It looks like meat. It tastes like meat. It isn’t meat.
Chef David Chang will be debuting the long-awaited Impossible Burger at his Manhattan restaurant Momofuku Nishi on Wednesday.
Why all the hype? Chang, along with the folks at Impossible Foods Inc., has literally done the impossible — create a meat-free alternative that could fool even the biggest beef lover.
The burger is made entirely of plant-based foods and may even have a positive impact on the environment. According to Patrick Brown, CEO of Impossible Foods, downing one of these burgers for lunch can save the amount of water used during one 10-minute shower.
Impossible Foods uses less water to create the plant-based burger than is used to cook a traditional beef one. That includes total water used throughout the entire process: raising each cow, growing the plants and cooking the patties.
“It’s easy to make environmentally friendly foods,” Brown said at an unveiling of the new burger on Tuesday at Refinery Hotel. “What’s hard is to make them delicious.”
The Nishi Style Impossible Burger is cooked exactly like a beef burger, but its list of ingredients is longer. The patty is a blend of water, wheat, potato and other proteins, and one key hidden ingredient: heme. Found in plants, heme is what gives the patty its juicy taste.
It’s the first time the Impossible Foods burger will be featured regularly on a New York restaurant menu.
“I had a revelation after I ate it. I just had to have it [on the menu],” Chang said.
Chang’s take on the burger is topped with lettuce, tomato, pickles and a special sauce, and is served with a side of crispy French fries.
Will its meaty taste fool you? You can try the $12 quarter-pounder for yourself at Momofuku Nishi for brunch, lunch and dinner beginning at noon Wednesday.
