Friday, January 25, 2019

Dante Gets Curious: The Impossible Burger



People jump on things fast. Clothing trends. Health trends. Food trends. The food trends is the one that usually bugs me the most because when people find out about some new food that is healthy for you they want everyone to stop what they are doing and try it. The newest thing is the Impossible Burger. I first saw it at The Counter and had no desire to try it. I am not against vegan and vegetarian things as much as I used to be especially considering that Donut Friend is my favorite donut spot and that shit is super vegan. But I like burgers. I like beef. I have no intention of stopping even though I know that the way it is made is fucked up and that the animals I eat make a lot of waste. I know this and am not changing until I find out that my heart is going to explode because of my diet. This Impossible Burger has me curious but the prices of those things alone keep me from buying one. Also the fact that it is supposed to taste like a burger. I tell myself I balance things out by not driving, never been on a plane, and barely make waste.

I know that sounds weird. I won't try something that is not made of beef that is supposed to taste like beef. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dante and I am skeptical as fuck and question everything. Too much. I question things too much and this burger is something I question. I looked up some information about this thing because it came out of nowhere. I want to know what it has, what it does, and who made it. It's not like they were in the vanishing Amazon and found this plant that produces beef juices. Damn, that would be awesome. This was created in a lab much like the beef I'll be eating in the future. Read about science meat. Sounds horrible but I'd hop on that faster than this Impossible Burger. The investors of Impossible Foods has been Google Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Viking Global Investors, UBS, Horizons Ventures, and Bill Gates contributing millions. I know some people saw Google and Bill Gates and their butt holes tightened a little.

Scientists working on this burger discovered a molecule called heme. Pretty much heme carries oxygen through the blood, gives blood its color, and is found in plants. This listed ingredients are water, textured wheat protein coconut oil, potato protein, and “natural flavors.” Also 2% including leghemoglobin (soy), yeast extract, salt, soy protein isolate, konjac gum, xanthan gum, thiamin (vitamin B1), zinc, niacin, vitamin B6, riboflavin (vitamin B2), and vitamin B12. Scary sounding ingredients but everything sounds scary when you call it a chemical name. One ingredient that the FDA has an issue with is the soy leghemoglobin because it could be an allergen. The fact that the Impossible Burger came out without the FDA's approval and is being sold and eaten by thousands made people realize “Oh, shit. You can do that?” Turns out, yeah. You can put stuff out without federal approval. Impossible Foods did send their product for approval. They didn't get it but they tried. According to New York Times “The F.D.A.'s approval is not required for most new ingredients. Companies can hire consultants to run tests, and they have no obligation to inform the agency of their findings, a process known as self-affirmation.” The FDA later approved.

The heme aspect was tested on rats giving them 200 times the amount in terms of what a human would consume per day. Hey. Nothing is cruelty free. I know that people want to eat things and they think that nothing was harmed in the making of it. Mice, moles, rabbits, ground nesting birds. All kinds of things are killed by the production of soy, wheat, and all that jazz. Making an Impossible Burger “uses 75% less water, 95% less land, and emits 87% less greenhouse gas emissions than animal-agriculture produced meat.” That's a good thing. 

And while heme is a naturally occurring thing too much of it is not good. Too much of anything natural can kill you. It can have the same or similar effects of taking in too much iron which I did in junior high. That was a crazy ass three months. Passing out. Light headed. Sleeping all the time. Grew three inches during the summer. Heme iron is found in plants. Non-heme is found in plants and animals but 40% of the iron in meat consumed is heme.

It was fun looking up articles about this burger. They were either super for it and raving or skeptical. I lean more towards skeptical. I let the world guinea pig shit for a while. I treat big fads like this the same way I treat things like laser eye surgery. You all work out the hiccups and maybe I'll give it a try later. But going back to what I said in the start, I don't want to try a non-meat burger that tastes like meat. If it tastes like something brand new that also happens to be good then cool. But I don't want fake chicken that tastes like real chicken. I'm not trying to play games with my mouth...which is another reason why I'm single. There is also a Beyond Burger but I'm not fucking with that either. At least not yet. Eat what you want. If you eat the Impossible Burger and it tastes great that is cool. People should eat good food. Just remember that more plants needed to make this stuff requires more land. Also, I'm not smart anymore nor a scientist so don't get mad at me.

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