Plant based Future

SAVING THE WORLD ONE BURGER AT A TIME

One of the biggest stories of the past year has been the rise of Impossible Foods. The Redwood City, California company has created a realistic ground beef substitute made entirely from plants. Along the way, they’ve garnered endorsements from some serious chefs from San Francisco to New York City. The reviews have been glowing and recently, infamous burger house, Gott's Roadside, added it to their menu. The people at Gott's are serious hamburger people: burgers of one kind or another make up the bulk of their menu, and they all taste like they just came off your Dad's backyard grill.

The burger itself is something of a marvel: it's made from textured wheat protein, potatoes, seasoning, and an ingredient called heme, which is what makes the burger so unbelievably meaty and juicy. And the flavor is impressive.

Eating beef products is a good way to expand your waistline and increase your chances of developing heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and other major health conditions. Research has shown that vegetarians have 40 percent the cancer rate of meat-eaters. Plus, meat-eaters are nine times more likely to be obese than vegans. Every time you eat animal-derived foods, you’re also ingesting fecal material, antibiotics, dioxins, and a host of other substances, some toxic, that can accumulate in your body and remain there for years.

The ethical treatment of animals plays an important role in the way we think about food as well. But, let’s face it, we aren’t going to stop eating burgers anytime soon. So creating viable beef alternatives like the Impossible Burger shows how the future of food is clearly plant-based.