Mass-producing meat and meat products is taking a huge toll on the environment. Producing more cows has had a hugely negative effect on climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. Food company Impossible Foods has tried to come up with a solution to this problem that seems to be magnifying at an alarming rate as time goes by.
They’ve manufactured something called the “Impossible Burger,” which is a new plant-based hamburger product. But this ain’t your old dry and soggy veggie burger. The company prides its Impossible Burger for being just as delicious as a regular meat patty, and strives for it to be cooked and look the same way so that the difference can be virtually undetectable.
Sam Nazarian, the CEO of SBE entertainment company states, “The patty we saw was light years ahead of any other [vegetarian burgers] that would compete with it. People started seeing how it was cooked and the texture with the marbleization and the ‘bleeding’ – but now fast forward to the next evolution, and I think it is just leaps and bounds better quality-wise.”
Nazarian is also the owner of Umami Burger, a Los Angeles based restaurant that is now serving the Impossible Burger. While the Impossible Burger itself isn’t new, its newest recipe is the closest that its ever been to tasting like a real meat burger. He shared, “People are just overwhelmed because they can’t in any way tell that it’s different [from meat].”
Both Nazarian and Impossible Foods stress the importance of the preparation of the burger, but the same can be said for meat burgers as well. Nazarian commented, “Look you can have a great steak but if it’s cooked horribly, it’s not going to taste good, right?”
While SBE’s restaurant group isn’t strictly vegan or vegetarian, their goal is to be able to serve everyone, regardless of dietary restrictions. Nazarian summarized his philosophy: “A lot of people who love the Impossible [burger] aren’t vegan or vegetarian – they just really appreciate the mandate. People feel good that the product they’re eating is not having such a [negative] impact on the global economy and on the environment.”
