Swette points out that, in an Instagramming world, the visual matters more than ever. You can completely avoid eating any animal-based foods and still gain weight, get heart disease, become diabetic, be constipated, and have high cholesterol among many other chronic health issues. Nor did they brand themselves as a viable alternative to meat, exactly. According to SPINS, a data technology company in the natural food space, grocery sales of plant-based foods intended to replace animal products have grown 31 percent in the past two years, to reach $4.5 billion. And while Sweet Earth developed the product around taste and texture, nutrition is far from an afterthought. Burgers are, after all, awesome. Protein is central to a plant-based burger, and Sweet Earth chose to work with peas as a source. They want to cook a burger, the way they know how.”, So the Awesome Burger is sold on shelves next to the beef. “These products are succeeding in the marketplace precisely because they are not looking to expand the vegetarian food market,” says Matt Ball, senior communications specialist at the Good Food Institute. A veggie burger with chili fries for dinner, and a brownie and chocolate ice cream for dessert. “Particularly for something like a hamburger,” Swette says, “which is a comfort food, you want a seamless transition. At 26 grams, an Awesome Burger has more protein than a beef burger of the equivalent size. “When we launched in 2012, most vegetarian products looked almost like hospital food,” says Swette. An improvement, to be sure. It, too, comes in a package of ground “meat” or pre-formed patties. “One of our core values is sustainability,” says Swette, “and an important tenet of sustainability is diversity in your food supply.” Working extensively with wheat and chickpeas in other products, they chose to go another direction, building the burger from a base of pea protein. These people in the flexitarian camp don’t want to learn a whole new process. The comprehensive list that follows lists the 10 best go-to options for plant-based burgers that are worth buying. It seems obvious now, but that’s just not what was available.”. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io, This Guy Tried Eating Like John Cena for the Day, Why Big-Time Athletes Are Selling Supplements Now, There's Only One Right Way to Defrost Chicken Fast, These 2 Bodybuilders Gave Up Sugar for a Week, How Shaq Thompson Tackles the Ball and His Days, The Truth About 'Personalized' Supplements. There are no concerns with antibiotics or hormones. It’s an appealing shade of pink that browns easily. Dating to the early 1980s, “veggie burgers” have been staples of cookouts and restaurant menus for decades. The real test, they believe, is in the kitchen and on the table. But once you get beyond all the buzzwords, there's a pretty straightforward pea-protein burger. ("Soy burger" or "pea burger" just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?). Making it very hard to tell the difference between their meat-based counterparts. That’s quickly followed by a rich, savory aroma. “Visual excitement is part of enhancing the eating experience,” says Swette. Paul is the Food & Nutrition Editor of Men’s Health. And, of course, these plant-based proteins need to be available. Both plant-based and vegan diets put plants front and center. These products now account for a full 13 percent of US milk dollar sales, with $1.8 billion in 2019. “You’re talking about a huge percentage of the population now,” she says. Cow milk may still be dominant, but virtually every coffee shop and grocery store in America has some sort of alternative, be it soy, almond, or, increasingly, oat. Fruit and vegetable extracts turn the raw Awesome Burger a shade of pink that not only retains its color over a 21-day shelf life, but transforms in the pan, acquiring a brown char and retaining its pink interior. Consumers should feel comfortable handling them, cooking with them, and serving them. A long, savory finish.”, “The transformation in the pan is convincing and effective. The serious truth is somewhere right down the middle: Eating more fruits and vegetables in your diet will improve your health, prevent you from incurring a host of deadly diseases, and help prevent dietary boredom. Plant-based milks, like soy and hemp milk, serve as a useful comparison. When the Awesome Burger patty lands in the hot cast-iron skillet, you’ll immediately hear the sizzle. The Black Bean Chipotle Veggie Burger contains most of the same ingredients as the Veggie Medley, but also contains black beans, as the name implies. “Our products were flavor-forward; our veggie burgers were fresh, our burritos included interesting elements like butternut squash and quinoa. “Convenience is as big a factor as anything else,” says Swette. Fat is essential to a burger, to the way it sizzles in the pan and stays juicy even when cooked; Sweet Earth uses coconut oil to contribute much of that fat. Dollar sales of refrigerated plant-based meat — exactly in Awesome Burger’s model — have grown 85 percent from 2017 to 2019, and is now an $801 million market. “As this kind of plant-based eating becomes more mainstream,” Swette says, “the products need to become more mainstream as well.” To become a truly viable alternative to beef, these plant-based meats should feel familiar. Beef burgers have no fiber; an Awesome Burger has six grams. Plant-Based vs. Vegan Diet: Here Are the Key Differences & What's Best for Weight Loss, Explained There are pros and cons to both (but you'll be eating a lot of veggies either way). The Veggie Medley consists of brown rice, broccoli, carrots, rolled oats, onions, and other vegetables, as well as soy and spices. No, seriously. Dating to the early 1980s , “veggie burgers” have been staples of cookouts and restaurant menus for decades. And they need to be ubiquitous. “It’s about the whole experience of eating a burger.”. The 60 Best Black Friday Deals to Check Out Now, My Secret to Navigating COVID-19 Mental Health, 8 Reasons to Quit Your Phone This Holiday Season, No, Vitamin C Supplements Will Not Save Us All, The Hypervolt GO Is the Mini Massage Gun You Need, This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. It’s important that products like Awesome Burger are right next to the ground beef on the shelf. Their veggie burgers were sold in the fresh section, not the frozen aisle, and they contained whole chunks of vegetables, which gave them a less processed feel. Now that's plant-based. What would it mean for plant-based burgers to go fully mainstream? Here's a joke for you. The only difference? Ask for a burger and you’ll be handed either a patty made of real meat or a plant-based patty. Their pea-protein patties are more widely available, less expensive, and lack the chemically aftertaste of the Impossible Burger. Q: What's the difference between a plant-based burger and a veggie burger? Awesome Burger is poised to leap into an ever-expanding market. A plant-based veggie burger used to taste like a dried out puck of sawdust. 365 Everyday Value is Whole Foods' house brand, although these soy-based burgers taste anything but generic. But the difference between the veggie option and the new no-meat Whopper may be that meat-eaters are more willing to try it. It’s all very familiar to anyone who’s ever cooked up a burger. Okay, so there's a lot of marketing on these patties. “Beefy flavor, whether grilled or seared. Plant-based burgers have come a long way from the vegetarian options of years past. Veggie burgers aren’t just for vegetarians anymore. “It didn’t happen the first time,” laughs Swette. “The flavor, the aroma, the cooking process, how it feels when you bite in — Awesome Burger was designed to be as close to meat as possible,” says CEO Kelly Swette, who founded Sweet Earth with her husband, Brian, in 2012. At first glance, the term “plant-based… Many consumers, of course, turn to plant-based foods for health reasons. However, “while a vegan diet is a plant-based diet, a plant-based diet may not be a vegan diet," says Nguyen. "Plant-based" burgers and other faux-teins have received tons of attention during the last few years, but if you actually look at the ingredients lists of offerings from headline-collecting companies like Impossible Foods or Beyond Meat, you'll see that you're basically eating soy or pea protein. This advertising content was produced in collaboration between Vox Creative and our sponsor, without involvement from Vox Media editorial staff. 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