I think the last time I had a vegetarian ‘burger’ was some disgusting Linda McCartney beefless soy veggie mess in the early 90’s. That was pretty much enough to put you off for life. Not wishing to hold a grudge for more than a couple of decades, I tried some Beyond Meat burgers for dinner yesterday topped with some Daiya Swiss Style vegan cheese slices, this was pretty much as good as it gets and as good as any store bought burger I’ve ever had.
Impossible Foods are not yet available here (nearest location Singapore) so that narrowed the selection process however I did do quite a bit a reading up on both beforehand.
On paper, nutritionally there is little to choose between the two – Impossible fairs slightly better based on calories, fat, fibre and sodium but Beyond Meat does better with protein and saturated fat content. Both are vegan and gluten free, but Impossible Foods contains genetically modified organisms and soy whereas Beyond burgers contain no GMOs or soy.
While Beyond Meat uses pea protein isolate, Impossible Foods use heme to more accurately replicate the appearance of beef (including bleeding), soy and potato protein. For me this also brings into question their vegan credentials, as Impossible Foods confirmed that it has used animal testing to evaluate the safety of its heme protein.
Generally the consensus in the press seemed to be Impossible is marginally a closer to match to beef in appearance and taste whereas Beyond has a slight nutty taste to it. I didn’t find that at all – the Beyond burger really tasted great, cooked well on a griddle and kept its shape and texture.
The high sodium count doesn’t mean this is going to be a regular inclusion in the diet but certainly makes a nice occasional treat. I also tried the sausages which were slightly less convincing but still OK. The block meat I will try next for use in a cottage pie or chilli.
Many vegans avoid IF because of the animal testing conducted on rats. It is also the burger of choice used by McDonalds in their plant-based burger which recently attracted the attention of the ASA.
I have tried the Beyond Burger (and the sausages too) both of which I thought were overpriced - there are cheaper options with similar nutritional profiles.
As an aside, Quorn now produces many vegan products and has done for about 5 years. They say they have a long term strategy to turn all of their products into “vegan” ones. Quorn mycoprotein was also tested on animals in the early days but has not been since the mid-90s.
If you have the time and inclination you could make a damn decent burger yourself. I am not sure if you get beetroot in Malaysia but I assume you can get vital wheat gluten; it’s been popular in many Asian countries for far longer than in the UK.
Yep - beetroots we can do and vital wheat gluten (about 5 quid a kilo) - the Beyond and Impossible products do carry a hefty premium I agree. I remember seeing the leaked videos of the testing Quorn did on pigs that died in agony - pretty vile.
FYI, 2 Beyond Burgers here are £8.50 compared to £5.00 in Tesco UK. In the States, it looks like Impossible and Beyond are pretty much the same price as each other.
Been experimenting with seitan a lot at home. I’ve got another batch to try today. I’m still figuring it out but it’s a fun journey.
I’m losing faith in Quorn a bit. Perhaps I’m just irritated because their stock availability locally has been terrible for ages. But it seems almost impossible to find their vegan pieces, and increasingly all their actual healthy staple options too (pieces, mince, fillets, roast). I get the vibe they’re more interested in ramping up production of more unhealthy, vegetarian snack/treat options.
Are Beyond Meat or Impossible Burger in stores in the UK? Might try as a novelty / out of curiosity.
Impossible is not yet in Europe according to their website - Beyond Meat is. Impossible applied to start selling their products in the EU in October - not sure how thats going. the road block was their use of genetically modified ingredients.
I’m not sure if they are blocking it as such - perhaps different licensing required. It appears their use of Heme (soy leghemoglobin) is the sticking point.
Not sure if it’s launched in the UK, yet but Beyond also do blocks of ‘meat’ making it cheaper to make DIY burgers as well as other recipes.
At the end of the day, it’s all for the greater good. Isn’t that what matters? Lab-grown meats could benefit humanity as a whole and change the impact we have on the planet. I’d rather they be confident over how safe it is. After all, this technology could very well save the world.
I’m just playing devil’s advocate. Of course, testing on rats is never ethical. But it seems it was required for “no-questions” FDA approval. I hope I don’t sound ignorant here.
no I get what you’re saying - it just seems odd that they chose to do that purely to be able to say that they had a product that bleeds like meat instead of being happy creating a product that doesn’t bleed but still tastes fine.
I think Impossible Foods did it for the meat-eaters. The blood is what makes it a complete meat substitution. It gives it colour and makes it truly feel like real meat. I’m sure they want to be identical to the real stuff (i.e. they can swap meat in the supermarkets for their products) and they need heme for it to be that way.
I think vegans should opt for Beyond Meat products. They seem to have goals that better match with vegan ideals.