tl;dr- Beyond Meat is partnering w/ Panda Express to offer plant-based Orange ‘chicken’.
test market in NYC and Southern Cal.
L.A. FTC’rs, we’re counting on you for a report…
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Have heard very good things - like, better than the original - from some friends who are devoted Panda fans and got a sneak peek.
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Can’t wait to try!!!
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Mmm mmm, soy and pea protein isolates with canola oil, soy and carrot fiber, dipotassium phosphate, and titanium dioxide. Just like mom used to make!
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I would try it, but in the only Panda Express I ever pass by, the food looks like it’s been sitting out for days or weeks.
Mmm, corporate science!! I feel better about it than whatever horrible things are done to the chicken bits that end up in a Panda Express tbh
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@small_h - I went to the Panda on Los Feliz by Costco in LA and that place was hopping! No old food when I was there, stuff kept selling out and being refilled.
I did try the beyond orange chicken (as did many of the folks there, perhaps they too made the trip just for that) and odd ingredients aside (I heard you @robert !) - it was surprisingly good. The first bite was a bit odd (spongey?) but then the more you chewed, the better it was. And the next day? Much better! I think it’s the power of the sauce, that it had infused everything overnight.
So for my vegan friends who miss that kind of fast food, I think it’s a solid choice. And while prices have gone up since I’ve last been to a Panda (it’s been years) we got a three entree plate for just over $10 before tax and it gave us both lunch and leftovers gave the hubby a second lunch the next day. So way cheaper than, say, a vegan food truck. YMMV.
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everything I’ve heard thus far as been… “ok, it’s weird for like, 1 second, and then it’s just orange chicken…”
And for stuff like this, where the ‘chicken’ is really simply the most convenient protein around that takes to deep frying and covering in sugar sauce, I would expect that if ‘non-meat’ can be a thoroughly adequate, or even superior replacement for animal protein in a food application, this would certainly be one of the ones I would bet on first…
And really, given the way many Western World residents eat, and specifically the way a lot of AMERICANS eat, subbing in Imposter Chikin and Beyond Burgers in their nuggets and burgers could make a HUGE dent in the more ‘commodity’ animal protein industry, while still leaving plenty of room for ACTUAL carnivorism (is that a word?) with real animals, without having to crush the entire industry down to the cruelest, most economically efficient brutality in order to extract a profit at scale.
I’d be totally down to give orange no-chicken a go. I’m also looking forward to getting back to the midwest at some point when flying isn’t a Kafkian nightmare and trying one of of White Castles ‘Beyond Sliders’. If any burger out there would transition to meatless with almost no loss of its essential essence, I’ll put a bet on White Castle…
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White Castle’s are Impossible, not Beyond.
That would be even better, IMHO ; )
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