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The Impossible Burger 2.0 Is a Plant-Based Beef Replacement That Uses Soy Instead Wheat Protein To Take On New Forms (popsci.com) 222

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Popular Science: During a press event at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Impossible Foods showed off its new plant-based ground beef replacement by offering a selection of foods from traditional sliders to the ambitious tartare. Thanks to a change in formula, the new Impossible Burger 2.0 goes beyond simple patties and aims to take on ground beef with every recipe, from lasagna to tacos. The first tastes are very promising. Back in 2016, the original Impossible Burger debuted as a veggie burger that could almost pass as beef. Its meaty secret was a molecule called heme, which contains iron and is largely responsible for the flavors we associate with cooked flesh. But, according to Impossible CEO Pat Brown, it requires a protein to bind it. The original Impossible Burger used wheat protein, which worked, but had some drawbacks. First, it meant the Impossible Burger wasn't gluten-free, but it also put some limitations on the meat's form factor. The wheat worked for burger patties that stayed in a relatively static shape, but it couldn't crumble or take on other shapes -- like meatballs -- without losing its integrity. The solution was a switch to soy.

The resulting Impossible Burger 2.0 product has 14 grams of fat and 240 calories in a single quarter-pound serving (whether it's a patty, ball, or glob of tartare). Impossible also claims that the Burger 2.0 has the same amount of bioavailable iron and protein as its cow-derived cousin. According to Brown, the levels of amino acids are "at least on-par" with typical ground beef and, in some cases, exceed what real meat can offer.
As for taste, Popular Science's Stan Horaczek says "it works best as a burger with a thin patty so you don't get a whole mouthful of soy at once, but once you introduce a bun and some toppings, you might not even notice the differences with real beef."

The Impossible Burger 2.0 will be served at a few restaurants starting this week, with a wider roll out starting on February 8 when it will be available to all U.S. restaurants through food distributors. It's also planning to have its products in some U.S. supermarkets by later this year.
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The Impossible Burger 2.0 Is a Plant-Based Beef Replacement That Uses Soy Instead Wheat Protein To Take On New Forms

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  • How are the Carbs (Score:3, Interesting)

    by glennrrr ( 592457 ) on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @08:14PM (#57927982)
    I'm on a keto diet. I need fat and protein not carbohydrates.
    • It sounds like it's basically tofu infused with 'meat' flavouring.

      The bun would contain most of the carbs, I would guess.

    • If it's like TVP probably around a third of the protein in weight ... so probably not good enough for a religious keto diet which tries to stay below 50g carbs and above 1g protein per kg bodyweight.

      Not that a religious keto diet is significantly different than a low carb diet in anything but the ritualistic adherence for the same calories, but some people need the ritual.

    • Are you achieving ketosis, or are you just "cutting out carbs"? Because beans and rice are amazing sources of complex carbs that will keep your energy levels high, your poop train regular, all with minimal calories per volume
  • I don't mind a bit of soy in my diet, but most non-animal equivalents taste nothing close to tasty animals.

    Unless it's substantially cheaper than beef, I'll pass.

    • by kerashi ( 917149 )

      Until it's as cheap as beef and as tasty as beef, I'll remain a member of PETA - People Eating Tasty Animals.

      • by zlives ( 2009072 )

        currently its neither, now it does taste better than a McD "meat" burger... but that's another thing completely

        • I concur. The two I've had were in the $10-$15 range for just a burger. (The $15 One was in CA, so knock off like $5 for the rest of the country.) Too expensive to replace fast food burgers, but I did think it was tastier than any fast food burger I'd ever had. There's a revolution there, for sure. All it's going to take is one major chain to roll it out, and then it's going to be cheaper and better than the average fast food burger. And healthier.

          As someone who loves to cook, and who's killed, dressed, and cooked my own meat, I was not expecting to really like that burger. But I liked it. A lot. I just needed non-fake cheese on it, because fake cheese is unforgivable.

          • All it's going to take is one major chain to roll it out, and then it's going to be cheaper and better than the average fast food burger. And healthier.

            There is your mistake - expecting it to be better and healthier even after a major chain rolls it out ;)

            Just kidding - it may be good. I am just saying that generally that is not the direction major chains take food into.

          • the only place you can get one near me is an upscale joint where a beef burger is $20. That said, even a bloody Chilli's is $12 bucks if you don't get the lunch specials, and a cheap black bean burger at my local overpriced sports bar is $15 (went for a team get together, wouldn't go there on my own).
      • Fuck sakes; this is like listening to a prepubescent fratboy wander down the tampon isle jeering at all the products that aren't for him.
        • by mentil ( 1748130 )

          One would have to be quite the scholar to be prepubescent AND in a fraternity. Don't think they'd have the time to wander down tampon aisles.

      • So you are a tasty animal that eats people?

    • by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @09:01PM (#57928250)

      Unless it's substantially cheaper than beef

      Surprise, beef is substantially subsidized by the US government. If you removed the subsidies then we would all save a lot of money, beef would be for the rich and we could have nice things like health care.

      • by bobstreo ( 1320787 ) on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @09:37PM (#57928394)

        Unless it's substantially cheaper than beef

        Surprise, beef is substantially subsidized by the US government. If you removed the subsidies then we would all save a lot of money, beef would be for the rich and we could have nice things like health care.

        Yeah, unlike soy or corn. /s

        Soybean Subsidies in the United States totaled $37.4 billion from 1995-2017

        Corn Subsidies in the United States totaled $111.2 billion from 1995-2017.

        Livestock Subsidies in the United States totaled $10.8 billion from 1995-2017.

        • by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @10:05PM (#57928488)

          Soybean Subsidies in the United States totaled $37.4 billion from 1995-2017

          Corn Subsidies in the United States totaled $111.2 billion from 1995-2017.

          Fun fact, guess what they feed lots of livestock? CORN! Most corn and soy goes into processed junk food. A lot of corn isn't for human consumption because it's explicitly for producing High Fructose Corn Syrup. So yeah, we shouldn't subsidize corn either (or at least not blindly)!

          Livestock Subsidies in the United States totaled $10.8 billion from 1995-2017.

          You have failed to include that grazing on federal land is $1/acre instead of the market price of about $20/acre.

          There are a LOT of hidden subsidies with the livestock industry.

          • Just as there are hidden subsidies for soy and corn. Don't pretend either side is lacking.
            • Just as there are hidden subsidies for soy and corn.

              This only increases the argument that livestock is heavily subsidized since they feed livestock lots of corn! >_<;

              Don't pretend either side is lacking.

              One side depends on the other being subsidized to start with! There is a good argument to be made that corn is subsidized for livestock.

              But really, which part of "we shouldn't subsidize corn either" did you not understand?

      • Koch Bros funded (e.g. right wing) studies show about $2 trillion every 10 years in savings for single payer healthcare. University studies (e.g. peer reviewed) show about $5 trillion in savings every 10 years.

        We actually _save_ money by giving everyone healthcare because of how wildly inefficient our system is now. I'd like to see us do it and use the money saved to pay off the national debt.
        • I agree... but I just wanted to point to something that some claim is expensive but is highly desirable. Paying off the national debt or rebuilding infrastructure isn't very sexy as far as desire goes but damn it is expensive.

          The market is wildly distorted and fixing it would be advantageous to the vast majority of Americans but devastating to those who've made a living off the distortion.

    • Soy is an amazing filler. You don't need to eat just flavored, soy product. Soy in in plenty of sausage/hotdog wiener style meat. Chicken nuggets. Bubba Burger (not really that good). It isn't a replacement for steak or loin chops, but jammed into a beef and bean burrito or hot pocket, you have a tasty, high protein, high calorie meal.
    • ..so why the fuck this needs a thin patty? in that kind of burger you can just have any fried cardboard there. thats why it's a popular late night snack choice.

      I mean this blurb makes it sound like it's worse than previous. so was the previous actually pretty fucking bad?

  • It isn't Paleo or Keto Diet compliant is it?

  • Estrogen ! (Score:2, Informative)

    Soy is a strong estrogen mimetic.

    All the vegan men can enjoy their expanding man boobs.

    • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @08:31PM (#57928098)

      Truth be told, real burgers don't help much with the bitch tits either.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      That explains why there's always been so much fertility problems and population decline in China where tofu and other soy products are so big: the soy is turning all the men into....oh wait, my mistake, that's the exact opposite of true.
      • China's population problem is due to their birth policies. It supports neither side of this debate.
      • That explains why there's always been so much fertility problems and population decline in China where tofu and other soy products are so big: the soy is turning all the men into....oh wait, my mistake, that's the exact opposite of true.

        Fermenting soy mitigates the toxic components. Tofu and real soy sauce is legit.

    • by mentil ( 1748130 )

      An experiment found isoflavones have no detrimental estrogen-like effects on men, for some reason. Possibly they only affect women.

      • by mentil ( 1748130 )

        Some additional googling turned up an experiment that found no effect on sperm, while studies conflicted on them being good or bad for sperm. I was recalling effects on testosterone in men (found conflicting info), and male breast growth, in particular.

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by Spy Handler ( 822350 )

      All the vegan men can enjoy their expanding man boobs.

      Only pale face crackas get man boobs from eating soy.

      East Asians (Chinese Japanese etc) have been eating soy for thousands of years, so their bodies have adapted. They can (and do) eat tofu and soy sprouts every single day for decades -- not exaggerating -- and they do just fine. No man boobs and no hormonal suicidal depression or any other problems.

      On the other hand, pale face crackas have only been eating soy since the late 20th century, so their bodies have not adapted and they can get some weird side ef

    • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @10:17PM (#57928536)
      See here [youtube.com]

      A few points for the TL;DR; crowd:

      1. The claim soy turns you into a girl is based on a 1940s era study into sheep eating clover.
      2. Estrogens are a _class_ of chemicals and plant estrogens behave very differently than the female sex hormone.
      3. Alex Jones' supplements are chock full of soy (it's a cheap filler).

      Feel free to watch the rest of the video above.

      I'm not necessarily interested in defending soy, but I'm since and tired of junk science.
    • Re:Estrogen ! (Score:5, Informative)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Wednesday January 09, 2019 @05:02AM (#57929538) Homepage Journal

      This myth comes from a study done in the 30s on sheep. From there it turned into the great Soyboy panic of 2018.

      Basically it's nonsense, the stuff in soy has no effect on human males manliness or testosterone levels or man-boobs.

      This video explains it in detail, with references for everything: https://youtu.be/C8dfiDeJeDU [youtu.be]

  • it works best as a burger with a thin patty

    Back to R&D. Let me know when you can duplicate this [vegasfoodandfun.com].

    • Why the fuck would you want to?

      I'm a hunting, killing, smoking, grilling meat eater, and I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole. That's fucking disgusting.

      I'd take the vegan burger over that in a heartbeat, because a) it's not disgusting, and b) it won't kill me.

      If your life is winning food eating dares, you really need to reconsider your life. Because that's healthy neither for your body nor your mind.

  • Look, I love tofu -- but tofu pretending to be real meat NEVER works, in my experience! I suspect this has the same problem.
    • Tofu is like Cheese.
      1000ds if not close to a million variants.
      The one mimicing meat, are the least appealing.

    • I _do_ like hamburgers. Seriously, by the time your done processing hamburger meat it's not really meat anymore. Go figure.
    • Try it. It's surprisingly good. Better than most fast-food burgers you've ever had. I have 2 complaints about it. 1) Too expensive, and 2) the cheese was obviously fake.

      FIx the cheese, and I'm pretty ok with it. Make it cheap, and I'm going to choose it most of the time.

      I was not expecting to even tolerate it, let alone like it. I'm a big meat eater, and we don't buy less than 2lbs of meat at a time. But that burger? Better than a good 30% that I've had. With good cheese, would be in the top 50%.

      Seriously -

  • Will be available starting next week

    What? They've had them at White Castle for several months already, and I've seen a few Minneapolis restaurants with them too.

  • During a press event at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Impossible Foods showed off its new plant-based ground beef replacement

    Artificial beef = electronics? I guess it's an all-purpose tech show now.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    I don't want a Soy burger. They want to help people.

    Figure out how to make zero calorie bread or a zero calorie chocolate that is high in fiber and good for your teeth so you can eat it without worry of gaining weight and you are encouraged to eat it after every meal.

    Won't fix any starvation problems which is a social and political problem and not a technical one as we have more than enough food to go around. But it would work wonders towards our obesity problem,

    If they actually make a soy burger, I want on

  • I'd give it a try. It's a potential way to reduce meat consumption, but so mac & cheese. Less meat doesn't have to be healthier.
  • [ Phil and Lem grew meat in the lab (not named "Blobby") in Better Off Ted, "Heroes" (s1, e2) ]

    Jerome: [tasting meat made in lab] It tastes familiar.
    Ted: Beef?
    Jerome: No.
    Linda: Chicken? We'll take chicken.
    Ted: What does it taste like?
    Jerome: Despair.
    Ted: Is it possible it just needs salt?

  • Soy might be decent livestock feed, but you aren't livestock, even if you wish you were.
    They used to say it was "just like cows' milk", until a few infants died from being fed exclusively soy milk. So now they don't say that...
    And then they found out that if you give toddlers a lot of soy milk, they tend to develop allergies to soy. So now they say not to do that...
    But they are still saying that it's perfectly good for adults... despite a number of common health problems that adults get if they drink a
    • by jemmyw ( 624065 )
      They fed babies exclusively soy? I believe they'd also have trouble if you fed them exclusively cows milk. Everything in moderation and so forth.
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Wednesday January 09, 2019 @05:05AM (#57929544) Homepage Journal

      You don't have to eat exclusively Impossible Burgers, you can consume them as part of a balanced diet.

      Look, I'm sure you can find some idiot online suggesting you eat a 100% soy diet, but let's not judge everything by the biggest idiot who happens to like it.

    • Well, actually I was never fed with soy milk as an infant, neverthless I have a very strong allergy to soy. It seems it is one of the most common allergies in the world, ranking sixth or so. Replacing meat with soy will be a very serious problem for many people.
  • by n3r0.m4dski11z ( 447312 ) on Wednesday January 09, 2019 @01:06AM (#57929084) Homepage Journal

    Most people here are just fear mongering with half remembered urban legends. As someone who tries a lot of different vegetarian burgers, there are some good ones, and bad ones. But most, you cant tell its vegetarian, because of the toppings and bun. The fancy stuff always overshadows the meat, or soy or bean or what have you.

    There is also a decent approximation of lean ground round available in the supermarket around here for your chillis and your tacos. The flavours and textures of the meal also depends on how you cook it. Cast iron pans can be used for browning to a similar texture of meat, and when cooking on a bbq, generally it requires less cooking time so you dont dry vege stuff out.

    People make a big deal about what they eat, but as long as its healthy it doesn't really matter the cuisine type to me personally. Its all just food, not something to base your life around.

  • I thought the Consumer Electronics Show had gone downhill when they introduced a hall dedicated to the iPhone cases. But at least they had some relevance as an accessory to a consumer electronics product. But fake food? Unless it's ingredients include nefarious nanobots, I can't see any reason why it is being introduced at CES rather than one of the many Food Expo's that Las Vegas is host to.
    • by adrn01 ( 103810 )
      Our robot overlords are researching what to feed us once they take over - that is the relevance.
  • Unsure if the jury is still out on whether soy affects hormone levels? Certainly soy protein for male weight training is still considered a massive no-no.
  • "Impossible Burger", "Beyond Burger" and these others not-beef-but-tastes-like-it burgers still cost a LOT more than the equivalent beef burger. It's tantamount to a hipster tax.

    When we start to see these companies sell their product for the same or less price than meat I think we'll be onto something.

  • According to Brown, the levels of amino acids are "at least on-par" with typical ground beef and, in some cases, exceed what real meat can offer.

    I call shenanigans. There is a recent research paper that extensively documents relative amino acid levels of various foodstocks, both raw and in vivo, and IF this is just soy and not a resynthesis of amino acids then the ratios are insufficient for human muscle building, etc. Milk has barely enough leucine, eggs have a little more, muscle has plenty. It's the

  • As for taste, Popular Science's Stan Horaczek says "it works best as a burger with a thin patty so you don't get a whole mouthful of soy at once, but once you introduce a bun and some toppings, you might not even notice the differences with real beef."

    Yet another optimal deliver system for sugar, salt and soft, squishy Wonderbread.

    Elite cooking: find the best ingredients, and get out their way as much as possible, enhancing only around the edges.

    Junk food culture: bacon makes the goop go down.

    I never liked

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