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Andrew Smith's avatar

I always tend to gravitate toward spicy burgers, like ones with raw and pickled jalapenos, or jalapeno coins (not as good but still delicious and savory). Throw in a couple of types of cheese and a little salsa, and I'm all set!

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BrianAlfred1983's avatar

I love spicy burgers as well, that's why when I discovered the Torta at a taco truck years ago I thought this is the best of both worlds. It's a burger and taco all rolled into one!

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I love the idea. What's your take on the current state of vegan burgers out there? Might be a fun follow up piece... even for folks who eat meat, they probably have friends or family in their lives who are vegetarian or just with dietary restrictions that make them curious about the veg meat options. I'm always curious as to what's out there, and even have a couple different types in my own freezer at the moment.

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BrianAlfred1983's avatar

I've tried the impossible burger patty and the beyond meat version a few years ago, my U.S. Foods sales rep was pushing them pretty hard right before the pandemic so we got free samples of just about everything those two companies make. The burgers from both companies were tasty enough and the texture was just about as accurate as you could get, and that's the important part. When you get your burger assembled with the lettuce, tomato, etc. it's pretty much comparable to the real thing. Vegans/Vegetarians have it quite a bit better than they did years ago, I remember the Boca burger and the old school veggie burgers, some of those were horrible but today the options are much better.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Ohhhhh yeah. I lived with vegan roommates about 27 years ago, so I got to experience all of that first hand. Boca burgers were actually a huge leap up when they became available, believe it or not! I think it's pretty easy to be vegan if you're not super duper poor today, at least compared to how it was back then.

I did get to learn about all kinds of meat alternatives, though, stuff like gluten loaf and TVP that I actually enjoyed eating and cooking (they weren't meat, but they were something else that was actually fairly tasty).

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BrianAlfred1983's avatar

My sister in law is a vegan chef, and she stayed with us for a week after my son was born in 2014. She made the best vegan food I've ever had, she even faked me out with soy chorizo tacos, I refused to believe that it wasn't pork chorizo but I didn't miss the meat at all. Personally when I have cooked for vegan or vegetarian banquets I lean into the vegan/vegetarian cuisine of India, the flavors they use are phenomenal and in my opinion they have perfected the plant based diet.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I agree! Indian vegetarian food is so good that I never actually order any meat dishes. I tried malai kofta like 30 years ago, and it was unlike anything else I had ever tried up to that point. I've been hooked ever since.

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Diane Perrine's avatar

I just ate a burger for dinner tonight. Those sound really good. The last one might be a little rich for me, but I would not mind trying it. I have recently started eating more bison than beef, due to it's higher iron count. My doctor suggested eating iron rich foods due to acquired anemia. I found out bison has way more flavor than beef. The one you mentioned with bison sounds like it could be my favorite.

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David Sheley's avatar

These photos are making my mouth water!

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