Why The Plant-Based Impossible Burger Is Taking Restaurant Menus By Storm

Chris Cosentino is known for his meat. At Cockscomb, his restaurant in San Francisco, the chef serves beef heart tartare and pig’s head. But he also now serves the Impossible Burger, a plant-based patty aimed at meat eaters, not vegetarians. “You cook it like a piece of meat—you bring it to medium rare,” he says. “It has the juiciness of ground beef, without the environmental impact.”

Developed by Impossible Foods, a startup led by former Stanford biochemist Patrick Brown, who wanted to tackle the enormous environmental challenges posed by animal agriculture, the burger is made from ingredients that yield one-eighth of the greenhouse gases involved in meat production, require 95% less land, and use a quarter of the water. And yet it was designed to mimic every aspect of beef—how it looks, smells, tastes, cooks, and even bleeds. That last part is thanks to the addition of heme, an iron-containing molecule found in blood that enhances the product’s flavor and color. In this case, it’s made through fermentation. (Potato and wheat proteins make the burger chewy and juicy. Coconut oil fries like beef fat.)