Culture 3 min read

Impossible Whopper: Burger King to Sell Plant-Based Burgers in U.S

Deutschlandreform / Shutterstock.com

Deutschlandreform / Shutterstock.com

With sixty years of rich history behind it, the famous Whopper has become a staple fast food dish, not only in the states but all over the world. Although a massive corporation, the company might have lost some Vietnamese customers due to its controversial “chopstick” burger ad.

As hamburgers go, nothing is quite like the Whopper, introduced in 1957 by Burger King’s co-founder James McLamore.

The Whopper’s major competitors from McDonald’s, the Big Mac, wouldn’t come until 1968, and they’re still playing catch up.

And now, the Whopper is making the competition even more tough with the Impossible Whopper: a new vegetarian spin that could even lure conventional meat eaters.

The “Impossible Whopper”: 100% Whopper, 0% Meat

The fast food industry doesn’t want to miss out on the business opportunities that come with the growing meatless market.

Giant fast food chains in the United States, like White Castle, Taco Bell, and Burger King, are offering more vegetarian meals, although non-vegetarians aren’t excluded as a target.

Burger King is expanding its plant-based menu, and what other item than its legendary sandwich, the Whopper, could attract more customers?

Burger King is rolling out a meat-free version of the Whopper, the Impossible Whopper.

According to Chris Finazzo, Burger King’s president of North America, it’s difficult to distinguish between this plant-based Whopper and the classic Whopper.

“We wanted to make sure we had something that lived up to the expectations of the Whopper. We’ve done sort of a blind taste test with our franchisees, with people in the office, with my partners on the executive team, and virtually nobody can tell the difference,”

59 stores in St. Louis, Missouri have rolled out the Impossible Whopper, and if the response in other markets “is a strong as it was in St. Louis” the company will sell the sandwich nationwide by the end of this year.

Read More: Beyond Veganism: The Rise of Antispecism

To make the Impossible Whopper, Burger King has partnered with Impossible Foods, a Silicon Valley startup that develops plant-based substitutes for protein products like meat, fish, and dairy.

Between the two halves of the Impossible Whopper’s sesame seed bun, customers will find a patty containing soy and potato proteins, coconut and sunflower oils, and heme, an iron-rich molecule similar to that of meat.

Costing about one extra dollar, the Impossible Whopper is a bit pricier than the beef-based classic Whopper, but Burger King is confident in its research that says customers are willing to pay more for its plant-based burger.

Read More: Bill Gates Backed Startup Uses CRISPR to Grow Meat

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Zayan Guedim

Trilingual poet, investigative journalist, and novelist. Zed loves tackling the big existential questions and all-things quantum.

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