The Impossible Burger Is Now In Grocery Stores, So Hello Meatless Monday
I tried the Impossible Burger, and I thought there was some mistake. If you hear your vegetarian friends talking about the Impossible Burger and how scary similar it is to meat, they aren't lying. Now, Impossible Meats is making it possible — see what I did there? — to get this product at grocery stores. If you want to know where to buy the Impossible Burger, listen up. This is a huge step toward making meatless, plant-based foods more readily available to vegetarians, vegans, or those who simply want to cut back on their consumption of meat.
According to a Sept. 19 press release from Impossible Foods announcing its grocery store debut. On Friday, Sept. 20, the Impossible Burger will be available at all 27 Gelson's locations in Southern California. So if you're anywhere in SoCal, you can pop in to a Gelson's from San Diego to L.A., Ventura County, and even Santa Barbara. The Impossible Burger will be sold in a 12-ounce package and cost $8.99 at the Gelson's Markets, per the release.
Impossible Foods will have some events in SoCal that you can get in on to celebrate the release of the Impossible Burger in grocery stores. If you're near L.A., the company is having a retail launch party on Friday, Sept. 20 — including some free samples — from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT at the Westfield Century City's Cabana. They're also sponsoring a fun cooking show-style VIP event with Vilailuck "Pepper Thai" Teigen, aka Chrissy Teigen's mom, Thursday, Sept. 19.
If you haven't heard of Impossible yet, I'm not sure where you've been. I heard so much about this product before trying it. It was a sudden hype. Anytime I mentioned that I was a pescatarian to anyone, I was met with: "Have you tried the Impossible Burger? It's really good." Unfortunately, even though I was intrigued, I waited and waited to try it. This was mostly due to the availability in my area being scarce. Plus, I wasn't aware of which restaurants carried it. Finally, my cousin got me to try it while I was visiting near Austin, Texas this year. And now, I am certifiably hooked.
You may have seen the debut of the Impossible Whopper at Burger King.
There has been so much hype surrounding the new, meatless version of the Whopper that it's a bit overwhelming. In fact, when they released the Impossible Whopper, there ended up being a shortage of Impossible Burgers, which caused some consumer distress, according to an article in CNN Business.
If you're wondering what makes the Impossible Burger from Impossible Foods so appealing, the answer lies in the taste, texture, and the ingredients. The Impossible Burger is kosher, halal, gluten-free certified, plant-based, and bioengineered. Using a scientific process to create Heme, "an essential molecule found in every living plant and animal," according to the Impossible website, the company managed to recreate a taste and texture similar to meat while using plant-based ingredients such as soy. If you're curious about the Impossible Burger's nutrition facts, Impossible Foods makes it easy to find on their website.
According to Impossible's official press release, Impossible Foods’ CEO and Founder Dr. Patrick O. Brown stated that the company "introduced plant-based meat to top chefs in America’s most important restaurants" three years ago and "they consistently told us that the Impossible Burger blew them away.” It's clear that it's becoming a phenomenon.
If you want to find out where to buy the Impossible Burger near you, you may have to wait for it to hit your local grocery stores. This first rollout is in Southern California, but don't fret. The official press release from Impossible Foods states that the company "will announce additional retailers later this month, when the Impossible Burger debuts at some of America’s favorite grocery stores on the East Coast." That means it's going to happen, folks. I'm sure almost every veggie in SoCal is going to try to get their hands on some the Impossible Burger at Gelson's, so if you're in the area, you better prepare.
