McDonald’s has introduced a plant-based burger, and is running a market trial in Denmark and Sweden. Burger King has already done so, as more and more vegetarian alternatives become feasible. More funding is channeled into research that is coming up with innovations. Tastes may take time to change, but the question is already cropping up: Is the good-old burger on way out?

Burger King introduced Impossible Whopper made with vegetarian patty in the US in 2019, and now McDonald’s is following up.

Read the news reports:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-01/mcdonald-s-quietly-rolls-out-mcplant-burger-in-test-markets

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/technology/burger-king-impossible-whopper.html

The new trend has many factors in its favor, primarily increasing consumer awareness about the environment, animal welfare and nutrition. Meat production is a leading cause of climate change, the industry is notorious in animal cruelty, and the alternatives claim to offer equivalent protein along with other benefits. Supporting the cause are investors who fund new-generation ‘plant-based meat’ makers. Bill Gates, for example, has invested in a start-up that uses a protean protein made from an especially hardy fungus for meatless patties, meatless balls and vegan versions of various dairy products. Lastly, if there’s no difference in taste, even those not committed to the cause or non-vegans may not mind switching over. The new range of products strives to approximate the taste and feel of the beefy burger, and workers at burger-making plants report they find it difficult to tell the difference. That leaves less and less justification to kill animals, release greenhouse gases and end up with no more nutrition.

One nagging point, though, is that the burger markers are still cooking the new variety on the same grill as beef burgers, which may pose a problem to vegans. Some diehard beef lovers are not going to cross over anytime soon. Meat produces also question artificial meat makers’ nutrition claims [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/well/eat/fake-meat-vs-real-meat.html]
Cattle ranchers are not too happy either, and they want laws to stop new firms calling their products ‘meat’ [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/09/technology/meat-veggie-burgers-lab-produced.html]

* Consumer queries answered:
https://time.com/4490128/artificial-meat-protein/

* A New York Times columnist analyses:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/06/opinion/sunday/beef-meatless-burger.html

* Bill Gates explains:
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/bill-gates-how-to-avoid-climate-disaster-vaccines-1133481/

* A plant-based meat maker’s impact report:
https://impossiblefoods.com/impact-report-2020

* Scientific research: Overview:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2020.00007/full