Veggie Burgers

IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
I kept reading all this stuff about this new wave or super realistic veggie burgers. I even read the head of some kind of meat promotion board in the US saying "We're in trouble here boys" (or words to that effect) which made me sit up and take notice. I understand that Tesco has some that are supposed to be really good but no Tesco here so haven't tried those yet. Then I saw one of my friends bigging up the new Rebel Whopper at Burger King and they do have BK here so we hunted one down today and finally tried it...

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... and, the thing is, it was ok. I was expecting more from what I'd read, I couldn't really taste the "burger" itself, it was overwhelmed by all the other stuff in a whopper - maybe that's always the case though, it's been five years since I ate in BK I reckon. Texture was ok I guess, felt like a fairly bottom of the range burger. My girlfriend said it was actively unpleasant which was a worse review than I gave although I think there was a slightly different taste in there somewhere that I could have done without.
Anyone got any thoughts on this? Are they healthy and good for the planet anyway? I really don't know to be honest.
 
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Leo

Leo

Well-known member
superiority burger in nyc has the best one, but you have to come to nyc.

my wife doesn't eat meat and is actually kind of repulsed by veg burgers that try to emulate the taste and texture of meat. she prefers proper veg burgers that are more obviously/noticeably plant-based. the ones at McDonald's and BK are aimed at meat eaters who want to (occasionally) appear healthy.

in short: I don't mind them but don't go out of my way for one.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
Yeah I agree, Liza said that when she was vegetarian she didn't want to eat meat substitutes, just vegetable stuff.
For me though, if there was something that looked and tasted just like meat and had the same texture... basically was the same except it was less harmful to the world and it didn't necessitate killing a cow, and if it cost the same price... well you'd have to be a bit of a twunt to insist on the authentic one wouldn't you?
I do think fake meat lends itself well to burgers, mince, kebabs, sausages etc but how is it going to work with steak or lamb chops or whatever? Are they gonna make fake bone and fat to go in, will it eventually have all the different tastes and textures in all the different parts that chefs and butchers bang on about - or will it diverge from actual meat (as with e-cigarettes or the US version of The Office) and ultimately have its own universe of flavours and types that is completely different from the meat it copied at the beginning? Or will it just die a slow but painful death?
I imagine a lot of people will be watching this Burger King thing very carefully to see how it sells? Is each one cheaper to produce do you know? I was surprised that they didn't offer a veggie version of everything on the menu seeing as they've created the burger itself but I guess that's not how their model works. Though I reckon if it does take off that won't be far away.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Love them - I was never a huge fan of trad beef burgers though, so there's nothing I'm missing..(lamb and chicken are different). Leon's is pretty decent, and I thought Temple of Seitan in London was excellent too.

I wouldn't trust Burger King to do anything that tastes like food. But it's a sign of the times that they even have a veggie burger.
 
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version

version

Well-known member
Leo said:
my wife doesn't eat meat and is actually kind of repulsed by veg burgers that try to emulate the taste and texture of meat.
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I know a fair few people who don't eat meat and this is a point of contention. Some of them just can't mentally separate eating something that has most of the qualities of meat and actually eating meat and some of them are all for it as they enjoy it and are only meat-free because of where it comes from.

I was a bit weirded out by the plant-based thing that bleeds like real meat. I can picture some Ballardesque future where people end up just recreating and killing plant-based cows in some mad quest for authenticity.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
I wouldn't trust Burger King to do anything that tastes like food. But it's a sign of the times that they even have a veggie burger.
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Absolutely, and fair enough it got me to go there out of curiousity for the first time in a long time. I've nothing against BK, I just never seem to see them when I'm starving for that kind of junk I guess, but I searched this one out (well, at least we checked if we could pass one on the way home) purely to try this thing.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Last time I had BK, the spray on 'grilled' taste (whatever the hell it is) didn't leave for hours...gross. Never again. And I love McDonalds.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
I like McDonalds too I'm afraid to say. I had it in my head that I liked BK better but now I have to revise that opinion.
 
version

version

Well-known member
I've had a BK burger once in my life and all I remember is thinking it tasted like a 'burnt supermarket burger'.
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
BK's thing is flame-broiled (as opposed to filling them on big greasy grill like McDs), so I guess they might go overboard with the "flame" taste to differentiate. funny how with all the fixings on Big Macs and whoppers, you can hardly tase the meat anyway!
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
my wife prefers obviously plant-based meat substitutes, yet she also eats these horrendous microwavable frozen fake bacon strips which essentially taste like salty cardboard. put enough mayo on it and it seems to sorta/kinda taste like an actual bacon sarnie!

be mindful that lots of fake meat is highly processed. it might be plant based, but it's also loaded up with flavor enhancers and preservatives. maybe not meat, but also maybe not super healthy.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
BK's thing is flame-broiled (as opposed to filling them on big greasy grill like McDs), so I guess they might go overboard with the "flame" taste to differentiate. funny how with all the fixings on Big Macs and whoppers, you can hardly tase the meat anyway!
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Well today I really couldn't... but was that cos of BK topping overload or cos of the blandness of the patty (hate that word)? I have no basis to know really.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Leo said:
BK's thing is flame-broiled (as opposed to filling them on big greasy grill like McDs), so I guess they might go overboard with the "flame" taste to differentiate. funny how with all the fixings on Big Macs and whoppers, you can hardly tase the meat anyway!
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They definitely did go overboard when I had it. Yep, agreed on the fixings, but I prefer it that way when it's minced beef, which to me doesn't taste of a lot usually
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
And presumably the acres of food it consumed to be ready to eat, and the water to feed that food and so on.
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
baboon2004 said:
Love them - I was never a huge fan of trad beef burgers though, so there's nothing I'm missing..(lamb and chicken are different). Leon's is pretty decent, and I thought Temple of Seitan in London was excellent too.

I wouldn't trust Burger King to do anything that tastes like food. But it's a sign of the times that they even have a veggie burger.
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Burger King were one of the first to do a veggie burger back in the early '90s. Wimpey was the first. Please refer back to the original veggie burger thread

https://www.dissensus.com/showthread.php?t=14619&highlight=Shake+shack
 
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