Ordering Impossible Whopper

[nobody]

"Product description. The Whopper is a hamburger, consisting of a flame grilled 4 oz (110 g) beef patty, sesame seed bun, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, and sliced onion. Optional ingredients such as American cheese, bacon, mustard, guacamole or jalapeño peppers may be added upon request."

Whopper - Wikipedia

I saw this little segment about Loui's Lunch where the first hamburger sandwich was served in 1895 and the 4th generation owner was talking about how his grandfather was adamant that no condiments ever be put on the sandwiches because he felt a burger shouldn't need condiments and they only had grilled onion and tomato and later cheese and that is the way they still make them.

If you order Impossible Whopper with "no mayo" it comes with lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, and sliced onion. Having lettuce together with ketchup but no mayonaise is weird so it is better to order it with with tomato, onion and pickle only or just tomato and onion only, which is authentic because it's the Loui's Lunch way except that their onions are grilled together with the burger but BK's are raw.

 

[mavrick45]

not having mustard on by default is basically a crime against humanity

just kidding, but I did try this yesterday and it...tasted like a BK burger. so if you like BK you will probably like this.

I'll probably only get it while on the road if there's no place else good to go

 

[Forest Nymph]

I think Burger King is disgusting (I have since I was a child and still ate meat because my family did). I also think the Impossible Burger isn't vegan, but plant-based, because of the animal testing. Would I eat one if I was starving in Texas Chainsaw-ville Stretch 'O Highway? Sure, it's better than eating an animal, but I won't be going to BK anytime soon. When I was vegetarian I had the BK veggie burger a few times, the lame one they microwave, because it was there.

I'm quite biased towards Beyond Meat for both taste and ethical reasons. At my local deli I can get one with Vegenaise, which is really nice. There's also a sandwich shop that serves them with Chao cheese slices and vegan 1000 Island "burger sauce." The deli ones are cheaper though.

That's kind of interesting and strange about the first hamburger sandwiches. It's funny because old fashioned drinks from the 1800s through the 1920s or 30s are super complex, with bitters and citrus peels and muddled mint or sprigs of rosemary and various tinctures (they're a big fad around here, classic or modernized versions of Gimlets, Old-Fashioneds, and vodka drinks with herbs). It's funny that food had less condiments. Maybe that's an American thing though, I think the French have always been pretty fancy about creamy sauces and spicy or fruity condiments, and in Germany you have those lovely relishes, slaws and mustards.

 

[nobody]

I also think the Impossible Burger isn't vegan, but plant-based, because of the animal testing.

I'm quite biased towards Beyond Meat for both taste and ethical reasons.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264281787_Subchronic_toxicological_effects_of_pea_protein_isolate_nutralys_on_wistar_rats_A_ninety-day_dietary

"2.2. Animal husbandry

One hundred and twenty healthy Wistar (Crl: WI) rats of either sex aged 6-7 weeks were obtained from the animal house facility, IIBAT during the year 2012. Females used in the study were nulliparous and non pregnant. Animals were allowed to adapt to the animal room conditions for a week before the initiation of the study. Every five animals of the same sex were housed in stainless steel cages under controlled environmental conditions (temperature 21± 1.5° C, humidity 52±5% and a 12h light/dark cycle). Pea Protein mixed diet and reverse osmosis water were available ad libitum."

Agency Response Letter GRAS Notice No. GRN 000608 | FDA

"Axiom and SPRIM also cite a published toxicity study in which rats were fed pea protein isolate in the diet for 90 days. No compound-related adverse effects were reported at up to 100,000 ppm (equivalent to 8726 mg/kg bw/d for male rats and 9965 mg/kg bw/d for female rats)."

Since Impossible Foods is the first company to want to use soy leghemoglobin in their product, and get that product into major retail outlets in the US and abroad, they had to pay for a rat study, which is a prerequisite for getting a Generally Regarded As Safe letter from the FDA. Beyond Meat did not have to pay for a rat study on their main ingredient, pea protein isolate, because someone else had already done a rat study on this ingredient, and that study was used to obtain a GRAS letter for pea protein isolate by Axiom Foods, a plant protein ingredient company.

If this rat study and the resultant pea protein GRAS Notice had not already occurred, Beyond Meat would have had to pay for a rat study in order to get any hope of distributing their products in major retail outlets, restaurant chains, etc.

The next fake meat company that wants to use soy-legheoglobin will not have to have another rat study performed because this ingredient already has a GRAS letter:

GRAS Notices

Will that make it vegan, since this company will only be reaping the benefits of the previously performed study, rather than commissioning it itself? Beyond Meat contains a non-vegan ingredient, non-vegan because it was tested on animals, as do a lot of processed food items. Here are the ingredients that have all been tested on rats. Many of these ingredients are in common vegan food items:

https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/fdcc/index.cfm?set=GRASNotices&sort=GRN_No&order=DESC&showAll=true&type=basic&search=