal with. It just tasted like real meat I almost threw it away a few times before deciding to give it a chance (and mostly just because it was expensive).
woodrowbarlow 8y ago
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.

syedkarim 8y ago

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.

cr0sh 8y ago
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.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
I agree. I'd heard the hype about Impossible so I was excited to try it when I finally saw it available at a restaurant near me, but found that it tasted pretty similar to a Morningstar Farms Griller's Prime patty. Since it cost me as much to sub an Impossible patty as to buy a whole bag of Griller's Prime, I wasn't impressed. The Beyond Burger though, man that's good. I haven't had real beef in years, but people tell me it looks and smells pretty similar when cooking and I think the taste and texture are really close too. I love 'em. I really wish the Beyond Sausage shortage would end.

gnicholas 8y ago

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!

rflrob 8y ago
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.

ArthurBrussee 8y ago

I unironically can't wait to read release notes about newer versions of my food

nwah1 8y ago
Not only this, but we should have continuous integration testing. Each batch of every product should be run through a litany of health and safety tests, and such a thing could be crowdsourced.
- groestl 8y ago
  Crowdsourced? Like what we did when we tried to feed cows to cows?
- cwkoss 8y ago
  Would be cool if first X% of every batch got a discount, provided they submit a simple QA report.
sf_rob 8y ago
Soylent has proper release notes: https://soylent.com/pages/release-notes https://soylent.com/pages/release-notes

gnicholas 8y ago

If this does indeed taste like real meat, then they may move in the direction of making healthier products. That is, they've said from the beginning that their goal with the Impossible Burger is to mimic the taste and health profile of ground beef. But there's a lot of fat in there, and many people (like me) don't really ever cook with ground beef for that reason. But if they've nailed the taste, then perhaps they can start making something leaner, akin to ground turkey? For me, that would have a larger impact on my regular diet.

ensiferum 8y ago
The only thing worth eating there from keto diet perspective is the fat but it better be good fat! (No cheap vegetable oils or hydrogenated fats)

sremani 8y ago

As a person who was born in a family with tradition of vegetarianism, I find this "veggie meat" obsession fascinating and fear a future where I cannot even eat the one veggie burger on the menu.. because it tastes like a hamburger.

dfxm12 8y ago
Why wouldn't you be able to eat the Impossible Burger? Does your family have a tradition of vegetarianism because you don't like the taste of beef?
- bigato 8y ago
  Some people who are vegetarians have or develop a strong aversion to meat smell, let alone flavor.
mpg515 8y ago
Do you honestly think that because a legit fake-beef burger exists that suddenly everyone will stop making black bean burgers or other varieties of patty?

jusonchan 8y ago

I wish they would release this into the supermarkets sooner than the end of the year though. I would love to include this in my weekly dinner options at home. I am not a vegetarian but I do like to mix things up and this will help to make one more dinner at home a veggie version. The price is the key part right now. Hopefully they can scale this fast and reduce the prices. My guess is that they are doing a controlled release to ensure a better chance of success for the product. Early feedbacks should help to correct issues.

TarpitCarnivore 8y ago
You can find the Beyond Burger pretty easily now, especially in Whole Foods, but the taste can be off putting to people.

fashionrob 8y ago

The other thing I am not seeing in the comments is that most store bought meat from big chains like Vons, Krogers, Walmart, etc- doesn't really taste that good. When cooked, likely chewy, dry and tasting "off". When we think of the "good burger" bite, we arnet thinking of discount ground meat from the market, we are thinking of a good burger from some restaurant.

joe_the_user 8y ago
Well, I like the taste of existing meat substitutes to be honest. The problem I have is that I find meat substitutes hard to digest and meat seems to help my digestion regardless of taste. As far as restaurants go, I'm not if the meat used by restaurants actually is better quality that supermarket ground beef. In my shallow exposure to restaurant food prep, I get the impression that restaurants in, say, the $8-12 burger range use the cheapest acceptable supplies and make it taste good with good equipment, sweat/salty/spicy recipes, and professional preparation. I think you need to go to Chez Panisse type restaurants before you get dishes where "the ingredients stand on their own" and there's a reason for that.
greedo 8y ago
Here's one. I buy grocery store ground chuck, and I've never had a restaurant burger that surpasses my own. Now fries are another thing, since I don't have a deep fryer.

dmitrygr 8y ago

They said 1.0 was "indistinguishable from meat" and yet when i was erroneously served it, i distinguished it quite easily. It had the texture of wet bread and the taste of stale wet bread soaked in rotting pig blood. Bring on the blind taste tests before claiming it tastes like meat.

Blinks- 8y ago

I wonder if they balanced the amino acid profile correctly, if this is not a complete protein then it wold detract from the main reason I eat meat, for simple exercise recovery. One of the problems I have with grain protein sources is they are rarely formulated in a way that allows for slow absorption and it forces me to look up what amino acids I need to supplement with.

tmaly 8y ago

I love the idea, but the saturated fat seems a bit high for a plant based food?

foxyv 8y ago
Most saturated fat is pretty healthy. It's probably coconut or palm oil. I would worry more if it had hydrogenated oils/trans fats.
dczot 8y ago
Yeah, plant-based and healthy are not necessarily the same. This at least free of cholesterol vs meat, but I think the main draw is the plant-based aspect rather than healthy.

foxyv 8y ago

I love a veggie burger but they are always so expensive at the supermarket. Maybe things have changed since I started eating meat again but being a vegetarian was really expensive.

p1necone 8y ago

Is the Impossible Burger much better than Beyond Meat? Because I've had the Beyond Meat patty (from a vegan chain called Lord of the Fries, their standard beef substitute is great) and it was awful - very obvious that it was made from plants (tasted like root vegetables with a weird chemical/metallic tang to me) and the texture was way off. It could have been prepared poorly though.

zaksoup 8y ago
I've only had beyond meat sausage but impossible burger at Umami Burger in Oakland is far and away the best meat substitute I've ever had. I'm looking forward to seeing impossible meat in supermarkets because it blows beyond meant out of the water.
colechristensen 8y ago
My partner had an Impossible Burger a while back and I found just the smell across the table to be rather off putting. She enjoyed it.
fossuser 8y ago
I had it at the counter and was pretty disappointed. I was excited to try it since I saw a lot of people talk about how similar it was to to meat and how you couldn't tell the difference. Maybe if you've been a vegetarian for ten years you can't tell the difference, but I thought it was pretty obvious. The outside was strangely crispy and the texture was off.
WorldMaker 8y ago
I do think that the Impossible Burger is much better than Beyond Burger. It's a lot of subtle things that Impossible gets right. (The fact that it "bleeds" is fascinating and interesting part of its appeal to old carnivore instincts.) That said there is room for both at the table and right now they both have different strengths (Impossible handles "medium rare" much better; Beyond hits greasy spoon / fast food "medium" or "medium well" better).

gioele 8y ago

BTW, the vegetarian products manufactured by Rügenwalder Mühle (available in most of EU) taste incredibly like their meat-based counterparts. This vegetarian salami fooled many friends of mine in various double blind experiments: https://www.ruegenwalder.de/en/products/vegetarian-salami-classic https://www.ruegenwalder.de/en/products/vegetarian-salami-cl...

ousta 8y ago

I tried 1.0 it was horrible. even a macdonald hamburger was more edible. I doubt that heavily process soybeans (known for developing breast in men) are the way to go. but who knows im not a marketing manager.

adam 8y ago

I'm curious if anyone else has stomach issues after eating the Impossible Burger, the Beyond Meat burger, etc.? Something about the protein isolate or who knows what else doesn't sit well with me. I've talked to others anecdotally about the same thing, but is this a widespread occurrence? It reminds me a bit of when Frito-Lay tried to introduce Olean into their potato chips and it gave everyone the 3's...

scrooched_moose 8y ago
My girlfriend and I tend to get them about once a month at a local restaurant and have no problem with them. Could it be something else in the meal? For instance, our restaurant serves it with vegan Bun, Cheese, and 1000 Island dressing; all sourced from other local businesses. Maybe it's one of those toppings?
wavegeek 8y ago
Yes I have the same problem, also the fake meat products are often loaded with ridiculous amounts of salt. The produce spiel claims reduced salt so it looks like this has been an issue with this product in the past.

wavegeek 8y ago

Would it kill them to provide some decent nutritional information? Like how much salt is in the product? I found in the past that all the palatable meat substitutes were loaded with salt.

ruffrey 8y ago
From their FAQ: 430 mg sodium in 3 oz https://images.ctfassets.net/hhv516v5f7sj/5p1YQzJxduEoC2gIWaWaEg/a23f00495d6d2e7edabbfd898a96fc6f/Oriole-1_85g_3_oz_Label.png https://images.ctfassets.net/hhv516v5f7sj/5p1YQzJxduEoC2gIWa... https://impossiblefoods.com/faq/ https://impossiblefoods.com/faq/
charlesju 8y ago
Isn't it just this? https://impossiblefoods.com/faq/ https://impossiblefoods.com/faq/ 430mg per patty which is about the same sodium as like canned tuna

sizzle 8y ago

Does anyone know the latest findings from studies that linked soy consumption to estrogen increase in men? The impossible burger being non soy based was a huge selling point for me...

mhh__ 8y ago
The soy-estrogen link is totally bunk/false IIRC
cwkoss 8y ago
Examine has a good writeup, jump to "Men’s health and testosterone" tl;dr: "Reasonable intakes of soy foods and soy isoflavones do not affect men’s testosterone levels, estrogen levels, or fertility, although case reports have documented adverse effects from incredibly high daily intakes of soy for 6–12 months. Men who are at risk of developing prostate cancer might reduce their risk by eating soy foods, but soy foods do not appear to benefit men who already have prostate cancer." The case studies regarding feminization seem to have been cases of people ingesting 300+g of soy protein a day for 6+ months. That amount of protein would require nearly 100% of your calorie RDA if eaten in soybeans, so it seems likely these two people had quite odd diets that could confound drawing conclusions these cases. If they were taking a soy protein extract, I would want to study if questionable supplement purity/contamination issues had any effect - solvents and heat could transform some of the isoflavones or solvents could remain in final product. https://examine.com/nutrition/is-soy-good-or-bad/ https://examine.com/nutrition/is-soy-good-or-bad/
tropo 8y ago
Haven't seen the classic video on it yet, so here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTSvLKY7HEk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTSvLKY7HEk

sebringj 8y ago

i tried at rubis diner the 1.0 version and i was surprised how good it was but was way too salty and krispy like some alternative meat but still meat. they are on the right track so am expecting greatness for 2.0.

surfmike 8y ago

The best fake meat patties I've ever had were the veggie patties ("Soul burger") at Hero burger in Canada. My wife (who is vegetarian) thought it was real at first and was upset they had made a mistake and had me try, and I also thought it was real. But it was actually vegetarian!

l9k 8y ago
So how did you make sure they weren't meat? That's a problem I would see for vegetarian. That mostly involves trust. A similar scenario already happens with halal and kosher food though.
- surfmike 8y ago
  Well, I've had them many times since and just as good... So either this burger chain is fraudulently selling meat patties as tofu veggie, or they're legit.

MagicPropmaker 8y ago

I'm disappointed they switched away from seitan / gluten protein to soy protein. I just like wheat protein better, it feels better to me. But there's tremendous--and unfounded--pressure to eliminate gluten. Sad.

okaram 8y ago
It's not unfounded ... for whatever reason, it seems very few people are allergic to soy, whereas more than 1% of population (Americans ? not sure) have 'allergies' to gluten. My daughter has diagnosed celiac disease, so I'm glad for any pressure to eliminate gluten :) I'm also amazed at how many things you wouldn't imagine have gluten :(
- MagicPropmaker 8y ago
  "Celiac disease" is not an allergy. It's an autoimmune response. https://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/celiac-disease https://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/celiac-disease
- thebeefytaco 8y ago
  Soy is actually one of the the top 8 food allergies, which is why it's required to be listed on labels.

jameslk 8y ago

Nobody ever seems to question what's in these burgers. Just focusing on taste is not good enough. Any independent research/investigation (besides Impossible Food's own marketing materials) on the healthiness of the ingredients? Even if the ingredients aren't inherently unhealthy on their own, if I'm just eating a bunch of filler without much nutrition compared to real meat, that's still a problem.

tschwimmer 8y ago
A list of ingredients from the company's website: Water, Textured Wheat Protein, Coconut Oil, Potato Protein, Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Leghemoglobin (Soy), Yeast Extract, Salt, Konjac Gum, Xanthan Gum, Soy Protein Isolate, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Thiamin (Vitamin B1), Zinc, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12. source: https://impossiblefoods.com/faq https://impossiblefoods.com/faq Seems like a regular old veggie burger, with some more slightly exotic additives. I had not heard of Leghemoglobin, which appears to be some sort of hemoglobin-like protein found in legume plant roots.

nonbel 8y ago

These burgers are not a suitable nutritional replacement for beef. Beef contains cholesterol, zero carbs, and has a different vitamin/mineral profile. This stuff has no cholesterol and (a small amount of) carbs while also containing way more salt, thiamine (vitamin B1), and folate (vitamin B9): https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beef-products/6205/2 https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beef-products/6205/2 http://livablefutureblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/impossburger-nutritfacts-copy.jpg http://livablefutureblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/impo... FYI, both folate and thiamine over-consumption may be linked to cancer: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29529163 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29529163 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4178204/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4178204/ So while it is fine for people to eat it for "pleasure", it may be dangerous to trick the mind into thinking it is consuming a real burger.

robotbikes 8y ago
That is interesting but I don't think that it would be healthy for people to eat beef burgers as their primary source of nutrition either. What annoys me about the fake meat is that in the dystopian future soymeat was supposed to be everywhere and cheaper where real meat was a sought after expensive delicacy but due to government subsidies and hding the costs of environmental externalities real meat remains much cheaper than the fake meats in general. Just saying.
- rjplatte 8y ago
  Nobody's saying that beef burgers are a good primary source of nutrition, but this product can't replace beef.
- nonbel 8y ago
  The economics/politics of it is a different issue. I am concerned about the danger of tricking people's minds into thinking the body has consumed something with nutritional value other than it really has. Humans have been consuming beef for a long time.
  - 8y ago

georgespencer 8y ago

I've tried Impossible burger a couple of times in the last few months. Both were in New York - one in Soho House and one in Lucky's in Chelsea. The former cost about $25, and the latter about $13 (a burger in Lucky's runs about $8 so this is hugely expensive). The Soho House on was just about the most disappointing thing I'v ever eaten. It tasted like a bad veggie burger. The Lucky's one was fantastic, but whilst meatier, again didn't taste like meat. I think if you served me the patty by itself I'd be able to identify it as not being meat. My extremely limited sample has led me to conclude that the cooking skill is critical, and that you can go a long way towards persuading someone of a patty's 'meatiness' by dressing it in burger sauce, cheese, etc. I'm not quite sure that the mission here is something indistinguishable from a real burger, but if it is then it's not there yet. But a great mission and I'll continue to fork out absurd money for them whenever the urge for a beef burger strikes me.

alexc05 8y ago

I really can’t wait for these to show up in Canada

tracker1 8y ago

Is it also legume free? I'm allergic. Also, is the protein/amino profile complete and balanced? Also, I tend to believe (based on dieting research and other experiments) that protein sources should generally be consumed with 1:2 1g fat per 2g protein roughly speaking.

jafingi 8y ago

I tried the Impossible Burger 1.0 at Stanford, and it tasted really good! Not a 100% like meat, but good as an alternative. Looking forward to trying the new one.

dabos999 8y ago

There's no science behind meat affects the environment, fakenews as always, what else can you expect from journalists. Also a meat diet is the healthiest diet know to man. Too bad so many people are uninformed. For example a meat only diet is the natural cure for type 2 diabetes. www.justmeat.co Plants are medicine, not food.

arijun 8y ago
What? What about cows releasing methane, 10x more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide? Or the clear cutting of the amazon to make space for pastureland?
- dabos999 8y ago
  All bs fed to you by journos and corporations, cow produced methane level has been stable for the past 20 years for example.
  - detaro 8y ago
    > cow produced methane level has been stable for the past 20 years for example. "The same amount of bad stuff has been produced for the last 20 years" isn't an argument for why less bad stuff wouldn't be good.

spacemanmatt 8y ago

Ew.

mises 8y ago

The concept of meat alternatives is interesting, but there are of course some possible issues. First, with soy: the jury is still on the effects on men. Maybe it's fine, maybe it's not. Until the full effects are known, I'm not comfortable risking growing breasts. It might not even effect most people, but if it does for some, I want to make sure I'm not one.[0] Also, it's possible that some chemicals in it cause cancer.[1] Though with that said, I've started to wonder if everything causes cancer in one way or another. Second, we don't know if some people are better/worse equipped to process soy. I'd analogize this to japanese having special gut bacteria to process sushi and seaweed.[2][3] Maybe those races which have eaten more can process better? Who knows. Maybe it could cause injuries to liver or kidney in people not as well equipped to process it? Large quantities of many things can do this.[4] Again, if we want to tell everyone to replace meat, further research is undoubtedly necessary. Lastly, thinking you ate something can make your body do certain things it normally does, even if you didn't. This is called the cephalic response.[5] If you've ever heard that looking at pictures of dessert can raise your blood sugar, this is the explanation. This is down to total guesswork, but who knows what could happen? Cephalic response means more hcl is secreted. Let's say we're calibrated to release 10 arbitrary units for meat, but 4 for veggie (meat takes more to break down). So you smell and taste meat, and release 10 units. But you eat veggie, so where does the rest go? What if it contributed to an ulcer or heartburn? And could this extend to the delicate balance of enzymes in the rest of the body? Sustainability is a laudable goal, but we shouldn't try to radically alter people's diets without being really, really sure that we're correct. I view anything less as irresponsible. Go back to when people thought fat was evil and sugar was fine, and so people got fat and diabetic. Let's all try to be more responsible this time. [0] https://worldnewsdailyreport.com/england-man-grows-breasts-after-drinking-too-much-soy-milk/ https://worldnewsdailyreport.com/england-man-grows-breasts-a... [1] https://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/soy-may-turn-on-genes-linked-to-cancer https://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/soy-may-turn-on-g... [2] https://www.wired.com/2010/04/sushi-guts/ https://www.wired.com/2010/04/sushi-guts/ [3] http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2010/04/japanese-guts-are-made-sushi http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2010/04/japanese-guts-are-mad... [4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4435388/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4435388/ [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalic_phase https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalic_phase