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Impossible CEO says it can make a meat 'unlike anything that you've had before'
Plant-based meat products are bigger than ever, with the fast-food industry, grocery stores, and upscale restaurants coming on board. A recent Nielsen report found that plant-based meat alternative purchases went up 279.8 percent last week after Americans were instructed to stay home during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Impossible Foods, a company that develops plant-based meat products, says its mission is to someday replace the incumbent meat industry entirely, stating that, from a mission standpoint, a sale only has value if it comes at the expense of the sale of an animal-derived product.
But what if plant-based meat wasn't just a substitute for an already-existing marketplace, and instead, it started to make meat that has never existed?
On this week's Vergecast podcast, Impossible Foods CEO Patrick Brown talks to Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel about how this impossible meat could be a possibility in the future, even if it doesn't make sense for the company right now.
https://dilbert.com/strip/1992-04-08
Previously: Impossible Burger Lands in Some California Grocery Stores
Burger King Grilled by Vegan Over Impossible Burger "Meat Contamination"
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Meatless "Beyond Burgers" Come to Fast Food Restaurants
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Discriminating Diets Of Meat-Eating Dinosaurs
Meat Industry PR Campaign Bashes Plant-Based Meat Alternatives
Unilever Pushing for Plant-Based Meat
Judge Serves Up Sizzling Rebuke of Arkansas' Anti-Veggie-Meat Labeling Law
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @07:02AM
I'm so excited for the taste of something new that's meat-like with a meat-like texture! Meat is where it's at. A mixture of pork and beef? Can you capture that bitter taste of sadness and shrieking death that I've grown so accustomed to in my meat products?
(Score: 4, Funny) by DimestoreProstitute on Wednesday March 25 2020, @07:04AM (8 children)
I can finally try unicorn, manticore, minotaur!
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Wednesday March 25 2020, @07:08AM (1 child)
Don't forget mermaid.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday March 25 2020, @07:54AM
Had Mermaid, very fishy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @07:54AM (2 children)
You simply must try the horse cock.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday March 25 2020, @08:31AM (1 child)
That is known as "pizzle," and yes, people eat it.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday March 25 2020, @11:50PM
Most people don't get it right from the source still attached to the animal, but hey, you do you. ...and the horse.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 25 2020, @03:20PM (1 child)
pak'ma'ra [fandom.com]
Mmmmm. Carry-on eaters! Yum.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday March 25 2020, @03:59PM
Your flarn sucks anyway. [reddit.com]
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday March 25 2020, @05:26PM
Yeah, but they're fake! So you're getting Impossible Horse Meat, instead.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @07:07AM (1 child)
That's what happens when some asshole clears out all the meat and TP at the grocery store.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @01:10PM
Ha! Good point.
I've had the Impossible Burger from Burger King and it tastes so close to a real burger that you can't tell the difference. But Burger King cooks it on the same grill as the real beef burgers (for whatever definition of 'real beef' qualifies for a fast food restaurant), so it's entirely possible the entire meat flavor is just absorbed from the beef. The Beyond Meat burgers, though, taste different enough from real beef that you know you're eating a substitute but you don't mind. We've also switched to making tacos, chili, and meat sauce for our pasta with the Beyond Meat stuff most of the time. It's still expensive, but it's really tasty. ( I know I sound like a shill. I'm not. I've just wanted to switch to vegetarian for ethical and environmental reasons for years. My favorite actual meat is still ground bison. )
(Score: 5, Funny) by istartedi on Wednesday March 25 2020, @07:14AM (8 children)
The best thing about imaginary meat is that a square meal made from it has negative mass. It's a great way to lose pounds.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @07:56AM (7 children)
That fake shit is 33% peanut oil. Your mass ain't going anywhere if you binge on those motherfuckers. Stick with Big Macs for the added health value.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday March 25 2020, @08:35AM (5 children)
That may be true, but even a cynic like me has tasted veggieburgers that are so close to a beef patty, even with the "bloody" juices. The cheese is the hard part in all this vegan crap and they need to just fucking give up on vegan cheese and use real cheese.
Also, once had a vegan Oreo cake for a coworker's birthday, that shit was the bomb. It tasted like a lot of rich creamery butter.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday March 25 2020, @11:52AM (4 children)
Vegetarian > vegan. But...
Real Vegan Cheese: Coming From a Yeast to You [soylentnews.org]
They will probably perfect "lab-grown" milk and cheese eventually. But they have to make it cheaper than the "real" thing to get my attention.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @12:51PM (1 child)
Considering the current crisis with cheese is where to put it all, I doubt it can be cost competative:
https://www.foodandwine.com/news/american-cheese-surplus [foodandwine.com]
TLDR: the FDA encourages milk over-production, milk doesn't last, so they turn the surplus into cheese and store it in a strategic reserve for war-time. Those reserves are getting too full of cheese.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday March 25 2020, @12:56PM
Where's my government cheese?! $1,200 + cheese!!!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday March 25 2020, @01:54PM (1 child)
They will probably perfect "lab-grown" milk and cheese eventually.
Yeah, what's become of "cultured" meat? That's what I'm waiting for, real meat, without the hoof and mouth disease.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @07:21PM
a cow without eyes, ears and no brain.
beyond meat is eye watering expensive, yes?
they should switch to producing the "machinery" to make that "beyond beef" instead, so the finished product doesn't have to be oil-shipped half around the world.
what is thru for electrical solar is also thru for bio-solar: the sun shines everywhere (ofc some places probably still need to oil-energy-ship the ingredients that go into the "beyond beef" machinery from places where the ingredients grow).
tetrapak makes machines to make terapak ... something like that?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Wednesday March 25 2020, @09:10AM
Whoosh.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 3, Funny) by maxwell demon on Wednesday March 25 2020, @07:24AM (3 children)
Fake imaginary meat? So you only pretend to imagine meat?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday March 25 2020, @09:27AM (2 children)
Not that I ever will. And if I ever see anyone order one, I'm ordering 3 steaks rather than 1, so that the net animal suffering is increased by their virtue signalling.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday March 25 2020, @09:32AM
No, that would be imaginary fake meat.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @01:16PM
> ...ordering 3 steaks rather than 1
Or just order a large steak in West (central) Texas. Here, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/12/11/zentners-daughter-san-angelo-closing-end-2019/4401858002/ [usatoday.com] the largest was free if you could eat it in one sitting. Someone at another table ordered one, it was thick and hanging over the edges of a large plate.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by FatPhil on Wednesday March 25 2020, @09:50AM (5 children)
It says to me "our fake meat products taste nothing like actual meat" to me. Which is what we gourmands have been saying all along.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 4, Interesting) by DaTrueDave on Wednesday March 25 2020, @12:53PM (3 children)
Uh, I get why someone might not want to eat this stuff, but in blind taste tests, even the snootiest of foodies has had a difficult time picking out Impossible Burgers from ground beef burgers.
I'm not eating it regularly unless it's cheaper than real beef, but, with ground beef/hamburger, it tastes the same.
(Impossible, not any of the other wannabes)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @04:22PM (1 child)
Citation needed.
I know it's an "other wannabe," but my understanding is that a Beyond Burger is very comparable to Impossible Burger, and I could absolutely tell the difference between Beyond Burger and a beef burger. The other annecdotes I've seen (such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIv5kedZoKs [youtube.com] ) agree with this.
So where have you heard that an Impossible Burger is indistinguishable from a beef burger, especially to foodies?
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday March 26 2020, @04:50AM
Also, don't drink wine with the fake meat, it gives you cancer, but make sure you take a glass of wine with it instead, as that staves off cancer. I learnt that from the same media.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday March 26 2020, @04:43AM
Foodies, in particular the snootiest ones, tend to be the most Dunning Kruger afflicted idiots in the world. Note how wine "experts" can't even reliably tell a red wine from a white wine. Their opinions matter even less than what I pay for them. When they first appeared on the merket there was a story here on SN, and several rando posters reported something along the lines of "first bite is quite convincing, but something starts to grate and it just tastes wrong, unpalateably so, after a while". No snootiness, more honesty - out of the mouths of babes.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday March 25 2020, @04:09PM
Impossible Burgers are significantly better than Beyond Meats; but its the preparation, bread, and toppings that really make a difference.
However if you get one from Burger King, it is going to taste pretty much as lousy as any other Whopper. I would not recommend.
They taste good with bacon on them, too. :)
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @10:58AM (6 children)
i can't wait until they start offering their version of long pork!
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday March 25 2020, @12:30PM (5 children)
Yeah, second that. Ever since I read cannibals in Papua New Guinea call human flesh, 'long pork,' I've been curious if it really does taste like that.
Just kidding. How would we ever know that without a blind taste test?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday March 25 2020, @12:57PM (1 child)
Lab-grown human meat. Eat your favorite celebrity. Coming soon?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 25 2020, @05:43PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @01:45PM
>> How would we ever know that without a blind taste test?
Wait about three more weeks until the epidemic really kicks in... there will be a lot of vegans willing to eat the homeless once they run out of carrots and lettuce to eat.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @04:16PM
You're curious if it tastes long?
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday March 26 2020, @04:52AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @11:22AM (7 children)
Too bad the nutrition profiles don't match.
Too bad it's full of anti-nutrients.
Too bad of all the processed water needing to be piped around compared to the free rain water for grass ranging cows.
Too bad of all the poisoned ground hogs and other wildlife which die agonizing deaths from pesticides compared to the single cows which get suddenly shot in the head.
Too bad of having to mine things out of the Earth and burn natural gas to create fertilizer instead of letting nature naturally recycle the topsoil in a carbon neutral way.
Too bad of all the fertilizer runoff destroying downstream ecosystems.
Etc...
Eat the cows. It's the more humane and environmentally friendly choice. Plus it's healthier so you'll have a better and longer life with lower health costs.
Granted some of that occurs for growing cow feed, but it's still more for the components of impossible meat.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @12:59PM (3 children)
If cows were still largely grass-fed you would have a valid point, but they are not. Generally, they are fed with crops, and thus have the same problems as crops, just worse because of the higher trophic levels.
Also, I was led to believe that the main problem with veg-based meat is that the nutrition profiles lined up almost too well, thus negating any health benefits to giving up meat.
I hadn't even heard the term anti-nutrients before, but it seems that those are part of a regulatory system to keep you from loading up on a single nutrient to an unhealthy degree:
https://greensmoothiegirl.com/anti-nutrients/ [greensmoothiegirl.com]
I say all of this as someone that eats mostly meat. I know it is unhealthy, but it just is so tasty.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @03:45PM (2 children)
No no cows eat for free. It's called externalization. Set the cows loose - who the fuck knows what they do - wait a year and they come back full of steak and sweet sweet profit.
(Score: 2) by Gault.Drakkor on Wednesday March 25 2020, @08:47PM
I agree that what you describe is true for some cows.
For the majority of cows however, that is simple not true at all. Feed lots are a thing. Something like 30%-50% of all crops are grown specifically for animal fodder.
Look at section on cattle feeding: Then look to how much is dedicated to grazing. (only a few sentences vs a whole section).
https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/animal-products/cattle-beef/sector-at-a-glance/ [usda.gov]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 25 2020, @08:52PM
I thought in some food places it is kids that eat for free.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday March 25 2020, @04:11PM (2 children)
Wtf is an anti-nutrient?
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday March 26 2020, @12:21AM (1 child)
GP probably means phytic acid/phytates, possibly oxalic acid as well.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Thursday March 26 2020, @04:13PM
Ahh, thanks. I did a search for the word and got nothing but "natural news"-style garbage sites talking about it.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 25 2020, @02:28PM (7 children)
I don't want fake meat that is UNLIKE real meat.
The CEO seems to not understand what a meat substitute is supposed to be.
I also can offer you substitute light bulbs that have a new kind of light called "darkness".
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Wednesday March 25 2020, @02:34PM
They already make a substitute widely regarded as the one that is most indistinguishable from real meat.
A new product can open up a new market.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Touché) by everdred on Wednesday March 25 2020, @02:56PM (5 children)
With all due respect, how would you know?
(Score: 3, Funny) by HiThere on Wednesday March 25 2020, @03:11PM (1 child)
"Do you like green eggs and ham?"
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Wednesday March 25 2020, @06:00PM
Hell yes, just throw some pesto into the omelet... Yum. You can leave off the ham.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 25 2020, @03:25PM (2 children)
If the fake meat is LIKE real meat, then I might not know the difference.
If the fake meat is UNLIKE real meat, then I would definitely know the difference, because it is unlike.
Plus the label says it is fake meat. But the label might not be available since someone self-isolating might find the packaging label more edible than the fake meat inside. And almost anything is edible, at least once.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 2) by everdred on Wednesday March 25 2020, @07:19PM (1 child)
I could have been clearer: how do you know whether you'll like it or not?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 25 2020, @08:50PM
If it is unlike real meat, then my assumption is that I will not like it.
I have considered trying it. At some point. Probably not anytime soon now with covid-19. I believe my local burger king has a fake meat burger. I was talking with a friend about getting one and splitting it to compare what we thought of it.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @03:38PM (2 children)
There is no such thing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @03:47PM
Mabye someone ate it?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 25 2020, @08:48PM
Vinyl is Genuine Imitation Leathertm.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday March 25 2020, @03:59PM
Oh, so like if their brand name actually made sense, instead of trying to sound sexy but not really meaning anything?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 25 2020, @04:47PM
Impossible Foods needs a fake, imaginary CEO. Nothing's better than the real thing.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Mojibake Tengu on Wednesday March 25 2020, @05:51PM
1. Feed plant-based meat to piglet until it is ready to be slaughtered.
2. Bacon!
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