Impossible Foods – Impossible Burger

Hot on the heels of Beyond Meat (or did it beat them to the market?) comes the Impossible Burger, which TBDV had the chance to sample a few weeks ago in Hong Kong, only the 2nd market globally to have these plant based burgers available.

Let’s get straight to it – TBDV preferred this to the Beyond Burger. The taste was cleaner, less greasy (which could be a preparation matter) and tasted less processed than the Beyond. That’s not to say that TBDV would necessarily seek this out if it was on a menu.

While the whole push for sustainable, plant-based protein should be commended, and encouraged, restaurants and outlets need to understand that their target market for these types of products might not be quite who they think they’re aiming at. Vegetarians might not chose to eat products such as these, even if they are vegan, purely because they look, and try to taste, like meat.

For the omnivore looking to eat more sustainably and healthily, these types of products might well be a great way to get the ball rolling. But please, PLEASE, do not replace “traditional” vegetarian and vegan items on your menus with these, thinking that it will appeal to all. TBDV recently visited a restaurant that has a Vegan section on their menu (great!) which was recently updated to include new products from Impossible Foods. However, this resulted in a number of the regular vegan dishes being replaced by Impossible ones (boo!). For a lot of vegetarians, this effectively reduced the number of options available.

So, would TBDV have another one of these, or try one of the Impossible products? Yes, but with caveats. Yes, to see what else is possible with Impossible Foods products. Yes, if there were limited options on the menu. No if other choices – especially a good Veggie Burger – were available.