This ELL lesson implores students to consider and talk about meat consumption and how it impacts the world they live in. Students analyze the issue before watching a fascinating video called “The science behind the Impossible Burger”. The Impossible Burger is a plant-based burger designed to replicate meat while simultaneously alleviating some of the problems caused by meat consumption.
Language Level: Intermediate/Advanced
Time: 50 minutes
I. Meat Problems (10-15 min)
1. Write on board: What’s wrong with eating meat?
2. Hand out HumanHealth Animals Environment worksheet and have them complete in groups of 4.
3. Each group will share 1-2 responses by writing them on the board or speaking them for teacher to record on board.
4. After discussing responses, hand out RESPONSES worksheet for students to review.
II. Meat Qualities (5-10 min)
1. Transition from Part 1, by saying, “What’s right with eating meat?”
2. Elicit “delicious” or “flavor” or “tasty”.
3. Write on board: What makes meat, meat? Paraphrase for students: What are the characteristics/qualities of meat?
4. Groups brainstorm (at least 5 qualities) and then shout out answers to write on the board.
III. Text Introduction (10 min)
1. Tell students we will listen to someone talking about the qualities of meat.
2. Hand out Impossible Vocabulary Matching worksheet and have students complete. Then review.
3. Hand out Impossible Burger GAP FILL worksheet. Students should skim and guess words to fill in the gaps.
Not Your Typical Veggie Burger
One of these is not a hamburger. This one was created in a lab. It’s called the Impossible Burger, and it’s 100% made from (1)________________________. But unlike your typical veggie burger, this is bloody and red, and it cooks and tastes like an actual beef patty. And several U.S. chefs have already put it on their menus. But the big difference between this and a veggie burger? Scientists made it using neuroscience.
They started with one pretty profound question: What makes meat, meat? Celeste Holz-Schietinger is a flavor scientist. “How do you get your brain to actually eat a food and say, ‘Yum,’ and (2)____________________________ it with actually eating meat, even though this action hasn’t come from an animal?” This is crucial. The Impossible Burger scientists aren’t just a making vegetarian patty that you can eat instead of a burger. They want the Impossible Burger to be the same exact experience as eating a beef burger.
Richard Brown is a neuroscientist at Impossible Foods. “A hamburger will send all sorts of information to our sensory organs: your ears, nose, your eyes, and tongue. It’s only when those sense organs send information to the (3)________________________, and they get integrated, that we can ever become aware of the fact that we’re experiencing ‘hamburger.’” The goal is to create that same sensory experience so the brain can’t tell the difference, which takes us back to this question: “What makes meat, meat?”
To answer that, scientists here are literally breaking down a beef patty molecule by molecule. And there are trillions of them. This machine isolates every single (4)____________________________ molecule in a burger. Flavor scientists sit here, sniff, and then jot down what they smell – “floral rose, apricot, foot, cheesy, macaroni and cheese, old people, crackers, some rotting garbage – something you don’t want – but at the right (5)________________________________, that gives you the experience and sends a signal to your brain to say, ‘Yes, I’m eating meat, and mmm, this is tasty.’”
And one molecule is essential to that flavor. It’s called heme. And it looks and tastes like blood. In cows, that’s the catalyst, the driver, for all of the aroma compounds that make meat. It’s also (6)____________________________ for the color. It is bright red in color, and upon cooking, turns brown. Turns out, you can extract heme from soy plants.
Over five years, scientists honed in on other natural ingredients that create the same sensory experience as a hamburger, like wheat proteins for the (7)_________________________ texture of beef, potato proteins for a crispy exterior when seared, yam and xanthan gums to hold the ingredients together, and flakes of coconut oil that melt on a grill, then sizzle like beef fat. When you mix those together, it looks and feels like raw beef. And that’s when a sensory experience starts to kick in.
This is the moment when scientists hope the brain won’t be able to tell the difference between a beef burger and the Impossible Burger. The Impossible Food scientists are still tweaking that sensory experience, trying to make a better burger. Their goal is to supply 1,000 (8)____________________________ by the end of this year.
IV. Video and Discussion (20-25 min)
1. Play AUDIO only. Students listen and fill in gaps. Then review.
2. Play VIDEO. Students watch and contemplate their reaction.
3. Whole class discussion: Ask students what they think about the Impossible Burger. Would they like to taste it? Are they skeptical? Will it help to solve the problems we mentioned at the start of class? Etc.
Materials:
– “The science behind the Impossible Burger”
– HumanHealth Animals Environment
– HumanHealth Animals Environment RESPONSES
– Impossible Vocabulary Matching
– Impossible Burger GAP FILL
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