Have you ever imagine how innovative a burger can be?
Impossible Foods, American company, created a completely vegetarian burger that bleeds and it seems like real meat. Forget that textured soy protein which looks more like a seasoned rubber. This is sustainable food for the planet while not leaving aside the carnivores impulses.
The secret is leg-hemoglobin, a vegetable version of animal hemoglobin, found in peas, beans, etc. Unlike other types of plants, they are nitrogen fixers and can’t remove it directly from the atmosphere, requiring help from Rhizobium bacteria. These bacteria are in the roots of these plants. Along with leg-hemoglobin they perform this conversion process of nitrogen in ammonia, which can ultimately be used by the plant. The most important thing here is that, like hemoglobin, leghemoglobin also changes color when connected to oxygen. Thus making the burger red and flavor similar to beef.
Although expensive, around US$ 20 per unit, the invention is cheaper and simpler than the synthetic meat. Developed in the Netherlands two years ago, it was made from stem cells of animals and had initial production cost of approximately US$350.000.
As burger is not only made of meat, seaweed that tastes like bacon was also discovered. Researchers from Oregon State University announced the development and patent of a seaweed strain called Dulse (palmaria sp.). The initial idea was to create a food for abalone, a shellfish consumed in Asia, but they soon realised the similarity with bacon.
Abalone
The fried “vegetable bacon” acquires crunchy texture and is very nutritious. The challenge now is to produce it on commercial scale. Partner chefs are testing preparations with the ingredient.
If in the future we cannot eat meat in favor of the planet, at least the “BLT” is already guaranteed.
References: BBC, Instituto Agronômico de Campinas, Honolulu Pulse
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