especially this one.

But now scientists are trying to cancel beef.

TV REPORTER: Chilling warnings in a new report...

TV REPORTER: Beef and dairy agriculture are a key cause

of the greenhouse gases.

WOOD: Michael Pollan, the Obi-Wan of food writers,

says eating beef is as harmful as burning fossil fuels.

Of all the things we do that contributes to climate change,

beef is really right at the top.

The animals produce greenhouse gas.

You mean farts? You can just say farts.

You know, they're not farts, actually, they're burps.

A burp is a mouth fart. (burping)

All right, uh, we can't change the energy system

but we can all slightly modify our diet.

You're asking people to stop eating something

that they've been eating their whole life.

You're gonna make it a suggestion,

just don't eat a lot.

But after that, the hamburger's illegal,

and then the meat goes underground.

The next thing you know, you're sucking (bleep)

for a Baconator behind a Walgreens.

Well, uh, maybe.

And you don't think there's gonna be no withdrawals?

I get the beef sweats if I miss a burger.

I think you're gonna have to taper.

WOOD: So to save the world, I got to give up burgers?

Hot dogs, steaks, meatballs,

roast beef, sirloin tips, bologna.

I'm having a panic attack.

I suggest you don't go cold turkey.

Check out these plant-based burgers,

this new generation of very sophisticated food science.

They create a burger that, uh, looks a lot like a burger.

It's red in the middle; it bleeds.

And you can get the kind of taste

that we really like in meat.

I'm really sorry about this.

Mmm.

Once I got my fix, I realized Pollan wasn't talking

about boring old veggie burgers.

The plant-based Impossible Burger

is supposed to be indistinguishable from meat.

You can even buy it at the carnivore joints.

And CEO Pat Brown's vision goes a lot further than that.

The mission of Impossible Foods

is to completely replace animals

as a food technology by 2035.

WOOD: He's trying to get us to give up beef

by using high-tech science.

The thing that makes meat taste like meat

-is that meat has... -The pain from the cow dying.

Um, that's one theory, yeah.

But it's actually a molecule called heme.

It's what catalyzes

all the unique flavors and aromas of meat

but we make it without using animals.

So it's not the marinade.

It's not gas over charcoal.

It's some shit called heme this whole time.

So you're telling me my whole life has been a lie.

Um, well, that's not what I was saying

but I guess that's sort of true, yeah.

And this tastes good?

I think you just have to decide for yourself.

-Oh, I will decide. -Yeah. Yeah.

-I will decide. -You'll decide.

WOOD: First up, a classic farting cow burger,

to set the baseline.

Oh, man, you can't touch that, bro.

And just to be polite, I went ahead and tried

the stupid, nasty-ass plant sandwich.

How you make this taste like that?

How did you make this plant burger

taste like the meat burger?

Well, it, it took a number of years.

It's the devil!

You got some fries?

Roy, this is great.

We're vegetarian now.

This taste just like meat.

Don't listen to him, Roy.

There's no such thing as a meat plant.

And you're too old to switch sides.

No!

What I need is real meat

that doesn't fart up the environment.

Luckily, another tech company, Just,

is working on that in their top secret lab.

What we do is find the best tasting cows in the world,

we take cells from those cows.

You put that cell line in a bioreactor.

The bioreactor enables the cell to double.

At the end of it, you have raw meet.

No. No. Mm-mm. Not real.

When you taste it, you're gonna see.

This is real meat without all the consequences

that come from killing lots of animals.

WOOD: That's right, you heard nerd Superman.

These guys are growing freakish clone meat in a lab.

If this is real, then it's time for a collaboration.

You can do me; you can take one of my cells

and we could grow that in the lab and have Roy meat.

We wouldn't want to do that.

I'm delicious.

So I've been told.

We want to focus on stuff

that can actually do a lot of good for the world.

Sound like a good plan, man.

You're making the best meat.

Let's go ahead and get it out there.

I love a good double cheeseburger.

What's your meat cost, about three, four dollars a pound?

-We haven't done a hamburger yet. -What?

But the chicken nugget that we make costs about 50 bucks.

-For how many nuggets? -Just one nugget.

Oh, shit, you're crazy.

You mean, a six-piece nugget costs $300.

-That's right. -Mother(bleep).

How good could a $50 clone chicken nugget taste?

More importantly, is it even safe?

(crunching)

Let me get a three piece.

I... I can't. That's, that's all we have.

Who the (bleep) just make two nuggets?

All this shit in here and all y'all got is two nuggets?

Y'all are lying.

Where are the nuggets at?

Got to be in here.

So the clone burger is years away

and even then, it might cost as much as a Volvo.

Is that an ice cream machine?

And sure, you could go with plant meat,

but that still costs more than a fart burger,

and it's witchcraft.

So what are broke-ass carnivores like me

supposed to do if we want to save the planet?

Michael Pollan had the craziest idea of them all.

Have a burger once a week.

So only eat meat once a week?

Yeah. Try that. See what happens.

(both laughing)

-Once a week? -Yeah. Try it.

-Only eat meat once a week? -Try it.

Man, you should be in comedy.

(cheers and applause)