The Impossible Convincing Meat Plant-Based Burger Now Available In Australia

Impossible Beef is made to look, cook and taste like beef. You might know it as the bleeding fake meat. Or as the top ranked meatless burger in The New York Times Taste test 2019. Or maybe you have met it via famous supporters Katy Perry, Jay Z or Serena Williams who love it so much that they have invested in alternative soybean and engineered meat. plant of the company. If you haven’t heard of Impossible Foods yet, it can be said that you will become much more familiar with the name of the California-based company, as Impossible has finally launched its flagship product in Australia today, available in over 150. restaurants across the country.

“It is for meat eaters. It is to be added to your diet. It’s not intended for vegos or vegans, ”said Julian Cincotta, owner of Butter in Sydney, who has added Impossible Beef to his menu at his Chatswood and Parramatta sites (with an Impossible Foods pop-up in the works for later this month). “It’s so delicious. It tastes like beef. I’ve tried it on a few buns and it tastes a bit like a Macca cheeseburger, but a more gourmet meat product.

What sets Impossible apart from other vegetable patties or foods containing vegetables is that it uses heme, an essential molecule found in every living plant and animal. It is a component of an oxygen-carrying molecule that is also present in the blood, which makes it taste so similar to beef.

“It cooks like meat; it cooks really fast, ”says Cincotta. “We are preparing a medium-sized pancake, cooked to perfection. If you make it thicker, there is blood, heme, which after fermentation looks like blood. People think it’s beet juice, but it isn’t. I have used it for the bolognese, the stir-fried noodles, the fried katsu, and I also want to make pies with it.

Large format was one of the first to offer a bite of an Impossible Cheeseburger at Butter in Chatswood. The patty was seared and caramelized, with a slightly sweet flavor. Biting into it resulted in the same fat and juicy flavors you would expect from a beef burger with a really convincing tender, decadent texture. Along with the butter sauce, cheese, pickles, onion, tomato sauce and American mustard, it was also a finger-licking mess that we would eat again.

It took years for Impossible, which launched its first burger in the United States in 2016, to come to Australia. Its founder Patrick O Brown, professor of biochemistry at Stanford University, wanted to create moody meat products from plants that could effectively replace the need to raise cows and ultimately reduce the environmental impact of the breeding of animals intended for human consumption.

Although its soy-based heme is fermented with genetically modified yeast and the company has been criticized for testing its products on animals, the patty pink when cooked to perfection is similar to what you would expect. see on a medium rare steak. Vegans might find other more appealing options, such as mushroom burgers or a mushroom-based patty, like Fable’s patties, or Beyond Meat’s variety of pea and rice protein.

“We take a very different approach than other plant-based meat companies, starting with understanding the basics of what makes meat so delicious,” says Nick Halla, senior vice president (who was also the Impossible Foods’ first employee). “This has allowed us to develop products that allow consumers to have the same experience as when they eat conventional meat of animal origin, without sacrificing everything they love about meat. ”

Halla is overseeing the company’s expansion into Australia and New Zealand – its third international market launch in 14 months. Right now, you can access Impossible Beef at over 100 Grill’d restaurants across the country and two Butter restaurants, with more retail offerings to be confirmed later.

“We balance several factors to determine which product to launch first,” says Halla. “Starting with the environmental emergency and the fit with the market… We want to deploy products that replace the most urgent threats to our planet’s ecosystems… Beef production has, by far, the greatest environmental impact of all animal products. ”

He says Large format it is also a meat that we use in many foods in Australia. “Ground beef is inextricably linked to Australian culinary culture. Beef is versatile and a popular ingredient for staples like hashes, chili peppers, burgers and meat pies, and the centerpiece of cultural pastimes like barbecues and roasts.

Cincotta says her mom made lasagna with it and her aunt made meatballs. It is also launching a range of home meals, including a meatball sub. And later in November, Butter will also open an Impossible Pop-Up at The Rocks, Sydney, featuring a menu made up exclusively of Impossible Beef.

Grill’d will offer four versions of an Impossible Beef burger, which will add to its already extensive plant-based lineup. Simon Crowe, Founder and Managing Director of Grill’d, said he was thrilled to be the first national group in Australia to add fake meat to their menu. “Impossible Beef is the natural next step for Grill’d in our mission to challenge the status quo with innovative, healthy and sustainable products,” he said in a statement.

So how healthy are they? Each Impossible Beef product contains no animal hormones or antibiotics, and it contains the same protein per serving as if you were eating cow beef. There is also 4.2 mg of iron in each patty, and fake meat is considered healthier than processed meat, which has been linked to heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

For now, Cincotta’s decision to include Impossible Beef on their menus comes at a cost. Although it has a much smaller environmental footprint than conventional meat – 96% less land, 87% less water and 89% less greenhouse gas emissions compared to beef from cows produced in the United States – it is more expensive than beef from cows.

“Right now, our product is generally slightly more expensive than conventional ground beef, and generally in line with the price of a premium cut of beef like grass-fed or organic beef,” said Impossible in a press release.

“Our intention is to continue lowering our prices until we are below the price of conventional ground beef from cows.”

So if you see burgers selling for the same price as beef, you’ll know why. But this may be the price to pay to help our planet.

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