IMPOSSIBLE WHOPPER NOW A POSSIBILITY
It’s finally possible to get the Impossible Whopper at Hawaii Burger King locations.
After months of test runs in seven mainland cities, the plant-based burger was finally released nationwide, and debuted in Hawaii on Aug 10. The new burger is billed as impossibly delicious with “all the flavor, aroma and beefiness of meat from cows,” but in our side-by-side taste test, beef lovers enamored of the franchise’s signature flame-grilled flavor could tell the difference between the Impossible and regular Whoppers.
For others just hungry for a hamburger, the Impossible passed muster once slathered with all the fixings. The new burger costs $7.59; the original beef Whopper is $6.59. Both are a bit over 600 calories with the bun and lettuce, ketchup, etc.
Comparing nutritional differences of the 4-ounce patties, the Impossible burger contains about the same number of calories (240) and fat, a little less protein, and a lot more sodium than a meat patty. (It is largely made with soy and potato proteins, and coconut and sunflower oils.)
Impossible Foods, based in Redwood City, Calif., has reported it is struggling to meet surging demand for burgers from Burger King, White Castle and other chains it supplies.
SPAM FOR THE SEASON
Now here’s an application of the ubiquitous pumpkin-spice trend that we can get behind: Soon there will be a pumpkin-spice Spam, marked by seasonal spices of cinnamon, clove, allspice and nutmeg.
The announcement was made via Twitter last week. The special meat-in-a-can will only be sold online, via spam.com and walmart.com beginning Sept. 23, and only until supplies run out. No price has been announced.
It’s been creating quite the online buzz. Cnet.com ran an announcement under the headline “Not a joke.”
A Food & Wine writer got ahold of a can early and pronounced it not bad, imagining it “slathered in maple syrup as you might with breakfast sausage.”
Not all the commentary was positive. NBC.com noted: “The pumpkin spice phenomenon died Wednesday at age 16. The cause of death was the existence of Pumpkin Spice Spam.”
