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

• bitesociety 8y ago
  I'm an angel investor in both plant based meat and clean meat and I'm actually more optimistic for plant based meat becoming better than animal meat in the short term. The rate of innovation has been really impressive and momentum is picking up steam.. once prices get under animal meat huge amounts of people will switch
  • prolepunk 8y ago
    Hopefully carbon taxes and such would kick in at some point and would include the real environmental cost of beef, so the switching to plant based beef would be even more swift.
    • nightski 8y ago
      Beef only is responsible for 3% of greenhouse gasses in America. I'm not sure an "emission" tax would really affect the price all that much. In addition, you have to account for and tax the emissions produced in plant production (fertilizer, agricultural soil, transportation, etc...). Agriculture is a total of 9%, whereas livestock only accounts for 3% of that. I work for agriculture companies, and a lot of animal feed comes from by-products of other agricultural products. For example, beet pulp pellets, raffinate, betaine, molasses are all by products of sugar production and are used for animal feed extensively. They are cheap and very shelf stable. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emis...
      • arcseco 8y ago
        Minor note; "Manure management accounts for about 15 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions from the Agriculture economic sector in the United States." If you include the emissions from manure management you end with 45% of all emissions emanating from livestock production.
        • nightski 8y ago
          To be clear, you end up with 45% of all emissions from the agriculture sector - which would be 4.05% overall. Also, that manure management is part of fertilization of plants if I am not mistaken.
      • prolepunk 8y ago
        I believe this is a very US-centric viewpoint. I'm using the article 'Beef Cattle and Greenhouse Gas Production' from Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/beef/news/info_vbn1013a4.htm http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/beef/news/info... According Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the UN 2006 report livestock were responsible for 18% of all human-related greenhouse gas production. 14.5% according to 2013 report. Of that 43% is Enteric. There may only be 9% GHG emissions in the US, but beef also comes from other countries where these emissions are very different. See Regional and Production System differences. From the article -- There was an approximately 4-fold difference in emission intensity between the top 10% of producers and the bottom 10% of producers within a system.
        • nightski 8y ago
          You are right, but I was discussing in reference to a U.S. based emissions "tax". Maybe I misunderstood and they were suggesting a worldwide tax? Not sure how that would work. If the U.S. were to tax agriculture production of beef, I'm assuming that would be for U.S. farmers so the relevant statistic is emissions in the U.S.
      • megaremote 8y ago
        > Beef only is responsible for 3% of greenhouse gasses in America. I'm not sure an "emission" tax would really affect the price all that much. Are you only talking about directly? Because there is a huge amount of indirect costs, such as feed, transport, manufacturing.
        • nightski 8y ago
          Plant based products have similar transport & manufacturing impact so I am not including that. In addition, for feeding often this comes from by-products of plant production (sugar by-products, etc...). The only reason corn is so popular imo is because it is so heavily subsidized by our government making it dirt cheap. But grass fed beef is a thing and it's on par or even quite a bit cheaper price wise than fake meat.
  • LifeofPi314 8y ago
    What is the addressable market, and possible valuation you believe that Impossible would achieve? and when?
    • bitesociety 8y ago
      Right now plant based meat is well under 1 percent of the meat market in the US and it's realistic it could become the majority within 10 years. Who will get the bulk of that is up for grabs, I invested in a smaller competitor to beyond and impossible which had a much lower valuation but with product I think it's right up there with them. Personally I'm a big supporter of them all
      • tfehring 8y ago
        I'm really bullish on the possibility of a wide range of competitors for any given meat alternative. There are probably 10+ different brands of prepackaged beef burgers at most grocery stores, and there's a lot more room for differentiation if you're building a product from scratch than if you're just deciding which cows to grind up and shape into a patty. Do you mind sharing the name of the company you're referring to? I'm always looking to try new options and support companies in the space.
        • hkyeti 8y ago
          Sure, have emailed you the company name. Thx
  • randaouser 8y ago
    I think ultimately the price will be determined through government subsidies. Current Meat and Dairy Industry receives massive subsidies (~38$Bn) and the lobbying groups won't appreciate a cut of profits.
• Pfhreak 8y ago
  April fools day is a tough day to make this announcement. But I'm genuinely thrilled to see this. Hopefully some non zero percentage of customers give this a try and reduce the amount of meat in their diet. That said, I don't expect that non zero percentage to be very high without a lot of marketing.
  • marzell 8y ago
    I think it's a great opportunity for exposure for these new meat alternatives, and also a potentially great income boost that will help them expand operations and secure their future business.
  • castig 8y ago
    Yes!
• gwbas1c 8y ago
  > Burger King’s chief marketing officer, Fernando Machado, said that in the company’s testing so far, customers and even employees had not been able to tell the difference between the old meaty Whopper and the new one. Ugh. First: The vegetarians that I know don't like meat. So making a veggie burger that tastes like the thing they don't like is just dumb. Second: When I tasted an Impossible Burger, it was awful. It tasted like a horrible veggie burger. At the places that I've tried it, the staff usually apologize as I order it, and warn me that I probably won't like it. They all tell me that the ordinary veggie burger that they used to serve was better. At that point, they hint that they were strong-armed by their distributor to server it. I personally reduced my meat consumption for environmental and health reasons, but when I want a burger, I get a burger.
  • therobot24 8y ago
    >> Ugh. First: The vegetarians that I know don't like meat. So making a veggie burger that tastes like the thing they don't like is just dumb. Anecdotal, but i think the aim wasn't just at vegetarians, but also meat eaters who want to eat healthier. >> Second: When I tasted an Impossible Burger, it was awful. It tasted like a horrible veggie burger. I've also had an impossible burger, tasted fine to me. Perhaps your's wasn't cooked correctly?
  • lawlessone 8y ago
    >The vegetarians that I know don't like meat. So making a veggie burger that tastes like the thing they don't like is just dumb. I like meat so i'll give it a try. If it's a choice between me eating junk food that's killing animals and earth, and eating this junkfood that is probably very slightly better for those and my health then i guess this will work.
  • Pfhreak 8y ago
    I'm a vegetarian. I love meat. I'd eat meat all the time if I knew it didn't cause horrifying suffering and environmental damage. I've had the impossible burger (and liked it) as well, and on a highly mass produced burger like the whopper I'm willing to bet it's close to the real thing.
• hugg 8y ago
  Is it really better to make something "like" a meat product instead of just making a good vegan/vegetarian product? Since going lacto-ovo vegetarian myself, I just want tasty food, doesn't matter if it's "like" a meat product.
  • Touche 8y ago
    Same here, I prefer a black bean burger to one of these. I don't dislike the impossible burger but still have the uncanny valley sensation while eating them.
  • 54mf 8y ago
    Yes, it is better! Part of the goal is to provide a "gateway patty" to make it easier for meat-eaters to reduce their consumption. Good for their health, good for the environment, good for the animals. (Also, I've been vegan for years and _love_ the Impossible burger.)
    • hugg 8y ago
      I guess over the years I've lost some perspective :). Thanks for your reply.
    • malvosenior 8y ago
      > Good for their health It's definitely not clear that eating meat is bad for your health. In fact there's plenty of evidence to suggest it's good for you.
      • Touche 8y ago
        Also the impossible burger has about the same amount of calories as an 80% lean ground beef burger, so it's no better as far as calories are concerned.
  • breakingcups 8y ago
    Speaking just for myself, yes a meat-replacement that tastes and feels very similar to real meat would be a huge step towards me eating less or no meat. There's a subset of people who are content with good vegan or vegetarian food. That set doesn't include me. I would however like to not eat meat anymore for ethical reasons. I lack the willpower however to commit to vegetarian and vegan food, because I absolutely do not like those dishes and I don't have the mental headspace to tackle that alongside with a dozen other improvements I'm trying to make in my life (eg. producing less trash, staying healthy, charity work, etc.) Compare it to the vape-pens that can replace smoking a cigarette. I'm not well versed enough to know if the numbers back up my intuition on this, but on face value I'd say that if vape-pens are available to help the subset of people who would like to stop smoking but are finding it too hard, why would that be a bad thing? The people who want to stop smoking completely can still do so.
• notwhereyouare 8y ago
  I tried the impossible burger and personally didn't notice a difference. The boyfriend tried a bite, and liked it, but could taste something off. I'm kinda excited to see where both the impossible burger goes, and where other restaurants take this. Also for the price to come down, it was like $3 more than the boyfriend's burger
  • 54mf 8y ago
    I'm hoping the Burger King trial goes well so we can get nationwide expansion, in large part to help bring the price down. That premium is still a little rough, Impossible is in a lot of restaurants but doesn't have the in-store presence that Beyond Meat has at the moment. Scale, scale, scale!
    • astura 8y ago
      The newest version of the Impossible Burger is planning on being sold in stores. The older version only is in restaurants.
  • TheTruth1234 8y ago
    >>I tried the impossible burger and personally didn't notice a difference. That makes sense because I reckon you're not actually tasting much meat in the real Whopper. It's just salt and flavours from the other ingredients. When people say that the beefless 'Impossible Burger' is problematic because it's fully processed ... I say, so what's the difference?
  • belltaco 8y ago
    There's a version 2.0 with different ingredients that supposedly tastes even closer to real meat. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18855695 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18855695 I tried version 1 and it tasted indistinguishable from meat.
    • gnicholas 8y ago
      I’m curious about this. I had the first generation many times and found it to be pretty good. After the second generation came out, I went to my favorite place to get the IB (Gotts in Palo Alto) and asked if they had the new recipe. They seemed uncertain at first but then said they did. I ordered it and it was fine, but not as good as I’d seen in online reviews. Honestly, if I was told it was the first generation, I would have believed it. I wonder if some restaurants are still working through their stock of the first generation patties?
• deleted 8y ago
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• dkobia 8y ago
  Impossible burgers are awesome and I've had quite a few. It also really depends on how it's made and how it's dressed up - as with any burger. My only lingering issue is that it is a highly processed food, and psychologically it helps to know what you're eating.
  • joombaga 8y ago
    You can still know what you're eating in a highly processed food, right?
  • cowkingdeluxe 8y ago
    They are also typically really high calorie (not that it's much different from a regular beef patty).
    • SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
      Yeah, it's basically an ethical burger, which, if that's what you're looking for, that's great. While I can tell it tastes different, when dressed up in a burger it hits the spot just like a hamburger does. The problem is when people try and convince themselves that just because it's vegetarian it's healthy, which isn't the case at all. After all, Oreo's are vegan.
  • danans 8y ago
    > My only lingering issue is that it is a highly processed food As is a huge portion of the food consumed by people today, including things that are marketed as forms of meat. The difference here is that the climate impact of mass-production of beef and the associated mass scale animal cruelty is mitigated. Quoting from one of my favorite recent commentators on this subject (https://granolashotgun.com/2019/03/12/bite-me/ https://granolashotgun.com/2019/03/12/bite-me/): "If you think all this talk of laboratory food is ridiculous or unappealing you really need to spend some time discovering where your current food supply comes from. Most of the nitrogen molecules in your body right now were created in a factory using the Haber Bosch method. Natural gas is used to fix atmospheric nitrogen into a usable form needed by plants. Enormous amounts of this synthetic fertilizer is what makes it possible to feed seven billion people. Take away that factory made nitrogen and our crop yields would drop like a stone. Without Haber Bosch nitrogen half the humans on the planet would starve to death. Synthetic food grown in fermentation vats is just a matter of cutting out the inefficient middle steps of agriculture. Like it or not it’s coming to fish sticks, chicken nuggets, and meatballs near you. And you might not even notice."
• badairfart 8y ago
  They're really decent tasting, and it's exciting as a gateway to vegetarianism. I personally like veggie burgers that don't try to be meat better, but there's still a market for meat-likes. One thing that gets me though: They smell terrible. I've cooked them in my house and have to air the place out afterwards. It's like an awful chemical plant fart. I'll never cook one in my house again.
  • philipkglass 8y ago
    The Impossible Burger patty is not available in grocery stores yet. I suspect that you are thinking of the Beyond Meat patties, which are sold in grocery stores and do smell unappealing while cooking.
• deleted 8y ago
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• ortusdux 8y ago
  The life cycle analysis for the patty is impressive. Not sure how it stacks up when combined as a whole package. https://impossiblefoods.app.box.com/s/edwcfyvojzsvzn5d633dxt4c4ehyzqq3 https://impossiblefoods.app.box.com/s/edwcfyvojzsvzn5d633dxt...
• PurpleRamen 8y ago
  Damn, this day is ruining me. Took me way too long to realize that the title has beef-less written, not bee-less. Anyway, Fast Food-Franchises are IMHO the perfect breeding-ground to raise lab-grown meat to success. Most of their meat is processed to a degree, that you can't taste the original texture or figure out their real source of it. And they are one of the biggest sellers for meat. Removing this chain will be a big service for environment.
  • ClassyJacket 8y ago
    I agree, but Impossible isn't lab grown meat, it's just made from plants. https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018937494-What-are-the-ingredients- https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/3600189374...
    • PurpleRamen 8y ago
      Oh, thx! TIL. Seems I had a bad misconception here. This brand is not available in my country and I only ever heard of indirectly. But reading up on it, I see where it's coming from.
      • WhompingWindows 8y ago
        The original article states that, maybe read the article before commenting.
• istjohn 8y ago
  I really hope McDonalds adds a veggie burger to their menu soon, too. I try to avoid meat, but often end up eating it in fast food for the convenience and due to a lack of alternatives.
  • robin_reala 8y ago
    Where are you? There’s a full vegetarian menu in Sweden: https://www.mcdonalds.com/se/sv-se/hela-menyn/vegetariskt.html https://www.mcdonalds.com/se/sv-se/hela-menyn/vegetariskt.ht...
    • lm28469 8y ago
      I saw these menus in France, Germany and UK too. Looks like it isn't available in the US though, https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/about-our-food/our-food-your-questions/vegetarian-and-vegan.html https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/about-our-food/our-food-y...
      • aitchnyu 8y ago
        And I thought India was the only place McDonalds, Burger King and KFC have a vegetarian menu.
    • newhotelowner 8y ago
      That looks pretty good. They should serve this in America.
  • kawsper 8y ago
    They already have introduced a vegan burger, the McVegan, in some countries, they have been testing it in Finland and Sweden, https://www.mcdonalds.com/se/sv-se/product/mcvegan.html https://www.mcdonalds.com/se/sv-se/product/mcvegan.html
  • TN1ck 8y ago
    It seems that in some places they already have one, in germany we have the Veggie-Burger TS https://www.mcdonalds.de/de/produkte/produkt-profil?productName=veggieburger_ts https://www.mcdonalds.de/de/produkte/produkt-profil?productN.... I liked it when I tried.
• Scoundreller 8y ago
  In terms of resources used in their production, a $6 burger expends more resources than a $3 burger. For those worried about the ethics of eating animals, I can understand the extra $3. For those just worried about other wastes (eg: losing 90% of the food value by feeding it to cattle), this isn’t a magic bullet, for now. Those extra $3 went into something else, whether it was a complicated energy-intense process, or luxury vacations for the patent owners of the process. A $4 beef burger where $1 went toward reforestation or some other project may have the most impact over a $3 beef burger or $6 Impossible burger.
  • bckygldstn 8y ago
    That would only be true if meat production costs accounted for externalities. That $3 meat burger might cause $7 of damage to the environment.
  • ForHackernews 8y ago
    You really cannot strictly equate price with "resources" like this. Does a $10,000 designer shirt require 1,000 times the resources of a $10 t-shirt to produce? I imagine they are charging a premium for the impossible burger because it's a novelty and they think they can get it. Time will tell if that pricing model is sustainable in the long run.
    • Scoundreller 8y ago
      I said production costs or fancy vacations to the process owners. Ie: cost + profit = price. The $10000 shirt may pay for a lot of “designers” to tour the world about how great their shirt is, or for a celebrity to build a bigger house in exchange for an endorsement. Or it could pay for $9990 in subsidizing reforestation, but doubtful.
      • ForHackernews 8y ago
        A more profitable alternative to meat that's popular with the mass market would be a huge victory for conservation and animal rights. Even if you hate those greedy rich people, their greed will mean their interests (more profit) will align with yours (fewer mistreated animals, less land devoted to meat-production). Holding out for the capitalists to spontaneously get religion ("$9990 in subsidizing reforestation") seems like a losing bet here.
• astura 8y ago
  I'll 100% be giving it a try (I'm already a long time vegetarian though). I like that it's BK doing this because BK has served a veggie burger (Morningstar Farms Patty) for around ~14 years, so they should be familiar with the demand for meatless products. I remember when they first introduced a veggie burger, I wasn't sure the demand would be there, but it seems to have worked out. So it remains to be seen if they'll keep the Morningstar version too. I've never had a real Whopper, so I can't be comparing the two.
  • moosey 8y ago
    Carl's also has the beyond burger, which I personally think is superior. My wife disagrees, and prefers your standard veggie burgers (we are vegans of 15 years).
    • jfengel 8y ago
      I haven't been able to compare the Impossible Burger. I had a Beyond Burger, and it was very good. If somebody were to hand it to a meat eater at a cookout, without calling attention to it, they'd eat it without noticing the switch. Pile on a few toppings (which people usually do because of the flavorless nature of most fast-food and grocery-store beef), and most people would be hard pressed to tell the difference in a blind tasting. It's pretty clear that it's not beef if you're looking for it, but not nearly as distinct as your standard veggie burgers. Most vegans, though, aren't especially craving meat simulacra. I think of them more as transitional for meat eaters rather than as targeting vegans.
      • vwarner1411 8y ago
        I too prefer the Beyond Meat burger to the Impossible Burger, but I don't know about a meat eater not noticing. I love meat - especially beef, but lately I've also been trying meat alternatives. Just recently, I ordered an Impossible Burger, and it just left me wanting beef. It's not that it was bad - the burger looked similar to beef, and was juicy and delicious. But it didnt taste like beef. Maybe it's different for others, but for me, the beef is the spotlight of a burger. Beyond and Impossible haven't gotten that beefy taste - at least to my buds. When I cook a Beyond Meat burger at home, I usually add a little butter - I dont think there is enough fat, and I also add some Takii umami powder (which I believe is just salt, and ground up mushrooms). I think those additions help the illusion of beef. You could probably also cook the burger in rendered beef fat, and that would probably really help the beef flavor...probably defeating the point of meat alternatives though. I wish I could cook an Impossible at home, just to experiment.
• ams6110 8y ago
  "Tastes like a real Whopper" is a backhanded complement if I ever heard one. One of the worst burgers you can buy.
  • andygates 8y ago
    "Tastes like this mass-market volume selling product" is a great way to sell a product in volume to the masses.
• ourmandave 8y ago
  Does it smell like beef when cooking? Part of BK's draw for me is the place smells like a backyard cook out.
  • cannonedhamster 8y ago
    The smells in some places are specifically manufactured. I'm sure the BK will still smell like a BK as this will be a minority of eaters.
    • SteveNuts 8y ago
      Yeah, BK tastes like that fake smoke flavor stuff I don't like it.
• crazygringo 8y ago
  I had the impossible burger at Momofuku and... it's just nothing like a burger, the two big differences being in flavor and in texture. (It looks the same as a regular burger.) In flavor, it just doesn't have it. It has the same char flavor that a burger has... but without any meat flavor behind it, which is of course most of the flavor of a hamburger. Which makes sense, of course, because there's no meat. It's like picking up what you think is a Coke only when you taste it it's just sparkling water. And then in texture it's quite different too. As if meat, instead of being ground (with all the satisfying texture that still has), were somehow blended into something more like a smooth paste before cooking. It isn't physically substantial or satisfying to chew, just mushy. Since I'm not vegetarian, it's definitely not something I would ever order again because it doesn't have flavor and doesn't have texture. I'm not even talking about as a substitute, I'm just talking about as food period. Just give me some roasted veggies instead which have both flavor and texture. I mean, I love vegetables. Or if you want a vegetarian "burger", a meaty Portobello mushroom is waaaay tastier. But the Impossible Burger just feels like the worst of all worlds -- not satisfying like meat (just nowhere close), but also not satisfying as vegetables or any kind of "real food" at all.
  • bitesociety 8y ago
    Which version did you have? Was it 2.0?
  • belltaco 8y ago
    Maybe try version 2.0, if that wasn't version 2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18855695 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18855695
    • 13rac1 8y ago
      There is a significant difference between the v1 and v2. v1 is a reasonable copy of a meat burger. v2 is nearly indistinguishable. Many restaurants are just now finishing up their v1 stock, so you may still see it around.
• dangerboysteve 8y ago
  The A&W chain in Canada has had the "Beyond Meat" burger for over 1 year and its been a massive success for them. https://web.aw.ca/en/our-menu/burgers/beyond-meat-burger https://web.aw.ca/en/our-menu/burgers/beyond-meat-burger
  • cknoxrun 8y ago
    I love these burgers! They have actually helped me transition to completely beef-free since they address that occasional fast food burger craving. It’s interesting to note that A&W Canada is entirely separate from A&W in the US. A&W Canada is much higher quality.
    • dimitrov 8y ago
      It was honestly a shock how terrible the US A&W was when I tried it. Canada's A&W is indeed MUCH better.
  • xvf22 8y ago
    Really enjoy them but I found they were a bit too thin from A&W. Managed to get the retail version (4oz vs the A&W 3oz) and was really impressed. There is one thing that I've found with them that I don't like. They have a very peculiar smell (think cat food) while cooking which tends to linger.
    • dangerboysteve 8y ago
      I find the condiments on the burgers to be the more pronounced taste. I don't get that beefy flavor but its a nice alternative.
• XaspR8d 8y ago
  White Castle has had Impossible Burgers available for about a year now. Just interesting to see the trend emerging from what I would consider the "bottom-most" market segment. I suppose they had the most to gain from drawing in a meat-averse audience. Whatever your feelings on this particular product, it seems that the perhaps-inevitable decline of the traditional meat industry is going to take place on many fronts (clean meats, plant hemes, alternative proteins, locavore provider networks, increased availability of traditional vegetarian cuisines).
  • peterwwillis 8y ago
    I had the White Castle version, and my estimation is how it's cooked will be the biggest determining factor in its taste. Sadly, all the big fast food joints can't cook a burger worth a crap, so this plant burger probably won't sell much under their brands.
  • jrochkind1 8y ago
    You also can't really taste the beef in a white castle anyway! (And don't get me wrong, I'm a white castle fan. I also would not be shocked if I can't tell the difference between beyond and beef in a white castle. I definitely can in a full size burger).
  • sampo 8y ago
    The patty in the normal $1 White Castle slider is so thin, that the $2 Impossible Slider feels like an improvement already just because the patty is thicker.
  • dsfyu404ed 8y ago
    > Just interesting to see the trend emerging from what I would consider the "bottom-most" market segment. Competition and innovation can be found wherever margins are thin.
  • tracker1 8y ago
    If it's cheaper than real meat... it doesn't surprise me at all.
• jsnider3 8y ago
  The real impact of this kind of technology will be when it becomes cheaper and starts to interest the general public.
  • Just_Smith 8y ago
    Agreed - As someone who enjoys the taste and the effort being made, Impossible burgers still feel very much like a novelty. There are several restaurants in my area serving Impossible burgers, but they are usually the most expensive burger on the menu. Given that this is going to be a dollar more than a standard whopper, it'll cost the same as a double whopper. With that, the only real incentive to eat the impossible whopper over the standard whopper would be personal motivation to eat less meat. And I'll hazard a guess that most people eating Burger King aren't immediately concerned with cutting down their meat consumption.
    • username223 8y ago
      Agreed as well. I find this encouraging given beef's large carbon footprint, and think low-grade burgers are the best target for replacement by synthetics (forget trying to engineer a steak). I don't expect them to become popular until they're almost indistinguishable and at least as cheap, but I think that could happen soon.
  • cannonedhamster 8y ago
    It's already most likely cheaper when you take into account false pricing signals due to the fact that the US meat industry is heavily subsidized through taxation. Add to that lower healthcare costs due to less heart disease and realistically it should be pretty cheap comparatively. I've had this burger and I prefer the Beyond Burger, but the meat eaters that had it said it tasted just like a run of the mill fast food burger, so I'm hoping that it takes off with the health and environmentally conscious. If anyone can really make this work I'm thinking Burger King or McDonalds could, they are both excellent logistically and process wise. This is exciting news in the food world and opens up a lot of choices for people looking for less heavy food choices.
• pmann 8y ago
  The article says a 90% reduction in cholesterol for the impossible burger, but shouldn't a vegetarian option have 0 cholesterol?
  • cannonedhamster 8y ago
    Fats and oils have cholesterol. It's generally healthier types and lower amounts than meat sources though. It's not always zero.
    • NoPiece 8y ago
      Calling out the cholesterol is kind of a distraction, because it is no longer what is associated with heart disease. The level of saturated fat in the impossible burger is actually very high. Impossible Burger, for example, has more than double the saturated fat of an 85% lean beef burger: 3.6 grams per ounce (derived from coconut oil) versus 1.7. https://www.foodandwine.com/news/great-veggie-burger-debate-are-they-actually-good-you https://www.foodandwine.com/news/great-veggie-burger-debate-... I know there is debate about the link between saturated fat and heart disease, and further question about the specific types of saturated fat in coconut oil. I have no idea what the truth is, but if you are on a low fat diet, impossible burger isn't a good substitute for beef. I've tried impossible burger, and thought it was very good, so I'd eat it just for the flavor.
      • josefresco 8y ago
        > The level of saturated fat in the impossible burger is actually very high. Also high in sodium, which is part of the reason why it's so yummy (to some)
• yumraj 8y ago
  I'm curious as to how Impossible burger compares on the health impact. I understand that it's plant based, but it seems to be highly processed and perhaps (not sure) loaded with bunch of chemicals and potentially unhealthy ingredients that make it taste like meat. Hopefully that is not the case and it's not just a meat substitute but is also healthy. Can anyone with more details please opine?
  • veryworried 8y ago
    It is basically the vegetarian version of an unhealthy burger. If you wouldn’t normally eat a whopper for health reasons, then you have no reason to start eating this.
    • rhn_mk1 8y ago
      Can you provide details on that?
      • BoorishBears 8y ago
        I made a comment above: Mayonnaise and cheese alone probably add almost as many calories as a hamburger patty some of their burgers Removing the patty might even make it less healthy if it doesn't satiate you as much as it would otherwise
        • dmix 8y ago
          I'd be more concerned about the carbs from the bun's bread, which was probably sweetened with corn syrup, than the calories in the cheese.
          • BoorishBears 8y ago
            Well that's kind of my point... a burger isn't a healthy thing, the burger patty is probably the most healthy part of it outside of plain vegetable toppings
    • 8y ago
• ebg13 8y ago
  People should be aware that Burger King has had (MorningStar) veggie burgers for a very long time that they just don't broadcast. This announcement is not about introducing a vegetarian patty but rather about introducing a _specific_ vegetarian patty.
  • josefresco 8y ago
    FYI there looks to be less saturated fat, and sodium in a MorningStar burger compared with the Impossible. *http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00028989100689 http://smartlabel.kelloggs.com/Product/Index/00028989100689
    • shaklee3 8y ago
      But it tastes like a patty of vegetables instead of a mock meat burger. Not really even the same category.
    • djakjxnanjak 8y ago
      My first complaint about the nutrition of the Morningstar burger is the ratio of carbs to protien. Restaurants are already throwing tons of carbs at me. I really want protein in my burger patty.
      • black-tea 8y ago
        Don't worry about it. You probably eat too much protein anyway. Give it a few years and protein will be the enemy and everyone will be rediscovering carbs. Just eat good old fashioned food, a bit of everything, and what you like. Do you know anyone who lived to 100 that even knows what a "carb" is?
        • jniedrauer 8y ago
          If I wanted a lot of carbs with some protein, I could always eat quinoa or something. There's no shortage of options there. What's interesting here is a vegan protein source that's actually a nearly pure protein source. When you are targeting specific macros for athletic reasons, a pure protein source is pretty much a requirement. During aggressive cuts, you require a tremendous amount of protein to prevent muscle wasting. For endurance athletes, low carb diets can be useful for increasing lactate threshold. There are also low carb requirements for diabetes and epilepsy.
• atomical 8y ago
  The real change is going to happen when people can't tell a difference in taste and Walmart starts selling synthetic meat at a substantial discount to meat. At that point the consumer won't care just like the consumer doesn't care if their strawberry flavored cereal has real strawberries in it.
  • SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
    Strawberry flavoured cereal and synthetic meats are miles apart - if we're talking lab grown meat that's amazing - it's tender meat that has no ethical issues. If you're talking the impossible burger, that's a burger that again has no ethical issues and a minor compromise in taste. Nutritionally it's basically equivalent to a normal burger. Strawberry flavoured cereal is nothing like a strawberry, and can't possibly hope to emulate any of its properties (not even taste).
    • atomical 8y ago
      The HN crowd is not the typical consumer that shops at Walmart. The typical consumer buys things that they can afford and makes compromises on flavor. The ethical part won't effect demand just like it hasn't effected demand in the past. The price and taste will help consumers afford more meat. And I'm sure that they would agree that is a noble thing.
    • moosey 8y ago
      There can be ethical issues surrounding lab grown meat, mostly around how much energy it takes to produce lab grown meat, and the nature of that energy production. My guess is that beyond will soon be cheaper than regular meat, but that the requirements for creating lab grown are simply going to be too great to be able to compete economically or ecologically. I'm going to be very happy to be proven wrong someday, but that's my initial, knee-jerk reaction.
      • hkyeti 8y ago
        The lifecycle analysis I've studied showed it better than animal meat on every aspect including energy, do you have a link to show otherwise?
• interestica 8y ago
  Oh no? Burger Kind currently has the best veggie burger of any fast food chain. That char flavour sets it apart. Though maybe that will be in the new one too.
• prolepunk 8y ago
  This is a good thing. More vegetarian fast-food options are coming down the pipe. I've recently seen a few ads from Harvey's, went there and had a burger. It's not the same as beef but it's a burger. The good part of having a vegetarian burger is that I don't enter into catatonic state for about 1/2 hour after I had fast food. I can eat fast food when meat is replaced with something else.
• jvagner 8y ago
  Frankly, I'm a little tired of the meat-substitute products, as they don't taste as good nor are they likely to be as healthy as a proper, whole-food plant veggie burger. Impossible Burger 1.0 was vital wheat gluten based, and Impossible Burger 2.0 will be soy based. I'd probably rather have the 2nd over the first, but a lot of these announcements aren't specific about which formulation is being sold. I have tried the Impossible Burger in a number of places, and to my taste, it's inedible. My girlfriend likes to try them, and the best we've had so far is at a fish & steak place in Phoenix (Dillon's, out on the west side, near Sun City).
  • dfxm12 8y ago
    I would say Burger King isn't about healthy or good tasting, but rather fast, cheap and convenient.
    • jvagner 8y ago
      My comment was more about Impossible / Beyond, and their ilk, the ones taking in lots of investment money, and inking deals with fast food, and gourmet chains alike. Impossible started in "nicer" restaurants and is moving downmarket.
• deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
• buckthundaz 8y ago
  These are simply highly-processed patties. Here’s the full ingredient list for the new recipe: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Potato Protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Soy Protein Isolate, Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E), Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Sodium Ascorbate (Vitamin C), Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12. Contains: Soy [0] The vegetarian aspect is coincidence. Bernays-level marketing though. [0] - https://impossiblefoods.com/newrecipe/ https://impossiblefoods.com/newrecipe/
• sfopdxnonstop 8y ago
  I've always liked veggie burgers. The best ones are as good as very good hamburgers (in a different way). Some others are not so good.
• IronWolve 8y ago
  And those burger patties only have 5 carbs. So even Keto friendly. (minus bun).
• rconti 8y ago
  Wow, I had no idea Impossible Foods was HQ'd in Redwood City (my home).
• Accacin 8y ago
  I'd like to add that I see a lot of people saying, "If you're vegetarian/vegan why are you going Burger King?" - Well, I don't go often, but on the off chance that I'm with some friends and they go to a fast-food restaurant, it's much easier and less awkward if there's something I can eat too.
  • lucb1e 8y ago
    I go because it's quick, easy, and quite cheap (€2 for a veggie burger in Germany). For 4 bucks I'm full. Kebab is slightly more expensive and has meat, pizza is more expensive (also if you pick it up), and chinese/thai/vietnamese takeaway is more expensive. The snackbar (frituur) might come close, but those don't seem to exist outside of NL/BE. I'm not actually vegetarian, but trying to eat less meat, mcdonald's makes that extremely easy. When we go, it's quite a no-brainer to take that option.
    • anticensor 8y ago
      Here in Turkey, McDonalds, mid-size pizza and kebab costs the same (~₺25).
  • pkaye 8y ago
    I think impossible foods is primarily targeting meat eaters who want to cut back on consumption. They go to lots of effort to replicate taste of meat.
  • scott_s 8y ago
    Same. When traveling with a group of friends, fast food is sometimes the easiest thing to do. I've gotten lucky recently as some of the breakfast basics are still available at night.
  • marzell 8y ago
    It's similar to saying, "if you care about your health, why are you going to Burger King". We all make compromises (not saying vegans eat meat though) so I think this is a fair analogy... as an omnivore, I like that if I do decide to compromise and get food from a fast food restaurant, I at least have this as another option that seems healthier for me and the environment than other options on their menu. FWIW I've tried the Beyond Burger at Carl's Jr. and liked it for the same reasons. I enjoyed it and would consider getting it again if I went there in the future.
• scott_s 8y ago
  The Impossible Burger is the best veggie burger I've ever had. I was a vegetarian for 10 years, and have now been a pescatarian for 8 years. It has been 18 years since I have had a proper cheeseburger, and since then I have had many thousands of veggie burgers. Cheeseburgers are probably my favorite food, and I haven't had one in 18 years. If someone told me that the world would end tomorrow, I would go out and eat a proper cheeseburger. I have some experience in this area, is what I'm trying to say. The flavor and texture is the closest to actual meat I've ever had. And that, then, is the key for a lot of people: they don't want a veggie burger that simulates meat. Which is fine! I do, and I imagine the market for close-to-meat veggie burgers is bigger than obviously-not-meat veggie burgers. Others in the thread have mentioned the Beyond Burger, which is also good. But the Impossible Burger, for me, is way better. I have had my Impossible Burgers at Bareburger. At home, I went with Morningstar Farm's Grillers Prime for a long time, but about a year ago they changed the recipe, and I did their black bean for a while. I have since discovered if I season the Griller's Prime while I'm frying it, it comes out much better.
  • spraak 8y ago
    Why don't you think that fish is meat?
    • scott_s 8y ago
      It is, if you define it that way. If my text bothers you because I did not consider fish to be meat, then just replace "meat" with "beef."
    • treve 8y ago
      I feel there's a different way to ask this question and potentially get a better answer.
      • hanniabu 8y ago
        I don't think there's anything wrong with this question. What's a better way to ask?
• gnicholas 8y ago
  Are they cooked separately from the meat burgers? Some people don’t care, but some definitely do. Carl’s Jr. doesn’t keep their Beyond Burgers separate, apparently.
  • alpaca128 8y ago
    Just out of interest, what's the reasoning behind a strict separation of the two? I understand it in the case of gluten free products because that can really have health implications, but when you are vegan for ethical reasons it shouldn't make a difference, right? But I'd say this is great news either way. I like meat, but when there's a way to get the same taste and texture without the bad consequences for animals and environment I'm all for it, and I'm sure many others are the same.
    • ikeboy 8y ago
      If it's for religious reasons (kosher, halal, etc) then those rules apply
      • jdietrich 8y ago
        The majority of the world's vegetarians are Hindus, who regard cows as sacred and consider beef to be strictly taboo.
    • scott_s 8y ago
      For some vegetarians and vegans, they are greatly troubled if they consume even any animal by-product. There was a point when I felt this way; I stopped after a while, and told people "Don't worry, I'm not religious about it." I think there can be digestive concerns; eating a non-meat thing that was soaked in beef-grease may cause digestive trouble for someone who hasn't had beef in a very long time. But I've also heard of former vegetarians who had no trouble when they started eating meat again. Personally, I've suspected if some minor digestive trouble after various meals was caused by stray meat by-products making their way into my food, but I can't be sure what caused it.
• johnchristopher 8y ago
  I am in a pizzeria right now and reading this. Looking at the pizza being prepared and thinking... Can we already have ham-like meat, like those slices they put on pizzas ? Or is it only beef-like meat for now?
  • nickik 8y ago
    The technology is more or less there. But it would require a significant amount of actual product development. The technology is capable of producing pretty much every meat, even new kinds of meat that smell like meat but where evolution did not conveniently evolve an animal to produce it. For the company the issue is scale, and since the beef market is huge and profitable they are focusing on scale, more then on introducing other products.
    • johnchristopher 8y ago
      Thanks. Can fish flesh be done as well?
      • hkyeti 8y ago
        Yes, the gardein fishless fillet has convinced several of my omnivore friends they are eating real fish. Same I've heard for the ocean hugger raw tuna sushi etc
        • johnchristopher 8y ago
          That's exciting, I wish I could try it. So it means we can have sushis ?
          • hkyeti 8y ago
            Yep! I'm an angel investor in them from outside of the U.S. so I haven't tried it myself but friends who have say it's great: https://oceanhuggerfoods.com/store-locator https://oceanhuggerfoods.com/store-locator
• cat199 8y ago
  Really looking forward to an expedia-like ad featuring charleton heston
• geddy 8y ago
  This is great. The more places people can choose not to eat meat, the better. Personally I don’t foresee this demographic trying anything new, but for those who never eat meat or fast food and suddenly find ourselves in a pitstop somewhere, it’s great to know that we’d have something to eat that isn’t baby carrots and hummus.
• danans 8y ago
  The most interesting thing about this particular announcement is that it may normalize plant-derived meat-substitutes among the typical fast-food-burger eating population, and not just the mostly-vegetarian folks (like myself) who will spend $10 on an Impossible Burger at a fancy sports bar. Within a decade this might just be normalized, and nobody will make much of it.
  • tracker1 8y ago
    It's already snuck in with a lot of fast food taco meats. Soy and Legume allergies aren't that uncommon... I don't mind as long as its' clearly labelled... I have a problem when it's labelled as "beef" or left to ambiguity.
    • meowface 8y ago
      As a vegetarian with an allergy to all legumes, including soy, life is rough sometimes.
  • thinkcontext 8y ago
    I agree, this could be big. The health implications could be a driver of this, consider how many people there are with high cholesterol that should be eating less beef. And then think about how many health driven alternative products there are, eg diet soda, margarine, alt-milks, etc that really can take off in the mainstream once big budget marketing gets behind it.
    • supuun 8y ago
      iirc margarine is really unhealthy tho
      • thinkcontext 8y ago
        Whether that is true or not is (unfortunately) less important than big marketing saying its healthier.
    • 8y ago
• Karunamon 8y ago
  I'm really looking forward to this. As far as I can tell, no restaurant or store sells Impossible burgers in my city or anywhere in reasonable driving distance, so this will be my first opportunity to try one. If they're as good as people tend to think they are, I'll have no issue moving my whopper habit over to these :D
• mesozoic 8y ago
  While not exactly tasting like beef the Impossible foods "Meat" is actually quite good in it's own right. I'll probably check this out.
• sethbannon 8y ago
  Every modern society, looking back fifty years, condemns behavior once considered normal (male-only voting, interracial marriage bans, jailing gays, etc). I'm convinced industrial animal agriculture will be one of the things today's society is condemned for, fifty years from now.
  • cogman10 8y ago
    I don't think that will happen until we get both cheaper and better animal product substitutes. Vegan substitutes usually fail at both which means they are niche mid-upper class foods.
    • atomwaffel 8y ago
      Although that seems like it would hopefully fix itself as demand for vegan substitutes increases. The Impossible Burger is a good example of a vegan substitute that tastes uncannily like the thing it imitates. As for cost, it seems intuitive that turning soy into a milk substitute would be cheaper than feeding soy to a cow and milking it if both were done on the same scale. On top of that, some countries tax substitutes higher than the products they replace. In Germany, for example, non-dairy milk has a VAT rate of 19% while dairy milk gets the reduced 7% rate for staple foods.
    • hkyeti 8y ago
      The cost curve is rapidly decreasing. Within 5 years, plant-based meats cheaper and tastier than meat. The food world is about to be turned upside down (for the better)
  • WhompingWindows 8y ago
    The bias inherent in our psychology is very intriguing. We are still jailing blacks/men disproportionately, marriage between men was not allowed (and is not many places) until recently, we are still locking up non-violent drug offenders while murderers and rapists get paroled. And yet, there is only a token amount of outrage about these topics. Surely, we tell ourselves, we are notmaking the same ethical mistakes as "moderates" in totalitarian states or slave-holding economies; specifically, how are we much better, we who do not stand up and criticize, but rather tacitly condone these evil practices by our inaction? In the marketplace of ideas, the criticisms of these obviously abhorrent practices simply do not get much currency. Where does the failed war on drugs rank in terms of politically important issues? How about wage slavery, student-loan-indentured servitude, or industrial meat farming? I don't know much, but I do know that people form habits and tend to set their beliefs/wants in stone, such that they will simply overlook suffering caused by their meat eating, tough on crime stances, etc. If it stands in the way of their bacon cheeseburger, most people simply don't spare a thought for others' suffering.
• xutopia 8y ago
  I tried the V1 and found it lacking in terms of flavour and texture. It looked decent until you bite into it, at which point it looked less like meat and more like ground up veggies. I applaud the effort and look forward to tasting V2. That said I don't believe it is necessarily healthier for someone.
  • thinkcontext 8y ago
    Why don't you think it would be healthier for some? The article claims 90% less cholesterol. There are many millions of people that have high cholesterol and $billions is spent to control it and many more $billions is spent on the heart disease consequences. Everything I've read says red meat is one of if not the biggest contributor to high cholesterol.
• lgleason 8y ago
  Years ago I worked at a Burger King in the kitchen and someone ordered a vegetarian Whopper. We all looked at each other wondering how to do that when the manager came back and instructed us to make a Whopper without the meat patty. IE: A bun, with Mayo, lettuce, tomato, onion, ketchup and pickles. This sounds a lot more appetizing than what we served that day...
• diogenescynic 8y ago
  In Canada, they already have Beyond Meat patties.
• mistersys 8y ago
  This is so important. I do eat meat (actually quit a lot right now due to health experiments) and I don't think the vegetarian movement will significantly reduce our meat consumption. While I can't argue that animals should have the same rights as humans, I believe our psychology is wired for empathy even of animals and that may be the only "collectively objective' moral compass we have as humans. The better we treat animals, the more resources we consume to produce meat. Lab-grown meat startups IMO have incredible potential to not only solve this problem but also make high quality meat incredible cheap. Great space to follow. Note: of coarse the impossible burger isn't lab-grown, but they're working on that.
• stevehiehn 8y ago
  Oh, Haha, I thought this was an April fools prank
• flowardnut 8y ago
  I've had an impossible burger, and cooked very well it almost made me pull my waiter aside and verify I wasn't eating meat. Also ate meat for decades, so I also am very familiar with it.
  • nightski 8y ago
    Weird, I tried it and wanted to like it simply because it was higher in fat and lower carb than your traditional veggie burger - but it was very obvious I was eating fake meat. It was ok, I'd eat it again. But I would not replace real beef with it any time soon. But I am keto. So I am not eating it with a bun and tons of sugary sauces to cover up the meat flavor. You can really tell the quality of a burger (meat or not) when you eat it wrapped in lettuce.
    • billhathaway 8y ago
      I had the v2 impossible burger a few weeks ago. It felt close to regular meat, had a similar mouth feel, but the flavor was a bit off so I only ate two bites. I'm looking forward to trying their next version.
    • plemer 8y ago
      Similar experience: I wanted to like it, but found that, at best, it tasted like meat I wouldn't eat again. Nevertheless, for the sake of the environment and industrially farmed animals, it's good to see meat substitutes progressing into the mainstream.
      • nightski 8y ago
        I'd prefer just more humane animal farming vs. fake meat. It may be more expensive - but if we incentivized humane farming of animals as much as we subsidized corn and/or wheat it might not be that bad (or just got rid of subsidies altogether). I also think the environmental cost of plant farming is vastly underrated.
        • hexane360 8y ago
• 01100011 8y ago
  I'm allergic to soy protein, so I was bummed to hear that the impossible burger is switching to it. Same thing with Soylent. I guess if it's hydrolyzed I might be able to tolerate it, but I'm pretty sure they're using concentrate because it's cheaper.
• cmurf 8y ago
  https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018939274-What-are-the-nutrition-facts- https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/3600189392... I'm a little surprised the fiber is 3g, taht seems low seeing as it's made from plants. But then an e.g. Morningstar Farm black bean patty has 4g fiber and 1/3 the protein. I had one at a restaurant just last week, $3 up charge made it an $18 burger. I'm not sure about that. But I doubt I'd have guessed it wasn't cow had I not ordered it myself. Perhaps eventually this or something like it becomes the default and it's a $3 up charge for animal meat. Meanwhile Native Foods makes their own burgers from plants rather than using a name brand 3rd party product, and manages to put together a pretty good $12-13 burger that includes a side. It's a bigger pile of fiber. (I'm not a vegetarian let alone vegan.)
• MuffinFlavored 8y ago
  How do the other components of a typical Burger King meal stack up health wise, ignoring the patty? Bun, cheese, condiments, fries, seasoning? Is it "not that bad", or should the average Joe still feel guilty about indulging?
  • agentdrtran 8y ago
    This is mentioned in the article. Same amount of protein, slightly less fat, 90% less cholesterol.
• jedberg 8y ago
  FYI for a lot of folks in here who may not know, Taco Bell is vegan certified. If you order something vegan they will prep it separately and make sure no animal products touched your food. I suspect they might add Impossible Meat (or a competitor) some time soon.
  • 1024core 8y ago
    > Taco Bell is vegan certified. I did not know that! Thanks, that's good to know.
  • avree 8y ago
    Taco Bell and Burger King are two of the only chains when traveling who will (reliably) vegan/halal certify. Makes sense why we're seeing this adoption from BK early.
  • tfehring 8y ago
    Yep, I stopped eating Taco Bell in my early 20s once I couldn't stomach it anymore, but I started getting it again when I went vegan and it's great. I think the traditional grossness of it must come from their weird sauces, or maybe from fillers in their meat. They're still $1 burritos so I won't pretend the ingredients are the freshest or highest-quality, but vegan Taco Bell just tastes like normal food and not like, well, Taco Bell.
  • Wheaties466 8y ago
    del taco is about to roll out beyond tacos to all their locations. While its not a direct (size wise) competitor to taco bell. Their competitors already have made the first move.
• alexmingoia 8y ago
  If you want a cheaper alternative to the Beyond Burger or Impossible Burger, try MorningStar's "Meat Lovers" burger. IMO it's just as good, with 27g of protein and without as much saturated fat.
  • scott_s 8y ago
    For me, there is no comparison - and I say this as someone with a freezer full of Morningstar Farm veggie burgers and has consumed thousands of that brand in my life. The Meat Lovers burger is basically just a bigger Grillers Prime. Before cooking an Impossible Burger, it looks like ground beef, and the resulting veggie burger has striations and the cohesion yet crumbling nature of a real burger. Both the Meat Lovers and Grillers Prime look basically the same before and after cooking. (So much that my parents affectionately call them "hockey pucks.")
  • devmunchies 8y ago
    Their patties had eggs in them last I checked, but that was a couple of years ago. So not a direct replacement for the BB or the IB.
    • alexmingoia 8y ago
      Some of their products do, but not this one. This patty is called "Meat Lovers Vegan Burgers" https://www.morningstarfarms.com/products/msf-veggie-burgers-meat-lovers-vegan-burger.html https://www.morningstarfarms.com/products/msf-veggie-burgers...
• boynamedsue 8y ago
  I am a life-long vegetarian. I have eaten the Impossible Burger and I liked it. But there's something about engineered food that doesn't sit right. Am I alone?
  • mywittyname 8y ago
    I think it's appropriate to be worried. But I look at it this way: we can't make a lot of the foods we eat at home. I could not replicate white flour in my home at all. Same goes for many other staple ingredients that we mindlessly consume everyday (sugar, most grain meals like oat or cornmeal, most oils, chocolate).
• rglover 8y ago
  https://youtu.be/B3xY6Ffy_wE?t=81 https://youtu.be/B3xY6Ffy_wE?t=81
• simonw 8y ago
  I've tried them in a bunch of places, but the best impossible burger I've had is at Jardinière in Hayes Valley San Francisco. They're closing down on April 27th (after 21 years) so you have 4 weeks to try it. You don't need a reservation: the burger is available as bar food, so you can walk in any evening after 7pm and get one. Costs $16 I think. If you haven't tried one yet this is a great place to start.
• adrianmonk 8y ago
  Well, that's a funny coincidence. McDonald's Australia has an April Fool's joke about a McPickle Burger (https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvr3W-AjUWd/ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvr3W-AjUWd/) which you could, in a sense, call a goofy version of a veggie burger. Meanwhile, on the same day, their competitor is announcing an actual veggie burger.
  • bunderbunder 8y ago
    In the US, at least, before Burger King introduced their current veggie burger, they had something that wasn't far off from this. It wasn't posted on th emenu, but you could order a "vegetarian Whopper" that cost something like $0.50 and was just a Whopper where they left off the patty.
• Wistar 8y ago
  I've had both the original and, just this weekend, the new, version 2 Impossible burger. The new one is substantially better than the original and I think the original is quite good. Whereas the original is a bit dry, no matter where I have had it (HopDoddy in LA, Fat Burger and Earl's in Bellevue, WA), the new version has a better texture and flavor. I think it'd be hard to tell it apart from a decent beef burger although I am sure it won't stand up to a high-end, custom-grind type, beef burger. My Jewish fried rejoices in that she can now have cheeseburgers,
  • vanattab 8y ago
    Do Jews not eat beef? I thought it was mainly pork?
    • shaggyfrog 8y ago
      The prohibition is against meat and dairy simultaneously. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_and_meat_in_Jewish_law https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_and_meat_in_Jewish_law
      • gotocake 8y ago
        Speaking as a Jew, while this is accurate, it’s not that common in the US among non-orthodox families. There was a poll of American Jews a while ago that found less than a quarter keep kosher.
      • jonny_eh 8y ago
        And finding kosher beef. If you want a kosher burger, you usually need to buy the beef yourself and make your own burger.
        • markdown 8y ago
          Is it really that hard to find kosher beef in US restaurants? What about halal beef?
• homero 8y ago
  Carl's Jr already has the Beyond Meat. I can't wait for the lab grown meat versions.
• donum 8y ago
  Wow this is very interesting and I am very surprised by how much experience you guys have with this stuff. Does anybody know where I can order this in Germany?
• sebringj 8y ago
  The impossible 1 is super salty where I've had it in hop doddy and ruby's diner in SoCal. It reminded me more of mince meat type quality, passable but gross. I'm hoping 2 is perfect because I really would prefer to not have to eat cows and have that reduced carbon footprint along with better health. Win win win.
  • megaremote 8y ago
    Burgers are made from mince meat though, so I am not sure what you mean?
    • sebringj 8y ago
      Canned meat that tastes like cat pate although I assume because I've just smelled it so far (cat food). Not sure exactly sure how to describe the weirdness of the impossible 1.
• Animats 8y ago
  Aw, but it's only available in St. Louis MO right now. Even though it's made in Oakland CA.
• Yhippa 8y ago
  Where I currently work every now and then they have spaghetti and meatballs using the Impossible meat. I was so convinced that it was a legitimate substitute that I asked to see if I could just buy the meatballs straight-up to use at home. No dice. I can't wait until the time I can just get them from the grocery store.
• jniedrauer 8y ago
  Looks like the formula was originally based on seitan but is now based on soy. I've been experimenting with seitan recently in my own cooking. Its texture is almost perfect as a chicken substitute, but it's low in some important amino acids (lysine). It's very interesting that they've switched to a soy-based formula, since soy is a whole protein source. I may try to copy this at home...
• ryanmcbride 8y ago
  When I was vegetarian I really loved the Impossible burger when it was just coming out. I was amazed at how much it tasted like meat. Over time though it seems like most restaurants forgot how to cook them. I'd order one and it would be gray all the way through, cooked to hockey puck toughness. I stopped ordering them all together. My guess is that as it was offered longer, fewer people would order it since it was no longer a novelty, so the cooks would forget that they don't need nearly enough time as a normal beef burger. I'm no longer vegetarian but I'll definitely try v2 once it's more available.
• tonmoy 8y ago
  This may sound like a stupid question, but I am genuinely trying to know/see what people at HN think. Is it less ethical to kill and eat mammals/birds than plants? I know farming and eating animals is certainly worse for the environment, but I wanted to know the ethics aspects of it. Why is the life of a potato tree any less significant than a cow’s? Edit: wording
  • cmonnow 8y ago
    Probably the same reason why the life of a cow is apparently less significant than that of a human. There is a hierarchy of 'life'. Those who try to say 'All or Nothing' when it comes to harming a sentient being are either ignorant or simply trying to justify their meat-eating habits.
    • tonmoy 8y ago
      I am definitely justifying eating meat, but that is not a fallacy of the argument by itself. If you think of “hierarchy of life” as being closely related to us, then I could justify eating super intelligent octopus over cows. Again if you mean the hierarchy as intelligence then I would ask if it is ok to consume the less intelligent variants within a specific species. Moreover, would it be ethical if we bred/genetically engineered a cow/chicken which have near zero IQ and no emotion at all and consumed that only?
      • hkyeti 8y ago
        On the plants front, know that the ratio for beef is over 20 to 1. ie a cow eats 20 calories of plants, to produce 1 calorie of meat. It's far more efficient (and less plant consumption overall) to just eat the plant calories instead. You could make the same argument with eating engineered zero sentience humans. Or humans born with extreme disabilities. I think ethically it comes down to does the being have the ability to feel pain and suffer, and the emotional responses that come with it. eg a pig is more intelligent than a 3 year old, can solve the mirror test and has deep bonds with family, builds emotional connections, has the basic emotions we have etc. It's hard to justify their suffering and ultimate consumption by us when there are so many alternatives available.
• 1024core 8y ago
  I have never eaten beef, except for 2 occasions. Recently, I ordered an impossible burger. It was so close to real beef (or as I remember it), that after 1 bite I stopped. I wasn't sure if I was eating real beef or not, and I didn't want to risk it. For those who crave the taste of meat but want to be vegetarian: you must try the Impossible Burger. Personally, I don't crave the taste of meat, I just like the form factor. So a good veggie patty is all I need. BK was the first burger chain to carry the Gardenburger line of veggie burgers and this is why I would seek out BKs whenever I travelled. I hope they continue to carry them if they decide to include the IB too in their offerings.
• tracker1 8y ago
  As someone allergic to legumes, increasingly so each year, It really sucks when I get whammied, more from protein sources than the oils, but all the same. I don't have a problem with things like this as long as it's clearly labelled as such. I sometimes think that fast food is the devil (Jack in the box and Taco Bell in particular).
• mav3rick 8y ago
  As a vegetarian my entire life. I don't think I am the right audience for this. McDonald's in India gets the right mix of potatoes and veggies to make a delicious veggie burger. Trader Joe's has some Spicy Masala Patties that are very good too. Needless to say these are mostly carbs and no protein but the taste is awesome :)
  • cheeze 8y ago
    Sounds like you're not. If you don't want the taste of meat, there is 0 point in you caring about this at all. But as you said, those options have no protein and aren't trying to be a meat replacement.
    • mav3rick 8y ago
      Correct !!
• anarazel 8y ago
  As a vegetarian of ~20 years, I kinda find them too meat like. I constantly wonder whether I accidentally got the wrong patty. I guess that's largely because I've only dim memories of the real thing. Am I the only one in that?
• duxup 8y ago
  I guess fast food burgers is where a lot of meat is consumed but ... oddly I find most fast food burgers to not taste like beef. Or maybe it is better said they taste "like" beef. I'll be happy to replace meat with better alternatives when they come, but at least from my perspective it's not a huge step, although maybe it will make a big difference in the larger scope.
• astatine 8y ago
  I have tried a lot of fake meat in China where you get entire restaurants serving mock meat of every variety - beef, chicken, many types of seafood. Though the rest of the characteristics of the meal were the prime reason to consume them for me - the flavor, the style, the ambience. As a life-long vegetarian, the Impossible burger worked differently for me. I have been seeing ads for the beef burgers forever and used to wonder about them, without really feeling like trying them. This gave me a chance to see what the "real" texture of meat was. Distinctly different toi the plenty of vegetarian burgers I have had, it came across as lot more dense, more toothy (for lack of a better word) and lot more filling than a regular one. I had only encountered them in more trendy restaurants and an glad to see them in the mainstream now.
• tomc1985 8y ago
  If it's anything like Del Taco's partnership with Beyond Meat it's going to taste like ass
• lukahn 8y ago
  Sounds great. It's impressive to see just how far the industry has come, and what's in store for the future. Hopefully it'll be available near me at some point, but even in the last 5 years, the vegetarian alternatives have come a long long way (i.e. not just one menu item any more).
• shmooth 8y ago
  Pretty sure I had a Burger King veggie burger about 20 years ago in Sydney
• YeGoblynQueenne 8y ago
  A Burger King hamburger sounds awful already. A Burger King hamburger with fake meat somehow manages to sounds even worse. It's not just shit food, it's shit food with a fake flavour. I mean, can't we just try to push real food, that looks, smells and tastes like real food? It doesn't have to be meat. Just something that isn't made on a production line, from ingredients you can't identify and in a way you don't ever get to see?
  • smgoller 8y ago
    If you hate Burger King, more power to you. But it's not just about putting real food out there, it's also about making it accessible to people who are lower on resources like money and time. Apparently it's super hard to do that. Even this rollout, which I applaud as getting healthier food in reach of more people, can be financially daunting to some families at an extra dollar per burger. There's a food truck by my house that sells Impossible 2.0 burgers, and they charge $4 extra for it over meat burgers. If I can get something even close to that burger for half the price, I'm there, because it's that good.
    • YeGoblynQueenne 8y ago
      Yes, that's what I mean by "why can't we push real food?". Why can't we make it cheap and fast for people who have no money or time? Why do those people need to eat shit, in order to stay satiated (but not really fed)? And if fake meat is more expensive than the real deal and is not the real deal, then how is it going to fix anything?
• Arn_Thor 8y ago
  I quite like the impossible burger and would order it four out of five times I'm in an establishment that serves it. But the other day I tried some impossible meat spicy "sausages". I don't know if they are a product from those guys or something the caterer concocted. They were addictive! I can definitely see a near future where meat "substitutes" (for lack of a better word) are the default
• Vinnl 8y ago
  I presume this is only for the US Burger King? Although there are perfectly fine plant-based alternatives available in the Netherlands, after all the hype about the Impossible and Beyond burgers on HN I'm curious to give either a try. Edit: Found a different article [1] that says: > Burger King is giving the Impossible Burger a trial run in 59 restaurants in the St. Louis area, and if that goes well, the fast-food chain will make the product available in all its 7,200 branches across the US [1] https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/4/1/18290762/burger-king-impossible-whopper-plant-based-meat https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/4/1/18290762/burger-...
  • jmcs 8y ago
    There are places with Beyond Burger in Berlin and it's one of the best patties I tried, to the point were some non-vegetarians friends choose it when available.
    • Vinnl 8y ago
      Oh sweet, will have to check that out next time I'm in Berlin - thanks for the tip.
• chaosbutters 8y ago
  now can they slowly cut regular beef patties with veggie patties until consumers notice? Maybe like 5-10%? Most food companies have slowly started doing this to reduce, sugar, calories and fat
  • Wheaties466 8y ago
    Why would they do that? the impossible burgers cost more. And besides the cholesterol they have almost identical nutrition facts.
• chuckgreenman 8y ago
  This is a pretty great way for these simulation burgers to start out. When I get a fast food hamburger, I'm not expecting something processed. I haven't had an impossible burger but it looks a lot like a fast food hamburger. Looking forward to trying it!
• Wheaties466 8y ago
  Vegan Here. I know a bunch about the health implications about meat. I follow very closely the impossible burger and beyond burger and their move into the mainstream restaurants. If you have any questions ask away. I personally went straight from being a heavy meat eater and steak lover to a full blown vegan. below is a video in which they make the impossible burger by hand and show every ingredient as well as showing the ins and outs of the impossibel burger from a science perspective. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63FHZy_7-qs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63FHZy_7-qs
  • vbuwivbiu 8y ago
    where does the Haem come from and are the binders they use safe to eat ?
• deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
• Simulacra 8y ago
  I’m kind of sad, I read the article and got all excited and went to my local Burger King, but they didn’t have it.
• equalunique 8y ago
  Today, you can order an Impossible Burger from the Bar Louie on 23rd St in Crystal City, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. - It's my favorite item on the menu, and I'm not a vegetarian. It's more tender, juicy, and tastier than a "real" burger patty. Not sure about other Bar Louie locations. Burger King has had vegetarian burger patties supplied by Morning Star Farms for around two decades now. These were the standard for quality for a long long time. I am glad something as amazing as Impossible Burger has stepped in to advance the legacy.
• AtlasBarfed 8y ago
  For those that think the Impossible is still not up to snuff: Has anyone done any testing of mixing of real beef and impossible to get as close as possible to "real" perception while minimizing the amount of real?
  • hkyeti 8y ago
    There are startups doing that, eg better meat co etc. It's a smart way to reduce costs and environmental / suffering impact.
• anthony_doan 8y ago
  I've tried the impossible burger on a friend's recommendation (fat burger). He overblown it. It's good. But it doesn't taste like meat and the texture isn't close, only the seared like texture works the inner is different. The flavor is off. I want to say the fat of meat gives it that good taste which impossible burger does not have.
  • hkyeti 8y ago
    Not sure which is was but the v2 is significantly better than v1 and they are constantly upgrading each year