Slap an Impossible Foods' burger on a grill, and it pops, sizzles and smokes like a typical hamburger. But there's nothing typical about it. Instead of cow meat, it's made of plant products. Oh, and it was wholly engineered in a Silicon Valley lab.
"We look for each of those elements that make meat, meat," said Celeste Holz-Schietinger, a principal scientist for Impossible Foods, during a tour of the company's Redwood City, California, lab last week. "That little bit of fat leak-out. Those meaty, those roasty, those caramelized notes."
Count Impossible Foods among a handful of tech startups hoping to convince you to eat meat and dairy substitutes. While Impossible Foods is focused on burgers, rival Beyond Meat sells everything from plant protein "beef crumbles" to chicken strips, and Hampton Creek offers up vegan mayonnaise called Just Mayo. The market for faux meat is expected to exceed $5 billion by 2020, according to global research firm MarketsandMarkets. On top of tofu, tempeh and other soy-based products, lab-grown food is estimated to take a big bite of this market.
Until now, the only place you could taste an Impossible Burger was at the upscale restaurant Momofuku Nishi in New York City (price: $12, for a burger with a side of fries). But the company said Wednesday it's also expanding to three swanky California restaurants -- Jardiniere ($16) and Cockscomb ($19) in San Francisco and Crossroads Kitchen ($14) in Los Angeles. Rather than marketing to vegans and vegetarians, Impossible Foods is making a play for foodies and meat eaters.
Much more:
https://www.cnet.com/news/meet-impossible-foods-lab-grown-veggie-burger-it-bleeds/Bit gimmicky, but neat all the same.
