Burger King is selling meatless Whoppers, and Missouri gets to try them first

A meatless Whopper is now available at participating Burger King locations in St. Louis.

Yes, you read that right.

Meatless.

And it’s called the “Impossible Whopper.”

In an advertisement for the meatless burger, Burger King says you won’t taste the difference.

“We conducted an experiment to evaluate how well Whopper fans know their beloved Whopper,” Burger King wrote. “The people you will see here are real people and these are their real reactions.”

When Burger King informs the people that they just had a meatless, plant-based Whopper, the people were shocked, the commercial shows.

“That’s impossible,” one person said. “It tasted just like a Whopper should taste.”

“Lies,” another said.

But it’s not a lie.

The “Impossible Whopper” patty contains 0mg of cholesterol, 12g of fat, 17 grams of protein and 0% beef, Burger King says in the commercial.

This meatless burger has “slightly fewer” calories than the original Whopper, CNN reported, and “unlike veggie burgers, Impossible burger patties are designed to mimic the look and texture of meat when cooked.”

The vegetarian burger patty was created by California-based Impossible Foods, The New York Times reported.

It will be available at 59 Burger King restaurants in the St. Louis area, the Times reported, and “the company had plans to quickly expand it to every branch in the country if everything in St. Louis goes smoothly.”

“I have high expectations that it’s going to be big business, not just a niche product,” Burger King chief marketing officer Fernando Machado said, according to the Times.

Chris Finazzo, president of Burger King North America, said the chain is hoping the burger allows “somebody who wants to eat a burger every day, but doesn’t necessarily want to eat beef everyday, permission to come into the restaurants more frequently,” CNN reported.

“There’s a lot of interest in plant-based burgers,” he said, according to CNN. “What (customers) don’t want to give up on is flavor.”

It will cost about $1 more than the original Whopper, according to CNN.

This concept is not new. White Castle offers an Impossible slider, according to Impossible Foods.

In a 2017 video from Impossible Foods, the start-up shows how the “Impossible” patty is made.

It starts with wheat protein and potato protein for “that familiar chew,” then flavors and heme are added. Heme is the same molecule that carries oxygen in our blood, the video says, and it’s what makes the burger red.

Heme is found in both plants and red meat, according to Impossible Foods.

“Impossible Burger’s heme is made by fermentation, and it’s the key ingredient that makes our burger extra meaty,” the video says.

Food binders are then used to keep the ingredients together, and the recipe is finalized with fats from coconut oil and soybeans.

Burger King also already offers a MorningStar Veggie Burger, according to its website.

This story was originally published April 1, 2019 at 12:32 PM.