A few weeks ago at lunch, Allderdice students sampled the Impossible Burger, a plant based alternative to a traditional burger. The samples were accompanied by a form, asking students to record their thoughts about the Impossible Burger, and the food options at Allderdice. 

Kaleigh Talbert, PPS’s Registered Dietician, was in the lunchroom passing out the samples. According to her, PPS, along with its distributor, USFoods, are currently working on setting up the Impossible Burger as an entree, and they are expecting them to be available at Allderdice by late December. Talbert also collected the survey responses about the Impossible Burger from students who participated in the sampling. A total of 96 students were surveyed after sampling. Of those students, 43 said they “liked” the Burger, 40 said they “loved it”, and 13 said that it “wasn’t for them.” These numbers suggested to PPS that the Impossible Burger was popular among Allderdice students.

Impossible Foods is a company known for developing plant-based meat products for retail and fast food chains. They are best known for the Impossible Burger, but they also produce Impossible Chicken Nuggets, Pork, and Meatballs. They claim their products are “made from plants for people who love meat, plants and everything in between.” Most notably, they have collaborated with Burger King on the Impossible Whopper, and also have their meats on menus in Applebees, Qdoba, and the Cheesecake Factory to name a few.

The Impossible Burgers coming to PPS are part of their Impossible Foods in Schools program. This program sells Impossible products in bulk to schools. As part of this program, Impossible Foods commissioned a study on kid’s views on Climate Change. According to the report, 9 in 10 kids believe that it is important to do something about Climate Change. Impossible Foods is presenting their meat-alternatives as key in saving the environment. According to their own study, 2/3rds of kids said they “liked” or “loved” Impossible Burgers after reading the description that highlighted the Burger’s environmental friendliness. This data lines up with the data collected at Allderdice, although samples here were given voluntarily and without a description. 

Along with surveying kids on their opinions on the Impossible Burger, the surveys that accompanied the samples also asked whether students would be open to more plant- based options in school lunches. Of the previously mentioned 96 students surveyed, 48 said they would be open to more plant based options. The Impossible Burgers, while being vegetarian, are also Gluten Free, Halal, and Certified Kosher, making them more accessible to students. Along with the Impossible Burger, PPS is looking to provide more plant- based options in lunches. These include the Vegan Buffalo Chicken Wings, which according to Malik Hamilton, the PPS Food Department’s Purchaser, are returning to lunches around December.

Besides plant-based options, PPS has looked to add other products to those available at its schools.They have conducted surveys for Cold- Brew Lattes at breakfast, with about 92% of students surveyed either marking that they “loved it,” or “liked it,” and have added Eat’N Park Smiley Cookie-flavored milk to lunches. 

Other schools in the district can also expect Impossible Burgers in their lunches in the near future. All Campus Cafe schools will have Impossible Burgers added to their menus in the same timeframe. This includes all 6-12, and 9-12 schools in the district. After introducing the Burgers to Campus Cafe schools, PPS will begin to introduce them to Site Kitchen schools, meaning Impossible Burgers will be available to students in the majority of PPS schools sometime in the near future.