I'm no vegetarian.
I'm no vegan.
But when I saw that there was this IMPOSSIBLE Burger at Swensen's, I wanted to try.
Because it is fascinating, is it not, that there be a patty which looks like meat, feels like meat, and even tastes like meat, but is 100% plant based and actually contains zero meat at all.
It has been highly advertised- this one- alongside friendly rival BEYOND, and the last I hear, IMPOSSIBLE and BEYOND have hit their supposed financial targets for the year.
This is meant to be the next new thing in food, and should it not be, I wonder, given that we all have our own dietery preferences, and with this, there's no more an issue of a vegan eating out with a keto at a burger place (albeit different orders) with both enjoying their friendship, and the meal, at the same time.
Same goes for the kosher who can't have meat and dairy mixed together. With the IMPOSSIBLE, they can *finally* have a cheeseburger without having to explain the kosher thing away. (I guess someone realllly wanted to have that friggin' slice of grilled cheese in his burger)
It would have sounded fanatical at one time, but looking at the picture above, well, the impossible has become possible, what with the patty sandwiched comfortably between two burger buns served with fries and lettuce salad on the side.
Out of all the sauces up for one's choosing, I chose the garlic aioli because it sounded interesting, I thought it would complement the patty, and was the least likely sauce to overwhelm the taste.
I reallly wanted to taste the patty.
So, what shall we say then of the IMPOSSIBLE?
In terms of texture, shall I say that the texture was good, that it had the roundedness which typifies most medium-rare meat patties and that if I were eating it blind, based on texture alone, I wouldn't be able to tell that it was completely plant-based at all?
Taste, however, makes for a differentiating factor between the IMPOSSIBLE and the meat-based. How does one say it? No, it isn't that you can taste the veggies.
It is that you can taste nothing at all.
Really.
No taste.
No lingering taste either.
Nothing.
Maybe I'm biased.
But for a moment I thought that it would be a little like a tofu burger where because you can (still) taste the soya bean through the heap of sauce, so you know you've had a tofu patty long after you've finished your meal.
And then I thought there might have been a bit of veggie taste. A carrot. An auberigine. Or even a bit of potato. Something, you know, that would declare it as plant-based.
But no, nothing.
You basically chewed through the juicy, familiar texture, tasted a flavor of which I couldn't decipher what, swallowed it down, and that was it. Nothing stayed. Nothing lingered. Except maybe for the sauce of garlic aioli and the dairy from the very good cheese.
I would have liked to taste more of the patty itself, but perhaps that was how it was planned to be.
Because vegans and keto don't always agree, and so if meat patties remind your palate with the heavy aftertaste of well-grilled fat and meat long after, then veggie patties are meant to leave you with no reminders at all.
I'm no vegan.
But when I saw that there was this IMPOSSIBLE Burger at Swensen's, I wanted to try.
Because it is fascinating, is it not, that there be a patty which looks like meat, feels like meat, and even tastes like meat, but is 100% plant based and actually contains zero meat at all.
It has been highly advertised- this one- alongside friendly rival BEYOND, and the last I hear, IMPOSSIBLE and BEYOND have hit their supposed financial targets for the year.
This is meant to be the next new thing in food, and should it not be, I wonder, given that we all have our own dietery preferences, and with this, there's no more an issue of a vegan eating out with a keto at a burger place (albeit different orders) with both enjoying their friendship, and the meal, at the same time.
Same goes for the kosher who can't have meat and dairy mixed together. With the IMPOSSIBLE, they can *finally* have a cheeseburger without having to explain the kosher thing away. (I guess someone realllly wanted to have that friggin' slice of grilled cheese in his burger)
It would have sounded fanatical at one time, but looking at the picture above, well, the impossible has become possible, what with the patty sandwiched comfortably between two burger buns served with fries and lettuce salad on the side.
Out of all the sauces up for one's choosing, I chose the garlic aioli because it sounded interesting, I thought it would complement the patty, and was the least likely sauce to overwhelm the taste.
I reallly wanted to taste the patty.
So, what shall we say then of the IMPOSSIBLE?
In terms of texture, shall I say that the texture was good, that it had the roundedness which typifies most medium-rare meat patties and that if I were eating it blind, based on texture alone, I wouldn't be able to tell that it was completely plant-based at all?
Taste, however, makes for a differentiating factor between the IMPOSSIBLE and the meat-based. How does one say it? No, it isn't that you can taste the veggies.
It is that you can taste nothing at all.
Really.
No taste.
No lingering taste either.
Nothing.
Maybe I'm biased.
But for a moment I thought that it would be a little like a tofu burger where because you can (still) taste the soya bean through the heap of sauce, so you know you've had a tofu patty long after you've finished your meal.
And then I thought there might have been a bit of veggie taste. A carrot. An auberigine. Or even a bit of potato. Something, you know, that would declare it as plant-based.
But no, nothing.
You basically chewed through the juicy, familiar texture, tasted a flavor of which I couldn't decipher what, swallowed it down, and that was it. Nothing stayed. Nothing lingered. Except maybe for the sauce of garlic aioli and the dairy from the very good cheese.
I would have liked to taste more of the patty itself, but perhaps that was how it was planned to be.
Because vegans and keto don't always agree, and so if meat patties remind your palate with the heavy aftertaste of well-grilled fat and meat long after, then veggie patties are meant to leave you with no reminders at all.