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- This burger has a patty made from tempeh and mushroom.
- It’s served at burger chain Patty & Bun.
- It's called the Whoopi Goldburger and costs £8.50.
Burger chain Patty & Bun makes a completely vegan burger made from tempeh (fermented soybeans) and mushroom.
It's topped with a slice of a vegan gouda cheese made from coconut oil.
It also has chopped onions, gherkins, ketchup, and mayonnaise.
The burger is called the Whoopi Goldburger and costs £8.50. It’s available at the Brighton and Shoreditch restaurants.
We got a vegan and meat-eater to try. Watch the video to see what they thought.
Produced and filmed by Claudia Romeo
A restaurant is serving people burgers topped with tarantulas, and we have a lot of questions
- The Bull City Burger and Brewery in Durham, North Carolina is serving up a tarantula burger to celebrate the restaurant's "Exotic Meat Month."
- Anyone interested in tasting the tarantula burger must enter a raffle just to win the opportunity to eat one.
- The tarantula burger is made of beef, topped with gruyere cheese, spicy chili sauce, and an oven-roasted tarantula.
- Any brave soul that finishes the burger will win a free shirt.
The Bull City Burger and Brewery in Durham, North Carolina, is challenging its customers to eat their latest hamburger that has a huge tarantula on top. “C’mon kids, get in the car we’re going to get tarantula burgers and ice cream!” The special burger is to celebrate the restaurant’s “Exotic Meat Month.” “Exotic” is one adjective you could use, “nauseating” and “stomach-churning” are also words that could be used to describe the one-of-a-kind hamburger.
In the past, the restaurant has served their guests elk, crickets, and chocolate-covered bugs. Three years ago, the Bull City Burger and Brewery started serving the tarantula burger. For those with an adventurous palate and a steel-coated stomach, you can enter a raffle to “win” the “opportunity” to eat the tarantula burger. The “lucky” eater selected gets not only the tarantula burger but a side of dirty fries for $30.
If the burger joint picks your name, you have 48 hours to come in and scarf down your eight-legged burger according to the restaurant’s official rules. Anyone who completes the “tarantula challenge” gets a free T-shirt. “Excuse me, waitress, there’s a spider on my burger. Yeah, that’s what we do here.”
I ate a tarantula and I got a t-shirt @BullCityBurger#wralpic.twitter.com/hlH5Ydw38r
— Kathy Hanrahan (@WRALeighWood) April 12, 2018
The tarantula burger is made of beef, topped with gruyere cheese, spicy chili sauce, and of course an oven-roasted tarantula. “Give me a double bacon cheeseburger, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, ketchup, mayo, oh and hold the tarantula please.” Megan Cindrich, a spokesperson for Bull City Burger and Brewery, said the tarantula tastes like crab, a little salty but bitter. That’s all fine and good, but the big question is are these organic, free-range, antibiotic-free tarantulas?
In other burger news, White Castle is now selling plant-based vegan burgers that “bleed” and Chili’s just unveiled a monster five-meat burger that has 1,650 calories.
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Silicon Valley's favorite veggie burger is about to hit a wave of controversy — but scientists say it's bogus
- A handful of recent stories cite potential red flags about the safety of the Impossible Burger, a vegetarian patty made by Silicon Valley startup Impossible Foods, which has backing from Bill Gates.
- At the heart of the issue appears to be the company's use of both genetically modified ingredients and a special nutrient called heme. The US Food and Drug Administration has also flagged the latter ingredient, saying it's too "new" to give it a stamp of approval.
- Business Insider dug into the scientific research on the ingredients. Studies suggest there is no cause for concern.
Today's veggie burgers can be described with a handful of delicious-sounding adjectives, but "meaty" isn't one of them.
At least it wasn't — until Silicon Valley startup Impossible Foods began creating a meat-free burger designed to reduce waste that tastes disturbingly close to the real thing. The meat-like flavor can largely be attributed to an ingredient called heme — the magic spark that even allows the Impossible Burger to "bleed" like a real burger does.
But that magic spark may be poised to ignite a fire.
In a handful of articles posted recently in places like Bloomberg, Food and Wine, and Inc., people raised two main concerns over the heme in Impossible Foods' burger: First, it is made using genetic engineering, meaning the burger is technically produced with GMOs. Second, some have stated that there could be a link between heme and cancer.
Business Insider spoke with a variety of scientists who hail from distinct backgrounds and research institutions. They say there's no need for concern with regards to either ingredient, citing evidence like a large 2013 review on GMOs which found the ingredients safe to eat. In addition, they've pointed out that the research currently being used as evidence of the link between heme and cancer actually found a connection between red meat and the disease, not heme alone.
But the US Food and Drug Administration seems to be singing to a different tune. So far, the agency has said the ingredient is too "new" to give it a stamp of approval, a caveat that some suggest could block future innovations in the food tech space.
Here's what you need to know.
Heme, the essential nutrient you've never heard of
Heme is an essential nutrient in many proteins. It's also in just about every living thing on Earth. In our bodies, heme can be found tucked inside of a molecule in our blood called hemoglobin. Heme helps ferry oxygen throughout the body, carries iron, and colors our blood red. For most of us, the majority of the heme we consume comes from animals.
But soy roots also contain heme — and that's where Impossible Foods gets theirs.
Still, soy roots only produce a tiny amount of heme, which initially presented Impossible Foods with a problem: They'd need to harvest roughly an acre's worth of soy plants just to get a kilogram of heme.
Yeast saves the day, but at a cost
Instead of doing that, Impossible Foods founder and CEO Pat Brown figured out the company could trick yeast into making heme for them by tweaking its DNA.
The idea of genetically engineering yeast to make other ingredients is not new or rare. Insulin, the compound that diabetics' life depends on to regulate blood sugar levels, is manufactured using GM yeast.
Drugs, beer, and perfume can all be made using yeast as tiny manufacturing powerhouses.
Because they are made with genetically modified yeast, all of these products are also technically GMOs, which have become increasingly unpopular in recent years despite scientists' repeated assertions that they are safe.
Organizations like the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the European Commission have publicly said genetically modified foods are safe to eat. A large 2013 study on GMOs found no "significant hazards directly connected with the use of genetically engineered crops."
Several experts say the "GMO" label does a disservice to the millions of products — some of them life-saving — made with genetically modified ingredients. The process of genetic modification is a breeding method, much like other recent advances in agriculture.
"What are we labeling here, DNA?" Alison Van Eenennaam, a professor of animal genomics at the University of California at Davis, recently told Business Insider. "There's DNA in everything, so good luck with that."
Heme and the 'C' word
The Impossible Burger isn't suddenly controversial just because of GMOs.
Some journalists have also been discussing a potential link between heme and cancer. According to scientists, however, no such link exists.
In an article published in Food and Wine magazine in March, the author wrote that "excessive" heme consumption had been linked to colon and prostate cancer, citing a 2012 blog post in the New York Times.
That assertion appears to be based on the plethora of studies linking red meat — where most Americans get the majority of the heme they ingest — and colorectal cancer. (According to the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Health Organization, there is a strong link between red meat, especially processed meat, and cancer. The type of cancer with the strongest link is colorectal cancer, a type of the disease that begins in the colon or rectum.)
But no such link appears to exist for heme alone and cancer — potentially because the amount of heme you'd have to consume to reach "excessive" levels would be prohibitively high.
"Considering how much heme we are eating in red meat, I do not see any health issues arising" from putting it in a vegetarian burger, Nicolai Lehnert, a professor of chemistry and biophysics at the University of Michigan, told Business Insider.
Robert Kranz, a professor of biology at Washington State University in St. Louis who's studied heme extensively, said people should not be worried about consuming heme — regardless of where it comes from — because it is an essential nutrient found in animals, plants, and bacteria.
"Heme has therefore been consumed by humans and other animals for a long time with no issues," Kranz told Business Insider.
Studies that have attempted to isolate heme and study its link to cancer separate from red meat have also come up empty-handed, either finding no link or finding a negative one.
In a 2012 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that involved a sample of nearly 90,000 men and women, researchers found no tie between heme iron intake and colorectal cancer.
"Our results ... suggest that zinc and heme iron intakes are not associated with colorectal cancer," the researchers wrote.
Iqbal Hamza, a professor of cell biology and genetics at the University of Maryland who runs a lab dedicated to the study of heme and is working on a heme-based supplement for iron-deficient people in developing countries, similarly concluded that the ingredient was perfectly safe for human consumption.
"I would have no qualms about getting heme from the Impossible Foods burger and I would have no qualms about getting heme from a plant based source," Hamza told Business Insider.
A 2011 study published in the journal Cancer Causes and Control also examined a large group of people in an attempt to suss out links between heme and cancer. They found none. In fact, they found a slightly negative relationship between the two things, meaning that people who consumed more heme were actually less likely to develop cancer.
The team behind Impossible Foods agrees.
"It's not a lack of evidence [linking heme to cancer]. There's evidence. And the evidence is for safety," David Lipman, Impossible Foods chief science officer, told Business Insider.
Join the conversation about this story »
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Trying the McDonald's Waygu Beef Burger only found in Australia
Wagyu beef is prized around the world for the intense marbling in its meat. McDonald's in Australia, also known there as Macca's, released a Waygu Beef Burger. The consensus? Following is a transcript of the video.
YouTube/Greg's Kitchen: Let's try some of this Wagyu beef!
This is the Waygu Beef Burger. It was found at McDonald's in Australia. Otherwise known as Macca's. They released a Wagyu Beef Burger for a limited time.
Wagyu beef is prized around the world for the intense marbling in its meat. Wagyu beef is very expensive. It can cost hundreds of dollars for a Wagyu steak. McDonald's Wagyu Beef Burger is made with Australian-bred Waygu.
The burger also includes lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, special sauce, caramelized onions, and bacon. People had high expectations for this burger.
Youtube/Handoko Liam Rianto: The beef looks more premium. Similar to the Angus ones.
YouTube/Greg's Kitchen: Woahhhhh. Man, that looks awesome!
Youtube/DAW TV Food Reviews: It does look good. And it does look reasonably big too. There it is there. Look at that.
How did it stack up?
Youtube/Handoko Liam Rianto: I don't know ... I think it's, maybe it's a bit overhyped or something, but it tastes like a quarter-pounder.
YouTube/Greg's Kitchen: Let’s give it a taste. Well, that was a little bit of an anticlimax. Man, it doesn't taste special at all. It tastes like I've just hemorrhaged a few extra dollars for nothing in particular. Initially, I got the crunch of that lettuce, and then the softness of the tomato, the tanginess of the cheese, but that's sort of where it stopped. It sort of didn't get any better or any worse from there. It was just like a normal sort of tasting average sort of burger. It's, it’s like nothing special. It doesn't scream "I'm Wagyu beef and with a tangy sauce, eat me!
Youtube/DAW TV Food Reviews: Well, there it is. And the first thing I’m noticing, the patty is extremely dry. What a letdown guys, at the moment.
So, was it worth it?
YouTube/Greg's Kitchen: Price wise, $10.95 [AUD]. Whew! That’s a lot of dough to be forking out for this.
Youtube/Handoko Liam Rianto: If I had to choose between this burger or the Angus, I’d choose the Angus.
Youtube/DAW TV Food Reviews: Yeah the beef patty, it does have a nice flavor. Extremely beefy but ... Guys, it's just dry. I don't know if it's been sitting there, or what has happened to it.
Youtube/DAW TV Food Reviews [Passenger in car]: Mine's really good.
YouTube/Greg's Kitchen: The beef on it ... You can’t even tell it’s Wagyu beef. It could’ve been kangaroo meat. I can’t taste any difference in the beef.
Waygu beef ... is maybe not for Macca fans after all.
2 German guys have figured out how to get people to eat insect burgers
- Max Krämer and Baris Özel of Bugfoundation have been offering burgers made from insects in a German supermarket since the beginning of this month.
- The burgers are made using carefully cultivated and processed Buffalo worms, which are mold beetle larvae.
- The company is mainly targeting flexitarians but, according to Krämer, many vegetarians have said they would also eat insect-based food products.
Barbecue season is just around the corner if not already well underway, for those living in warmer spots. But the days of barbecues consisting exclusively of sausages and steaks are long gone; nowadays, you'll find many turning to their butcher for burger patties too.
And if there's one thing that's certain, it's that the Germans love their burgers. Sales figures from fast-food giants in 2017 show that, in Germany, McDonald's generated revenues of nearly $4 billion (€3.3 billion), while Burger King generated sales of over $1 billion (€945 million). The menu for each chain is similar: most burgers are beef, some chicken and very few are vegetarian.
Supermarkets have picked up on this burger trend and are selling various burger products now — mainly meat, but increasingly, you can find vegetarian products too. Yet that's not the only thing now available in Germany; there's a new kid on the block. Max Krämer and Baris Özel of Bugfoundation have been offering burgers made from insects in various supermarkets since the beginning of this month.
"To make our burgers we process Buffalo worms, which are basically mold beetle larvae," explains founder Max Krämer in an interview with Business Insider, knowing most aren't likely to jump at the idea of eating a worm-burger. "The insects are crushed to obtain paste and other vegetarian ingredients are added to the mix, such as onions and tomato paste."
Bugfoundation's didn't put the idea into motion with the intention of promoting a fun novelty product or a challenge for consumers. Rather, the founders see genuine and clear advantages in using insects rather than beef: "Insect cultivation is much more sustainable than beef cultivation: breeding worms demands smaller quantities of feed and resources, which makes it a more economically sound option. At the same time, the protein content of our burgers is comparable to a burger made from beef — but they contain more unsaturated fatty acids, which is healthier for the body."
Insect-based food sales were only allowed in Germany at the start of 2018
Krämer and Özel had been researching an edible insect product since 2014. "We went around the world together, trying insects for the first time in Australia. The experience got me thinking I ended up writing my bachelor thesis on it. My supervisor advised me straight away to set up a start-up in this field," said Krämer.
And so he did. It all started with testing out edible insects ordered online. They quickly realised the project wasn't going to be easy to execute. Working closely with the German Institute of Food Technology, they gradually designed their first burger prototypes. "There were setbacks on the journey to the finished product: at the beginning, the mix was too bitter and, for a long time, we were looking for a way to adapt the recipe. What's more, the sale of insect-based foodstuffs was still banned in Germany at that time."
This's why the founders had to launch their product abroad in Belgium and in the Netherlands. "Without the necessary language skills, it was harder to move things forward abroad. But we wanted to see as soon as possible whether our product was even in demand amongst consumers." That's why the burgers were launched in Belgium in 2015 and went on sale in the Netherlands in 2017.
Bugfoundation products are now stocked on supermarket shelves
The drawbacks of launching their products abroad turned out to be greatly outweighed by the benefits, in retrospect: the two founders have had a finished product for the German market directly with the new regulation since the beginning of the year.
"Supermarkets have been contacting us left, right and centre to see if they can start stocking our burgers on their shelves," Krämer reveals. The founders decided in favour of German supermarket Rewe, where the burgers have been available since the beginning of May, and where they will be available nationwide from June. For production and capacity reasons, other supermarkets won't be stocking the product(s) for the time being but this may change further down the line.
They've already had a successful start: curiosity about the prospect of bug-based burgers seems to be getting the better of Germany rather than resulting in disgust, and Buffalo worms are still being bred in the Netherlands for burger production.
"We have a partner there who's been active in this field for 40 years," explains Krämer. Controlled production, in particular, is an important factor, as insects can be contaminated during breeding, which is why, amongst other things, a high quality of feed must be provided.
According to retailers, many vegetarians are also reaching for their burgers. "We see 'flexitarians' as our main target group — flexitarians being those who eat meat but do so consciously and who don't view meat consumption as being central to their diet. But many vegetarians have told us that they'd eat insects too."
Krämer isn't the only one raving about Bugfoundation burgers
It's not surprising to see Krämer raving about his burgers, but it's not just him; German consumer centre, Verbraucherzentrale, already recognises insect-based food as a serious topic and is already advising consumers to choose relevant products, of course, with caution: "Using the information we've compiled, we want to encourage consumers to try something new," explains Silke Schwartau from Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg in a written statement. Insect-based foodstuffs could be an excellent alternative to traditional foodstuffs. However, it's important that the animals are bred in proper hygienic conditions.
It is precisely here where consumer protection comes into the picture: "The hygiene regulations for the production and feeding of insects must be made more concrete." In their opinion, existing allergen labelling should also be expanded to include insect products as soon as possible.
So if your neighbour invites you over for a barbecue in the not-too-distant future, there could well be a chance that it won't be beef in the burger he's dishing up.
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This Swedish burger chain is now offering 'the world's first climate positive menu'
- Swedish burger chain Max is launching 'the world's first' climate positive burger menu.
- After calculating its total climatic impact, Max said it will compensate for emissions by 110%.
- Max wants other companies to follow its lead in fighting climate change.
- The very meaning of burgers is changing with new meat-free options, said Max CEO Richard Bergfors.
Swedish burger chain 'Max Burgers' is making its entire menu climate positive by tracing the greenhouse emissions of its 130 restraurants, and then compensating for them through various carbon offsetting initiatives, the company has announced.
"We are the first restaurant and business in the world to launch a menu where all the products are climate positive. That's our way to give back to the planet", Max Burgers CEO Richard Bergfors said to Business Insider.
Max Burgers was founded in the summer of 1968 as a small family business in Gällivare, in the north of Sweden. The chain has challenged McDonald's through local appeal, non-frozen meat, and since 2016, a menu consisting of vegan and vegetarian options. Besides Sweden, Max operates in Norway, Denmark, Poland and the United Arab Emirates.
Max Burgers is counting and offsetting its CO2 emissions
Starting June 14, the company's 50th anniversary, Max Burgers will be offsetting its climate effects through a climate analysis that takes into account everything from farmers' soil to suppliers to the food that ends up on a customer's plate. Even the staff's and guests' trips to and from the restaurants are part of the company's climate ledger.
The idea is to offset 100% of greenhouse gases emitted in Max operations, through measures such as relying on wind power, recycling frying oil and shifting the menu to more vegan options with less impact on the environment.
Max Burgers said it will also absorb an additional 10% through tree-planting initiatives (certified by Plan Vivo), something it's already been doing for the past decade.
So effectively, each time a Max customer takes a bite out of their burger, they are contributing to reducing greenhouse gases, the company said.
"Sustainability has always been at the core of our business, but instead of merely compensating, we are now overcompensating," Richard Bergfors said.
Max Burgers uses the ISO 14021 standard as the basis for its climate analysis, which has been audited and approved by Ernst & Young.
"It's the most comprehensive climate analysis that can be done today," said Bergfors.
Max Burgers hasn't specified exactly how it intends to report its climate neutrality to the public.
Headed by Richard Bergfors and his brother Christoffer — sons of Max founder Curt Bergfors — the burger chain is now aiming to set a global benchmark for climate action.
"The climate threat is one of the greatest challenges for humanity. People and companies must help out. We recognize that we are part of the problem, and together with our guests, we are now a part of the solution. We aim to set a good example for other companies as well." said Richard Bergfors.
Christoffer Bergfors, deputy CEO of Max, said that to meet UN's Sustainable Development Goal of capping global warming at 2 degrees celsius, companies need to do more than merely compensate for their emissions: "What has already been emitted needs to be cleaned up as well."
Another part of Max Burger's climate initiative is clipop.org, a website the chain launched jointly with New Zealand-based car sharing service MEVO. The website collects all manner of climate positive products and services for consumers to discover.
Will the climate positive menu differ from the current one in any tangible way?
Richard Bergfors: "The menu will stay the same, but we will be adding more vegan and vegetarian options, as it has shown to be quite popular amongst our consumers."
Today, there's a higher demand for meat-free options. What does that mean for the future of the hamburger?
"Originally, our name was 'Max Hamburgers' and earlier this year we decided to remove the 'ham' part. Our vision of a burger is that it can be anything, whether it's meat or other ingredients. It could be fish, chicken, vegetarian or vegan. We believe in that trend. In the future, I think people will continue to eat meat. However, I think it will decrease, and people who choose meat will probably do so with regard to quality and origin."
If you are among the first burger chains in the in the world to do this, why do you think that is?
"I think we are in the forefront of these issues in Sweden. It's spreading slowly in the US, especially on the West Coast, where vegan and vegetarian food options are becoming increasingly popular. The lack of good alternatives is a huge issue, and that's why they need to be presented in a wider range."
SEE ALSO: 2 German guys have figured out how to get people to eat insect burgers
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A man says he found a horrifying note on his restaurant receipt telling the cook to spit in his burger
- On Sunday, New York resident Curtis Mays says he was enjoying a Father's Day dinner with his family at the Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden in Astoria, Queens, when he discovered a note on the receipt that instructed the cook to spit in his burger.
- Since he had already eaten his cheeseburger, Mays told WABC-TV that he felt like he was "gonna throw up" upon reading the note.
- Mays said he confronted the waitress and she denied leaving the note, though he says she later admitted to printing the receipt.
- After Mays complained to a manager, he said the waitress was fired and he got a refund on his meal.
While many people speculate that some food service employees tamper with their food, one unfortunate man says he found an instruction on his receipt telling the chef to spit into the burger that he just ate.
Curtis Mays, a New York City resident, told WABC-TV that he was celebrating Father's Day on Sunday with his daughter and granddaughter at Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden in Astoria, Queens. According to Mays, his order had gotten mixed up so he asked the waitress for the receipt.
As he read the receipt, he said he noticed that something was off. Among the list of instructions for his cheeseburger — cheddar cheese, well done, caramelized onions, and onion rings — there was an additional note: "Please spit in it too."
Mays told WABC-TV that he had already eaten his burger when he spotted this on his receipt.
"I felt like I was gonna throw up," he said.
He said he confronted the waitress and asked her why she did this. According to Mays, the waitress denied leaving the note, but later admitted that she was the one who printed out the receipt. After Mays accused her of lying to him, he said she walked away from him.
Mays told WABC-TV that he then approached an on-duty manager with the printed receipt. Mays said that the manager fired the waitress on the spot and offered him a refund.
According to Mays, the manager also asked how he could compensate him. "I was like, you can't," Mays told WABC-TV. "I mean how do you compensate somebody for spitting on your food?"
The manager of Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden told WABC-TV that he had never had a problem with the waitress before and that he doubts the cook actually spat in the burger. However, the manager said it was still unacceptable and that he understands why Mays was upset.
Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden did not immediately respond to INSIDER's request for comment. Curtis Mays could not be reached for comment.
Watch the full WABC-TV video here:
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I tried this $69 wireless meat thermometer that monitors your steaks' and burgers' temperature through an app — here's what it was like to use
The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.
- I tried a $69 wireless meat thermometer from a startup called MEATER that connects to your phone over Bluetooth and makes it easy to perfectly cook pork, beef, or chicken.
- You select the level of doneness you want in a companion app and the thermometer's sensors keep track of your meat's internal temperature as it cooks. When it's done, the app sends you a notification, and also lets you know how long you should rest your meat before cutting into it.
- MEATER's app suggests using the USDA's recommended temperatures, but you can select your own, which I recommend doing since I found those presets were a bit too conservative for my liking.
For the past couple of weeks, I've been testing a wireless thermometer from a startup called MEATER that tracks the internal temperature of cooking meat to let you know exactly when it's ready. Like a sous vide tool, MEATER's thermometer makes cooking the perfect steak a lot easier, but it's not foolproof.
Setting up and using the thermometer is surprisingly easy: You sync it to your phone over Bluetooth, insert it into the meat you're cooking, then open MEATER's accompanying app and select your desired internal temperature.
MEATER's app lists the USDA's recommended temperatures for different levels of doneness for each type of meat, but I found them very conservative. I recommend doing some research and finding out the temperatures restaurants use when cooking your favorite cuts of meat, so you can avoid overcooking it.
Once you've inserted the thermometer and selected a temperature, you can put your meat on a grill, in a skillet, or in the oven. MEATER's app will constantly update the temperature of your meat and its cooking environment, and plot it out on a chart.
Knowing the meat's temperature is the important information, but if your oven or grill doesn't have a temperature gauge, the thermometer's ambient heat sensor can let you know if it's hot enough yet.
You can track your meat's temperature through MEATER's app, which will send you a notification five minutes before it's ready to take out of the oven, so you don't have to worry about it. Once it's off the heat, MEATER's app will give you a recommendation for how long to rest your meat, and send a final notification when it's ready to eat.
There are many similar smart meat thermometers out there, including Weber's iGrill, which Insider Picks has recommended in the past, but the advantage of MEATER's is that it's totally wireless. You don't have to stick a probe into the meat and snake a cable that connects it to the temperature gauge out of your oven or grill.
The downside to keeping the entire device so small and relying on Bluetooth is that the MEATER's thermometer has a shorter Bluetooth range. You need to be within 33 feet of it for the thermometer to work, which is fine if you live in apartment, but inconvenient if you're cooking meat on a low temperature for several hours in your backyard. If you plan on moving around a lot when you cook, you're much better off with the iGrill.
A short Bluetooth range aside, MEATER's wireless thermometer worked really well. If you'd like a more scientific method for knowing how long to cook and rest your meat than poking at it and hoping for the best, this is a good choice.
MEATER The Original True Wireless Smart Meat Thermometer, $69, available at Amazon
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We tried the world's first robot-made burger restaurant that's backed by Google's parent company — here's the verdict
You could say I'm a connoisseur of California burgers.
I've reviewed burger chains from In-N-Out to Super Duper Burgers, as well as the meatless Impossible Burger at locations around the San Francisco Bay Area.
There's one burger joint I've been anxiously waiting to try for years, and it's finally opening in San Francisco. Creator, formerly known as Momentum Machines, serves a $6 burger that is prepped, cooked, and assembled with no human help.
A 14-foot-long robot in the center of the restaurant uses an array of sensors and computers to make approximately 130 burgers an hour. Efficient. But tasty?
I set out into San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood to try Creator for myself.
Creator is the world's first robot-made burger joint.

On a weekday afternoon during the company's soft opening, the place was packed with tech bros and gals munching down.

Around the corner from the dining area is the inhuman star chef.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider