7 ms·

I've been vegan for 15 years, and I've tried all sorts of veggie burgers and mock meats available. Some of them are good, but pretty easy to tell they are not m

I've been vegan for 15 years, and I've tried all sorts of veggie burgers and mock meats available. Some of them are good, but pretty easy to tell they are not meat. When I first had the Beyond Burger last year (just plain with 2 thin slices of bread) it brought back a very strong memory of how meat used to taste. I wonder if most meat eaters would be able to tell it's not meat on a blind test. I'm curious to try the Impossible Burger, but I haven't seen it in my area yet.

ousta 7y ago
tried the impossible burger. It is far from a good quality meat burger. probably near macdonalds quality.
- bklyn11201 7y ago
  I agree, it's not a life-changing burger, but it's quite a good substitute and both filling and attractive. This picture from Kenji Lopez-Alt shows how attractive it is to compared to processed beef patties: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv7CnCKB5Sw/ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv7CnCKB5Sw/
  - cm2012 7y ago
    I bought the impossible burger at White Castle but didn't like it since they cooked it too "rare" for me (I generally like ground beef well done/no pink, not for health reasons, just an appetite thing). It's weird to see a non-actual-meat burger with pink in the middle! It tasted like a rare burger.
daeken 7y ago
As a meat eater, I've had mixed results with Beyond Burger and the Impossible Burger. With real meat, it's pretty hard to mess up a burger; if it's anywhere from medium rare to medium well, it's still going to be a pretty tasty burger. The current burger substitutes require a much more narrow window before they just don't taste very good. That said, I'm extremely bullish on these; they're already great and they're only going to get better from here.
- jordanpg 7y ago
  Good points about ease of cooking and error. So much of short-term adoption of these is tied to marketing and time, but their long-term success strikes me as a foregone conclusion. In marketing, they will need to get past a latent psychological hurdle and in time, waiting for the crotchety older folks who insist, no matter what, on a "real burger." Both things are related to the living generations who have grown up with "real burgers."
  - daeken 7y ago
    I genuinely can't imagine an outcome where these don't become commonplace. Not going to predict that they're going to replace beef or anything, but it won't be weird to get a meat substitute burger from Wendy's or the like.
    - jandrese 7y ago
      You can already get them from places like White Castle, so I'd say you're right. What I'd really like to see is for the price to drop to a bit below that of the beef patty to help entice people to switch.
    - somberi 7y ago
      Burger King (limited trials) and White Castle (370 outlets), already carry Impossible Burger patties. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/apr/02/burger-king-vegan-whopper-meat-free-impossible-launch https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/apr/02/burger-king...
      - toomuchtodo 7y ago
        White Castle Impossible patties are delicious. I don't order traditional meat there anymore because of it.
- Slippery_John 7y ago
  I've had overdone Beyond meat that just has the texture of rubber before, so can confirm it has a narrower window. I imagine that's why the Impossible Burger is only available in restaurants: it's easier to control the experience.
scrooched_moose 7y ago
In my experience Impossible is a little better than Beyond, and I haven't had Impossible 2.0 yet which is supposed to be a massive improvement.
thaumaturgy 7y ago
I'm a pretty shameless meat eater (I know...), and tried the Beyond Burger at Carl's a while back out of curiosity (not an outfit I visit often, I do try to stay local at least). Granted that Carl's loads their stuff up with ridiculous amounts of sauce as a way to mask their crappiness, but still ... I don't think I'd be able to reliably tell the difference in a blind test. Given a good burger from a high quality pub and grill or similar, I might be able to. But as far as I care, that can just become an occasional treat, as it pretty much is now. I'm waiting for a little more word on the nutritional science of these things, but once they look good there, I'll be happy if they replace my regular burger patties pretty much everywhere. I've never bought (individual) stock before but I'm sorely tempted to buy some of this a few days after it becomes available. Absent some Theranos-level fuckery, I expect that these guys (and their competitors) are going to be huge.
- bdamm 7y ago
  Second that. My taste test at Carl's led me to go back and eat it again. Yum!
- ahawkins 7y ago
  > I've never bought (individual) stock before but I'm sorely tempted to buy some of this a few days after it becomes available. Absent some Theranos-level fuckery, I expect that these guys (and their competitors) are going to be huge. Same for myself. I think this industry will be massive. Never bought individual stocks before. I don't know where to start.
dobs 7y ago
I'm a meat eater and my partner's a vegetarian. A&W was our go-to fast food hamburger place even before beyond meat burgers as their veggie deluxe burger was already fairly good, though I'd still order a meat burger. Now we both get the beyond meat burger and I honestly can't tell the difference between them and their standard meat patties. Granted, that's a lower bar than fresh ground beef coming off a barbecue, but still impressive.
city41 7y ago
I am not vegetarian, but I like Beyond Meat and eat it pretty often, especially their sausage. But in my opinion it doesn't really taste or feel like meat at all. I'm OK with that, but if they really want to "fool" meat eaters, I think they have a ways to go.
- enjo 7y ago
  Ya the Beyond Burger is a good veggie burger. The impossible burger is a really good meat substitute, particularly the new version.
- bigwheeler 7y ago
  The spicy Italian sausage is amazing
rootusrootus 7y ago
I tried the impossible burger last week, from a local chain called Super Deluxe which aims to reproduce the basic burgers from In-n-out (and mostly does quite a good job). I could tell it wasn't meat, but it was a near thing. The texture was just slightly too soft. Otherwise it wasn't half bad. What did surprise me was the aftertaste. I get a fairly strong aftertaste when I eat chicken, for example, but not beef. I'm certain not everyone experiences that, and I've never had an explanation. Interestingly, after the impossible burger I got the same strong aftertaste. That may be a clue I can use to identify what causes it to happen for me. I'd have another one, but I do prefer the beef version a little, and I don't often go to Super Deluxe so when I do it's going to be the real deal.
telesilla 7y ago
Long-term pescatarian here: the beyond burger is to me the most delicious of all "i'm not meat and never will be" fake meat products. The impossible burger on the other hand disturbed me: I tried it twice at 2 different locations in NYC to make sure, and both times I felt like I had meat. I still remember the smell of the blood-like heme. I did not enjoy it. I'm not sure the impossible burger is a good idea for vegans/vegetarians. I welcome it for healthier options for meat eaters however.
- youeseh 7y ago
  This was also my experience with the Impossible Burger. It is so good at tasting like meat that it is crazy. I look forward to trying a Beyond Meat burger / sandwich sometime.
  - nickpsecurity 7y ago
    I'm a burger lover who tolerated the soy burgers better than a lot of folks in school. They tasted like crap, though. Unlike meat in many ways. It was all these HN comments that made me try the Beyond Burger. It was different. It looks more like meat, sizzles like meat, seemed to have texture of meat, and mostly taste like meat. Not quite meat, though! I'd say main difference, which could've been how it was cooked, was that it was soft and crumbly. It about fell apart vs how most burgers are solid. That's a drawback for most but better for a certain niche in my testing. I might try to sell them that finding, though, given it would expand their market.
- cm2012 7y ago
  I love meat, but don't like it rare. When I got the impossible burger at white castle it tasted too rare for me to enjoy. A bit too authentic!
Accacin 7y ago
I've been Vegan for a year or so, and I tried the Beyond Burger the other day (in the UK, and I never seen Impossible Burgers over here so I haven't tried) and yeah it was actually pretty good but it was a lot more 'loose' than I'm used to with an actual burger. For me, meat tastes amazing if I'm honest.. And I've noticed I tend to prefer burgers that aren't pretending to me meat. In a local pub the other day I had a red pepper and spinach burger that was amazingly crispy on the outside.

ousta 7y ago

tried the impossible burger. It is far from a good quality meat burger. probably near macdonalds quality.

bklyn11201 7y ago
I agree, it's not a life-changing burger, but it's quite a good substitute and both filling and attractive. This picture from Kenji Lopez-Alt shows how attractive it is to compared to processed beef patties: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv7CnCKB5Sw/ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv7CnCKB5Sw/
- cm2012 7y ago
  I bought the impossible burger at White Castle but didn't like it since they cooked it too "rare" for me (I generally like ground beef well done/no pink, not for health reasons, just an appetite thing). It's weird to see a non-actual-meat burger with pink in the middle! It tasted like a rare burger.

daeken 7y ago

As a meat eater, I've had mixed results with Beyond Burger and the Impossible Burger. With real meat, it's pretty hard to mess up a burger; if it's anywhere from medium rare to medium well, it's still going to be a pretty tasty burger. The current burger substitutes require a much more narrow window before they just don't taste very good. That said, I'm extremely bullish on these; they're already great and they're only going to get better from here.

jordanpg 7y ago
Good points about ease of cooking and error. So much of short-term adoption of these is tied to marketing and time, but their long-term success strikes me as a foregone conclusion. In marketing, they will need to get past a latent psychological hurdle and in time, waiting for the crotchety older folks who insist, no matter what, on a "real burger." Both things are related to the living generations who have grown up with "real burgers."
- daeken 7y ago
  I genuinely can't imagine an outcome where these don't become commonplace. Not going to predict that they're going to replace beef or anything, but it won't be weird to get a meat substitute burger from Wendy's or the like.
  - jandrese 7y ago
    You can already get them from places like White Castle, so I'd say you're right. What I'd really like to see is for the price to drop to a bit below that of the beef patty to help entice people to switch.
  - somberi 7y ago
    Burger King (limited trials) and White Castle (370 outlets), already carry Impossible Burger patties. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/apr/02/burger-king-vegan-whopper-meat-free-impossible-launch https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/apr/02/burger-king...
    - toomuchtodo 7y ago
      White Castle Impossible patties are delicious. I don't order traditional meat there anymore because of it.
Slippery_John 7y ago
I've had overdone Beyond meat that just has the texture of rubber before, so can confirm it has a narrower window. I imagine that's why the Impossible Burger is only available in restaurants: it's easier to control the experience.

scrooched_moose 7y ago

In my experience Impossible is a little better than Beyond, and I haven't had Impossible 2.0 yet which is supposed to be a massive improvement.

thaumaturgy 7y ago

I'm a pretty shameless meat eater (I know...), and tried the Beyond Burger at Carl's a while back out of curiosity (not an outfit I visit often, I do try to stay local at least). Granted that Carl's loads their stuff up with ridiculous amounts of sauce as a way to mask their crappiness, but still ... I don't think I'd be able to reliably tell the difference in a blind test. Given a good burger from a high quality pub and grill or similar, I might be able to. But as far as I care, that can just become an occasional treat, as it pretty much is now. I'm waiting for a little more word on the nutritional science of these things, but once they look good there, I'll be happy if they replace my regular burger patties pretty much everywhere. I've never bought (individual) stock before but I'm sorely tempted to buy some of this a few days after it becomes available. Absent some Theranos-level fuckery, I expect that these guys (and their competitors) are going to be huge.

bdamm 7y ago
Second that. My taste test at Carl's led me to go back and eat it again. Yum!
ahawkins 7y ago
> I've never bought (individual) stock before but I'm sorely tempted to buy some of this a few days after it becomes available. Absent some Theranos-level fuckery, I expect that these guys (and their competitors) are going to be huge. Same for myself. I think this industry will be massive. Never bought individual stocks before. I don't know where to start.

dobs 7y ago

I'm a meat eater and my partner's a vegetarian. A&W was our go-to fast food hamburger place even before beyond meat burgers as their veggie deluxe burger was already fairly good, though I'd still order a meat burger. Now we both get the beyond meat burger and I honestly can't tell the difference between them and their standard meat patties. Granted, that's a lower bar than fresh ground beef coming off a barbecue, but still impressive.

city41 7y ago

I am not vegetarian, but I like Beyond Meat and eat it pretty often, especially their sausage. But in my opinion it doesn't really taste or feel like meat at all. I'm OK with that, but if they really want to "fool" meat eaters, I think they have a ways to go.

enjo 7y ago
Ya the Beyond Burger is a good veggie burger. The impossible burger is a really good meat substitute, particularly the new version.
bigwheeler 7y ago
The spicy Italian sausage is amazing

rootusrootus 7y ago

I tried the impossible burger last week, from a local chain called Super Deluxe which aims to reproduce the basic burgers from In-n-out (and mostly does quite a good job). I could tell it wasn't meat, but it was a near thing. The texture was just slightly too soft. Otherwise it wasn't half bad. What did surprise me was the aftertaste. I get a fairly strong aftertaste when I eat chicken, for example, but not beef. I'm certain not everyone experiences that, and I've never had an explanation. Interestingly, after the impossible burger I got the same strong aftertaste. That may be a clue I can use to identify what causes it to happen for me. I'd have another one, but I do prefer the beef version a little, and I don't often go to Super Deluxe so when I do it's going to be the real deal.

telesilla 7y ago

Long-term pescatarian here: the beyond burger is to me the most delicious of all "i'm not meat and never will be" fake meat products. The impossible burger on the other hand disturbed me: I tried it twice at 2 different locations in NYC to make sure, and both times I felt like I had meat. I still remember the smell of the blood-like heme. I did not enjoy it. I'm not sure the impossible burger is a good idea for vegans/vegetarians. I welcome it for healthier options for meat eaters however.

youeseh 7y ago
This was also my experience with the Impossible Burger. It is so good at tasting like meat that it is crazy. I look forward to trying a Beyond Meat burger / sandwich sometime.
- nickpsecurity 7y ago
  I'm a burger lover who tolerated the soy burgers better than a lot of folks in school. They tasted like crap, though. Unlike meat in many ways. It was all these HN comments that made me try the Beyond Burger. It was different. It looks more like meat, sizzles like meat, seemed to have texture of meat, and mostly taste like meat. Not quite meat, though! I'd say main difference, which could've been how it was cooked, was that it was soft and crumbly. It about fell apart vs how most burgers are solid. That's a drawback for most but better for a certain niche in my testing. I might try to sell them that finding, though, given it would expand their market.
cm2012 7y ago
I love meat, but don't like it rare. When I got the impossible burger at white castle it tasted too rare for me to enjoy. A bit too authentic!

Accacin 7y ago

I've been Vegan for a year or so, and I tried the Beyond Burger the other day (in the UK, and I never seen Impossible Burgers over here so I haven't tried) and yeah it was actually pretty good but it was a lot more 'loose' than I'm used to with an actual burger. For me, meat tastes amazing if I'm honest.. And I've noticed I tend to prefer burgers that aren't pretending to me meat. In a local pub the other day I had a red pepper and spinach burger that was amazingly crispy on the outside.