My Review of the Beyond Thickburger from Hardee's / Carl's Jr.

Allrighty, some of you have perhaps read my review of the Impossible Whopper from Burger King (and if you haven't, here's a link https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2019/11/my-review-of-impossible-whopper-from.html), wherein you learned that, as a, um, "concerned carnivore", I am making an effort to eat farther down the food chain, for purposes of not being sad about animals dying and also because of environmental and dietary concerns. Regardless of your feelings about eating critters, vegetables are just better for you, and they are grown much more sustainably than animal products. I'm pleased that another fast-food chain, Hardee's (or Carl's Jr, if you are from western parts), has introduced a plant-based burger, the Beyond Thickburger.

Impossible and Beyond are two different and competing brands of meat substitute. Whereas Impossible is soy-based, Beyond uses pea protein as a base. As a matter of fact, here is the complete ingredient list: water, pea protein isolate, expeller-pressed canola oil, refined coconut oil, rice protein, natural flavors, cocoa butter, mung bean protein, methylcellulose, potato starch, apple extract, salt, potassium chloride, vinegar, lemon juice concentrate, sunflower lecithin, pomegranate fruit powder, and beet juice extract. So yeah, that 18-ingredient list has, oh, 17 more ingredients than beef, and with a similar amount of calories and fat, it's not necessarily a whole lot healthier than beef, just less murdery. It does have zero cholesterol, though. 

So what about the most important bit--the taste?? How does it compare to the Impossible Whopper?Well, with regard to that, let me just say, damn, it's so much better! It has the juiciness I was missing, and is also much more flame- broil-y, as well, and considering that's BK's thing, it's a bit embarrassing. As for how it compares to actual beef, I think you could give this burger to someone without telling them it wasn't meat and they would never know. We have a winner!

However, even though Beyond completely kicked Impossible's butt in this head-to-head taste-test, Impossible is still fine and dandy with me. If there were a Hardee's across from a Burger King, the choice is obvious, but if there were just a Burger King, I absolutely would still choose the Impossible Whopper over a beef burger. A category in which Impossible does completely win is calorie count, which is pretty important. The Beyond Thickburger has 840 calories. The Impossible Whopper with cheese has only 630 (a regular Whopper with cheese has about 800). 840 calories is one-third the typical caloric intake required for an average adult man and almost half that of an average woman. And this is one sandwich, so caveat emptor. 

Ah, yes...one other thing...the Beyond Thickburger made me burp, rather a lot. Like from about an hour after I ate it, up until about five or six hours later. And those burps did not taste real fabulous (and just FYI, I ordered the burger without onions--the mind reels at the thought of what would have transpired if I hadn't). So, uh, maybe not the thing to eat if you need to be in close proximity to anyone for the next while? I did have a soda with it, but carbonation usually gets burped forthwith, so I doubt that was a factor. Also, I don't remember this happening with the Impossible Whopper. Your digestive system, and therefore your results, may vary. 

All in all, I am very happy to see meat substitutes coming to the fast-food market. It's a step in the right direction, burps aside. KFC is currently testing Beyond Fried Chicken in some markets (Atlanta is one, I have heard), and I will be very interested to try that, as well. So just remember: If you want to save the planet, Mom was right--eat your veggies!

My Review of the Impossible Whopper from Burger King

First off, I'll state that I'm not a vegetarian. I do eat meat, but I'm not altogether comfortable with that, and I think there are a lot of positives involved in eating lower on the food chain. Better for your health, better for the environment, and certainly better for the livestock. If there are things out there that do a good job of behaving like meat, give me my protein, and are affordable and convenient, what's not to like? So it was with great anticipation that I sat down to try an Impossible Whopper, Burger King's new offering, a soy-based meat substitute.

The Impossible Whopper is available with all the typical fixings you can get on a regular Whopper (and yes, you can get bacon on it, if you feel a bit more callous toward pigs than cows). I ordered mine with cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and ketchup. People have been mentioning the price as being higher than that of a typical Whopper, but the sandwich and a side of mozzarella sticks cost $8.20 all together, and I didn't find that particularly exorbitant (this is in North Carolina; your results elsewhere may vary). By the way, I'm happy that Burger King offers mozzarella sticks, but sad because they never seem to be freshly made. If you want good drive-thru mozzarella sticks, go to Arby's. Their sticks game is on point.

As for the Impossible Whopper, I liked it. It was tasty and satisfying. It did not, I repeat, not, taste like beef. However, it still tasted good, and it tasted like "a burger", if that makes sense. Part of that was the toppings and the bun, I'm sure, but it also had the right texture, or "mouth feel", as they say. One thing that I will note is that it was not juicy, although frankly, a lot of juiciness can make a burger excessively sloppy, and I do not have much interest in wearing a plastic bib everywhere I go to eat. It didn't taste dry, either--it wasn't crumbly or mealy. It was firm and meaty, and of course the mayo and ketchup added a decent amount of sloppiness to the burger experience.

The verdict: I'm in. It's a win-win: I get my burger, and nobody has to die. From now on, I'm getting my mozzarella sticks from Arby's, but when I'm at Burger King, I will happily order the Impossible Whopper from now on!