Burger King’s new commercial shows the time-lapse decomposition of a Whopper

I performed a similar experiment in high school (~2007) but stored it in a plastic bag. After a few months it smelled absolutely horrible so I wrapped it in more bags and kept it hidden in an enclosed space. I decided to open it on the final day of high school about 2.5 years later and to this day I can recall the horrible smell and the texture. It has turned into a black slime as if it had retained or even gained lots of moisture; completely unrecognizable from its original form. Might be the worst smell I can remember to this day. I always heard people say that McDonald's burgers don't decompose, but after that experiment I never believed it because I had proven that it does decompose.

That miscommunication wasn't apparent to me back then, but seems more relevant than ever now. People often like to make bold claims without giving the relevant context or even without actually understanding the context. I see this all the time with news articles or videos making some claim, showing a small bit of evidence, then the information spreads quickly through social bubbles. If I decide to dig through the sources from which the article was derived, I find that there's often a very important piece of context missing. Whether that context was intentionally removed to twist a narrative or if the context was overlooked is not always clear, but it makes it hard to trust so many people and news articles today.

The best remedy for me so far has been to attempt to identify gaps in the knowledge of the people and articles that I'm observing, then try to fill in those gaps.

This article puts to rest my dissatisfaction with the simple claim that they don't decompose because it reveals the primary difference in testing between the conclusions formed by the 2 opposing experiments.

Most Vegans are not Vegans for the health benefits. They have other reasons.

Likewise, I think most people going after "impossible burgers" aren't doing it because they think it's healthier. (I won't deny that some think that, though.) Some were just trying it out, some were thinking they're saving animals, and yes, a few thought it was healthier in some way. (And in some ways, they probably are, but not in others.)

That said, I don't think "impossible burgers" are "food-like". They are food. Food-like, to me, would be things like gummy bears and Jello. Not only are they oddly manufactured, but they aren't part of a balanced diet. They are pure luxury. Other snacks like potato chips and Cheetos are in this category, too.

If I weren't dieting because I'm overweight (and just a smidgen away from "medically obese", which is less than it sounds but still medically relevant) I'd eat that kind of food all the time. (Thus how I got into this weight situation.)

That quote sounds silly to me. What is real food? How much can you handle and manipulate a food until its not real anymore? Can you grind it up and make homemade burgers? Can you add a little bread crumbs to help it bind? Is bread a real food?

I think the issue is that this is a good heuristic, but a shitty rule.

You'll do well if you follow it, but you can find another set of rules (or heuristics) that you can follow, and you'll do well too despite completely violating that one.

30 year vegetarian here, not vegan, but I definitely look askance at all the massively processed fake meats. I'll happily eat seitan, but I make my own out of maybe 6 ingredients.

I don't know too many vegetarians who eat them with any regularity...to me, they're more to transition meat-eaters to vegetarianism than anything else. Or maybe something for me to bring to a BBQ so I can not stand out like a sore thumb AGAIN.

"A breakfast of a super-processed, vegan, organic waffle, soy egg replacement and faux bacon is not much better for you than the pancake house originals"

Waffle, egg and bacon vs. plant and vegan based alternatives.

Sure about that? Do you have a citation?

You could at least put the whole quote from [3].

> Are artificial preservatives bad for you?

Some artificial preservatives, such as nitrites or nitrates used in processed meats, have been shown to be bad for our health, Hnatiuk said.

“Consuming these preservatives has been shown to increase our risk of colon cancer and should be limited in our diets,” she said.

However, others have been studied extensively and proven to be safe.

“It really just depends on the specific ingredient in question,” she explained.

She goes on to say:

> “Under normal circumstances, if preservatives are only consumed in small quantities, they shouldn’t pose any health risk,” Lui said.