6 ms·

Maybe with Impossible Foods, but I don't see anything about RNA here: > The vegan meat substitutes are made from mixtures of pea protein isolates, rice protein

by notJim 7y ago

Maybe with Impossible Foods, but I don't see anything about RNA here: > The vegan meat substitutes are made from mixtures of pea protein isolates, rice protein, mung bean protein, canola oil, coconut oil, and other ingredients like potato starch, apple extract, sunflower lecithin, and pomegranate powder with a range of vitamins and minerals. Beef products that "bleed" are achieved by using beet juice Just sounds like a veggie burger that tastes better, and has a VC-funded marketing budget.

tptacek 7y ago
"Veggie burger that tastes better" is kind of a big deal, because (to at least a first approximation) the only reason people don't exclusively eat veggie burgers is that they don't taste better.
- asenna 7y ago
  I believe the parent meant these taste better than a regular veggie burger and not a beef burger.
- invisiblerobot 7y ago
  People also eat meat because it's a lot more energy efficient. One real burger lasts me for 7+ hrs where a veggie burger maybe 2.
  - klipt 7y ago
    Could just be the veggie burger has less fat. Fat/oil keeps you satiated. But it's always easier to add more oil to a veggie burger, than it is to make a meat burger lean.
    - thatswrong0 7y ago
      I thought protein was better for satiation than fat?
      - JamesBarney 7y ago
        Fat is more satiating per gram, but protein is more satiating per calorie.
p1necone 7y ago
I've had a beyond meat burger, I'm curious to hear the opinion of others that have had one too because I thought it tasted terrible. The texture was nothing like real ground beef and neither was the flavour. It wasn't good different either - I'd much rather have a regular bean burger. I feel like it's all marketing and they're just riding the hype wave caused by other better products or peoples desire for one. (I assume the Impossible Burger is better - they seem to have gone into more effort to replicate beef, but I haven't tried one)
- fmajid 7y ago
  I tried the Imopssible Burger, and it also tasted terrible. I prefer veggie burgers that don't try and pretend they are something they are not. The future is vat-grown meat, not ersatz meat.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- msteffen 7y ago
  I'll bite—I love the beyond burger. There's a burger joint near work that has them and they're now exclusively what I get when I go there
- aroberge 7y ago
  I've had quite a few and I find them almost on par with burgers made with ground beef. It might depends on how you cooked them.
- Thriptic 7y ago
  I've had the impossible burger on multiple occasions. Every time I've had it, it felt like whoever cooked it either didn't care or was trying to present the burger as basically as possible to try to demo it as a discrete product. The trouble is, that's not how anyone over the age of 10 actually eats any kind of burger, so it's not really a fair presentation. If you actually season it (it absolutely needs salt and pepper) and put on equivalent toppings and condiments, it's really not bad at all in my opinion. I tend to view it like soylent. It's definitely not as good as a good beef burger, but it's good enough to consider eating regularly for convenience and health reasons.
technotony 7y ago
The science is in picking the isolates. They don't market that science, but it's the reason their burger is so much better than other veggie burgers. The Stanford RNA scientist (and some colleagues) helped them figure out which proteins to focus on and how to modify those proteins based on ph and other conditions to create the taste/texture they wanted. What they are doing is much harder than it looks from the ingredients list. This is one of the scientists who helped: https://profiles.stanford.edu/joseph-puglisi https://profiles.stanford.edu/joseph-puglisi
- saidajigumi 7y ago
  I think the real problem goes deeper than appealing to the palate: we have a long history of creating heavily processed foods that are disastrous for human health. A massive proportion of the first-order treatment and maintenance advice from what I'd call the ongoing "gastrointestinal research revolution" boils down to: "eat real, whole foods". To a large extent, I bin this work in with things like Soylent, until proven otherwise: a narrow attempt to create an edible substance with poor alignment to actual human biological needs.

by notJim 7y ago

tptacek 7y ago

"Veggie burger that tastes better" is kind of a big deal, because (to at least a first approximation) the only reason people don't exclusively eat veggie burgers is that they don't taste better.

asenna 7y ago
I believe the parent meant these taste better than a regular veggie burger and not a beef burger.
invisiblerobot 7y ago
People also eat meat because it's a lot more energy efficient. One real burger lasts me for 7+ hrs where a veggie burger maybe 2.
- klipt 7y ago
  Could just be the veggie burger has less fat. Fat/oil keeps you satiated. But it's always easier to add more oil to a veggie burger, than it is to make a meat burger lean.
  - thatswrong0 7y ago
    I thought protein was better for satiation than fat?
    - JamesBarney 7y ago
      Fat is more satiating per gram, but protein is more satiating per calorie.

p1necone 7y ago

I've had a beyond meat burger, I'm curious to hear the opinion of others that have had one too because I thought it tasted terrible. The texture was nothing like real ground beef and neither was the flavour. It wasn't good different either - I'd much rather have a regular bean burger. I feel like it's all marketing and they're just riding the hype wave caused by other better products or peoples desire for one. (I assume the Impossible Burger is better - they seem to have gone into more effort to replicate beef, but I haven't tried one)

fmajid 7y ago
I tried the Imopssible Burger, and it also tasted terrible. I prefer veggie burgers that don't try and pretend they are something they are not. The future is vat-grown meat, not ersatz meat.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
msteffen 7y ago
I'll bite—I love the beyond burger. There's a burger joint near work that has them and they're now exclusively what I get when I go there
aroberge 7y ago
I've had quite a few and I find them almost on par with burgers made with ground beef. It might depends on how you cooked them.
Thriptic 7y ago
I've had the impossible burger on multiple occasions. Every time I've had it, it felt like whoever cooked it either didn't care or was trying to present the burger as basically as possible to try to demo it as a discrete product. The trouble is, that's not how anyone over the age of 10 actually eats any kind of burger, so it's not really a fair presentation. If you actually season it (it absolutely needs salt and pepper) and put on equivalent toppings and condiments, it's really not bad at all in my opinion. I tend to view it like soylent. It's definitely not as good as a good beef burger, but it's good enough to consider eating regularly for convenience and health reasons.

technotony 7y ago

The science is in picking the isolates. They don't market that science, but it's the reason their burger is so much better than other veggie burgers. The Stanford RNA scientist (and some colleagues) helped them figure out which proteins to focus on and how to modify those proteins based on ph and other conditions to create the taste/texture they wanted. What they are doing is much harder than it looks from the ingredients list. This is one of the scientists who helped: https://profiles.stanford.edu/joseph-puglisi https://profiles.stanford.edu/joseph-puglisi

saidajigumi 7y ago
I think the real problem goes deeper than appealing to the palate: we have a long history of creating heavily processed foods that are disastrous for human health. A massive proportion of the first-order treatment and maintenance advice from what I'd call the ongoing "gastrointestinal research revolution" boils down to: "eat real, whole foods". To a large extent, I bin this work in with things like Soylent, until proven otherwise: a narrow attempt to create an edible substance with poor alignment to actual human biological needs.