Impossible burgers come to burger king

[Lou]

could this be a tipping point?

Burger King Makes Plant-Based Food Cheaper Than Meat In Germany

 

[Jamie in Chile]

That's positive news. Not sure about tipping point but hope I'm wrong.

 

[Lou]

For a lot of "almost vegans", cost is The Issue.
Taste is another issue but I think if you are going to Burger King, taste is not an important issue.

 

[Tom L.]

@Lou I haven't checked lately, but I think the Impossible Whopper was slightly more expensive than the original beef version when BK first offered it.

 

[Lou]

@Lou I haven't checked lately, but I think the Impossible Whopper was slightly more expensive than the original beef version when BK first offered it.

It still is. But not in Germany.

at my local BK the impossible whopper is an extra dollar. 7.89 vs 8.89.
The only time I go to BK is on Wednesday (whopper Wednesday) when all whoppers, including the Impossible is $3.

 

[Lou]

News.

in my area they have increased the price of Whopper Wednesday from $3 to $4. And they seem to have dropped the Impossible Whopper as an option.
now the only way you can get an Impossible Whopper is for $8.89. A dollar more than a regular whopper.

 

[Tom L.]

I was thinking about something:.... From one of your posts on April 6th, 2019:

......... So I'm not sure where you actually get Honeycrisp seeds from. But in order to get Honeycrisp trees, you have to resort to grafting. Most of the fruits and nuts at the grocery store are hybrids and most of them come from trees that are grafted.

...........I just learned while looking some of this stuff up that most apples are "extreme heterozygotes". What I think that means is that if you take an apple from the grocery store and plant the seeds you will not get the results you intended. So what growers do is plant a bunch of apple trees. Then they take buds off the trees they want to grow and graft them to the bole of the apple trees. You can propagate thousands of Honeycrisps from just one tree.

If you ever shopped for a fruit tree or taken a closer look at an orchard as you drove by you probably were already aware of this at least on a lower level.

(Your post only partially quoted- emphasis mine) One thing about this which is concerning: the thousands of Honeycrisps from the one original tree are genetically identical... which means that a pathogenic organism which was deadly to any one of these trees would, almost certainly, be deadly to all of them. I think we all remember what happened in Ireland when the potato blight struck back in the mid-19th century. For reasons I won't go into here (because I'm not sure I have all the socio-economic facts), the Irish populace was very heavily dependent upon potatoes, even though this vegetable originated in South America. When a fungal blight virtually eradicated potatoes in Ireland (for a time at least), famine resulted.

Another example: The American Chestnut wasn't rendered extinct in North America (by a different blight), but it was eliminated as a major forest tree which formerly provided a reliable, year-after-year supply of food for wildlife and humans alike (as well as lumber). There is a current effort to breed a blight-resistant gene into remaining American Chestnuts and restore it as a major organism in North American forests: pure American Chestnuts are crossed with Chinese chestnuts (I think) which have a much higher degree of blight-resistance. American-Chinese hybrids which show blight resistance are repeatedly backcrossed to pure American chestnuts, with the ultimate goal of producing a blight-resistant tree which is almost 100% American Chestnut.

As I see it, a relatively few crop species are crucially important for humans- and for the ecosystem as a whole. Perhaps these plant species need to be more genetically diverse and robust than they are now. It's dangerous for us to depend so heavily on anything like a monoculture.

 

[Lou]

I was thinking about something:.... From one of your posts on April 6th, 2019:

You've been thinking about this for 5 years? or did something happen to bring it to mind.

First off, I agree with your conclusion that monoculture is bad. however I have different reasons for it and also I don't believe your examples support your conclusion.

(Your post only partially quoted- emphasis mine) One thing about this which is concerning: the thousands of Honeycrisps from the one original tree are genetically identical... which means that a pathogenic organism which was deadly to any one of these trees would, almost certainly, be deadly to all of them.

Biologists have a term called hybrid vigor. Basically it means that the hybrid is actually "better" than their parents. I put better in quotes because it's people who decide what is "better".
And in many cases what makes a hybrid better is disease resistance. Ironically, in this discusion, one of best examples of this is the potato. potatoes are good candidates for hybrids because they can be heterozygotes. You don't need potato seeds to grow potatoes. And some of the most popular potato varieties are the ones that are more disease resistant.

What Is Hybrid Vigor?

Hybrid vigor is the increase in certain characteristics like growth rate, size, fertility, yield etc. of a particular hybrid organism over its parents. Hybrid vigor is also known by some other names, including heterosis and inbreeding enhancement.

www.scienceabc.com

Hybrid potato breeding

Increasing food security in areas that are hard to access. This is one of the ideas behind an important potato innovation by HZPC: hybrid potato breeding. This innovation has been under development for many years. We expect our first test hybrids to come close to the local market standards of...

www.hzpc.com

I think we all remember what happened in Ireland when the potato blight struck back in the mid-19th century. For reasons I won't go into here (because I'm not sure I have all the socio-economic facts),...

Yes, you were heading in the right direction there. Although the potato crop failing was a contributing factor for the Irish Famine, more importantly poor economic policy was the cause. The taxes on corn and wheat were so high that poor people could only afford potatoes.

Irish Potato Famine: Date, Cause & Great Hunger | HISTORY

The Irish Potato Famine was caused by a potato disease in Ireland in the mid‑1800s. The “Great Hunger” killed about 1 million people, forcing another million to emigrate.

www.history.com

Another example: The American Chestnut

Not sure what you think this is an example of. Chestnut trees are Not hybrids. they are also not grown in what we think of as a monoculture. I think what happened to them is that the disease was imported from Europe and they had no natural immunity. Also the spread of the disease was helped by people. the spores were carried to different forests by logging equipment. Even hikers can spread the disease in the lugs of their boots.
Also Foresters are developing varieties of chestnut trees that are disease resistant - including hybrids.

Chestnut Blight: An American Tragedy | Forest Pathology

Chestnut blight is a canker disease of American chestnut trees. Its introduction to North America is the greatest tragedy in American forest history.

forestpathology.org

As I see it, a relatively few crop species are crucially important for humans- and for the ecosystem as a whole.

Well, that is not exactly right. I tried to figure out the number but couldn't. However just walk thru a grocery store. - there are dozens - of different species and varieties in the produce aisle.
However, most of our land is devoted to corn, wheat and soy. Which are grown in a monoculture setting. And A Lot of those crops are grown for animal feed.
When you look thru a vegan lens you see the problem differently.

Perhaps these plant species need to be more genetically diverse and robust than they are now. It's dangerous for us to depend so heavily on anything like a monoculture.

Absolutely agree. maybe for different reasons.
IMHO, the best argument against monocultures is the native bee population and our reliance on honeybees.
But I don't think Americans are vulnerable to plant (or animal disease) in the same was as the Irish were in the 19th century. You can see this in the news all the time. When the Florida orange crop failed we went and got California and Mexican oranges. Plus we had Frozen concentrates stocked up. When bird flu hit our chickens, chicken and egg prices increased but people just bought less eggs and chicken. Of course this might have impacted our "poor" more than anyone else. but I'm not sympathetic. Poor people could still get all the calories and protein they need without relying on chicken and eggs. And probably for less money.

I think that when mono-cropping causes food insecurity - just like the Irish Famine - it will be more of a result of bad economic policies than disease or weather.

 

[Raven]

I was thinking about Burger King this morning as we are driving to Kent today and we stopped at a service station to get vegan Burger King last time so we might again!

 

[PTree15]

News.

in my area they have increased the price of Whopper Wednesday from $3 to $4. And they seem to have dropped the Impossible Whopper as an option.
now the only way you can get an Impossible Whopper is for $8.89. A dollar more than a regular whopper.

Oh no! That is so disappointing. If that happens near me, I will drop the app. That was the reason I got the app, for the $3 Impossible whopper.

 

[Ambergine]

Just had one the other day, so good.