The Impossible Burger tastes exactly like meat.
As a meatatarian, my main issue with vegan and vegetarian food (as long as it does not come with a lecture on how not eating animals is so much better for you and the planet in general) is that it tastes like cardboard. For a long time I’ve suspected that the ingredient that makes meat taste—well, meaty—is blood. Yup, we’re vampires.
A couple of months ago I had lunch at Momofuku Nishi in Manhattan and there was something on the menu called “the impossible burger”. It was made entirely of plants, but claimed to taste like beef. The fact that it was called “impossible” sounded like a challenge, so I ordered it.
It was delicious, and it did taste exactly like beef. They haven’t gotten the texture exactly—it’s softer and more moist, which I did not mind at all. And I was right: the ingredient in question is hemoglobin.
The magic ingredient turned out to be a compound called heme. Their research identified this as the thing which made meat distinct, giving it a richer taste and its bloody, red colour.
The firm has now figured out a way to produce heme on a large scale cost effectively by using fermentation.
Read about the hamburger made of plants.
The Impossible Burger cost USD14 (about PHP700). When it becomes available in Manila, assuming it isn’t already, I hope it’s priced lower, although travelling reminds me that food in Manila is expensive (the value for money ratio is low).
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January 26th, 2017 at 12:29
Waiting for that to come to Manila. :)
One of the discussions my vegan friends and I have had is: will we eat lab-grown meat? Technically it’s vegan since no animals will be killed to produce it, but apart from the ick factor and assuming that production costs have been lowered for it to be sustainable for mass consumption, will we quit plant-based animal meat substitutes if only as a show of support?
January 30th, 2017 at 04:21
My main issue with vegans trying to eat food that tastes as close as possible to meat or dairy is that it defeats the purpose of preventing the craving for animal meat and products altogether. Some of them claim that after not having eaten meat for a long time, their palate has adapted to their vegan diet so much that not only do they stop craving meat but the smell and taste of it starts becoming detestable. Kinda like my sister, who lives in Switzerland, finds anything that she eats when she visits the Philippines too salty because her taste buds have adapted to blander food.
Ergo, why not just eat the real thing? It’s also way less expensive.