While now you will hear me celebrating many meat dishes, not many people know that I was a vegetarian for 13 years starting in my senior year of high school. It was based on my belief that if we avoided feeding animals grain combinations we could direct them to humans and seriously reduce hunger in the world. My diet wasn’t necessarily healthy, I continued eating dairy and eggs because so many desserts contained them (not kidding). Finally I returned to eating meat when my protest wasn’t solving world hunger. I know, swell role model.

Way back decades ago, meat alternatives were terrible. We had Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) and foul veggie burgers that were sometimes more tasty than cardboard. So I was intrigued when I read about the Impossible Burger. The 100% vegetable protein burger was formulated to taste and act like ground beef. It gets great reviews and was even selected by Burger King to expand their menu. Indeed the mass distribution BK is demanding has put a strain on the company’s production even though they are doing it in a slow stepped manner.

Several local restaurants admitted that they could not get Impossible Burgers from the company and the limited BK rollout does not yet include the New York area. After much searching I discovered a restaurant near Times Square that had it in stock. It is a terrific custom hamburger shop I had tired before. So I went to give it a try.

It was amazing. Ordered medium, there was still a light pink in the center and delicious umami flavor to the patty. I picked at it, ate some of it separately from the other ingredients and even gave it a satisfying sniff. If I had these options years ago, I might still be a vegetarian. With all the concerns about the impact of animal raising on our environment, this could be just the approach. I seldom see the inside of a Burger King but will give their version a try when it arrives here. Do they still give out those paper crowns?

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