Would a soy root by any other name taste so savory?
Would vegetarianism and veganism be more popular if you called them “plant-based diets”?
The current revolution in meatless burgers and other vegan processed food is counting on the compound adjective “plant-based” to carry less baggage. And it may be working! The stuff is spreading like weeds.
Impossible Foods, the first mover on “plant-based burgers,” this summer added Walmart and Trader Joe’s to its list of retailers. Eat Just, which sells plant-based “egg” (a powder that makes something resembling scrambled eggs), is also ending up on the shelves in major retailers.
While Burger King made the biggest splash selling the Impossible Whoppers, there are now restaurants dedicated entirely to slinging these plant-based burgers.
Celebrity chef Spike Mendelsohn has launched a chain called PLNT Burger with six spots, including three in the Washington, D.C., area. PLNT Burger sells “indulgent, crafted, plant-based burgers.”
Planthropie, a local Detroit chain, is a tiny dessert and cheese bar that doesn’t use dairy or eggs. “Planthropie dessert and cheese are entirely plant based and predominately tree nut based,” the website says. The company calls itself a “conscious brand on a mission to create the purest food as art and medicine.”
In Toledo, Ohio, the hottest food truck is a hot dog truck from Frankly Plant-Based Kitchen, which started in Austin, Texas.
It gets deeper. Dr. Praeger’s, a longtime maker of veggie burgers and vegetarian freezer pizza, is even selling a plant-based “turk’y burger.”
So, what is this stuff actually made from? Soy roots, largely. The roots of soy contain a molecule called heme, the root (etymologically and biologically) of hemoglobin. Heme contains iron, and soy heme helps give a meat-like flavor to meatless burgers.
You may ask: Is it a burger if it doesn’t have meat? You should also ask: Isn’t it vegan, even if it doesn’t use the word?
