How is it possible that there are vegan burgers that taste like meat?

Every day there are more people who choose a vegetarian or vegan diet. However, choosing a vegan option does not mean giving up the taste of a good burger. How do you make something that doesn’t have meat taste the same?

Meat-free diets are becoming more popular every day and no longer just as a vindication of animal welfare, but are chosen as healthy diets and, also, as a way of take better care of the environment.

In the livestock industry they have an old mantra: “the meat of the future will not be meat.” Today, this is already possible, as vegetable meat substitutes manage to simulate almost perfectly the taste, aroma and texture of real meat.

More than ever, the secret is in the dough!

A good example of vegan or vegetable burgers, whose flavor imitates that of meat, are those of Beyond Meat, a chain of hamburgers that have been operating in the US for a long time and that, recently, has arrived in Spain.

These burgers are very different from the first veggie burgers, which were thin and with little flavor, are now made with special mixes of legumes and vegetables that allow to simulate the flavor and texture of the meat in the mouth.

Most of these vegan meat-flavored burgers are made with a pea mix (which are responsible for providing the protein of plant origin and free of cholesterol), refined coconut oil (responsible for the mixture being juicy and textured), potato starch (which mimics the bite of meat in the mouth) and, in some cases, beets, which mimics the natural bleeding of meat.

Thus, with these ingenious mixtures of vegetables and legumes they get a 100% vegetable burger looks and tastes like fresh meat.

Heme, another twist to create vegan burgers

In California, Impossible Foods has found an ingredient to mass-produce vegan burgers: heme. It is a molecule that is responsible for the color and flavor of meat. Of vegetable origin, it is obtained from the fermentation (through genetic techniques) of soybean hemoglobin.

These vegan burgers also tend to bring other ingredients, such as textured wheat protein, yeast extract, konjac gelatin, xanthan, vitamins E and C, thiamine (vitamin B1) or riboflavin (vitamin B2), Among others.

In addition to tracing the flavor and texture of traditional meat burgers, these vegan creations provide the same nutrients and proteins (although of vegetable origin and without cholesterol).

And, being composed of ingredients of plant origin, they are much more sustainable, since 95% less land is needed, 74% less water and the greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by 87%.

Are there differences when it comes to cooking vegan burgers?

These burgers are they prepare in the same way than meat ones. Once defrosted, they are passed through the grill or through the pan (three minutes on each side).

Some restaurants, to complete the experience, the served with slices of vegan cheese that melts on the plate.

What do you think? Do you sign up for veggie meat?