Comment by tyfon | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tyfon | Hacker News Reader

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> loaded with bunch of chemicals and potentially unhealthy ingredients that make it taste like meat

I never understood why one would want to make a veggie burger taste like meat. Properly made veggie burgers taste delicious by them selves. Much more flavour than the meat versions.

But those are probably already on the menu and this is an addition to regular vegetarian burgers? Here in Norway we've had vegan burgers from both mcdonalds and burger king and max hamburgare (swedish company) for a couple years that do not taste like meat and especially burger kings' score high on the taste tests [1].

Personally I never eat fast food except a kebab once every two months but we do make vegetarian burgers maybe every other week here at home [2].

[1] https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=no&tl=en&u=https%3...

[2] https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=no&tl=en&u=https%3...

> I never understood why one would want to make a veggie burger taste like meat.

Because most people find meat delicious and it fills a particular cultural niche in the United States in particular. Veggie burgers are tasty too, but if you are craving a beef burger, it's not the same thing, much like tofu is not a satisfying substitute for chicken, even if it's delicious when prepared as tofu.

You can try to change the tastes of millions or you can just make a less environmentally damaging substitute.

> Much more flavour than the meat versions.

No. A different flavour, perhaps.

A decent burger tastes good, be it meat or non-meat. Burger-King appeals to the majority and is not going to be making the best burger of any kind, just a "standard" one.

> I never understood why one would want to make a veggie burger taste like meat. Properly made veggie burgers taste delicious by them selves. Much more flavour than the meat versions.

Because some people - myself included - like the taste of meat, and would only choose the veggie version for environmental (or economic) reasons if the taste were basically the same.

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