The Impossible Burger: A Burger Made without the Help of a Cow

The cook, lays the red patty down on the grill and gives it a press with a spatula. And there, that unmistakable sizzle and smell. She flips the patty and gives it another press, lets it sit, presses it, and pulls it off the grill and onto a bun.

This is no diner, and this is no ordinary cook. She's wearing not an apron, but a lab coat and safety goggles, standing in a lab-kitchen hybrid in Silicon Valley. Here a company called Impossible Foods has over the last six years done something not quite impossible, but definitely unlikely: Engineering a plant-based burger that smells, tastes, looks, and even feels like real beef.

Biting into an Impossible Burger is to bite into a future in which humanity has to somehow feed an exploding population and not further imperil the planet with ever more livestock. Livestock, and cows in particular, go through unfathomableamounts of food and water (up to 40,000 litres a year per cow) and take up vast stretches of land.

What makes a burger a burger? The smell, for one, and taste and texture, all working in concert to create something that feels "animal". Now, engineering a "beef" burger from scratchrequires a galaxy of different compounds that interact with each other, transforming as the meat cooks. To piece togethera plant-based burger that's indistinguishable from the real thing, you need to identify and recreate as many of those flavors as possible. And you need to do it all without using a cow!

unmistakable /ʌnmɪˈsteɪkəb(ə)l/: adj. 不会弄错的；清楚明白的 (常用搭配: unmistakable sound)

smell, taste, look, and even feel like...: sth. is so similar that we think it is "real" but it isn't… (usually for fake things) (常用搭配: verb + verb (+ verb) and even verb like…)

unfathomable /ʌnˈfað(ə)məb(ə)l/: adj. 难以琢磨的；深不可测的 (常用搭配: for some unfathomable reason)

work in concert /ˈkɒnsət/: if two or more people (or things) do sth. in concert, they do it together, usually in cooperation with sb. or sth. else. (常用搭配: act in concert (with) )

from scratch /skratʃ/: to start sth. from the very beginning. (常用搭配: start again from scratch)

to piece together: to create sth. by joining the separate parts of it together. (常用搭配: piece together facts or information)

indistinguishable /ɪndɪˈstɪŋɡwɪʃəb(ə)l/ : not able to be identified as different or distinct or fake. (常用搭配: virtually indistinguishable from...)