OT: Fast Food veggie burger, BK Impossible Whopper

[intlzncster]

As for the Impossible, I liked enough to eat it and order it those rare times I go to a fast food place. It was not as good as a whopper, but it was 75% there.

As for the health or politics of red meat, I was sympathetic to the ethics of animal treatment but not aligned philosophically (animals eat animals), nor was I concerned with my health, but when you see swaths of the amazon being cleared for ranchers affiliated with our fast food chains, you may want to begin making some choices.

Thing about that is it's more due to the economic climate there atm. If it wasn't getting cleared for meat, it would be getting cleared for agriculture, or to grow wood to sell. Their administration wants to make money off it, and come hell or high water they will.

 

[CAHUSKY]

What I don't understand is how plant based foods (i.e fake meat) can be so bad or worse than meat. Isn't it basically salad on a bun?

Water, Pea Protein Isolate, Expeller-Pressed Canola Oil, Refined Coconut Oil, Contains 2% or less of the following: Cellulose from Bamboo, Methylcellulose, Potato Starch, Natural Flavor, Maltodextrin, Yeast Extract, Salt, Sunflower Oil, Vegetable Glycerin, Dried Yeast, Gum Arabic, Citrus Extract (to protect quality), ...

“The burger’s high level of saturated fat is the biggest detriment to its perceived health halo, along with its sodium content and lack of whole food ingredients. We advise looking for vegan patties that have a bean, whole grain, or vegetable base for a truly nutritious plant-based burger

But in Impossible Foods’ defense, the company does not promise any potential health benefits of their products in their mission statement. Instead, the company’s primary goal is to “make our global food system truly sustainable.” Keep this in mind the next time you order the Impossible Burger. While you can feel good about making a sustainable and environmentally-friendly choice, it’s best to enjoy this plant-based patty in moderation”.

 

[upstater]

Thing about that is it's more due to the economic climate there atm. If it wasn't getting cleared for meat, it would be getting cleared for agriculture, or to grow wood to sell. Their administration wants to make money off it, and come hell or high water they will.

I hear you, but clearly buying meat from the companies doing the clearing (and killing indigeneous people) incentivizes them. They get the guarantees beforehand.

 

[upstater]

“The burger’s high level of saturated fat is the biggest detriment to its perceived health halo, along with its sodium content and lack of whole food ingredients. We advise looking for vegan patties that have a bean, whole grain, or vegetable base for a truly nutritious plant-based burger

Hi Sodium is not good for a majority of people, but really good for a significant number of other people.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Yep, Soy is absolute garbage for men.

and it's in almost everything...

 

[Jletoile]

The Impossible Burger is actually more caloric and higher in Na than the meat Whopper. The purpose for eating it is to reduce the need for cattle and whatever problems they cause. Plus the humanity of the choice. Health wise not the best option but not really much worse than the alternative.

Exactly..,if you’re vegetarian for health reasons you wont be eating fast food.. but it tastes incredibly good... and no animals suffered... win/win!

 

[SwingDog]

Had the impossible whopper today. 1st time, and I don't think I'll ever eat their 'meat' burgers again, as long as this option is available. My wife had a 5 guys the night before and she claimed the IW tasted just as good and she couldn't tell the difference (meat vs veggie).

McD's is coming out with a veggie burger and I'm sure most burger chains will have one eventually. I don't eat fast food that often, in fact rarely, but the IW will increase my visits. I'm not certain of the exact health benefits, but it has to be more healthier than the regular Whopper (which I never really liked). By the way I'm nowhere near a vegetarian, but had a free coupon and tried it.

Any one else try any of the non meat burgers out there (e.g. Wendy's, Wayback)? I just peeked at the ingredients and they look hideous, but somehow when combined its near perfect. Click if you dare: Ingredients.

Haven't tried it yet, but I plan on it. Incidentally, the scariest ingredients aren't in the patty, they're in the bun!

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Great, vegan Cam Newton has still another excuse for no longer being a good QB. I jest

 

[HuskyHawk]

Yuck. No thanks. That ingredient list is gag worthy. Perfectly happy with meat the few times I eat fast food (and all the time otherwise too).

 

[BugsyCT]

I tried the Impossible Burger once, and it was good as meat, but if it's high in sodium I will definitely minimize my consumption of it. Try to avoid eating at fast food places anyway when possible - nothing there is good for you.

 

[David 76]

Motivated by this thread, I tried it last night. NBD. Tastes almost as good as a regular crappy fast food burger.

 

[MrP]

Anyone eating these things thinking they’re healthy is missing the point. As someone above mentioned, these burgers are aimed at people who care about the moral/environmental impact of meat, not people looking for a healthy or nutritious meal.

IMO, seeing as it tastes EXACTLY like a whopper (thanks to all the salt, mayo, etc), this is a great option. The meat industry ain’t exactly the greenest.

 

[ctchamps]

Bring on the insects

I’m long on insects. Prices only going up as they become scarcer. Consequence of too many cattle.

 

[UconnU]

You have to wonder if all these fast food places are coming out with these beefless burgers now because they are afraid governments are going to outlaw or ration beef in the future. It’s not like there are more vegetarians now than before, there are actually less than ever because of the shift to more protein heavy diets the last 15-20 years, they also aren’t any healthier than the beef burgers. There are a number of bills now in Europe that would lead to beef rationing. Interesting implications for the US where the entire middle of the country is filled with cows and beef is one of our largest exports.

 

[TheChamps990411]

I tried it and didn't like it. The smell was overpoweringly bad.

What?

 

[TheChamps990411]

You know what's horrible and highly addictive to kids, cigarettes...What the gov't is currently doing is creating a massive health crisis. E cigs are by far the greatest thing ever created for getting people to quit smoking, you know what got these many millions of smokers to quit smoking, flavored vaping. States all over the country are banning flavors and the federal gov't is talking about banning flavored vaping, over 90% of adults flavor vape (gov't is not banning tobacco flavor vaping, I know makes a ton of sense.) So the gov't is telling people who have used these flavors to quit a habit that kills something like 500,000 Americans a year that they should go back to that deadly habit or go to the black market. Same thing for kids, they are being pushed to the black market or to cigarettes...

This isn't about health, it's why they are conflating things to confuse people...these people who have gotten sick and died from buying pre filled THC pods and people who vape flavored e juice have absolutely nothing to do with each other. This hysteria gave them the opening to flat out ban what has made smokers quit. They know people aren't getting sick from vaping nicotine, it's from idiots buying pre filled THC pods from drug dealers filled with hydrogen cyanide and all sorts of other deadly chemicals...

This is all about big tobacco and the gov't controlling everything. Philip Morris came out with a horrible product called IQOS which is basically just as bad for you as smoking cigarettes and surprise surprise the FDA cleared it right away. The gov't and big tobacco have been losing tons of money to vaping, this is all about crushing the little guy and nothing to do with health. It's disgusting what's going on....

I'm not worried about myself, I'll always find a way to get my flavors but this is going to crush people and create a major crisis. We know how well we do with Prohibition in this country.

I do agree that JUUL is horrible, I've never used it but from everything I've heard it absolutely sucks.

Yup. Complete and utter idiots. Theyre the same idiots who blame video games for mass shootings.

 

[TheChamps990411]

I like the IW but its filled with sodium and saturated fat so its not a health option and I don think its meant to be. Its just a fast food alternative for vegans who enjoy the occasional fast food fix.

 

[CL82]

So a little OT, and I think I’ve posted it before, but years ago some of my sons friends were over and I grilled up some burgers for them. I had forgotten that one of the boys moms was very vegetarian and that the kids were used to that.

Jimmy looks up at me and says hey “Mr. 82 which one of the burgers is the veggie burger?” I apologized and told him I forgotten that he was vegetarian and told him to give me a second and I’d grill something up for him. He was a good kid so he said “no that’s fine I’ll just have one of these.” I asked if he was sure and said it was no bother but he said yeah it’s fine.

Then he took his first bite. Look on his face was hysterical. It was like the hallelujah chorus should be playing in the background. He looks up at me and says “oh my god, this is amazing!!” and scorfed it down. I laughed and said “glad you liked it” and then really didn’t think much about it afterwards.

It was maybe a week or two later that I bumped into his mom at a game. She looks at me and says “hey CL! Thanks so much for giving my kid a burger! He completely won’t eat vegetarian anymore!“ Everyone looks back at me and I smiled and said an enthusiastic “you’re welcome Jill!“ as I kept walking to the other sideline to coach the game. The dad’s thought it was hysterical and truth be told I think even Jill thought it was kind of funny.

 

[CL82]

Yep, Soy is absolute garbage for men.

How so?

 

[8893]

How so?

It gives you moobs.

 

[intlzncster]

You have to wonder if all these fast food places are coming out with these beefless burgers now because they are afraid governments are going to outlaw or ration beef in the future. It’s not like there are more vegetarians now than before, there are actually less than ever because of the shift to more protein heavy diets the last 15-20 years, they also aren’t any healthier than the beef burgers. There are a number of bills now in Europe that would lead to beef rationing. Interesting implications for the US where the entire middle of the country is filled with cows and beef is one of our largest exports.

You may be right, but these franchises have been losing customers to healthier options for years now. They started introducing all kinds of salad options and the like (which amusingly aren't any healthier) to draw back customers. I think this impossible burger thing is a similar. They want to add vegetarian options to add to their customer base. It's a popular trend and they want a piece of the action.

 

[Hankster]

Late on this topic. I tried it and in my opinion only it sucked. First to me I never saw a perfectly round hamburger. Looked like cookie cutter. A hint of an odd taste. That was at noon. I waited to 9 pm for my stomach to stop cramping. Horrible. I am a BK fan. Hard for me to pass on a Whopper with cheese when in the vicinity. But I bought into the health and plant based. Well, I didn't feel healthy. Welcome back Whopper.So it's beef. Big Deal.

 

[WhiteDressWes]

Well, to begin with it’s because meat isn’t bad for you. Red meat is perfectly healthy. It’s the things you eat with it that cause health problems. These impossible burgers are literally made in a lab. Nothing made in a lab is healthy. It’s full of chemicals. Eat all the meat you want but reduce sugar, grains, and vegetable oils. This fake meat craze is such a scam trying to capitalize on the plant based diet craze. It will come and go

I've been a vegetarian since 1987, when Eat'N Chicken (Maple ave at Broad St, Hartford) went out of business. Other than their burgers, I don't like the taste of most meats. I was dumb enough to believe that high levels of LDL are bad, even though my HS biology teacher in 1967 moonlighted on Framingham, where the research showed that the higher the level of LDL the longer the life span.

Red meat from a factory is not that bad. From the pasture, it is health food. Sugar is the ultimate unhealthy food = WHITE DEATH. Grains end up as sugars. A lot of veg. oils are bad. I use coconut, avocado, Moroccan Olive oil, all cold pressed. All the negatives about high fat diets come from the drug companies that want people to be unhealthy so that they can profit from epidemic levels of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertension. Alzheimer's, etc. caused by high carb and, to a lesser extent, high protein diets (they can no longer count on Vioxx for profits when it killed 30,000 people).

 

[tykurez]

It gives you moobs.

I think that theory is a bit overblown. Too much soy for anyone (females included) can have a negative effect - but regularly having soy in your diet as a man is not necessarily a prescription for moobs.

How Much Soy Can You Really Eat Before It Affects Your Testosterone?

Soy catches flak for what’s perceived as being a man boob–giving, estrogen-bestowing testosterone-killer. Here's the real truth behind soy.

www.mensjournal.com

 

[intlzncster]

I think that theory is a bit overblown. Too much soy for anyone (females included) can have a negative effect - but regularly having soy in your diet as a man is not necessarily a prescription for moobs.

How Much Soy Can You Really Eat Before It Affects Your Testosterone?

Soy catches flak for what’s perceived as being a man boob–giving, estrogen-bestowing testosterone-killer. Here's the real truth behind soy.

www.mensjournal.com

Your not wrong, but if something does cause adverse effects in rats, it's worth considering. Plenty of things won't technically harm you much in small amounts. But the data on build up over time hasn't been done for soy.

That said, the hormonal imbalance thing isn't really that well founded anyway. But there has been links between regular consumption of soya and low sperm counts. I avoid it as much as possible for that alone.

Also note, many positive studies of soya's health benefits have been funded by the Soy industry.