Can these mock meat entrepreneurs fool you with a plant-based burger?

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GRA

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PBS Newshour story: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/c...repreneurs-fool-you-with-a-plant-based-burger

Owing to cattle raising being the most energy intensive meat there is, about a decade ago I shifted most of my meat intake from beef to pork and especially poultry (the least energy intensive), except for special occasions. I still like beef, though, and would love to have a veggie burger that looked, smelled and tasted like hamburger. When I was in my teens back in the '70s my mom was a serious health food addict - if it was unappealing and/or inedible, she'd serve it to me :lol: I tried many of the veggie meat substitutes back then, and they were pretty bad. Certainly no one who liked to eat meat would consider switching, even ignoring the then-exorbitant cost. I did have some organic beef once, grass-fed etc., and it tasted different from supermarket hamburger - it was better!

This new stuff seems to be meeting the taste, smell and texture tests, but currently costs about twice as much as grass-fed beef, six times as much as corn-fed, so it's at about Tesla Model S circa 2012 as far as mass-pricing goes. And one of the two companies' process is GMO, so that's out for those who care. Still, if they can get the price down and also manage to produce steaks and whatnot, we might be able to radically reduce our food energy use, not to mention the amount of land used for fodder (which would probably be used for ethanol, so no net gain there). Has anyone tried any of this - Whole Foods apparently carries Beyond Meat burgers, the non-GMO one: http://beyondmeat.com/? The other company is Impossible Foods: https://www.impossiblefoods.com/
 
Pork and poultry, when produced in most large commercial operations, is far worse for the environment than beef. I'm not sure why you focus on just energy consumption...
 
I have several friends at Impossible Foods, and have eaten their product, and find it pretty good. As with most things economies of scale will make it cheaper over time, but meat replacement is something that will be necessary to feed the world.
 
I, too, saw the piece on PBS. Now that I know Whole Foods carries Beyond Meat, I will be giving the burgers a try. We rarely eat beef any more and my husband does miss it. I hope it tastes as good as the reporter on PBS made it sound. Thanks.
 
You can get an impossible burger at Gott's in Palo Alto.

impossibleburger.jpg



Here is a short video from an Impossible Foods media event that shows all of the component pieces of their product

http://www.gjlenterprise.com/impossibleburger.mov
 
I saw the piece after posting here. Aside from the usual NPR types who I find Creepy, it was pretty good. I've been eating meat substitutes since the Seventies. I've had Beyond Meat burgers but don't really remember them, so I guess they weren't memorable. I may try an Impossible Burger, although my current low FODMAP diet makes that problematic...
 
I've tried various "fake meat" products, and they all seem to have something in common: a rather chemical-ey aftertaste. Does anybody know if Beyond Meat has the same problem?
 
RonDawg said:
I've tried various "fake meat" products, and they all seem to have something in common: a rather chemical-ey aftertaste. Does anybody know if Beyond Meat has the same problem?

I thought it was kind of "beany." Try Wildwood burgers. They are made with very firm tofu and ground veggies, and don't taste artificial. They are a bit oily as they are deep-fried, but the flavor is more "onion" than "artificial."They don't taste very much like meat, but they are good veggie burgers. Gardein burgers taste pretty close to meat, but they do have a moderate soy aftertaste that you may be think of as "artificial."
 
LeftieBiker said:
RonDawg said:
I've tried various "fake meat" products, and they all seem to have something in common: a rather chemical-ey aftertaste. Does anybody know if Beyond Meat has the same problem?

I thought it was kind of "beany." Try Wildwood burgers. They are made with very firm tofu and ground veggies, and don't taste artificial. They are a bit oily as they are deep-fried, but the flavor is more "onion" than "artificial."They don't taste very much like meat, but they are good veggie burgers. Gardein burgers taste pretty close to meat, but they do have a moderate soy aftertaste that you may be think of as "artificial."

Thanks. I've tried Garden Burgers and Morningside Farms products and a couple other brands from Costco that I don't remember the names of anymore. It's definitely not a soy aftertaste as I've had tofu which doesn't have the same aftertaste. I LOVE the taste of onions so the Wildwood may be what I am looking for.
 
ENIAC said:
Some believe that crickets will become our primary source of protein in the future. All the sudden plant-based burgers don't sound too bad do they!
https://futurism.com/future-crickets-primary-source-protein/

If you have ever had the opportunity to visit the state of Oaxaca in Mexico, you know how good "chipolinas" or crickets are. They are an everyday staple down there, and when cooked in chili sauce they are really great tasting, and crunchy too!
 
OrientExpress said:
ENIAC said:
Some believe that crickets will become our primary source of protein in the future. All the sudden plant-based burgers don't sound too bad do they!
https://futurism.com/future-crickets-primary-source-protein/

If you have ever had the opportunity to visit the state of Oaxaca in Mexico, you know how good "chipolinas" or crickets are. They are an everyday staple down there, and when cooked in chili sauce they are really great tasting, and crunchy too!


I've had them there, it was the night I felt pretty sick and hallucinated.
 
EVDRIVER said:
OrientExpress said:
ENIAC said:
Some believe that crickets will become our primary source of protein in the future. All the sudden plant-based burgers don't sound too bad do they!
https://futurism.com/future-crickets-primary-source-protein/

If you have ever had the opportunity to visit the state of Oaxaca in Mexico, you know how good "chipolinas" or crickets are. They are an everyday staple down there, and when cooked in chili sauce they are really great tasting, and crunchy too!


I've had them there, it was the night I felt pretty sick and hallucinated.

Next time ask them to hold the mushrooms and mescaline.
 
It's definitely not a soy aftertaste as I've had tofu which doesn't have the same aftertaste.

Soy has multiple components. Tamari (soy sauce) has the aftertaste I mean, despite not having any artificial additives. Tofu is made from soy milk, which is just one component of soy. You can make your own burgers from very firm tofu, bread crumbs, seasonings, and lightly sauteed onions. Those may also be what you seek, as you can flavor them according to your own taste. My Mom also came up with a very similar recipe for tofu "meat" balls in the Eighties that I adapted a bit and put on the Web years ago. Just search for "Sandy's Italian Tofu Balls."
 
It turns out that what I had previously tried was Beyond Beef's "Beast Burger." Last week I tried the new one featured in that video. One of the first things that you notice is the rather awful smell it produces while cooking. It isn't really strong or really offensive, but it is a bit off-putting. The taste isn't bad, though: think backyard plain grilled burger with a hint of peas. There is a faint but definite aftertaste, though, and the texture is more spongy that you'd expect. All in all I'd give it a "B+". Tonight I'm going to try mixing one of two of them into our tofu burger recipe, to try to produce a better-smelling, non-spongy burger. I may also use some of the mix to make Italian tofu balls as well.
 
Thanks to you and everyone else who commented on their experiences. BTW, everything I've read has said that beef has much greater impact than pork or poultry in terms of energy, land and water use as well as GHGs (all those cow farts and burps, plus manure*). If you've got different info, can you point me to it so I can check it out?

*https://www.popsci.com/cow-farts-are-an-even-bigger-problem-than-we-thought#page-2
 
No time to look for a link now, but the Cliff's Notes are: intensive farming methods used to produce chicken, eggs and pork (but rarely beef) are responsible for both increased resistance to antibiotics (along with their over-prescription to humans) and locally very intense concentrations of toxic pollution, especially in water. Cattle can be fed on grains, grass, or a combination, but chickens and pigs are virtually always fed grain, with all the environmental cost that entails.

The Tofu-BB burgers turned out great - same slightly-rare-beef taste as the Beyond Beef patties I mixed in, but less intense and with a texture I prefer. The smell remains a problem, though. Again, it isn't powerful but it's cloying and has staying power. EDIT: there is also a significant, although not strong, aftertaste that is also persistent. I may just try making tofu burgers with a little beet juice added, next time.
 
There is a new faux hamburger product on the market (also available as faux sausage) from Sweet Earth. It's called the "Awesome Burger" and I tried it tonight. I did the same thing I did with the Beyond Burger: I mixed it with extra firm tofu and bread crumbs, plus my own seasonings. In this case it was to lower the sodium content per burger for my low sodium diet. The verdict: it's a better hamburger alternative than the Beyond burger. Very similar, slightly better taste and appearance, and while the smell also isn't especially appetizing, it's definitely milder and more inoffensive than the "WTF is that SMELL???" of the Beyond burger. I recommend it. Fry onions with it and you won't even notice the aroma.

On a related note, those looking for a non-meat alternative to real Italian Sausage have a good choice available: Gardein's "Italian Saus'age." Yes, same spelling, but with an apostrophe to make it legal. Gardein also makes a decent greasy burger that is reminiscent of diner burgers from less reputable diners. I can no longer eat it because of the onions in it, I'm afraid. They also offer passable faux meatloaf slices, all of the above in the freezer case.
 
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