Here’s consumers reports take on them:
It is worth reading the nutrition information. If your priority is getting away from meat that’s fine, but the sodium content is really high–50% more than a beef burger.
Thanks for the flag.
I’m looking at their website, and recipes either don’t include salt or very little, so perhaps with salt that’s added to real meat that evens out.
On the table at commercial establishments the sodium content of Impossible and Beyond are 50-60% higher than beef. It doesn’t even out.
Yes, I saw your comments on the other thread.
This one however is about cooking with the ground “beef” at home, where one can control additional salt.
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Sure. In that case lets compare apples to apples. Raw beef has about 75 mg of sodium per 1/4# serving. Impossible and Beyond have about 370 mg of sodium per 1/4# serving. That’s out of the package. That is a lot of salt you have NO control over.
I won’t eat the stuff so I have no personal experience. The people here on HO who responded to my question about taste said you can’t taste the salt. That means in all likelihood people will add yet more salt. The numbers are on the nutritional labels. Don’t believe me. Don’t worry, I’m not offended. Go look for yourself.
So why not let the rest of us who might or have continue our discussion then?
1 tsp salt = 2350 mg sodium.
4oz BB = 1/6 tsp roughly speaking.
This is not the sodium that is going to put us over the edge. Nor is this the health food that will save us all. Neither point is being highlighted or argued here.
This is a discussion forum. We discuss all kinds of foods on other threads too - both unhealthy and healthy.
Not sure why you’re having such a strong reaction to this specific topic.
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Beyond Burgers promote themselves as contributing to health. They have five times the salt of beef BEFORE you add any more. One burger (no bun, no condiments) is about 15% of the RDA for salt. Add a bun and you approach half the RDA.
So you have reached a conclusion and will lash out at anyone regardless of data who doesn’t agree with you? That is certainly how things appear. A discussion by definition includes contrasting views.
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This is a really bizarre obsession with a minuscule difference in sodium. This person is all over the BK IW thread with the same rants.
@Auspicious
First of all the health effects of sodium (like almost all food / nutrition “science”) are not well understood, and there are plenty of studies showing that lower salt intake can cause cardiovascular issues on par with obscenely high intake. In general there are challenges to the whole fat/salt is bad that has been going around the “diet fat” consciousness of the last few decades.
There is scientific controversy over whether reducing sodium intake lowers cardiovascular disease incidence and mortality.
About 95% of the world’s populations have a mean intake of salt that is between 6 g and 12 g daily. Widespread advice that salt intake be restricted below this range is not supported by evidence from randomized controlled trials nor is it supported by evidence from prospective observational studies. In fact, intake of less than 5.8 g of salt per day typically results in activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, which leads to an increase in plasma lipids and increased mortality.[
Even if salt was the boogeyman, people will typically season to taste and there won’t be an appreciable difference in final sodium levels (e.g., ramen made from scratch ultimately has roughly the same salt as ramen from a package, because that’s where you find it delicious). You keep using figures like 5x the sodium, but you’re comparing two products intended to be used in entirely different ways - the fake meats have salt built in and is intended to be used as-is, whereas meat needs to be salted by the cook. Sugar water literally has INFINITE times the amount of calories that water does. But guess what, you’re going to be just fine if you consume it in reasonable quantities.
Using Whoppers as an example, if you ate the same diet in a given day but just subbed a whopper for an impossible version, you’re adding 100mg, less than 5% of your RDA for the sub… (980mg vs 1080mg) a truly meaningless difference in the grand scheme of things. This is easily within the bound of error you would see in how well salted fries are, for instance.
Salt is the single most critical component of making any food delicious. It is truly the single most important and necessary culinary ingredient outside of food itself. You’re telling us that this is a “discussion” but it really isn’t, you’re the preaching to whatever the opposite of a choir is.
Imagine going to a motorcycle forum and telling people to switch to bicycles because it’s dangerous. That’s what this “discussion” boils down to.
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Requesting permission to steal borrow this.
I’m actually laughing out loud.
I haven’t reached a conclusion - I asked a question to those who have used a product or are considering using it.
You, on the other hand, have clearly reached a conclusion, and have been pummeling the rest of us with it on two separate threads.
So I’ll repeat myself: Let those of us who are considering the product, or have used it, have our discussion.
(Also - “lash out” - really? 
)
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As discussed above, the amount of salt you put on a raw beef patty will likely bring the sodium content of that patty to at or above that of the Beyond Meat patty, unless you like to (or have to) eat unseasoned beef patties. I’ve made burgers with Beyond Meat patties several times and they are pretty much pre-salted. They definitely do not need extra salt, and I didn’t add any. I did put a slice of American cheese on it though.
Back to the topic of taste, I’ve tried the Beyond Meat hamburger and the bratwurst at home, and the hot Italian sausage at a local sausage place. The hamburger has a very meaty texture but the taste doesn’t quite have the beefiness of a real burger. The bratwurst was quite good, had kind of the same texture of a bratwurst sausage (maybe without the little bits of gristly bits I guess) and the same spice flavor of a bratwurst. I don’t remember that much about the hot Italian because I got it covered with peppers and onions and mustard. I liked them all but wasn’t completely fooled by the taste. They do a pretty good job w/the texture though, and the bratwurst mostly tasted like a bratwurst - the spices probably help.
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I tried one of these fake meat patties recently out of curiosity, although I think it was the Impossible brand rather than Beyond Burger. Regardless, its flavor in no way replicated that of real meat. The texture was not a bad facsimile of meat, and if I had been eating it on a bun with plenty of condiments, lettuce, tomato, etc., the obvious non-meat flavor might not have been so obvious. However, I avoid carbs, so I was eating the patty by itself, and in that preparation it tastes NOTHING like meat. There was some umami (loads of salt), but the only discernable flavor was potato starch. Big fail.
Anyway, after looking at the ingredient list more closely, these burgers are not something I would eat on a regular basis even if they tasted good. They are highly processed and are not an improvement over beef (or lamb, pork, goat or any other meat out of which I would make a burger) from a health/nutrition standpoint.
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All three of the Key Foods closest to me sell it fresh, and in the ground beef and other ground red meats (bison) section, not the veggie burger section. I was surprised.
I was reading something on their website - it’s intentional to sell it in the meat section.
WF either went rogue or they are trying both sections (meat & meat sub) at WF and possibly other chains like it.
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That’s interesting, because so far I’d heard that vegetarians find it too “meaty” and meat eaters preferred it.
Re not an improvement - depends on the buyer’s goals re animal protein replacement vs not. But yes, many ingredients as with most/all fake meat.
I can see where vegetarians might find it “too meaty” due to the texture. The texture is VASTLY more beef-like than any other meat substitute I have ever eaten, and I am sure that for someone who hasn’t eaten meat in many years, the resemblance would be freaky. As far as the flavor, though - I can’t imagine how anyone who truly loves beef would think this is an acceptable substitute, let alone prefer it to the flavor of beef. I will say I might choose it over a turkey burger, but I truly detest turkey burgers so that is not really a ringing endorsement.
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That’s been my impression too, from the admittedly small sample of people I know personally. The vegetarian/vegans did not like it - BTW most of them don’t like Field Roast products either for the same reason - too meatlike.
I tried the Beyond burger patties- and was TOTALLY freaked out!!! They taste waaaaayyyy too much like what i remember of beef! It’s been, umm, decades, so there’s that.
If you’re looking for an alternative to ground turkey/beef in a dish i know that Lightlife ground round has a serious following, same with Boca crumbles. Actually TVP is probably your best bet for something where the dish itself is very flavorful, that’s really high protein (and stupid cheap) and easy to work with- just doesn’t taste like much on its own
I have omni friends who love the Beyond sausages, I’m not interested since I’m sure they are too meat like for me
My almost 14yo has never been a big meat eater, and decided a few months ago to give it up altogether. She likes the Beyond Burger patties and the taco crumbles. I’ve tried them and they are similar to meat texture wise but don’t taste like it. When we make burgers, she’ll make herself a BB on the stove.
If you have a Whole Foods nearby that makes burgers and sandwiches, they offer the BB patty as a meat substitute on any of their burgers. That’s where she tried it for the first time.
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