I remember the first time I made a veggie burger for my kids.   They knew something was different- only because in our home there would never be cheese on a hamburger.  (Kosher requires the separation between meat and dairy- never on the same plate, let alone within the same food item.)

But, with one exception, these burgers never passed our families taste test.  Oh, they were convenient when a friend wanted us to eat over their house- or one of the kids at a friend’s home, since they could provide the  veggie burgers- but to be honest they were poor imitations of the beef burger.

But, Dr. Patrick Brown, the CEO of Impossible Foods of Redwood City, California (Brown is also a Stanford University professor), may have the ultimate solution.   Using biotechnology to manipulate the hemoglobin molecule, he has developed a synthetic blood, with the same taste as beef blood.  And, he plans to add that concoction to those feeble-tasting veggie burgers to render them capable of passing the taste test. But, this is but one of his new developments.  His corporate goal is to replace the beef and other animal based foods we eat – because animal husbandry takes a tremendous environmental toll, with a large carbon footprint.

Impossible Foods has plenty of money.  OK, enough.  Khosla Ventures, Google Ventures, Horizons Ventures, and Bill Gates gave the firm about $ 75 million to produce these new foods.  Of course, this warchest doesn’t guarantee success.  After all, Khosla just filed for bankruptcy with his biofuel company (KiOR)- and Bill Gates was part of that deal too.  (Unfortunately for Mississippi, so was the state- to the tune of more than $ 65 million.)

Brown’s research requires the comprehension of why meat tastes like ‘meat’.  That means discerning what is the molecular basis that provides the distinctive flavor.  Then, those facts can be used to construct the alternative, perhaps better, product.

That’s why he’s been playing with hemoglobin- actually just the heme portion. When the heme molecule interacts with amino acids and carbohydrates, those special flavors we (at least I and my family) crave are produced.

So, what’s really different?  First of all, their veggie burger looks deep red, just like raw hamburger.  Secondly, they’ve added the right texture to make it feel like beef- and those veggie compounds carmelize and brown like real beef, when cooked on a grill.  It even smells like cooked beef.  But, the flavor- is almost there.   (Certainly much better than those existing veggie concoctions, but it tastes like ground turkey was mixed in with the beef.  To me, that means it tastes ‘off’.)

And, they need to find a way to lower the costs- because their concoction is pretty costly right now.  (It is purported to be running about a Jackson right now.)

I’ll be waiting.  You, too?

Share this: