Posted by:
Brother Of Jerry
(
)
Date: April 07, 2019 03:48PM
I've been in places where the tap water had a high sulphur content. The SE USA used to have a lot of sulphur, don't know if it still does. Anyway, the taste was pretty unpleasant to me.
I've also been in places where the groundwater has high iron content (Minnesota iron range). Iron discolors toilet bowls, and does nasty things to laundry, but the taste of iron, while odd, and quite distinctive, is not unpleasant, at least not to me.
Once, as an adult, I managed to gouge myself pretty good, and licked what was probably a quarter tsp. of blood off my arm to keep from dripping on stuff, and clearly recognized the distinctive taste of iron. I had tasted blood before as a child, but had never realized that it was iron that was the main component of the taste. It is also iron that gives blood, and the red sandstone of Utah, most of its color. You also get a tiny hint of iron flavor from cast iron pans.
Anyway, the Impossible Burger includes the heme protein, which contains iron, and which gives meat, beef in particular, its distinctive color and flavor. I haven't tried it yet, though I plan to.
I think we are getting very close to entering a brave new world, where we will be able, for instance, to grow chicken meat without growing an entire chicken, or make meat from plant products that is nearly indistinguishable from "real" meat. It will be interesting to see how vegetarians/vegans deal with that. For that matter, it will be interesting to see how we all deal with it. Meat has a very iconic place in our culture, for everyone, both users and abstainers. I can't even guess how these changes will play out in our cultures.