Nestle competes with Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods on plant-based meat

Nestlé's Sweet Earth brand is launching a plant-based burger to compete with burgers from Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods.

It's called the Awesome Burger, and it will be available in grocery store meat aisles this September.

Nestlé sent me two frozen Awesome Burgers to cook at home.

My verdict: the Awesome Burger didn't mimic the texture and taste of beef as well as its competitors do. It definitely evokes the flavor of meat, but it tastes more like nutty spam and has the texture of a salmon burger. While it's pretty satisfying in its own way, there's still room for improvement.

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Plant-based “meat” is the future, and food giants like Nestlé want a bite out of the market, too.

Burger King recently announced it is taking its Impossible Whopper national, and Impossible Foods just won its battle with the FDA over the right to sell its plant-based “meat” in grocery stores. Its main competitor, Beyond Meat, is already there.

But when the Impossible Burger hits the aisles in September, it will be next to yet another competitor: the Nestlé-owned Sweet Earth brand. Sweet Earth's Awesome Burger will be available in the meat section of grocery stores in September, along with the brand's ground beef alternative, Awesome Grounds.

Unlike Impossible and Beyond, Nestlé's Sweet Earth brand sold vegan and vegetarian meat alternatives before turning its focus towards plant-based “meat” that mimics beef. Also unlike Impossible and Beyond, which spent years on R&D for their products, Sweet Earth repportedly spent only about a year and a half developing its Awesome Burger.

Read more: These are the 21 ingredients that make an Impossible Burger look and taste like meat

The Awesome Burger is higher in protein, fiber, sodium, and calories than its Impossible and Beyond counterparts, according to FoodNavigator. It's made out of yellow pea protein, whereas Beyond gets its protein from green peas and Impossible gets its protein from soy.

Nestlé sent two frozen Awesome Burgers to my Brooklyn apartment for me to try. Having only one stomach, I enlisted the help of my intrepid foodventuring vegetarian roommate, Jen. Armed with a frying pan, canola oil, and some scrapped-together burger ingredients, we set off together into the great culinary unknown.