January 13, 2020 • 19 mins
We are learning more about what led to the targeted strike to kill Iran’s Gen. Soleimani and it was all based on intelligence that there would be some attack on U.S. embassies according to President Trump. However, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said that he did not see specific evidence, but that he still believed an attack could occur. Iran is also facing protests from its people after they admitted to shooting down the Ukrainian jetliner killing 176 people. Ginger Gibson, political reporter for Reuters, joins us to break it all down.
Next, Impossible Foods unveiled its latest creation at CES last week. Get ready for Impossible Pork! The company is aiming to get kosher and halal certification to open up their product to more people. So we spoke to a life-long practicing Muslim, who tried the plant-based pork for her thoughts on it as someone who had never eaten pork before. Abrar Al-Heeti, reporter at CNET, joins us for this and also how Muslim and Jewish religious leaders feel about fake pork.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Monday, January. I'm Oscar Ramirez in Los Angeles and
this is the Daily Dive. We're learning more about what
led to the targeted strike to kill Iran's General Salamani,
and it was all based on intelligence that there would
be some attack on US embassies, according to President Trump. However,
(00:21):
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said that he did not
see specific evidence, but that he still believed an attack
would occur. Iran is also facing protests from its people
after they admitted to shooting down the Ukrainian jetliner, killing
on seventy six people. Gender Gibson, political reporter for Reuters,
joins us to break it all down. Next. Impossible Foods
(00:41):
unveiled its latest creation at c e S last week,
hit Ready for Impossible Pork. The company is aiming to
get kosher and halal certification to open up their product
to more people. So we spoke to a lifelong practicing
Muslim who tried the plant based pork for her thoughts
on it as someone who has never eaten pork before.
A bra Alhidi reporter at sen It joined us for
(01:02):
this and also how Muslim and Jewish religious leaders feel
about fake port. It's News without the noise, Let's dive in.
He didn't cite a specific piece of evidence. What he
said is he probably he believed I didn't see one
with regard to four embassies. What I'm saying is I
share the presence Keew that probably my expectation was they
(01:23):
were going to go after our embassies. Joining us now
is Ginger Gibson, political reporter for Reuters. Thanks for joining us, Ginger,
thanks for having me. So it seems that the escalation
and conflict with Iran has subsided for now, thank thankfully,
and we're learning a little bit more about what happened.
You know. The United States has maintained that the reason
(01:43):
why they targeted General Kasams Solimani was that there was
some type of imminent threat against the United States, and
officials really didn't say exactly what was happening. I think
the President said on a Fox News interview that there
might have been the possibility of four embassies being target
did we have the Secretary of Defense Mark Esper hitting
the Sunday talk shows saying that he didn't really see
(02:05):
specific evidence that something was going to be targeted, but
it was just kind of this general sense they knew
something was going to happen, so they had to act.
That's right. We saw President Trump get on Fox News
and rouble at what seemed like a very specific threat
that General Solomoni had been plotting to attack at least
for other US embassies in the region. After those attacks
(02:28):
were staged on the U. S Embassy in Iraq, some
U S senators who had been in a briefing last
week where the administration had briefed them on what they
knew ahead of this killing of Solomoni said that that
was not something they were told in the briefing, that
they were not given those details, which raised questions about
whether or not President Trump was being accurate in his
(02:49):
portrayal of the threat. There was some criticism even among
those in his own party, that he may have been
misrepresenting the evidence that he was using to justify this killing,
this very targeted killing of an Iranian official. As you said, Asper,
the Secretary of Defense trying to sort of maybe find
some middle cround to say, Okay, well, we didn't have
(03:09):
that specific evidence, but we knew something was going to happen.
I think that the fact that this is sort of
appears to be calming to some degree. That there appears
to be a cooling that the retaliation that we saw,
the response from Iran, at least as it was designed,
had not killed any Americans, although we now have learned
that they did accidentally it would seem shoot down this
(03:31):
passenger jet, So it is not without loss of life.
That seems to have maybe calm things between the nations.
And for that reason, I think questions like that going unanswered,
or criticisms like that of the President probably gonna gonna
start to move on in the wake of the cooling.
One of the other interesting things that we learned to
was this Swiss back channel that the United States and
(03:53):
Iran we're using. Hours after the strike that killed General Solimani,
the Trump administration sent a mess sage to Tehran saying,
don't escalate after this, and there was this back and
forth through you know, of all things, encrypted facts they
said and um and you know, this was just a
kind of highlighted how big a role the Swiss play
(04:14):
in this back channel. They've been are kind of intermediary
since the eighties. I think that's right. Most people don't
realize that the Swiss have for decades now served as
an intermediary between the United States and Iran. We don't
have official diplomatic relationships with Iran, and that means that
there's no embassy here in Washington for the Iranians, and
(04:36):
that the US don't have an embassy in Tehran. But
what most most people don't realize is here in d C,
where I am in the Swiss embassy, there's an office
for the Iranians that the country allows Iran to station
diplomats there, so that if there is a need to
have conversations, if there are Iranians and the US who
need access to their government, they can get it. These
(04:57):
sort of offices are sort of backchain and as have
allowed the two countries to communicate in important times. You
talked about the communications after this attack and attempt to
ensure that there wasn't an immediate escalation that got really
bad quickly. But we also know that in the past
when there have been other international problems, when there have
been problems in the region in which it would benefit
(05:19):
the US and Iran to have some communications or some
levels of coordination, they're able to go through these back channels.
And the most important thing that we learned from that
Swiss back channel as is that Iran was done after
that last missile strike, they weren't going to do anymore,
which helped the president obviously make his decision not to
escalate things further. Well, you mentioned that down passenger jet
(05:41):
that killed a hundred and seventy six people when it
went down. The Iranians at for I think it was
about three days they said, you know, it wasn't our fault.
It might have been mechanical failures or whatnot. But over
mounting evidence, they finally had to admit that they did
shoot down the plane. I think they said it was
human error. And then protus erupted all over the place,
(06:02):
a bunch of Iranians basically saying that the government was corrupt,
you know, going against the Supreme leader, which is a
big no no there uh tell us about those protests.
I mean, we have to remember that while the tensions
in the region are really high between Iran and its neighbors,
there's also quite a bit of tensions within the country.
It's a large country, it's an educated country. There is
(06:24):
quite a bit of a sort of a middle class
of some sort in an upper middle class students, and
there has been at times real agitation within the country.
About the direction of its leadership, that it's an ability
to access the Western world because of some of the
decisions of their leadership. The U S imposes the economic
stantions which has made it banking and the economy very
difficult there. And so we see these protests in the
(06:46):
wake of this, this decision you know, by Iran to
respond and and without having you know, without without avoiding
a cost, especially because many of those people were innocent
Iranian civilians on the plane who work killed. And so
we do see these protests. We stop President Trump tweeting
that the government should allow these protests to go forward.
They have been very tenuous recently in their decision to
(07:09):
allow some of these protests and not shut them down
versus decisions to shut them down. Um, so this is
this is probably a lighter version of what would see
if our government accidentally shut down private jet, I mean,
have a commercial jet. But is a response we're seeing
among the Iranian people in the country. And finally, just
a quick note, the House is going to be voting
on sending over the articles of impeachment finally to the Senate.
(07:32):
So to be clear, we expect the Senate to quit
the president. The president had talked for weeks about the
prospect of having a big, sort of flashy trial, that
this would be on his turf. It seems that mch
McConnell has won this sort of strategy debate and that
they are leaning more a very quick process, so could
very well be over within a week or two. It
always takes the Senate longer to do things than they
(07:54):
say it's going to so I wouldn't expect a few days,
but definitely less than a month. Ginger Gibson, political reporter
for Reuters, Thank you very much for joining us, Thanks
for having me. It's not that it tasted bad to me,
(08:15):
but I think there's still that element in my brain
of like this feels wrong, Like I can't turn that off.
You know that it's not pork, you know that it's
plant based, but just to have something be called pork
and to be trying a flavor that you've never been
able to try before, it's quite a mental hurt. All
joining us now is a bra Alhati reporter at seen it.
Thanks for joining us, a bra, Thank you so much
(08:35):
for having me. We're gonna be talking about impossible foods.
It's one of the things we've been talking about on
this podcast for a long time, these companies really trying
to find alternatives in the meat game. The first thing
that came across from Impossible Foods and even beyond meat
was beef burger patties, things like that. But the latest
(08:56):
offering from Impossible Foods is Impossible Pork and they debuted
at c e S and there's been a lot of
write ups about it abroad. Tell us a little bit
about Impossible Pork and what the overall goal that Impossible
Foods wants to accomplish with this. So this is the
latest product from Impossible Foods. It's kind of their next challenge.
(09:16):
So after kind of perfectly replicating the taste and smell
and look of real beef, the next obvious choice for
them was apparently pork. And the CEO had told me
that pork is such a common meat across the world
and particularly in Asia, which is a market that Impossible
of Foods really wants to tackle, and so this was
kind of a clear choice for them. And so this
is something that looks and taste and smells like real pork.
(09:37):
It has that pinkish color when it's raw, and then
you cook it and it's juicy, and it's fascinating to
see how something that is absolutely plant based can look
so believable. So it's supposed to replace any recipe that
calls for ground pork meat. The Impossible Pork is gluten free,
and they're saying that they're designing it trying to get
certification for kosher and halal. Then we'll get to that
(10:00):
in the moment, because you're actually a lifelong practicing Muslim
and you tried this out. So that's a very interesting
aspect I want to get into. But we'll do that
after we finished talking about the Impossible Pork Impossible Foods.
They say they're really trying to take animals out of
the food chain. This is one of their chief goals
for a variety of reasons, climate change and then biodiversity also,
(10:22):
so this is something that the company really emphasizes as
the sustainability angle. And so they say that creating plant
based meats has a smaller environmental footprint than meat from animals.
They say that it takes a fraction of land and
water to make something like Impossible Pork, and so if
you have to cut back on the need for crops
that are used to feed animals, and that also means
you cut back on fertilizer and pesticides, and they say
(10:42):
that that could obviously also be better for the environment.
And it's interesting too because with the Impossible Burger, that's
something that they used to cater to vegans, and so
with the Possible Pork, it's interesting because part of it is, yes,
we want to cater to vegans, but it's also the
fact that they're seeking halal certification. The fact that they're
seeking the Kosher certification means that they're also targeting people
who perhaps would eat a meat if they could, and
(11:04):
so it's not just vegans that they're focused on, but
it's this broader range of people as well. So in
the real world, obviously, beef comes from cows and pork
comes from pigs. What's in this Impossible Pork It seems
like it's very similar to the Impossible Burger, so a
lot of the ingredients are similar. So they have the
main protein and Impossible pork is soy, and then their
(11:25):
thought sources are sunflower oil and coconut oil and that
kind of gives it that juiciness and allows it to
kind of cook very similarly to real meat. There are
amino acids, vitamins and sugars and things like that, and
then kind of the critical element is heam, which is
essentially this iron containing compound that's found in all living organisms,
and that kind of adds to the meaty flavor and
a roma. And that's kind of what makes it seem
(11:47):
so believable. And how healthy is it? Because for some
time this kind of a rose, well, at least on
the meat side of the impossible meat side of it,
they were saying, well, this is a highly processed food.
It's not very healthy for you. So how any calories
are in this? In the pork side of it? What
does this look like? That is still kind of a
huge concern among many people when it comes to these
plant based things, is how processed are these products? And
(12:09):
is it really better for you than me? And that's
kind of a debate that I'm sure we'll amplify kind
of in the days and months to come. But impossible
pork does have fewer calories than in pork. So there's
two hundred and twenty calories and impossible pork versus three
hundred and fifty calories and a four ounds serving of
regular pork. There's also less fat, less that turated fat.
There's no cholesterol, but it does have four and twenty
(12:31):
milligrams of sodium, whereas regular pork has eighty milligrams, So
there are trade offs of course. Yeah, that's sodium and
and you know, for a lot of people that are
very health conscious, that sodium content is a killer. A
lot of people don't want to opt for higher sodium
in their diets. So we still don't know exactly when
impossible pork will be widely available to the masses, but
the first offering we will get will be at Burger
(12:54):
King actually in some type of impossible croissand which I
think they're calling it. So it's going to be impossible sausage, right,
that's exactly right. You got your sau egg and cheese
and then this impossible sausage and that will roll out
to a D thirty nine Brigger King restaurants in five
test regions throughout the country. There's always detractors to something
like this. You know, for a lot of people, they
are thinking, oh, you know, just it's another option, it's
(13:15):
an alternative. But for people that are in these businesses
and our direct competitors to something like this, they obviously
have a lot of problems. We saw this a lot
with beef producers, but the National Pork Producers Counsel they
release a statement saying, don't call this pork, this is
not pork. But I really feel like this business is
really set on the fact that people know from the
(13:36):
get go that this is plant based, that this is
not real meat. Absolutely, especially given you know how much
attention and hype these kinds of products get. It's something
that people talk about constantly. And so if I think
it would be fairly safe to assume that people aren't
going to be duped by the fact that there, in
fact is no pork and something like impossible pork, given
the conversations that are around these kinds of products. Let's
get into the really interesting aspect of it, because, as
(13:59):
we said, you know they are seeking halal and kosher
certification a bar. You are a lifelong practicing Muslim, tell
us first off the dietary restrictions that you follow, and
then how this experience was because you did taste this.
I did taste it, and it was quite an experience.
You know, as part of my faith, I can't eat pork,
(14:19):
and so this was the first time that I was
able to kind of know what that tastes like, so
they're you know, I think most people who avoid pork
for religious reasons or whatever reasons that they have, will
say that there have been accidents. Right, you bite into
something and there's a piece of bacon, and or you
bite into something and you realize there's pepperoni under the
cheese slice that you thought was just a cheese pizza.
But this was the first time that I was intentionally
kind of eating something and you know, not immediately spitting
(14:41):
it out, and so it was kind of a bit
of a hurdle mentally to be like, Okay, this is
something I'm going to try. Quick question. Is it only
pork that you don't eat or are you vegetarian? It's
only pork, so all other meats I can eat. So
this is kind of like, all right, here's what a
new meat taste like. And I have no idea what
this taste like. So that element was really cool of like,
here's a new flavor that I've never tried before. So
(15:01):
that was interesting, and I think it took a minute
and I ate it kind of in a sandwich. So
there was carrots in the bun and the sauce and everything.
So then I tried to taste it, and it kind
of has a mild flavor, which I'm told pork kind
of does too, until you kind of add the seasoning.
And then I broke off a couple of pieces of
it to try by itself. It's not that it tasted
bad to me, but I think there's still that element
in my brain of like this feels wrong, Like I
(15:21):
can't turn that off, and going back to that idea
of labeling. Of course, you know, as I just mentioned,
you know that it's not pork. You know that it's
plant based, But just to have something be called pork,
and to be doing something and to be trying a
flavor that you've never been able to try before, it's
quite a mental hurdle. I'm sure a lot of that
is in your head. Even in the article that you
wrote for Seeing It, you said, you know, my brain
(15:42):
and my stomach had a hard time processing, and that
after about fifteen minutes you felt a little queasy. How
did that work out for you? Yet? First my colleagues
were asking me, how do you feel right after I
had tried, and I was like, I feel totally fine.
It's totally normal, and then after a little bit of time,
I was like, Okay, no, this is strange, and it
was hard to separate how much of it is in
my head and how much of it actually is my
stomach being like, this isn't normal. But I felt that
(16:03):
same way with the impossible burger. And I can eat beef,
but I think after I had tried the impossible burger,
I think it's something my stomach isn't used to because
it's not actual beef. It's these processed elements, and so
your body is like, Okay, this is something new, and
I think that's probably common for most things that are
for into your body. But it was interesting. It took
a few hours for me to be able to kind
of have a proper meal after that. I mean, it's
just so interesting. You know, like you said, it's in
(16:24):
your head. You know that it's not pork, But the
courage that it takes to get over that, to get
over what your brain has been taught, what you've been
practicing for so long, just to get over that is tough.
You also spoke to money mom and a rabbi about
their thoughts, and you know how it might play in
the larger communities. As we keep saying, you know they
are eventually going to try to look for a kosher
(16:46):
and halal certification. So what were their reactions to this.
It was interesting to see that because the mom was
very much like, if somebody asked me if I should
try this, I would not recommend it unless it was
somebody who was converting and had a hard time kind
of completely cutting pork out of their diet. He actually
kind of compared it to vathing and smoking. He would say,
I wouldn't recommend somebody start bathing if they've never smoked,
But if somebody is already a smoker and they're trying
(17:07):
to lean off of that, I'd be like, Okay, you know,
if vaping is your way out of that, then share
go ahead. And so he kind of drew that comparison
for me. I spoke to two rabbis, and one of them,
Rabbi Cook, said he also wasn't particularly drawn to an
impossible pork product because he doesn't feel like it's a
meat that he misses in his life. But there's also
that element of if somebody is choosing a kosher lifestyle,
that might take different meanings for them. So it could
(17:28):
be Okay, I want to only put things that are
good for the environment and good for my body into
my system, and that could be okay, I'm going to
have a more kind of health conscious you know, I'm
only going to eat things that are health conscious. And
so maybe they could use that argument to consume something
like impossible pork to having something plant based and better
for the environment. The other rabbis book with said, you know,
if it's made from kosher ingredients and his Kosher certified,
(17:49):
even if it tastes and smells like a non kosher product,
it's totally safe. And if there's something that makes the
world of kosher available to more people and accessible to
more people, then that's a good thing. It seems still
from both sides that if you are part of the
faith and you grew up this way, for the most part,
it's not something that you're necessarily missing, just the byproduct
of you've never had it before, right, So if it's
(18:11):
not something that you're not necessarily missing in your life,
why go this extra step to go through with trying
it and things like that Exactly. That was kind of
my takeaway was, you know, I can eat chicken, I
can eat lamb I can eat beef. Is it really
necessary for me to you know, walk and do a
burger king and order an impossible croissand which when I
could just have like anything else. You know, there's so
many other options, and for other people, hopefully there are
(18:32):
other options for them as well. But yeah, when you
have that mental hurdle, is it really worth kind of
trying to leap over? Well, I mean, work might take
you there, so you might have another article about the
impossible croissan, which for impossible foods. Though they haven't really
let up exactly where they're going next. I know they
want to get into the seafood game. Chicken obviously another
big meat that people eat across the world. People are
(18:53):
like expecting for that, but they haven't really signaled where
they're going next. Yeah, they haven't. The CEO told me that,
you know, chicken is something that we can kind of
anticipate in the near future. They kind of have understood
how to crack the meat flavor, and once you kind
of figure it out for one thing, it's easy to
translate it into other things. But figuring out the texture
and all of that takes a little bit of work,
and he kind of hinted at you know, impossible bacon
(19:14):
coming in the near future, but there is no clear
word yet on where exactly the company will be going next.
A bra al Hiti reporter at sen It, thank you
very much for joining us. Thank you for having me.
I appreciate it. That's it for today. Join us on
social media at Daily Dive pot on both Twitter and Instagram.
(19:37):
Leave us a comment, give us a rating, and tell
us the stories that you're interested in. Follow us on
I Heart Radio, or subscribe wherever you get your podcast.
This episode of The Daily Dive is produced by Victor
Wright and engineered by Tony Sarentino. I'm Oscar Ramirez and
this was your Daily Dive
It's Monday, January. I'm Oscar Ramirez in Los Angeles and
this is the Daily Dive. We're learning more about what
led to the targeted strike to kill Iran's General Salamani,
and it was all based on intelligence that there would
be some attack on US embassies, according to President Trump. However,
(00:21):
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said that he did not
see specific evidence, but that he still believed an attack
would occur. Iran is also facing protests from its people
after they admitted to shooting down the Ukrainian jetliner, killing
on seventy six people. Gender Gibson, political reporter for Reuters,
joins us to break it all down. Next. Impossible Foods
(00:41):
unveiled its latest creation at c e S last week,
hit Ready for Impossible Pork. The company is aiming to
get kosher and halal certification to open up their product
to more people. So we spoke to a lifelong practicing
Muslim who tried the plant based pork for her thoughts
on it as someone who has never eaten pork before.
A bra Alhidi reporter at sen It joined us for
(01:02):
this and also how Muslim and Jewish religious leaders feel
about fake port. It's News without the noise, Let's dive in.
He didn't cite a specific piece of evidence. What he
said is he probably he believed I didn't see one
with regard to four embassies. What I'm saying is I
share the presence Keew that probably my expectation was they
(01:23):
were going to go after our embassies. Joining us now
is Ginger Gibson, political reporter for Reuters. Thanks for joining us, Ginger,
thanks for having me. So it seems that the escalation
and conflict with Iran has subsided for now, thank thankfully,
and we're learning a little bit more about what happened.
You know. The United States has maintained that the reason
(01:43):
why they targeted General Kasams Solimani was that there was
some type of imminent threat against the United States, and
officials really didn't say exactly what was happening. I think
the President said on a Fox News interview that there
might have been the possibility of four embassies being target
did we have the Secretary of Defense Mark Esper hitting
the Sunday talk shows saying that he didn't really see
(02:05):
specific evidence that something was going to be targeted, but
it was just kind of this general sense they knew
something was going to happen, so they had to act.
That's right. We saw President Trump get on Fox News
and rouble at what seemed like a very specific threat
that General Solomoni had been plotting to attack at least
for other US embassies in the region. After those attacks
(02:28):
were staged on the U. S Embassy in Iraq, some
U S senators who had been in a briefing last
week where the administration had briefed them on what they
knew ahead of this killing of Solomoni said that that
was not something they were told in the briefing, that
they were not given those details, which raised questions about
whether or not President Trump was being accurate in his
(02:49):
portrayal of the threat. There was some criticism even among
those in his own party, that he may have been
misrepresenting the evidence that he was using to justify this killing,
this very targeted killing of an Iranian official. As you said, Asper,
the Secretary of Defense trying to sort of maybe find
some middle cround to say, Okay, well, we didn't have
(03:09):
that specific evidence, but we knew something was going to happen.
I think that the fact that this is sort of
appears to be calming to some degree. That there appears
to be a cooling that the retaliation that we saw,
the response from Iran, at least as it was designed,
had not killed any Americans, although we now have learned
that they did accidentally it would seem shoot down this
(03:31):
passenger jet, So it is not without loss of life.
That seems to have maybe calm things between the nations.
And for that reason, I think questions like that going unanswered,
or criticisms like that of the President probably gonna gonna
start to move on in the wake of the cooling.
One of the other interesting things that we learned to
was this Swiss back channel that the United States and
(03:53):
Iran we're using. Hours after the strike that killed General Solimani,
the Trump administration sent a mess sage to Tehran saying,
don't escalate after this, and there was this back and
forth through you know, of all things, encrypted facts they
said and um and you know, this was just a
kind of highlighted how big a role the Swiss play
(04:14):
in this back channel. They've been are kind of intermediary
since the eighties. I think that's right. Most people don't
realize that the Swiss have for decades now served as
an intermediary between the United States and Iran. We don't
have official diplomatic relationships with Iran, and that means that
there's no embassy here in Washington for the Iranians, and
(04:36):
that the US don't have an embassy in Tehran. But
what most most people don't realize is here in d C,
where I am in the Swiss embassy, there's an office
for the Iranians that the country allows Iran to station
diplomats there, so that if there is a need to
have conversations, if there are Iranians and the US who
need access to their government, they can get it. These
(04:57):
sort of offices are sort of backchain and as have
allowed the two countries to communicate in important times. You
talked about the communications after this attack and attempt to
ensure that there wasn't an immediate escalation that got really
bad quickly. But we also know that in the past
when there have been other international problems, when there have
been problems in the region in which it would benefit
(05:19):
the US and Iran to have some communications or some
levels of coordination, they're able to go through these back channels.
And the most important thing that we learned from that
Swiss back channel as is that Iran was done after
that last missile strike, they weren't going to do anymore,
which helped the president obviously make his decision not to
escalate things further. Well, you mentioned that down passenger jet
(05:41):
that killed a hundred and seventy six people when it
went down. The Iranians at for I think it was
about three days they said, you know, it wasn't our fault.
It might have been mechanical failures or whatnot. But over
mounting evidence, they finally had to admit that they did
shoot down the plane. I think they said it was
human error. And then protus erupted all over the place,
(06:02):
a bunch of Iranians basically saying that the government was corrupt,
you know, going against the Supreme leader, which is a
big no no there uh tell us about those protests.
I mean, we have to remember that while the tensions
in the region are really high between Iran and its neighbors,
there's also quite a bit of tensions within the country.
It's a large country, it's an educated country. There is
(06:24):
quite a bit of a sort of a middle class
of some sort in an upper middle class students, and
there has been at times real agitation within the country.
About the direction of its leadership, that it's an ability
to access the Western world because of some of the
decisions of their leadership. The U S imposes the economic
stantions which has made it banking and the economy very
difficult there. And so we see these protests in the
(06:46):
wake of this, this decision you know, by Iran to
respond and and without having you know, without without avoiding
a cost, especially because many of those people were innocent
Iranian civilians on the plane who work killed. And so
we do see these protests. We stop President Trump tweeting
that the government should allow these protests to go forward.
They have been very tenuous recently in their decision to
(07:09):
allow some of these protests and not shut them down
versus decisions to shut them down. Um, so this is
this is probably a lighter version of what would see
if our government accidentally shut down private jet, I mean,
have a commercial jet. But is a response we're seeing
among the Iranian people in the country. And finally, just
a quick note, the House is going to be voting
on sending over the articles of impeachment finally to the Senate.
(07:32):
So to be clear, we expect the Senate to quit
the president. The president had talked for weeks about the
prospect of having a big, sort of flashy trial, that
this would be on his turf. It seems that mch
McConnell has won this sort of strategy debate and that
they are leaning more a very quick process, so could
very well be over within a week or two. It
always takes the Senate longer to do things than they
(07:54):
say it's going to so I wouldn't expect a few days,
but definitely less than a month. Ginger Gibson, political reporter
for Reuters, Thank you very much for joining us, Thanks
for having me. It's not that it tasted bad to me,
(08:15):
but I think there's still that element in my brain
of like this feels wrong, Like I can't turn that off.
You know that it's not pork, you know that it's
plant based, but just to have something be called pork
and to be trying a flavor that you've never been
able to try before, it's quite a mental hurt. All
joining us now is a bra Alhati reporter at seen it.
Thanks for joining us, a bra, Thank you so much
(08:35):
for having me. We're gonna be talking about impossible foods.
It's one of the things we've been talking about on
this podcast for a long time, these companies really trying
to find alternatives in the meat game. The first thing
that came across from Impossible Foods and even beyond meat
was beef burger patties, things like that. But the latest
(08:56):
offering from Impossible Foods is Impossible Pork and they debuted
at c e S and there's been a lot of
write ups about it abroad. Tell us a little bit
about Impossible Pork and what the overall goal that Impossible
Foods wants to accomplish with this. So this is the
latest product from Impossible Foods. It's kind of their next challenge.
(09:16):
So after kind of perfectly replicating the taste and smell
and look of real beef, the next obvious choice for
them was apparently pork. And the CEO had told me
that pork is such a common meat across the world
and particularly in Asia, which is a market that Impossible
of Foods really wants to tackle, and so this was
kind of a clear choice for them. And so this
is something that looks and taste and smells like real pork.
(09:37):
It has that pinkish color when it's raw, and then
you cook it and it's juicy, and it's fascinating to
see how something that is absolutely plant based can look
so believable. So it's supposed to replace any recipe that
calls for ground pork meat. The Impossible Pork is gluten free,
and they're saying that they're designing it trying to get
certification for kosher and halal. Then we'll get to that
(10:00):
in the moment, because you're actually a lifelong practicing Muslim
and you tried this out. So that's a very interesting
aspect I want to get into. But we'll do that
after we finished talking about the Impossible Pork Impossible Foods.
They say they're really trying to take animals out of
the food chain. This is one of their chief goals
for a variety of reasons, climate change and then biodiversity also,
(10:22):
so this is something that the company really emphasizes as
the sustainability angle. And so they say that creating plant
based meats has a smaller environmental footprint than meat from animals.
They say that it takes a fraction of land and
water to make something like Impossible Pork, and so if
you have to cut back on the need for crops
that are used to feed animals, and that also means
you cut back on fertilizer and pesticides, and they say
(10:42):
that that could obviously also be better for the environment.
And it's interesting too because with the Impossible Burger, that's
something that they used to cater to vegans, and so
with the Possible Pork, it's interesting because part of it is, yes,
we want to cater to vegans, but it's also the
fact that they're seeking halal certification. The fact that they're
seeking the Kosher certification means that they're also targeting people
who perhaps would eat a meat if they could, and
(11:04):
so it's not just vegans that they're focused on, but
it's this broader range of people as well. So in
the real world, obviously, beef comes from cows and pork
comes from pigs. What's in this Impossible Pork It seems
like it's very similar to the Impossible Burger, so a
lot of the ingredients are similar. So they have the
main protein and Impossible pork is soy, and then their
(11:25):
thought sources are sunflower oil and coconut oil and that
kind of gives it that juiciness and allows it to
kind of cook very similarly to real meat. There are
amino acids, vitamins and sugars and things like that, and
then kind of the critical element is heam, which is
essentially this iron containing compound that's found in all living organisms,
and that kind of adds to the meaty flavor and
a roma. And that's kind of what makes it seem
(11:47):
so believable. And how healthy is it? Because for some
time this kind of a rose, well, at least on
the meat side of the impossible meat side of it,
they were saying, well, this is a highly processed food.
It's not very healthy for you. So how any calories
are in this? In the pork side of it? What
does this look like? That is still kind of a
huge concern among many people when it comes to these
plant based things, is how processed are these products? And
(12:09):
is it really better for you than me? And that's
kind of a debate that I'm sure we'll amplify kind
of in the days and months to come. But impossible
pork does have fewer calories than in pork. So there's
two hundred and twenty calories and impossible pork versus three
hundred and fifty calories and a four ounds serving of
regular pork. There's also less fat, less that turated fat.
There's no cholesterol, but it does have four and twenty
(12:31):
milligrams of sodium, whereas regular pork has eighty milligrams, So
there are trade offs of course. Yeah, that's sodium and
and you know, for a lot of people that are
very health conscious, that sodium content is a killer. A
lot of people don't want to opt for higher sodium
in their diets. So we still don't know exactly when
impossible pork will be widely available to the masses, but
the first offering we will get will be at Burger
(12:54):
King actually in some type of impossible croissand which I
think they're calling it. So it's going to be impossible sausage, right,
that's exactly right. You got your sau egg and cheese
and then this impossible sausage and that will roll out
to a D thirty nine Brigger King restaurants in five
test regions throughout the country. There's always detractors to something
like this. You know, for a lot of people, they
are thinking, oh, you know, just it's another option, it's
(13:15):
an alternative. But for people that are in these businesses
and our direct competitors to something like this, they obviously
have a lot of problems. We saw this a lot
with beef producers, but the National Pork Producers Counsel they
release a statement saying, don't call this pork, this is
not pork. But I really feel like this business is
really set on the fact that people know from the
(13:36):
get go that this is plant based, that this is
not real meat. Absolutely, especially given you know how much
attention and hype these kinds of products get. It's something
that people talk about constantly. And so if I think
it would be fairly safe to assume that people aren't
going to be duped by the fact that there, in
fact is no pork and something like impossible pork, given
the conversations that are around these kinds of products. Let's
get into the really interesting aspect of it, because, as
(13:59):
we said, you know they are seeking halal and kosher
certification a bar. You are a lifelong practicing Muslim, tell
us first off the dietary restrictions that you follow, and
then how this experience was because you did taste this.
I did taste it, and it was quite an experience.
You know, as part of my faith, I can't eat pork,
(14:19):
and so this was the first time that I was
able to kind of know what that tastes like, so
they're you know, I think most people who avoid pork
for religious reasons or whatever reasons that they have, will
say that there have been accidents. Right, you bite into
something and there's a piece of bacon, and or you
bite into something and you realize there's pepperoni under the
cheese slice that you thought was just a cheese pizza.
But this was the first time that I was intentionally
kind of eating something and you know, not immediately spitting
(14:41):
it out, and so it was kind of a bit
of a hurdle mentally to be like, Okay, this is
something I'm going to try. Quick question. Is it only
pork that you don't eat or are you vegetarian? It's
only pork, so all other meats I can eat. So
this is kind of like, all right, here's what a
new meat taste like. And I have no idea what
this taste like. So that element was really cool of like,
here's a new flavor that I've never tried before. So
(15:01):
that was interesting, and I think it took a minute
and I ate it kind of in a sandwich. So
there was carrots in the bun and the sauce and everything.
So then I tried to taste it, and it kind
of has a mild flavor, which I'm told pork kind
of does too, until you kind of add the seasoning.
And then I broke off a couple of pieces of
it to try by itself. It's not that it tasted
bad to me, but I think there's still that element
in my brain of like this feels wrong, Like I
(15:21):
can't turn that off, and going back to that idea
of labeling. Of course, you know, as I just mentioned,
you know that it's not pork. You know that it's
plant based, But just to have something be called pork,
and to be doing something and to be trying a
flavor that you've never been able to try before, it's
quite a mental hurdle. I'm sure a lot of that
is in your head. Even in the article that you
wrote for Seeing It, you said, you know, my brain
(15:42):
and my stomach had a hard time processing, and that
after about fifteen minutes you felt a little queasy. How
did that work out for you? Yet? First my colleagues
were asking me, how do you feel right after I
had tried, and I was like, I feel totally fine.
It's totally normal, and then after a little bit of time,
I was like, Okay, no, this is strange, and it
was hard to separate how much of it is in
my head and how much of it actually is my
stomach being like, this isn't normal. But I felt that
(16:03):
same way with the impossible burger. And I can eat beef,
but I think after I had tried the impossible burger,
I think it's something my stomach isn't used to because
it's not actual beef. It's these processed elements, and so
your body is like, Okay, this is something new, and
I think that's probably common for most things that are
for into your body. But it was interesting. It took
a few hours for me to be able to kind
of have a proper meal after that. I mean, it's
just so interesting. You know, like you said, it's in
(16:24):
your head. You know that it's not pork, But the
courage that it takes to get over that, to get
over what your brain has been taught, what you've been
practicing for so long, just to get over that is tough.
You also spoke to money mom and a rabbi about
their thoughts, and you know how it might play in
the larger communities. As we keep saying, you know they
are eventually going to try to look for a kosher
(16:46):
and halal certification. So what were their reactions to this.
It was interesting to see that because the mom was
very much like, if somebody asked me if I should
try this, I would not recommend it unless it was
somebody who was converting and had a hard time kind
of completely cutting pork out of their diet. He actually
kind of compared it to vathing and smoking. He would say,
I wouldn't recommend somebody start bathing if they've never smoked,
But if somebody is already a smoker and they're trying
(17:07):
to lean off of that, I'd be like, Okay, you know,
if vaping is your way out of that, then share
go ahead. And so he kind of drew that comparison
for me. I spoke to two rabbis, and one of them,
Rabbi Cook, said he also wasn't particularly drawn to an
impossible pork product because he doesn't feel like it's a
meat that he misses in his life. But there's also
that element of if somebody is choosing a kosher lifestyle,
that might take different meanings for them. So it could
(17:28):
be Okay, I want to only put things that are
good for the environment and good for my body into
my system, and that could be okay, I'm going to
have a more kind of health conscious you know, I'm
only going to eat things that are health conscious. And
so maybe they could use that argument to consume something
like impossible pork to having something plant based and better
for the environment. The other rabbis book with said, you know,
if it's made from kosher ingredients and his Kosher certified,
(17:49):
even if it tastes and smells like a non kosher product,
it's totally safe. And if there's something that makes the
world of kosher available to more people and accessible to
more people, then that's a good thing. It seems still
from both sides that if you are part of the
faith and you grew up this way, for the most part,
it's not something that you're necessarily missing, just the byproduct
of you've never had it before, right, So if it's
(18:11):
not something that you're not necessarily missing in your life,
why go this extra step to go through with trying
it and things like that Exactly. That was kind of
my takeaway was, you know, I can eat chicken, I
can eat lamb I can eat beef. Is it really
necessary for me to you know, walk and do a
burger king and order an impossible croissand which when I
could just have like anything else. You know, there's so
many other options, and for other people, hopefully there are
(18:32):
other options for them as well. But yeah, when you
have that mental hurdle, is it really worth kind of
trying to leap over? Well, I mean, work might take
you there, so you might have another article about the
impossible croissan, which for impossible foods. Though they haven't really
let up exactly where they're going next. I know they
want to get into the seafood game. Chicken obviously another
big meat that people eat across the world. People are
(18:53):
like expecting for that, but they haven't really signaled where
they're going next. Yeah, they haven't. The CEO told me that,
you know, chicken is something that we can kind of
anticipate in the near future. They kind of have understood
how to crack the meat flavor, and once you kind
of figure it out for one thing, it's easy to
translate it into other things. But figuring out the texture
and all of that takes a little bit of work,
and he kind of hinted at you know, impossible bacon
(19:14):
coming in the near future, but there is no clear
word yet on where exactly the company will be going next.
A bra al Hiti reporter at sen It, thank you
very much for joining us. Thank you for having me.
I appreciate it. That's it for today. Join us on
social media at Daily Dive pot on both Twitter and Instagram.
(19:37):
Leave us a comment, give us a rating, and tell
us the stories that you're interested in. Follow us on
I Heart Radio, or subscribe wherever you get your podcast.
This episode of The Daily Dive is produced by Victor
Wright and engineered by Tony Sarentino. I'm Oscar Ramirez and
this was your Daily Dive
The Daily Dive News
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!