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Move over, puny veggie burgers: these patties are here to blow the bun off of what we consider vegan food!
For some people, the mark of a good burger means that it bleeds. There are the folks who want theirs cooked well done, but then, there are those who want to munch down on bloody flesh. It doesn’t sound too appetizing to us, but it is a taste and craving that people understandably have, so we are happy they can look to a plant-based alternative so good it bleeds!
A start up company in the U.S. called Impossible Foods believes it has created the secret to replicating the taste, look and texture of meat in their burger, so much so that the ingredient is known as “plant blood.” These patties, which were created by biochemist Patrick Brown, are packed with a molecule called heme that comes from the roots of nitrogen-fixing plants.
Impossible Foods is a three-year old startup based in Redwood City, California that was founded by Patrick Brown, a first-time entrepreneur and Stanford University biochemist and physician. The company has received much attention and backing – at least $75 million so far in investments from Google Ventures and Bill Gates. It’s joining the club of other start-ups like Beyond Meat and Hampton Creek Foods, who are replicating the muscle fiber texture of meat, or Modern Meadow, which is working on 3-D-printed meat and leather.
Sustainable food companies like this are more than just trendy – they are getting noticed by some of Silicon Valley’s most well known names, including Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and Obvious Corp, the company behind Twitter.
Currently, the Impossible Burger costs about $32 to produce, but Brown says he expects to bring that figure down once the company goes into large scale production, which might be as early as next year! As far as next steps into expansion, Brown told The Week that, “There are limits to what a cow can be — a cow can only be a cow. We can make anything.”
We can definitely get behind the company’s mission, which is to give customers the taste of meat without the negative health and environmental impacts. Awesome!
I eat raw vegan, for health, animals and the environment. This burger does not appeal to me at all. It actually looks gross and chemical laden. They can reduce the cost, by mass production? That doesn\’t sound fresh or healthy at all. I can see how meat-eaters might find this find this appealing and love the cruelty free, better for the environment side. Though from experience, people who go vegan and still try to eat bacon, cheese, sausages that still taste and feel like the real thing, end up being disappointed with their diet and go back to being meat eaters. Or, they don\’t get the nutrients they need to be a healthy vegan.