At the moment the only places offering them are not-necessarily-vegetarian high-end restaurants (Jardinierre etc). They appear to be trying to establish it as a premium product before hitting the wider market.
Traditional “veggie burgers” are just a reheated mush of assorted diced vegetables. They’re usually foul. These aren’t that; completely different sort of product.
Didn’t you make a comment in this thread about people being judgemental?
It should be obvious from my post I’m not a vegetarian and do consume meat. So with that in mind I’ve already made that choice regardless of this “impossible burger”. If the creators believe this product is good enough that I’ll replace my burger consumption with this more ethically, environmentally reasonable choice then why would they expect me to seek it out if I already consume meat (and by doing so have shown that I am okay with all that it entails)? To me this is no more than another entry into this field and if they are wanting me to be a consumer then making an appeal to an ethical choice I already have shown little regard for isn’t going to work. What you are left with is price, taste, and availability.
Did… did you and I grow up in the same provincial Midwestern small town, with the same mom boiling frozen veggies and covering them with butter/margarine? (And yes, one single ‘ethnic’ restaurant, a crummy Chinese place called HO DING)
Growing up, vegetables were things like limp, wet, sulfuric hot spinach or mushy balls of brussels sprouts that squirted hot water when you bit into them. Meatloaf, fried chicken, pot roast, or spaghetti with lots of meatballs were typical main courses; vegetables were awful nasty things you had to suffer through, almost as punishment. The idea of being a vegetarian sounded like torture. It wasn’t until I had GOOD VEGETABLES that I realized what I’d been missing.
I think, or hope, that the kids of today are growing up in a world with far more food choices and veggies that don’t, by default, come out of a can or a frozen bag.
So in other words, “yes”?
Because chances are that your doing so does not show that you’re okay with all that it entails. I’d wager that most meathounds have no idea what the average westerner’s consumption of meat entails.
And I’m not judging you, but I do think it says something about your ethics that if you do know what consumption of most meat in advanced societies entails, and that knowledge does nothing to change your own consumption practices, then that does suggest something about your values and how you live them.
Probably not, but we’ve lived in a lot of the same places.
That makes the Birdseye frozen vegetable medley seem heavenly in comparison.
One part meat, one part loaf. Still a guilty pleasure comfort food for me.
Sometimes I miss fried chicken. Then I eat it and remember why I don’t eat fried chicken.
Overcooked and dry [cringes audibly]
Not bad. Also a fairly close leap from spaghetti with meatballs to pasta primavera, or from Bolognese to marinara sauce. So, pasta was something one could eat without meat, but we ate it with meat out of habit.
When Thai/Indian/Vietnamese started becoming a thing, it was something I had to drive 20 miles to find, and even then it was considered either crazily ethnic or associated with Yuppies. I appreciate a good fast street-food pad thai, and am also glad that everybody else has caught on to South Asian food. It’s now something people eat normally, rather than something people put on airs about eating.
I’m not sure if my grandparents ever ate Indian food, or what their opinions of Indian food were, but I think it’s a concept they could get behind. The sauce is the meal. In my grandparents’ generation, that was their cooking philosophy as well.
My partner grew up on a Mediterranean diet (that is, meat tends to be an accompaniment rather than a centerpiece of most meals), so my meat consumption is actually down from my much more traditional North American roots.
That being said, meat consumption is rising worldwide, not falling. Meat is often considered aspirational, as it can be extremely expensive in some parts of the world. Because of this, products that can economically replicate meat have an important role to play from both an environmental and ethical perspective.
Does this product “need” to exist? Of course not. But what food needs to exist? People enjoy the taste and texture of certain foods, and so they eat them. Finding options for those foods that are better for both animal welfare and the environment are, IMHO, excellent reasons for a product to exist.
You’re not wrong but the same could be said i.e. for petroleum consumption* and buying diamonds. All of these are associated with a lot of human suffering* but there isn’t such a large scale vocal movement (between 3,2% and 13% of the US population are vegetarian/vegan) voicing their opposition as in the vegetarian/vegan/meat-discussion.
*(esp. if you’re from the US, but I digress - this isn’t about my pet subject 
)
I have to agree. As @orenwolf already covered, we ‘get away’ with rare and blue steaks because the vast majority of the bacteria is on the outside, so is killed by the cooking of the outside. With mince, that outside has been thoroughly distributed throughout the entirely of the mince patty, so that centre needs to have reached bacteria-killing temperature for the required duration.
That doesn’t mean dry and burnt - it can, and should, mean ■■■■■ and juicy, but still cooked through.
But then, you’re NZ, I’m British - Maybe it’s a commonwealth thing? 
Well like you said you have to want to order it … the motivation is purely internal. For me, it’s about my health, not nearly as much about taste : being motivated solely by taste is, for me, missing a lot of thinking about the bigger picture and just not wise. As I think @millefink said, taste is arbitrary, but as someone else said, we can’t ignore our taste preferences and what we were raised on / grew up on. It is possible to ignore it or to undo it, but the deprogramming is difficult.
The meat eaters have to really want to change their ways. It really is apples and oranges, regarding veggie burgers versus beef. You really can’t put them in the same ballpark, palate-wise.
What this needs is some bacon… I’ve made this & it is delicious, if a bit time intensive.
I’m not a vegetarian, but one of my favorite things about eating a veggie burger is that I don’t have to think about the fact that I’m eating meat. I like the flavor of meat, but the idea of eating an animal actually kind of grosses me out. So for me, I’ll probably stick with the non-bleeding veggie burgers.
There’s actually a shitake burger at loblaws/provigo that I’d eat in preference to meat. Of course - shitake - I don’t know if that’s actually more sustainable than meat
Does it taste like bacon though? Or is it just the texture?
I presume it has a nice savory taste but not a specific bacon flavor. Texture will probably be an approximation too. I make eggplant and squash “jerky” which is just dehydrated in the oven after marinating them for a few days, the end result i could argue is “bacon-like” if i really wanted to make that comparison, but i don’t. I can’t imagine the mushroom “bacon” would be too different from what i make at home.
Actually, even as a trenchant carnivore, most commercial “veggie burgers” are just fine, as they are, as long as you don’t try to pretend they’re meat. You need to reassess your generalities.
Quickest 180 in a single paragraph on the Internet this month.
Its worth noting that mushrooms naturally have more umami flavor than eggplant & squash that contribute to a bacon-y taste. Still, I don’t think you’ll fool anyone with it. It is smokey-sweet like a maple smoked bacon & if done right, has a nice crispy bacon like texture. Its a great snack in its own right, bacon comparisons aside.
I think the “flavour” issue is mostly resolved now - yeast and other umami-generating sources (yes, like mushrooms, tomatoes, and the like) can, with a little effort, be made very “meaty” in taste. It’s really down to the texture now.
One of the problems with “meat” as a goal, of course, is that it is used in many different ways. In this case, they seem to be mostly going for ground, which is the easiest to accomplish - but even then, does it hold up only in short, direct heat applications like these? Would it fail in a stewed application like a meatball? Or even longer, like in a bolognese?
Even if it can only replace “burgers” as an application and still have the correct texture, that’s a huge win.
Your interpretation of what it means to “judge” someone differs from mine.
Definitely, i would be jazzed to have a mushroom jerky or whatever one wants to call it. I love mushrooms so it’s right up my alley, i’ll have to try making some next time.
I don’t often suggest that other people examine their ethics and values in a combox post. But when I do, I avoid telling them that “I’m not judging you, but…” I guess it’s just me.
