Yummy, but we probably wouldn’t have it again and I’ll tell you why…

While I was home, I was all about “doing American things”.  I enjoyed big glasses of water in restaurants, going to rest stops on the highway, eating huge portions of food (or…ordering huge portions), drinking craft beers… and last, but not least/ going through the drive through at a fast food place.  Not just any drive through though, the Burger King drive through!  To try their new Impossible Whopper– the classic whopper but with a plant-based patty that tastes like meat.  

This wasn’t my first time trying the Impossible Burger, I actually had one in Santiago, Chile of all places and .. I loved it! I guess that I loved it because it’s a burger that TASTES just like a beef burger, but it’s plant-based.  When I saw that Burger King was releasing the Impossible Whopper, I told my Dad and he suggested that we go get a couple of them. I was totally down because it would fit into my quest to do the most American things.  A few weeks before leaving Madrid, I had this epiphany that THE most American experience is going through a fast food drive though because not only are you too lazy to go inside the place, but you are very likely planning to eat your fast food while driving.  What a time to be alive!

So we did just that.  We went to Burger King, ordered 2 impossible whoppers (one with cheese, one without), and one Whopper Jr. so we would have something to compare it to.

The drive through experience was great- something I haven’t done in years! My only complaint was that you need to know EXACTLY what you want when you pull up and if you’re indecisive like me, that can be very anxiety-inducing! We joked that we should have asked the guy talking to us on the speaker what he recommends. Hahaha.

We pulled around the drive, paid, and then pulled up to the window to get the food.

Despite wanting to do everything american, we didnt, in fact, eat in the car.

We split them into pieces (because we are psychopaths…who does that to a burger besides psychopaths?!)..

…and tried all 3 types of burgers and the verdict was that the Impossible Whopper tastes exactly like the beef whopper, but the real beef has more of a chew to it.  Combined with all of the other Whopper ingredients (tomato, lettuce, onion, mayo, etc.), it really was difficult to tell a difference between the two.  After finishing the burgers, I looked up the ingredients of the Impossible burger and that’s when I decided that I probably wouldn’t eat it again…. it’s full of strange ingredients (Water, Soy-protein concentrate, Coconut oil, Sunflower oil, Natural flavors. Impossible “meat” also contains 2% or less of: Potato protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast extract, Cultured dextrose, Food starch, modified, Soy leghemoglobin, Salt, Soy-protein isolate, Mixed tocopherols (vitamin E), Zinc gluconate, Thiamine hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Sodium ascorbate (vitamin C), Niacin, Pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), Riboflavin (vitamin B2), Vitamin B12) according to this website.

All of these strange ingredients give it that “beef flavor” and “make it bleed” (that makes me gag), while the beef burgers are just… beef. I think the Impossible Burger is just another engineered food that does help solve the problem of cutting down on meat consumption, but is not any different from a beef burger in terms of nutrition.  If I were going to eat another Whopper in my life, would I choose the Impossible Burger?  Yes.  If I wanted a veggie burger, would I eat an Impossible Burger?  No.  See what I’m trying to say?  It’s a good alternative to the Beef Whopper, but not a good alternative to a veggie burger.  In my opinion, if you want a burger that tastes like beef (and feels like it too), then eat a beef burger.  If you want a burger that is full of vegetables, eat a veggie burger that’s made with vegetables and grains/legumes.  If you’re going to go through the Burger King drive through and pick up a bunch of Whoppers… well, weigh your choices because they are about the same in terms of Getting You Closer to an Early Demise.

I love the idea of the plant-based patty that tastes like beef, I just wished it tasted like beef and was made of more…. plants and wholesome ingredients.. Now… that’s the dream! Get on it, Impossible Foods!