I’ve been trying to reduce meat consumption for a while now since it’s gotten more scrutiny over its environmental impact.

I mean, I’ve always known it was bad but something had to kick me into doing something about it. Trying to offset my personal environmental impact hits some hurdles on practicality. Public transport to work is infeasible. I drive a regular old gas car and can’t buy a different one any time soon. Even recycling isn’t collected at our place so we have to stockpile it and take it somewhere.

I’m not vegetarian, but there’s nothing really stopping me from it other than not feeling like it. Even less so if we’re talking about reducing my meat consumption to a third of what is has been.

Still, it’s a tad inconvenient to try and eat vegetarian consistently. Buying meals somewhere means your options are slashed drastically. Cooking at home, it’s also a challenge to come up with a variety of meal-like items when you’re not used to vegetarian life.

The appeal of meat does get reduced, though, if you can stick with it long enough. What we really need are more options like this that bridge the gap. I dig the Beyond burger and it’s the only reason I’ve gone to a Carl’s Jr. in my life probably. I haven’t tried the Impossible burger but I am eagerly awaiting BK to roll it out nationwide. People generally say they’d believe the Beyond Burger was an exotic meat if they were told so. Even if it’s not a perfect imitation it’s close enough to fill the role of meat like no substitute has before.

Also it’s not “health food”. Can you imagine how much frustration there has been from vegetarians over the years when the only thing they can order at restaurants is the healthy option?