Social media is abuzz with posts decreeing that it was hard to tell the difference between the fake meat patty and the real thing. The Impossible 2.0 “beef” tastes and smells just like real beef, and its manufacturer says eating it instead of regular beef can save the planet because the production of beef, particularly cattle farming, emits more greenhouse gases and uses more water than plant-based alternatives and takes up vast tracts of land that ought to be returned to the wild.
Clever marketing and big money have combined to attract some consumers to meat replacements grown in labs. Is mass-market appeal a matter of time or an impossible feat?
SINGAPORE (May 6): On a Wednesday evening in March, hundreds of people showed up at Lau Pa Sat, the food centre in the heart of Singapore’s Central Business District, to try a new kind of patty. It is made from plants but claims to closely mimic the taste of beef — it even bleeds. At that evening’s event, San Francisco’s Impossible Foods launched its latest product in Singapore. In the two months since, the plant-based “meat” patty has become available at more than 45 establishments throughout the city.
