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“We fed beef lovers a Whopper with no beef,” says the silky voice over in a Burger King commercial promoting the Impossible Whopper. When the ad aired in 2019, the brand had just released the burger in over 7,000 stores across the U.S. In the clip a man in a checkered shirt and rancher’s hat tucks in. “Turns out these beef lovers love plants too,” the voice continues. Cut scene back to the cowboy, who has just found out his burger contains no cow. “Well, I’m a damn fool,” he drawls, smirking at an off-camera interviewer. Then: A glamor shot of the vegan patty, sandwiched between two buns, looking glossy, delicious, and a heckload like beef.
Burger King isn’t the only fast food chain jumping on the fake meat bandwagon: KFC, White Castle, TGI Fridays, Del Taco, McDonald’s and more are adding meat alternatives to their menus. And let’s not forget Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat, and other faux meats that Americans can now readily find in the grocery aisle. A whopping (heh) 41% of us have tried them and alt meat could be worth $140 billion (or 10% of the meat market) by the end of the decade, according to one projection. Unlike vegan proteins of the past—the seitan crumbles, black bean burgers, and tofu dogs that peaceful and loving Baby Boomers ate in the ’70s—the fake meats of today are decidedly more prolific, thanks to a winning combo deal: Big Tech cash and meaty-flavor mimicry, mass existential dread about the climate, and some very clever marketing.
Concern for our well-being is one of the biggest drivers in fake meat sales; many of us think we’re healthier without any real proof of the fact. “The term plant-based conveys a health halo,” says Larissa Zimberoff, an investigative journalist and the author of Technically Food. Even though, “depending on the burger, it could be ultra-processed” and full of ingredients like fillers and additives, she explains. Part of this perception that fake meats are healthier is formed in direct contrast to beef, “which has been demonized as harmful to health and bad for the environment,” says Amy Bentley, PhD, a professor of food studies at New York University. And the other part, she says, is by association: products that are pitched as ethical or climate-conscious might be automatically considered nutritious, too. It’s easy to see why: Impossible’s website features an image of a cracked-open, fresh-looking coconut to represent the oil in its ingredients list. And Beyond’s Instagram account is peppered with celebrity endorsements highlighting its products’ nutrition facts, like the high protein content, alongside strong better-for-the-planet claims.
There’s no doubt fake meats are on the rise. (Big Meat is mad as hell about it!) And omnivores like me are pleasantly surprised by the taste and texture of these products. But what are they actually made from? And how healthy is fake meat anyway?
What are alternative meats made of?
Today you can buy fake bacon to layer onto your favorite BLT; vegan chicken nuggets to bake up on game day; ground, well, not-beef to fry up into picadillo or sloppy Joes; and burgers and sausages galore.
Virtually all of them contain pea, soy, or wheat protein (usually listed as an isolate), which “makes up the solid, physical structure” of the food, says John Coupland, PhD, a professor of food science at Penn State. They usually contain a fat, which helps mimic meat’s “soft and juicy texture,” Coupland says. Many include refined coconut oil, which has been chemically deodorized to remove its scent and flavor and tends to stay firm (like animal fat) at room temperature. Some sort of gum or thickener adds springy-chewy texture, binds the ingredients together, and, Coupland suspects, “stops water seeping out before or during cooking.” In the ingredients list, you might also see methylcellulose (sometimes called maple fiber), which Zimberoff discovered is mostly derived from tree cellulose. It’s also a common ingredient in laxatives and whipped cream. Modified food starch is used in some recipes, which is made by physically, enzymatically, or chemically altering starch derived, most often, from corn, wheat, potato, or tapioca.
Meat gets its unique umami flavor during the cooking process, when “a series of chemical reactions in the muscle” happens, says Coupland. Known as the Maillard Reaction, this is what creates the browned exterior on, say, a seared steak. Fake meats simulate some of this process—a cooked Impossible burger tastes and looks seriously different to its flaccid, lumpy, raw state—as they also contain some of the required sugars and proteins. But “because the chemical composition isn’t the same [as regular meat], the flavors generated won’t be the same,” says Coupland. To mimic animal protein more closely, fake meats feature natural or artificial flavors, “which are mixtures of compounds that together give a meaty taste.” Many use yeast extract as a flavor enhancer, since it is similar to monosodium glutamate (MSG). Salt, as you might expect, is a key ingredient because it makes literally everything it touches taste better.
Some brands, like Impossible and Beyond, also add a bunch of vitamins and minerals—zinc, niacin, and B vitamins, for example—to try and replicate those found naturally in beef. Impossible is also famous for using heme, an iron-rich molecule made by fermenting modified yeast, which is also the ingredient responsible for helping their burgers “bleed” and taste like real meat.
How are they produced?
“I don’t think it would be much more than combining the ingredients to form a sort of dough,” says Coupland. Imagining a giant KitchenAid behind these venture-backed, tech-driven companies made me laugh. But actually, the good doctor is pretty much spot on.
Usually, each ingredient is added to an enormous mixer, which churns them together into a sort of blush pink, fake-meat putty. From there the process is pretty similar to that of a regular meat factory: those clumps are shaped into nuggets or burger patties or sausages or bricks of ground “beef,” then frozen, packaged, and shipped to a grocery store or fast-food restaurant near you.
What are the health benefits of fake meats?
Many of the new fake meats, the ones made typically with pea or soy, are “rich sources of protein and the amino acid lysine, which most plant foods lack, aside from legumes,” Taylor Wolfram, MS, RDN, LDN, a registered dietician specializing in veganism, says.
And while most plant-based meat alternatives contain protein, Beyond and Impossible are most comparable in quantity to the foods they’re trying to imitate, registered dietician and Intuitive Eating counselor Kara Lydon, RD, LDN, RYT, adds. Most fake meats are also higher in fiber than real meat, she says, and therefore, when combined with protein, tend to keep you fuller for longer. And many “alternatives all contain very little saturated fat, which is often a nutrient of concern for those trying to limit red meat intake.”
Fake meats also could be a gateway to eating more vegetables in general, Zimberoff hopes. About 95% of Americans aren’t eating the recommended amount of daily fiber, and fake meats, she believes, have “brought up the conversation.” A fake meat patty can satisfy omnivores looking for that signature taste and texture. And “this ultimately helps folks stick with veganism long-term, if they’re not feeling deprived of their favorite foods,” says Wolfram, who takes an anti-diet approach with her clients.
For me, avoiding the slaughter of animals, mentally and emotionally, feels like some kind of health benefit too. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never eaten something delicious and immediately thought afterward, Wow, I sure wish this was made out of the flesh of a living being. As New York Times Opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof suspects, growing ethical and environmental concerns, combined with a heap of tasty alternatives, “will lead our descendants to eat less meat, and be baffled at our casual acceptance of an industrial agricultural model built on large-scale cruelty.”
Okay, what about the cons?
One of the biggest ironies here: Many fake meat brands go to town marketing their health benefits while simultaneously trying to replicate the industrialized American diet—which many would agree has not been good to us. I’m talking about burgers, nuggets, sausages, and ground meat, or what Zimberoff calls “the baseball stadium menu” and Michael Pollan has referred to as “edible foodlike substances” in his 2008 book In Defense of Food.
Just because a burger is made from plants instead of animals doesn’t automatically make it “healthier” for you, Lydon says. “Compared to a meat-based burger, Beyond and Impossible contain roughly the same amount of saturated fat and more sodium,” she says, both of which, when over-consumed, can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. “In terms of nutrition labels, most of these seem comparable with the meat foods they are trying to replace,” agrees Coupland, referring primarily to the amount of protein, fat, calories, and sodium in both. It’s important, he says, to remember that “the point of comparison is a sausage, not a carrot!”
Another issue with these high-tech fake meats, which Pollan would perhaps argue are more products of science than nature: They’re pretty far removed from the whole foods that our ancestors ate. By isolating ingredients (like that methylcellulose) for their nutritional value or function alone, Zimberoff says we miss out on the good bits that come from eating the entire food source. Take pea protein: It’s chemically extracted from (usually) yellow field peas, but we don’t get any of the magnesium, folate, potassium, or fiber that’s built into the actual pea. Likewise, when oils are refined and deodorized to the form found in many fake meats, they’re also stripped of a bunch of trace elements, which are the minerals present in living tissues. I kind of equate it to drinking Athletic Greens or Emergen-C versus eating a salad or an orange. There’s just some stuff you’re not getting!
I gotta caveat here: health and nutrition are both imperfect sciences and extremely personal. Whether something is “good” for you is entirely up to you. Many people have many opinions about how we should be living our lives, but if you want to eat a veggie burger simply because it is very delicious or you love Mother Earth, you go do that!
Bentley is also quick to explain that not all industrially produced food is bad. In fact, our diets are full of it: boxes of baby spinach, bags of rice, and canned tomatoes are all processed to a degree. “A lot of it is really well made, and frankly, in today's society, we couldn't get along without the industrial food supply chain,” she says. “We just need to think about it with more nuance.”
What should I keep in mind when shopping for meat alternatives?
“Ditch the diet mentality,” says Wolfram, “and just have fun exploring different options.” The most important thing is that you enjoy the beefless burgers and chickenless nuggets that you’re eating.
If satiety is important to you, Lydon recommends opting for brands and products that are rich in protein and fiber. And if you’re struggling with high blood pressure, “you may be more interested in choosing an option with lower sodium,” she says. At the end of the day, Lydon is all about dietary variety and intuition, and recommends her clients include various other plant-based proteins in their meals too, like tofu, tempeh, seitan, and legumes.
It’s been over a decade since both Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat were founded. Though it might earn me a lecture from my rancher parents, I can say with confidence that both taste great. Truly almost indiscernible from beef, especially when smothered in cheese and ketchup and washed down with a cold beer. In many ways I am their ideal customer because I enjoy the flavors of meat but would prefer to avoid the macabre reality of its production. I’ll never get over the crisp bite of a nugget or the salty-chew of bacon, even if they’re made from some miscellaneous protein isolates and starches. And, as Impossible’s finance dude would probably tell you, I’m not the only one.