If you like a juicy burger, you may find this story appetising: A Den Haag court has recently ruled that the food giant Nestlé has named it’s ‘incredible’ burger deliberately for consumers to confound it with the ‘impossible’ burger of US based Impossible Foods.
Impossible Foods had launched its veggie patty in 2016 (the burger is apparently based on genetically modified yeast which tastes like meat), while Nestlé launched its product in 2018 while being in negotiations regarding a cooperation with Impossible Foods. So no wonder this got the US company’s juices flowing and they were gearing up for a meaty fight in the courts.
Plant based burgers seem to be all the rage, not least because vegetarian and vegan diets are becoming increasingly mainstream. But plant based in this case does apparently not necessarily mean healthy: A contribution to the Harvard Health Blog of the Harvard Medical School found that meatless burgers are good for the planet, but, since they are heavily processed and high in saturated fats, not necessarily very healthy (or healthier than the meat based variety) for us. Nevertheless, even the big burger chains have jumped onto the bandwagon, with Burger King offering the ‘Impossible’ Whopper, which with 630 calories and 34 grams of fat (of which 11 saturated) is roughly as ‘healthy’ as a traditional Whopper.
According to the Good Food Institute, the US market for plant based meat (not only burgers!) grew by 38% between 2017 and 2019. So whatever ultimately the outcome of the dispute, meatless burgers are no doubt here to stay, be it only to make us feel better about ourselves and our environmental credentials by reducing our meat intake. And if you’re just about to tuck into a burger, real meat or not, enjoy!
The grumpy older man 