Recently tried an Impossible burger and nuggets and thought that if nobody told me it wasn’t meat, I’d have thought the patty was made out of a weird kind of meat, rather than make a connection with the taste and texture of plants. Honestly, I might not complain if that was the only kind of “meat” I could have for the rest of my life.
Well, maybe I’d miss bacon.
I’ve yet to find the opportunity to try lab-grown meat, but I for sure would like to try it out and don’t see much wrong with it as long as it’s sustainable, reasonably priced, and doesn’t have anything you wouldn’t expect in a normal piece of meat.
Also, with imitation and lab-grown options, I’d no longer have to deal with the disgust factor of handling raw meat (esp. the juices) or biting into gristle. I’ll happily devour a hot dog, but something about an unexpected bit of cartilage gives me a lingering sense of revulsion.
I think it’s an interesting solution to a growing problem (the industry of meat). But I’ve never had “fake meat” that tastes like real meat, though I don’t actively try a lot of them.
I remember when the Impossible Burger came to Burger King. I got one of each, a regular Whopper and an Impossible Whopper. The regular Whopper was the typical Burger King sad burger, the same taste you expect. The Impossible Burger tasted like what I imagine a well used ashtray tastes like. To simply say “it tasted burnt” doesn’t cover it. I took a couple bites and threw it into the trash.
I think vegetarianism and veganism are noble causes, but they aren’t for me — I say, eating an omelet with pepper jack cheese and turkey sausage. I’m also a bariatric patient, so I need 80-120g of animal protein a day. Vegans will say “um no actually you don’t…” but before any wanna start, I’m gonna take the advice of my medical team over some people on the Internet with an agenda who won’t lose a wink of sleep if I get sick. I’m not the one. I can’t be the one. But I’ll root for you from the sidelines (and offer a bit of an olive branch — ahead of chicken and turkey, I find fish to be the best protein).
That describes every burger I’ve had from Burger King, to be honest.