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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)

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.

4 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. How are the Carbs by glennrrr · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm on a keto diet. I need fat and protein not carbohydrates.

  2. I don't want a Soy burger... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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 one that taste as good as meat and has a higher protein content with the same or less fat and zero carbs.

  3. Soy is garbage for humans by Slugster · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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 lot of it...

    ???

    Does this sound like the warning label of a food that is "perfectly safe"?

    Vegan socialist sites are still pushing soy-based-everything, saying how great it is. Except for, well, you know. The infants and children it's already killed and damaged.
    If any corporate-made food had done that, they'd insist that it was evil and harmful and should be taken off the market.

  4. Re:Soy? by apoc.famine · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've had one. The worst part was the fake cheese. Put some good cheddar on it, and it wouldn't be the best burger I've ever had, but it would be far from the worst. As it was, with the obviously fake cheese, I'd put it in the bottom 1/3 of burgers I've had. If it had good cheese on it, it would be in the top 50%.

    For someone with a smoker who smoked 15lbs of brisket for christmas dinner, giving a vegetarian burger a top 50% slot in my life-long burger eating surprised the hell out of me. It was actually really, really tasty. Definitely above fast-food burgers. That tells me that the fast food joints could probably adopt it and nobody would be the wiser. I've definitely had far more disappointing burgers at fast food joints.

    Your typical gastropub burger? This one gets close but probably won't pass it. Anything gourmet? Probably not.

    But it could replace the average fast food burger, and that's a big deal. The question is if they can be cheaper than a fast food burger. At the moment, the answer is no. However, all it will take is one of them to jump in on this, and they might be able to do it.

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