The Surprising Place You Can Now Buy Impossible Burgers
A triumph of science and deception, the plant-based Impossible Burger debuted in 2016 as the first commercial creation of Impossible Foods. The company website explains that the makers began by asking, "What makes meat taste like meat?" For a long time, the answer was "not plants." If anything, most veggie patties taste more like slabs of masochism for meat fans. But the Impossible Burger aimed to please, and it hit the bullseye without harming any actual bulls.
BBC Good Food contributor Juliet Sear gave the Impossible Burger a whirl and was thoroughly impressed, writing, "This definitely had that naughty, fatty taste and texture I was looking for." It didn't exactly match the meat experience, but maybe that's – you guessed it – impossible. Lee Breslouer of Thrillist didn't have a beef with an updated version of the burger either, but he tasted something close to it: "I loved the rush of salt and fat, the chew, and the beef-like taste in every bite. A pleasurable burger from start to finish."
The Impossible Burger has made its way onto the menus of more than 15,000 restaurants worldwide. In 2019, it cemented its status as burger royalty when Burger King proclaimed itself the home of the Impossible Whopper, dethroning the original veggie burger. But those who aren't looking to kneel before a nightmare-faced fast food monarch or go restaurant hopping across the globe can now buy Impossible Burgers in an unexpected place: Walmart.
Walmart makes the impossible commonplace
What good are great low prices if you can't use them to lie to your taste buds? Presumably, that was the question that Impossible Foods and Walmart were answering when they joined forces. As CNBC, details, the Impossible Burger is slated to be sold at more than 2,000 Walmarts and more than 8,000 retail locations in total. That vastly expands its availability, placing it in stores across all 50 states and in 50 times more retail locations than it was present in six months prior.
It obviously doesn't take a burger scientist to know this is a massive boon for the brand. But Impossible Foods CEO Patrick Brown, who happens to be a biochemist with a medical degree, weighed in on the benefit nonetheless: "Walmart is the largest food retailer in the world. It has a huge presence — 90 percent of the U.S. population lives within a mile of a Walmart store." This is also an opportunity for meat eaters, who comprise roughly 90 percent of Impossible Foods' customers, according to Brown. How now goes Brown's meatless cow? Pretty darn well, and if Walmart customers agree that the Impossible Burger is well done, it won't need Burger King to validate its claim to the food crown.