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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.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by TheLink on Friday June 24 2016, @04:21PM
Where's the omnivore section? There's no need for fangs and claws. Chimps eat monkeys, bush babies, etc. Our digestive tract is nothing like herbivores nor do we eat our excrement like rabbits.
There's lots of scientific evidence that humans do better on a diet that includes fish. Definitely better than being pure vegetarians. There's some scientific research that indicates that pure vegetarianism isn't "normal" or good for humans: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/vegetarian-gene-linked-to-heart-disease-and-cancer-risk-scientists-find-a6959291.html [independent.co.uk]
Sure seems like it would take many more generations of evolution before those populations get better at being pure vegetarians. Meanwhile I'm sticking to being an omnivore.
Even many supposed herbivores aren't pure vegetarians. Red deer don't have fangs and claws and yet some eat lots of birds, eating more than some supposed carnivores AND it seems healthier for them to do so: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/08/0825_030825_carnivorousdeer.html [nationalgeographic.com]
http://io9.gizmodo.com/field-cameras-catch-deer-eating-birds-wait-why-do-deer-1689440870 [gizmodo.com]
But many vegans don't let scientific facts get in the way their "religion".
By the way humans are not like most other mammals. Humans are one of animals in the world that has an additional digestive organ outside our bodies. The part outside is sometimes called a kitchen. Because of that we can eat an even wider variety of foods while not having to carry around a bigger and more complicated digestive system for most of the day ;).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 26 2016, @07:59AM
Humans are one of animals in the world that has an additional digestive organ outside our bodies. The part outside is sometimes called a kitchen.
How many humans can survive on a pure vegetarian diet that has uncooked and unprepared food (e.g. no kitchen)? Can they manage spending all day munching leaves in their mouths like gorillas? You can survive on eating nuts but are there enough nuts for you to forage?
If they require a kitchen to be pure vegetarian then the digestive system comparison is misleading isn't it? I'd accept tools to crack nuts (stones are common), but blending nuts in a blender. And stuff like tempeh is definitely out since it involves soybeans being cooked and prepared.