I tried my first Impossible Burger a few days ago. Verdict? It could pass as a regular beef hamburger. It’s a perfect choice if you want to blend in at a restaurant despite eating plant-based food. The Impossible Burger could be just the ticket if you are craving something familiar in a bun with your favorite condiments. It could also help your guests feel more comfortable with a plant-based menu.
The one I had seemed to be overcooked, so it didn’t have the juiciness shown in ads for the plant-based burger. Maybe the chef grills all burgers until brown all the way through. Still, it was at least as good as many beef burgers I’ve had in the past.
Right now, only restaurants carry Impossible Burgers, but they will be in grocery stores soon. Need something very beef-like for the grill this weekend? Try a Beyond Burger. Either one brings the advantages of eating plants instead of animals.
Have you tried one of these burgers? What did you think? Do you have other favorites? Let me know in the comments. Personally, I think I’ll stick with Sloppy Pintos.
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This month I tried both the Impossible Burger, and the Beyond Burger. Like you, I thought the Impossible Burger could have been less cooked. I thought the I-burger resembled meat in both taste and texture, while the B-burger was lacking in texture.
It disturbed me a little how much I enjoyed the texture of the I-burger. I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn’t really beef. I wanted to reject it, but found myself craving another. Bob felt the same way, so we went back to the restaurant a couple of days later and had two more!
I was initially turned off by the B-burger plastic-heavy packaging and meaty smell. It smelled so much like meat, even in the package, that I wanted to throw open the windows and air out the kitchen. And yet, after it was cooked and laid on bread with all the fixings, I found it to be delicious.
Then there was the price. The Impossible Burgers were $14 each at the restaurant we went to, and the package of two 1/4 pound Beyond Burgers retails for $6.69 at my local Co-op. I probably wouldn’t have tried them if I hadn’t seen a coupon for $2.50 off the package, making them a little over $2 each. To put it in perspective, the burgers I make at home with lentils, cashews, and gluten cost $.88 per 1/4 burger.
The ingredients are another source of concern. The I-burger’s secret weapon is heme, a substance found in both plants and animals, which they produce in a laboratory by injecting heme from plants into a yeast substrate. On the restaurant menu, they called it a genetically modified organism. The B-burger lists bamboo cellulose in its ingredient list, which as far as I know is indigestible.
All that aside, I think it is a good sign that plant-based burgers are gaining traction in the marketplace and I am happy to see manufacturers of vegetarian/vegan products getting serious about wooing the meat lover’s palate. Hopefully, these burgers will serve as an entry way for future vegetarians. And yes, if I find myself in a restaurant offering the Impossible Burger, I will probably order one and chow down.