Today I got to cook for the first time with a “meat substitute” at home. We still don’t have Impossible Meat in our groceries out here - although they keep saying it’s coming soon - so I bought some Beyond Meat. So, how did I like it? Well, that depends on how you look at it. It was not a home run. In particular, the experience of actually opening the package and, uh, spooning out some to turn into a patty needs a little work. It reminded me uncomfortably of dog or cat food. I realize that makes it sound awful; it wasn’t that bad, but still, the smell wasn’t quite right and the feeling wasn’t quite right. Now, some might say that’s because dog and cat food actually is meat, and that’s true, so I guess that’s good? It’s just not really what I expected or wanted. However, once I started to cook it the situation improved greatly; it smelled good while cooking, looked tasty, it’s a lot easier to cook than ground beef, and it tasted really great actually, very satisfying and meaty. Reminded me a bit more of like a meatball than a true burger, though. So I would (and will) buy it again, but I’m also really looking forward to the Impossible Foods version because this isn’t quite the meat replacement I was hoping for.