DawnWatch: Impossible Whopper tastes better says Wash Post. USA Today covers plant based explosion 4/16/19

Today, Tuesday April 16, one of the world's most influential newspapers, the Washington Post, has two separate articles about Burger King's Impossible Whopper, one by a food writer who thinks it tastes almost as good as the real thing, and one by a style writer who thinks it tastes better! Meanwhile, the world's third most widely circulated newspaper, USA Today, includes a piece on an article about plant-based protein going mainstream.

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Daniel Neman, a food writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has a piece in the Washington Post titled, "For the Impossible Whopper, consider the possibilities." Page A19.
He writes that if the plant-based burger can sell in Missouri it can sell anywhere, and continues:

"Apparently, it is selling well. Tiffany Billops, manager of a Burger King location in the city's Academy neighborhood, told me that her restaurant has seen a significant increase both in sales and traffic since its introduction on April 1. (Burger King's announcement of a vegetarian Whopper on April Fools' Day was greeted by some as a prank.)

"Across the Mississippi River, near Granite City, Ill., it may be selling even better.

"'Oh my God,' counter clerk Morgan McMurray told me. 'Maybe even more than the regular Whopper. I didn't think they'd sell, but they do.'"

Neman doesn't like the taste of the patty as much as one made out of beef, however he writes:

"But when you add all the accoutrements of a Whopper, that's a different story. Place a patty between a sesame-seed bun with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, mayonnaise and ketchup, and you have something that almost tastes like a Whopper, though still squishier."

You can read his full report on the Washington Post website at https://tinyurl.com/y5upvo9l

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Style writer Tim Carman's article, page C1, is a lot juicier. Titled in the print edition, "St. Louis has no beef with veggie Whoppers," the same piece online is headed, "Burger King’s Impossible Whopper tastes even better than the real thing."

Woohoo!

His article is similar to Neman's - apparently the left hand, or editorial page, of the Post didn't know what the right hand, or Style section, was doing. And that's fine with us! Neman also discusses the great initial success of the Impossible Whopper and notes the benefit to the planet. But he ends with:

"After one bite, you swear the Impossible patty tastes just like beef. After a second bite, you begin to sense the illusion behind the science. After a third, you're ready to invest in the whole enterprise. With time, the illusion becomes its own alternative reality: The product is close enough to beef that your brain is willing to fill in the rest of the flavors, even if somewhere in the dark recesses of your cerebral cortex, you know it's all a lie.

"America, get ready for the Impossible Whopper. I suspect it will be coming your way soon, once it passes through St. Louis."

You'll find his piece online at: https://tinyurl.com/y3asqugw

Neither of the pieces mention animals, but they give us the perfect opportunity to write on their behalf. Or you might write on any aspect of vegan eating or lifestyles that feels right to you. Or you could just jot off a quick appreciative note for the wealth of coverage, because everybody likes appreciation. Positive feedback for coverage encourages similar coverage in the future.

The Washington Post takes letters at letters@washpost.com , asks that you include your full name, address and telephone numbers for verification purposes and advises, "The Post receives more than a thousand letters each week. Letters editor Jamie Riley looks for concise letters that offer a new perspective or add depth to the discussion of an issue."

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Before I move on the USA Today article, let me note that some people have asked me to address a controversy around the Impossible Burger. The producers, who are ethical vegans, chose to include products that had never before been used in food and therefore, in order to meet food industry standards, had to be tested on animals. They were tested on rats. The Beyond Burger, which uses no such ingredients yet still has a similarly meaty taste, underwent no such testing.

Reasonable people have argued that the Impossible team should have found a different way forward. I wish they had. But they wanted to get a product out quickly that has already saved many animal lives in Saint Louis and elsewhere, and is likely to save millions more, and is proving to be a true force behind what seems to be a societal shift likely to save billions of lives across numerous species. Regardless of whether or not I would have made the choice that the Impossible Burger creators made (and I am probably not a committed enough utilitarian to have done so) I cannot see how doing anything to interfere with the success of the Impossible Burger does anything other than hurt animals.

I know some people think that supporting the Impossible Burger sends the message that it is okay to experiment on rats, but it only sends that message widely if the experimentation is publicized widely, and the very people publicizing it are the ones saying they don't want that message sent.

Continuing to punish the company will not bring back those rats, but it will hurt cows, and every other animal destined to benefit from the stunning rise of the Impossible Burger.

I am open to seeing this differently. One of my favorite sayings is, "If you can't change your mind are you sure you still have one?" But for now, because I do not want those rats to have died in vain, and for the sake of every cow killed in the production of regular Whoppers (cows who matter just as much as those rats), and every chicken saved when somebody orders an Impossible Whopper instead of a crispy Chicken Sandwich at Burger King, I intend to do anything I can to add to the Impossible Burger's success. And that probably includes saying no more about the hundred or so animals who died so that millions more may live. It is sad, and it is done. And the extraordinary success of the Impossible Burger is cause for great joy.

The more joy our movement has, the better. It energizes us, and it attracts more people to us -- and that saves animals.

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Now to more cause for joy: USA Today's Tuesday April 16 article, on the cover of the Money section (Page 1B) titled, "Get your veggie on at Del Taco and Blaze; Pizza and tacos join plant-based movement." On line, the same article, by Kelly Tyko, is titled, "Vegan and meat-free fast-food options are growing. Here's where to find them."

The opening line says it all:

"Plant-based protein continues to go more mainstream, making it easier to maintain a vegan or meat-free lifestyle."

Well, actually, that doesn't quite say it all because later we are reminded that few people, as yet, want to follow such a lifestyle:

"According to a June 2018 Nielsen report, while only 6% of Americans said they follow a strictly vegetarian lifestyle and 3% a strictly vegan lifestyle, 39% of Americans said they were trying to eat more plant-based products."

Let's remember that the same numbers of animals are saved from lives of misery and gruesome deaths when 10 people go completely vegan or 70 people do so once a week for Meatless Monday. That's why learning that close to half of the US population wishes to eat more plant-based food should be cause for celebration. The full article, which shares many chain restaurants that are making meatless eating easy, is online at:
https://tinyurl.com/y62l9zur

USA Today recommends,
"If you're interested in joining conversations about topics in USA TODAY, email letters@usatoday.com, comment on Facebook or use #tellusatoday on Twitter.
Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length. Submissions of 200 words or fewer have the best chance of being published. Letters must include a name, address and phone number."

Yours and all animals',
Karen Dawn of DawnWatch
https://DawnWatch.com