Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Friday June 24 2016, @03:53AM   Printer-friendly
from the Let's-get-Mikey! dept.

Several startups are trying to take plant-based meat alternatives to a new level. They include Impossible Foods, which has created a meatless burger that contains heme, a molecule that contributes color, taste, and texture to meat:

This summer, diners in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles will get their hands on a hamburger that's been five years in the making. The burger looks, tastes and smells just like beef — except it's made entirely from plants. It sizzles on the grill and even browns and oozes fat when it cooks. It's the brainchild of former Stanford biochemist Patrick Brown and his research team at Northern California-based Impossible Foods.

[...] It's not the only faux meat company selling bloody plant patties. Last month, Los Angeles-based Beyond Meat made headlines when it released the Beyond Burger, its pea protein burger that sizzles like real meat and "bleeds" beet juice. The burgers quickly sold out after debuting at a Whole Foods in Boulder, Colo. Beyond Meat's investors include Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Gates is also backing Impossible Foods. So is billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and Google Ventures. All told, the company has raised some $182 million in seed funding. Last year, Impossible Foods turned down Google's offer to buy the company for $200 to $300 million.

The Impossible Burger is more than just peas and carrots smashed together: It's the result of some pretty high-tech research. Brown's team analyzes meat at a molecular level to determine what makes a burger taste, smell and cook the way it does. He wants his burgers to be squishy while raw, then firm up and brown on the grill. He believes everything from an animal's fat tissue to muscle cells can be replicated using plant compounds.

The true test? Making the plant-based substance carcinogenic.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by tfried on Friday June 24 2016, @08:35AM

    by tfried (5534) on Friday June 24 2016, @08:35AM (#364821)

    I do eat meat, but I don't need a whole lot of it. Moral reasons do play a small role in that, but in fact, I'd find the thought of having to eat meat every day, or even every other day, rather unappetizing. By this reason, I simply fail to see the point of products like these (for me, personally, at least). Functional substitutes - stuff I can put in a burger, slices of something that I can put on my bread, ready prepared chunks of whatever that I can simply toss in a pan or on a grill without washing or cutting - all of that is great. Taste substitutes: I don't get it.

    My theory is that for many people - especially some very healthy minded ones - meat is essentially the only source of fat and salt in their diet. If no other food on your plate contains a grain of salt, it's no surprise you'll fight for that chunk of meat...

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2