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posted by martyb on Tuesday March 06 2018, @01:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-not-an-Impossible-Burger dept.

Blending around 70% ground beef with 30% chopped mushrooms could reduce the environmental impact of beef:

The idea is that mixing chopped mushrooms into our burgers boosts the umami taste, adds more moisture and reduces the amount of beef required for a burger. And reducing the need for beef has a big impact on the environment. According to the World Resources Institute [WRI], if 30 percent of the beef in every burger in America were replaced by mushrooms, it would reduce greenhouse emissions by the same amount as taking 2.3 million vehicles off of our roads.

[...] Richard Waite, from the World Resources Institute, is thrilled. "I think it's great!" he says. WRI has been pushing the blended beef-mushroom burger as a candidate to become one of America's most-served menu items, which WRI calls "power meals." According to Waite, the list of the top 20 meals served by food service companies currently contains only one plant-based item, a veggie wrap. The rest are meat-centric, including four versions of the classic hamburger.

Many niche burger makers and school cafeterias have joined the blended burger bandwagon. In the dining rooms of Stanford University, Waite says, it's the only kind of burger you'll find. But Sonic's 3,500 drive-in restaurants represent a huge boost to the concept.

Here's a recipe for a roasted mushroom base and beef-mushroom burgers.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @05:15AM (8 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @05:15AM (#648368)

    Or you could simply sell burgers at 70% of their current size. Most people eat too much anyway. Don't pollute my meat with additives. If you add sugar you can substantially reduce the amount of beef while keeping the calorie count the same too. Why not make that proposal? Because it's stupid. Same with this. Sell smaller burgers. Provide mushrooms as a topping. How much is the mushroom industry paying for the PR for these combined burgers?

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  • (Score: 2) by PocketSizeSUn on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:08AM (6 children)

    by PocketSizeSUn (5340) on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:08AM (#648391)

    This years trend (Mushrooms in everything) was in the pipeline for about a year.
    The weird one coming is mushroom+coffee.

    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday March 06 2018, @10:47AM (5 children)

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday March 06 2018, @10:47AM (#648443) Journal

      I like mushrooms and this combination sounds good to me. I even think we should change how we produce and consume to lessen our impact on the environment, because there are more than 7 billion of us (there were 4 billion when I was a kid--that's not a comforting growth curve).

      But why does every blessed thing these days that would otherwise be fine to propose have to be couched with an ulterior motive? Moreover, why does everything these days have to be composed as clickbait: "This year's hot new trend: mushrooms! In everything! Because it's so eco-friendly!!" It's sanctimonious and obnoxious and narcissistic all at the same time.

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
      • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday March 06 2018, @01:49PM (3 children)

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 06 2018, @01:49PM (#648486)

        Because adulterating meat to increase profits is hyper-downmarket, see McDonalds, that stuff is barely food.

        So you have to market the heck out of it to make it a trendy cool thing instead of poverty food.

        The taste will be the same, its just if you eat it in a Stanford cafeteria you can humblebrag on twitter about how holy you are for your martyrdom of eating weird food, whereas if you eat the same burger out of a McDonalds bag thats merely ghetto trash.

        Pay close attention to where the money goes... the adulterated meat will cost more than pure beef, cost less to make, and someone is going to adsorb the profit. The market has settled on $X per burger and they will get $X regardless how cheap the adulterated meat costs... Especially at restaurants.

        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:17PM (2 children)

          by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:17PM (#648496) Journal

          That makes sense. I think you're right.

          Still, can they not do all that, which is nothing new, but hold the side dish of sanctimony and narcissism? I'm all for weird food and new combinations and experimentation and all that, but for fuck's sake can the Millenials please take the "meaning" they interlard everything with and stick it where the sun don't shine? Even when I agree with the overall philosophy its constant insertion into everything is obstreperous and off-putting.

          --
          Washington DC delenda est.
          • (Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Tuesday March 06 2018, @05:26PM

            by Osamabobama (5842) on Tuesday March 06 2018, @05:26PM (#648573)

            But sanctimony and narcissism are powerful market forces. A responsible business plan will put them to use.

            --
            Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
          • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday March 06 2018, @08:49PM

            by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 06 2018, @08:49PM (#648675)

            I'm all for weird food and new combinations and experimentation

            That also brings up the corporate problem.

            When I mince onions and garlic into my burgers and they grill up delicious (also tried peppers, both sweet green, and hot) thats fun combo experimentation and its good. Another fun one, although when it burns its kinda gross is mixing in cheese.

            When corporation does it to sell 80% beef 20% "filler" burgers at the same price as 100% beef burgers, and bad money forces out good money all the time, such that its impossible to consume a 100% beef burger ever again at any price other than at home if you grind your own, thats just a profiteering ripoff screwing over the customer and reducing choice and quality of living.

            I suppose a lot of food things scale like that. My mom's lasagna being my monopoly lasagna supplier is fun, but some multinational corporation being the only monopoly lasagna supplier would suck.

      • (Score: 2) by PocketSizeSUn on Wednesday March 07 2018, @03:05PM

        by PocketSizeSUn (5340) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @03:05PM (#649005)

        Well there are a couple of reasons these food trends kick off.

        Either a product becomes cheap (Ex: Earthquake in Modena, IT that caused a fire sale on Parmesan cheese making it the year of parm in everything).
        Sometimes a producer find a new method of incorporating an additive either for lower cost, better taste, or jumping on a health kick (Ex: probiotics)
        Sometimes it's just new and different (Ex: Nitrogenated cold brew coffee)

        Personally I equate food and fashion as having similar trends.
        Ex: Chocolate 'lava' cake started out in high end restaurants and eventually trickled down to everywhere...

  • (Score: 2) by Preston on Tuesday March 06 2018, @11:33AM

    by Preston (4) on Tuesday March 06 2018, @11:33AM (#648452)

    What about 70% smaller and 30% of that new total being mushrooms? 🤔

    Glad to see Unicode support!