Quote:
Originally Posted by leftyf
If there is no health benefit to the meatless burger, why eat it?
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Beef is one of the most inefficient (amount of protein fed to the cows to produce a pound of edible beef protein) and polluting (cow farts are a major source of methane in polluting the atmosphere) forms of protein available. Chicken, goats, and fish are all less polluting and more protein efficient - by a LOT, but the American diet (and spreading through out the world) is heavily based on beef.
There are numerous approaches to producing alternatives to beef that have been explored over the past couple of decades.
This one is a "veggie" and "chemical" combination that has been in development for years in attempting to create a "beef" like product that has the taste, texture and appearance of real beef. It gets good reviews for taste and texture. It was not developed FOR Burger King, but is available through them as well as stores (Publix, Amazon, etc.) and other places to allow you to cook them at home.
They are still EXPENSIVE compared to "hamburger".
These are not what was/are called "veggie-burgers", which are less expensive and are not intended to mimic the actual taste and texture of real beef. Instead veggie-burgers are more focused on "healthy" vegetarian substitutes that some people like, but many people find less appealing.
There are also "test tube" grown beef patties that are grown from beef cells in large vats and so are actually real meat. These have the advantage of being very environmentally friendly and easy to mass produce in a "factory" as well as being much more efficient (protein in for protein out). However, while the flavor is identical to cow grown beef, they are still struggling with the texture (mouth feel) and appearance.
While we CAN produce enough food to feed everyone in the world (even though we don't) the time is coming where that will not be true using the existing methods. This is one alternative - it is not particularly inexpensive or environmentally friendly, but it is an alternative.