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So I've been vegetarian for nearly 10 years. I tried an impossible burger for the first time last week. I liked it, but found it to be a bit disturbing because

• sp332 7y ago
  Ok so obvious question here, why eat fake beef if you don't want to be reminded of beef? Edit: this got asked a lot, so I'll all a related question instead. Is it possible for a burger to have "good taste and good texture" but also not remind you of beef?
  • throwlaplace 7y ago
    lol but they literally said that they're not going up to eat fake beef. do you mean why did they try it? probably out of curiosity about a new food.
  • gwbas1c 7y ago
    Yes: Try a turkey burgers, a chicken burger, a black bean burger, ect... There's so much better variety in veggie burgers, (and they don't cause the run to the bathroom, if you know what I mean.) And, if you ever find yourself in India, try McDonald's vegetarian burgers. Nothing like beef, but still delicious. Think of a "burger" as a style of sandwich. Some of us are so used to "hamburger" that it's hard to imagine the patty being anything else. Honestly, it's worth trying a veggie burger. (A lot of people order them with bacon on top.) As long as you stay away from the "I can't believe it's not meat" style, they're delicious.
    • blueberry_47 7y ago
      Put enough catsup and mustard on anything and it will taste enough like a burger for me
      • gwbas1c 7y ago
        > Put enough catsup and mustard on anything and it will taste enough like a burger for me Ugh. As someone who hates catsup and mustard, I hate the "it tastes the same when it's loaded with sauce" veggie burgers. The patties actually need to taste good on their own.
    • egypturnash 7y ago
      Today I learnt that turkey is a vegetable.
      • deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
      • crooked-v 7y ago
        The point is that "beef" is not the definitional taste and texture of a meat patty.
    • fwn 7y ago
      > Some of us are so used to "hamburger" that it's hard to imagine the patty being anything else. Only of tangential relevance, but maybe still interesting: there's no ham in a traditional hamburger. The name seems to be derived from the German city of Hamburg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_hamburger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_hamburger
      • gwbas1c 7y ago
        Good observation. I've heard plenty of anecdotes of recent immigrants / tourists to the US ordering a "hamburger" expecting it to be ham. It's a rather awkward surprise for Indians who will eat pork, but not beef. (The downvotes are unfair, IMO.)
  • astura 7y ago
    >Is it possible for a burger to have "good taste and good texture" but also not remind you of beef? Yes! I had one today for dinner in fact. The one I ate today the patty was made with mushrooms, tempeh, and wheat berry. Greens, aioli, pickes & pickled vegetables on top.
    • igetspam 7y ago
      And this is why you vegetarians and vegans aren't he target. I couldn't eat that. I don't like mushrooms or tempeh and I don't know what a wheat berry is. To be fair, I don't like most foods. I eat steak with salt and pepper and baked potatoes with butter and salt. Pickled anything is a non starter. I also don't like most cooked vegetables, almost no cooked fruit (no pie, thank you), dressing that isn't ranch or anything with a weird texture. Impossible is a blessing because I can be a boring eater and still do ad little harm as possible. (Being a picky eater sucks. I wish I liked food. I promise, it's not because I like being a pain. My policy is that I'll try anything twice, to avoid any initial bias. I'm just kind of broken.)
      • danShumway 7y ago
        For what it's worth, before I became a vegetarian that would have also sounded gross to me. I avoided nearly all vegetables, most sauces (even on dishes like pasta), any kind of salad dressing (and most salads as well). I still only really drink water. I feel like there's a really big hump to get over with expanding a pallet, where once you have even just one or two new foods under your belt it becomes easier to learn to like other ones. For me, it was (and still is) kind of a snowball effect. I'm eating more variety of food now than I ever ate before, but I'm still a lot more narrow than other people I know. I spent a relatively large portion of my adult life trying to learn to eat vegetables, and it wasn't until midway through transitioning to a vegetarian that I suddenly discovered the magic of sauteing with a little butter and salt instead of boiling vegetables until they were all soft and waterlogged and horrible, or baking them until they just turned into hot mush. That was honestly kind of surreal -- years of not liking veggies, and occasionally trying them in different recipes to see if something had changed, and not having anything change. And then in the space of a few weeks suddenly very quickly realizing that crunchy string beans with a tiny bit of soy sauce were delicious and that I really wanted more food like that. That's not to say you would like the same stuff. The point is, learning to eat more things is hard, and being a picky eater is hard, and just in case you're stressed about it, don't stress about it. Just keep trying at your own pace and don't worry too much. As long as you keep occasionally experimenting, eventually you'll find a few things you like, and your pallet will expand from there. And even if you stay a picky eater, as long as you're still getting a decent nutritional intake, and assuming you're meeting whatever dietary goals you have, then you're fine.
  • sdnlafkjh34rw 7y ago
    Because I like the flavor and texture but I don't like the carbon emissions associated with beef production?
    • core-questions 7y ago
      I pay a carbon tax already on everything I buy. Do I need to still be browbeaten about eating a steak?
      • sdnlafkjh34rw 7y ago
        OP asked why I am interested in Impossible Meats. I answered why I did it personally. What does that have to do with you? Eat whatever you want.
      • geddy 7y ago
        Well we'll all be paying for everyone else's meat eating decisions in a few years anyway, why stop now?
        • core-questions 7y ago
          Explain, why would I be paying for someone else's meat beyond my donation to the food bank?
    • detaro 7y ago
      If you like the flavor and texture of beef you would want it to be like beef - replied to the wrong comment?
      • sdnlafkjh34rw 7y ago
        No I replied to the correct comment. I am explaining why I would consider something like Impossible.
  • peteretep 7y ago
    I'm omnivorous, but have found myself in Ubud eating a lot of vegan food before. You can have an incredible burger that isn't a beef burger, if you're appreciating it on its own merits, rather than comparing it to how close it is to a beef-burger -- love me a tempeh burger, for example. Nut cheese is great _on its own merits_ if you can free yourself from it needing to taste just like cheese, and I've had some great Cauliflower Wings.
  • elktea 7y ago
    Humans are primarily meat eaters - we're wired to enjoy and desire meat.
  • crooked-v 7y ago
    > Is it possible for a burger to have "good taste and good texture" but also not remind you of beef? Ever had a turkey burger? The meat has a different taste and texture from beef, but it's not bad. Also see alligator, elk, deer, chicken sausage, etc. "Exactly like beef" is not the end-all-be-all of "satisfyingly meaty", even when you only include actual meat.
• 2pointsomone 7y ago
  That makes sense, but the Impossible brand is not for us vegetarians and vegans. So evaluating it or calling it a failure on a measure that is not its objective isn't fair :/
  • simlevesque 7y ago
    I know some vegans who have been for over 5 years and some still miss meat.
    • 2pointsomone 7y ago
      Great point too! I have been meat-"sober" for 19 years, but dang chicken booty calls me once in a while.
    • redisman 7y ago
      Which is honestly a great way to do it. Treating it as a religion will only make people "fail" and feel bad and quit. I'm doing (vegetarianism) for environmental reasons so 80%ing it is a big improvement. It'll be much easier to convince most people to replace meat with an alternative half the time than converting people to full true-believer veganism.
    • geddy 7y ago
      I'm going to sound pedantic but it sounds like they are plant-based. Veganism is a belief system not to exploit animals - you simply don't see animals as food anymore. Been plant based for a year myself but I'd consider myself vegan the second half as I did more research. I get asked a lot "does being around meat at the holidays tempt you?" and my answer is along the lines of "as tempted as I am to eat the family dog".
  • shsheuhehdh 7y ago
    I see this said a lot but I'm not clear who else it could possibly be for besides people who like trying novel things. People who care about quality aren't going to eat impossible brand because its strongest quality is tasting like average meat within a specific format. To the same end, it's not superior in price either in my area (and that includes fast food). So who is it for besides people who want to ride the hype train?
• remmargorp64 7y ago
  Why even eat artificial meat if you don't want it to remind you of meat?
• gridspy 7y ago
  I think we can consider this to be "bridging food" - something to consume while in transition from Meat to Vegetarian or Vegan. Or just something to eat sometimes as a way to reduce your personal "meat footprint."
• thehoff 7y ago
  Not trying to be rude, but isn’t the point of the Impossible burger to be just like meat while not being meat?
• MattRix 7y ago
  I mean yeah the fake meat is gonna taste and feel like meat, that's literally the point...
• distantaidenn 7y ago
  If you are not anti-soy, Morning Star Original Sausage patties are quite delicious. Probably the best meat substitute I've had. They've been at it for over 40 years.
  • collyw 7y ago
    What are legitimate) reasons for people being anti-soy? 4chan says that it raises oestrogen, but I was treating this as usual 4chan trolling.
    • Cougher 7y ago
      It does, and it can also lower thyroid function. I wound up on thyroid replacement hormone because I was drinking too much soy milk. Much of the soy processing is problematic if you're trying to avoid industrialized foods. There are a lot of sites that explain these issues, so it shouldn't be hard to find one if you're interested.
      • collyw 7y ago
        > There are a lot of sites that explain these issues, so it shouldn't be hard to find one if you're interested. There are lots of sites that describe everything these days. 4chan being one example. I was looking for something that had some scientific credibility.
        • Cougher 7y ago
          And I was saying that you can find one if you look.
          • collyw 7y ago
            Reddit level response. https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/burden-of-proof https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/burden-of-proof
        • kristofferR 7y ago
• youwillsee 7y ago
  I think this is a big issue for a lot of vegetarians and vegans. The few times that I've ordered Impossible burgers, I could not shake the feeling that the kitchen got my order wrong and gave me a meat burger.
• ra88it 7y ago
  I see your point and I don't blame you. But for myself, it is the opposite: I've always been a meat eater, and I'm looking for a vegetarian burger that mimics the taste and texture of meat as closely as possible...for many reasons, but one of the main reasons is the sheer engineering novelty of it. I can't help but cheer on these efforts and I'm always eager to try the latest attempt.
• danShumway 7y ago
  I believe my meat-eating friends who say they can tell the difference, but as someone who didn't really eat burgers that often even before I became vegetarian, I can't. It tastes the way I remember meat tasting (though obviously I haven't done recent comparisons). I've joked before that if I ordered an Impossible Burger and got served a regular one, I wouldn't know :) It does feel kind of weird eating it. There's definitely a part of my brain that protests when I take a bite. But it's also kind of novel, and I do still occasionally miss meat -- there's also a part of my brain that feels really good while I'm eating it. I like what they're doing, and I'm happy to occasionally grab one when I see it offered. The thing is, vegetarian food is already really good -- I don't feel like I have a problem finding tasty, nutritious non-meat dishes that are filling, satisfying meals. And that's getting progressively better, not because new foods are being invented, but just because restaurants are getting better at adding vegetarian dishes that aren't just token options. I don't think there's a need for a brand new breakthrough in that area. There is no need to swoop in and invent a compelling dish for vegetarians, we have plenty of them. It's the space in-between vegetarian and carnivore that needs innovation. There are vegetarian meat-substitutes that I already avoid because my aversion to feeling like I'm eating that specific meat outweighs the novelty, even though they're not that convincing. I still think it's fine to have these kind of weird "in-between" foods -- my "I don't want to be reminded of that" is someone else's "this is close enough that I could give up or cut back on the real thing." I first started down a vegetarian route once I found a taco-meat substitute that I liked; I might not have even made that initial decision to start cutting back on meat if that product hadn't existed.
  • cm2012 7y ago
    I am a carnivore and can't tell the difference between the impossible Whopper and a real Whopper.
    • wtmt 7y ago
      Being pedantic here. You're an omnivore, and not a carnivore, since the parts other than the patty are made from plants in real Whoppers too. Carnivores are animals who eat only other animals (or animal parts). You can say you're a heavy meat eater instead, if you want to emphasize that behavior or preference of yours.
• agitator 7y ago
  As a vegetarian or vegan, even if you don't like the taste or it's too meaty for you. I would imagine, you would want to promote the hell out of it. The point being, the more people you get to skip a meat meal by eating a veggie alternative, the better it is for whatever your reasons for avoiding meat are.
  • efiecho 7y ago
    Why do vegans/vegetarians have to promote/preach their diet restrictions to everyone else? Can't they just be happy with their lifestyle and shut up about it? I have nothing against vegans/vegetarian, they can eat whatever they like, but I can't stand those that have to impose their diet onto the rest of the world.
    • cyorir 7y ago
      As with any diet, it's good to spread the diet if you want more dining options. If there are more vegetarians, then businesses will have more incentive to offer vegetarian options/products. So there is a component of self-interest involved. However, many vegetarians believe there are societal or ethical benefits to promoting vegetarianism that don't necessarily apply to other diets. It might be because they believe they have an ethical responsibility to limit the suffering of animals raised for slaughter, for example. Or they may believe that the spread of vegetarianism will curb the number of livestock and growth of pasture, which will be good for the environment.
      • kelnos 7y ago
        > It might be because they believe they have an ethical responsibility to limit the suffering of animals raised for slaughter, for example. That sounds more like a religious argument. At the extreme, some people don't believe that it matters ethically how animals are treated, and there are certainly many people who adopt an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude, or try to only eat meat from animals raised and slaughtered as humanely as possible. People are of course free to make a value judgment on these attitudes, but preaching vegetarianism/veganism on those grounds sounds too much like religious proselytizing for my taste. I think it's fine and useful to promote non-meat diets by arguing that meat production (as we currently do it) is devastating to the environment, but religious/emotional preaching is IMO what gives a lot of vegetarians/vegans a bad name.
• astura 7y ago
  I've been a vegetarian twice as long as you. I'm at a point now where I'm enjoying the very "meaty" substitutes, but 10-15 years ago I felt the same as you, didn't want anything that reminded me of meat.
• igetspam 7y ago
  That's OK, you're not really the target audience, I am. My wife is vegan and I'm not. We have pet pigs, so I gave up pork. We have pet chickens now, so I've mostly given up chicken. We never have meat in the house. It's nice to have a burger and damn do I miss pork. We buy a lot of impossible. I even ate the whopper, despite finding everything at burger king to be inedible. (It was OK. Tasted like a crap burger, so it was entirely convincing.). I'm very excited about this.
• MandieD 7y ago
  The Impossible Whopper tastes so much like I remember regular Whoppers tasting that I nearly went back to the counter to double-check that they hadn’t given me the wrong one. Main diff: absolutely no gristle/other weird bits you’ll occasionally encounter in ground beef. So an excellent ground beef substitute for “utility” use. Nobody’s buying a fast food hamburger to savor the delicious, high-quality beef or as part of a carefully-planned fitness and nutrition strategy. Can’t wait to see how the pork variant works out.
  • 75central 7y ago
    My problem with the Impossible Whopper, at least when I tried it, was that the texture was too much like the bread, so the mouth-feel was off. But maybe I'm so use to eating beef burgers that I expect there to be be gristle/other weird bits to give some texture. I thoroughly enjoy the Beyond Meat burgers, though, as their texture is more meat-like than my admittedly-limited exposure to the Impossible burger.
• cjonas 7y ago
  As someone who eats too much meat I think the appeal for me would be to replace part of my consumption. Making tacos or a quick spaghetti? Why not use impossible meat. For me it's not going to replace local grass fed ground chuck or a wagu steak I'd occasionally treat myself with, but it might make it so I only eat meat 1-2 times a week. And imagine the impact if these just displaced 50% of beef patties at fast food joints. I'd love to see a world where the bottom shelf of meat isle is completely plant based.
  • aguyfromnb 7y ago
    >Making tacos or a quick spaghetti? Why not use impossible meat. Why not use beans, or mushrooms? Or quinoa? Or cauliflower? Or lentils? All cheaper and healthier. And if they don't make sense in your dish...why eat that dish? Food combinations are endless; find something you like made up of the food you want to eat. I'm not lecturing. I also love meat, but I have trouble wrapping my head around "vegetables and other stuff smashed together to simulate meat". Seems easier to just eat the vegetables.
    • geddy 7y ago
      Agreed. I like me an Impossible Burger now and again, but I eat lentils and beans every day and make my own burger patties out of them (using quinoa, like you mentioned). Some gluten free panko breadcrumbs to help it all stick together. The best "ground meat" texture I make is made out of overcooked lentils combined with ground walnuts. The texture is terrific! All healthy fats, no animals or palm oil fat.
    • bart_spoon 7y ago
      Because they taste worse. It isn't rocket science. People aren't putting meat in their dishes because its healthier than putting vegetables. They are putting them in there because they are delicious in a way that vegetables, heretofore, have not been able to replace.
      • aguyfromnb 7y ago
        >Because they taste worse. They do? All of them?
• Ididntdothis 7y ago
  I think it’s ok to eat this stuff as long as people don’t believe that this is healthy food. I have been vegetarian for a few years now. I cook mostly Indian food which I love but I still miss stuff like fried chicken or a good burger from time to time. So occasionally I eat some soy stuff or behind burger. Just don’t think that this is healthy...
• mirsadm 7y ago
  That is the entire purpose of the product though. Burger patties that cater to vegetarians have been around for a long time and taste nothing like meat.
• aguyfromnb 7y ago
  >I want to have vegetarian food which is nutritious, has good taste, has good texture, and doesn't remind me of meat. I'm not even sure it's "healthy". The entire purpose of the product is to taste and feel like real meat. Although, I'm with you in that I don't understand why anyone would want to eat a food with a mile-long ingredient list because it's "like the real thing". There are plenty of healthy vegetarian alternatives to hamburger, obviously.
  • geddy 7y ago
    Sweet Earth makes great plant based burgers. I try to avoid saying the phrase "veggie burgers" because it scares people into thinking of those frozen green hockey puck things of years past lol. But these days they are fantastic. Look for the ones with all vegetable ingredients and no oil. It's owned by Nestle which isn't my favorite fact in the world, there are plenty of other brands though that make super healthy burgers out of things like lentils, quinoa, and black beans. Or of course, roll your own.