The average American eats nearly 60 pounds of beef （27 kg） a year—roughly equal to a couple of hundred burgers. But for how much longer will the beef burger remain king？

A new generation of burgers made with “plant meat” is vying to topple the beef burger from its throne， transforming the beef industry and the way we eat in the process. One industry analyst foresees a not-too-distant future where we get the bulk， if not all， of our protein from plants， not animals.

“Our mission is very simple，” says Dr Pat Brown， a physician and biochemist who founded Impossible Foods in 2011. “Its to completely replace animals as a food technology by 2035.” Browns Impossible Foods， along with rival Beyond Meat， are two companies at the forefront of the plant meat revolution.

Their signature products， the Impossible Burger and the Beyond Burger， made with soy and pea protein respectively， are marketed as being more environmentally friendly and sustainable. Their mimicry of the beef burger includes making their patties “bleed” like beef burgers. Beyond Burger uses beet juice to achieve that effect and Impossible uses the additive heme. Impossible Foods says its products are available at more than 10，000 outlets， such as Burger King in the United States， and multiple locations in Asia.

美國人平均每年要吃近60磅牛肉（27千克），相當于幾百個漢堡。但是牛肉漢堡的王者地位還能維持多久呢？

由“植物素肉”制成的新一代漢堡正在搶占牛肉漢堡的寶座，改變牛肉行業(yè)以及我們的飲食方式。一位行業(yè)分析師預測，在不久的將來，我們的大部分蛋白質（如果不是全部的話）將來自植物，而不是動物。

“我們的目標很簡單?！痹?011年創(chuàng)立Impossible Foods公司的生物化學家兼內科醫(yī)生帕特·布朗博士說，“到2035年，植物蛋白食品將完全取代動物蛋白食品。”布朗博士的Impossible Foods公司和其競爭對手Beyond Meat公司是處于植物素肉革命前沿的兩家公司。

他們的招牌產品“Impossible Burger”和“Beyond Burger”里面的肉類分別由大豆和豌豆蛋白制成，在市場上被宣傳為更加環(huán)保和可持續(xù)的漢堡。它們可以模仿牛肉漢堡的血色?！癇eyond Burger”使用甜菜汁來達到這一效果，“Impossible Burger”則添加了血紅素。Impossible Foods公司表示，其產品在漢堡王的美國和亞洲等地區(qū)的一萬多家門店有售。

Word Study

topple /'t?pl/ v. 推翻

throne /θr??n/ n. 寶座

rival /'ra?vl/ n. 競爭對手

mimicry /'m?m?kri/ n. 模仿

One of his few strengths was his skill at mimicry.