Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Three More Meatless Burgers

      Over six and a half years ago, on September 14, 2014, to be exact, I did a post about some meat alternatives and imitations, including two burgers.  A couple of weeks ago I happened to pass the frozen meatless section while shopping, and I paused.  I decided to revisit this topic, with a few new examples.  Anyway, I went with Sunshine Burger's spicy Tuscan burger, the Wholesome Pantry's veggie burger, and Hilary's super cauliflower veggie burger.  Also, aside from the post I already mentioned, I did one about the Impossible Whopper (Burger King's veggie burger), on October 26, 2019, which has some information about meatless burgers in general.

     The exact inventor of the veggie burger isn't conclusively known.  And it's probably the type of thing that was developed by many different people, independently, over the decades and perhaps even centuries.  And part of this problem is related to the definition of what exactly constitutes a veggie burger.  Patty-shaped foods made out of vegetables have existed in India and much of Europe for centuries, maybe even millennia, but do these count?  Especially since the invention of the hamburger itself is so disputed.  (I looked into this, and there are many alleged candidates.  People in Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Texas, New York, Connecticut, and, more logically, Hamburg Germany all have their backers.  Most of these date back to the late 1880's and 1890's, with a few claiming ages of the late 1700's.  What is definitive is that the hamburger skyrocketed in popularity after being featured at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, in the U.S.  Also, a guy named George Motz shot a documentary about hamburgers if you're interested--"Hamburger America" (2004).)  The first reference to something called a "vegeburger," made out of nuts and legumes, appears to have been on an American radio show called "Let George Do It," in 1948.  Moving on, Paul Wenner served a Gardenburger at his Oregon restaurant The Gardenhouse, in either 1980 or 1981.  (Wenner eventually started selling these commercially, and they're still available to this day.)  And at his London-based restaurant SEED, George Sams began selling a "vegeburger" in 1982.  But meatless versions of hamburgers really took off in the 1990's and 21st century, as vegetarians and vegans became more numerous.  The ingredients vary wildly, but common bases include soybean/tofu, nuts, grains, mushrooms/fungi, and seeds.  The more recent Beyond Burger, sold in many restaurants across the U.S., is mostly pea-based.  While its competitor the Impossible Burger, which I mentioned before, is wheat/potato/soy protein based, and very complicated to make.  The goal of meatless burgers differs, too--some are sincere attempts to mimic beef's taste and texture, while others are just trying to make something plant-based that will be good off the grill at picnics and such, perhaps on a bun, with ketchup and pickles and the like.

     Sunshine Burger, which is a part of the Sunshine Burger and Specialty Food Company, was started by Carol Debberman in 1983.  Debberman was a fellow New Jerseyian, but the company is based in Wisconsin.  The business seems defined on what it doesn't use in its wares--aside from meat Sunshine avoids sugar, gluten, soy, wheat, corn, oats, dairy, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, GMO's, and preservatives.  The official company website is a bit sparse, and evidently is not updated very often, as it only lists four varieties of burgers, and not the one I bought.  To be complete, their other kinds include the original, shiitake mushroom, South West, organic garden herb, and possibly loco chipotle, barbecue, and falafel.  (Plus the lack of preservatives leads to an obvious issue--I bought the burgers in late February or early March, and the Use By date was only May 22, 2021).

     Hilary's is a brand name for the Drink Eat Well company, out of Lawrence, Kansas.  Founder Hilary Brown was reportedly a significant sufferer of food allergies, so she created foods which don't use the most common food allergens.  Brown started with a fast food restaurant named Local Burger in 2005, but by 2010 had started the overall company.  Besides meatless burgers, Hilary's also markets meatless sausages and whole grain medleys.  Like Sunshine, Hilary's avoids a lot of ingredients, presumably because they're allergens.  So you'll find no gluten, shellfish, sulfites, mustard, sesame, coconut, tree nuts, peanuts, corn, dairy, eggs, or soy in their products.

     Wholesome Pantry is the baby of the bunch, having only started in late 2016.  It's a brand of ShopRite, the grocery store where I bought these products.  (A bit off topic, but over the years I've probably spelled it "Shop Rite," "Shop-Rite," and "ShopRite."  Today I learned that ShopRite is the proper correct spelling, but the others have been correct at times.  Oh well.)  As I think I've mentioned before, in a previous post, ShopRite is owned by the Wakefern Food Corporation.  Their supermarket began in 1946, in Newark, NJ.  It boasts 321 locations, all in the states of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.  The Wholesome Pantry brand has dozens of products, including fruit, vegetables, salads, breakfast foods, kombuchas, herbs, no-nut butters, baking supplies, and milk.  Their products are organic.  Unlike Sunshine and Hilary's though, the meatless burger I got from Wholesome Pantry contains wheat (and therefore gluten), soybean oil, and tree nuts (almonds).  So if you're looking to avoid these ingredients due to allergies, or celiac disease, or other concerns, be forewarned.

(Organic) Sunshine burger, spicy Tuscan flavor:  Based on white beans and kale (see my post on March 9, 2016).  Brownish color, with visible green and red chunks.  Disc-shaped, with a diameter of about 9 cm. (about 3.5 inches).  I had this on a hamburger bun, which came from a local diner.  It had an odd taste--almost nutty?  Hard to describe.  The texture was almost meat-ish.  Weird.  Not terrible, but not great.  Edible, I suppose, but not a great imitation of beef.  Better with ketchup on it (but what isn't?).  Spice sneaks up on you as you consume it.

Wholesome Pantry veggie burger:  Advertises its bases as kale, quinoa (see my post about Superfoods on May 1, 2014), onions, carrots, and almonds.  Slightly bigger than the previous, being about 10 cm. (about 4 inches) in diameter, with the same standard patty disc shape.  Kind of a greenish-brown color, with visible orange chunks and black bits.  Also had this on a diner bun.  This one had a better texture and taste.  Bready?  Still didn't taste much like meat, but better than the other two.  And once again improved with ketchup on it.  Almost like a breaded fish flavor.  I liked this one the best, which rather shocked me, since I loathe carrots.  But in this case their awful flavor was overpowered by the other ingredients.

Hilary's super cauliflower veggie burger:  Base was protein-packed lentils, with (obviously) cauliflower, peas, carrots, and garlic.  Yellowish-brown color, with visible yellow and white chunks.  Size was like the Sunshine, about 3.5 inches/about 9 cm., disc-shaped.  Texture was more moist, but not very meat-like.  Okay.  About on par with the Sunshine one.  Not great, not awful.  As always, better with ketchup on it.  Taste was not beef-like at all.

     So, these were all kind of mediocre.  Neither awful nor great, but in between, kind of "meh."  None of them tasted much like a beef burger, or any other meat burger, like a turkey burger, but some or all of them weren't really attempting this.  Since I'm not a vegan, or vegetarian, or anti-gluten, etc., I won't be eating these again--they would have had to be very good to great for repeat business.  But, if you do avoid meat, eggs, dairy, gluten, etc., these might be a viable alternative for you.  However, if you do want a decent imitation of beef, I'd still recommend the Impossible Whopper from Burger King, and presumably, the other restaurants' versions of Impossible Burgers.  And I'll periodically check in on other meatless burger brands, just to see what they're all about.  Finally, despite my opinions about them, the Sol Cuisine and Engine 2 meatless burgers, which I talked about in the 2014 post, are still apparently being sold, so congrats, I guess.