Is the impossible burger possibly kosher?

Question

According to a recent article in Haaretz:

The trail-blazing Impossible Burger, the world’s only kosher cheeseburger, created sustainably, is now officially on the Orthodox Union’s kosher database registry.

My understanding has been that those who have been lenient with regard to the rabbinic prohibition of marit ayin (appearance of impropriety), did so on the assumption that potential onlookers were assumed to be sufficiently familiar with the kosher alternatives that there was insufficient basis for invoking the rabbinic prohibition. Considering that the Impossible Burger is is likely to be consumed by consumers in a manner that would create the impression that it is biblically-forbidden basar b'chalav (meat cooked with dairy), e.g. because it is still a relatively unheard of product, shouldn't this argument no longer hold water?

Furthermore, considering that marit ayin seems to be an issue even when one's in private (b'chadrei chadarim - see e.g. Shabbat 64b), shouldn't one need to make it self-evident to any potential onlooker (e.g. including those who don't read English, even if only the English-literate are around) that the product is plant-based? How would that be accomplished since the product is still relatively unknown (as opposed to, say almond milk or fish blood, both of which are and were potentially well-known, such that any potential onlooker might guess the ambiguous origin based on local clues of almonds or fish scales - see e.g. Ramo Y.D. 87:3, Chakhmath Adam 40:3, Arukh Hashulchan 16, all cited here?

(While apparently the OU had a controversial ruling [mentioned, but not explained, here] for a restaurant that served cheeseburgers with pareve "cheese" that they just needed to include language that indicated the cheese's pareve status, this would seem to be harder to control with regard to private consumers and would seem to be more of an issue with a novel, unknown product.)

Answer 1

R Shlomo Aviner was asked about a cheeseburger made with this product and answered that it is permissible for two reasons:

• since everyone today has seen and knows veggie burgers, there is no problem of marit ayin
• "we do not make new decrees" and our Sages did not make a decree against eating parve burgers with parve cheese

Hot from the press: the impossible burger was just certified kosher by the OU.

Answer 2

In a Hebrew journal titled HaMashbir, there is an essay (vol. 1 192ff.) on the issue of things (food, clothing etc.) which appear to be of prohibited nature but, in actuality, are permissible and its organic composition is common.

The author, R. Ovadia Hoffman, bases the permissibility of such things on a host of early authorities who bring support from a pronouncement of the Rosh concerning a mishna in Kelayim. The mishna in Kelayim (9:2) states:

הַשִּׁירָיִים וְהַכָּלָךְ אֵין בָּהֶם מִשּׁוּם כִּלְאַיִם, אֲבָל אֲסוּרִים מִפְּנֵי מַרְאִית הָעָיִן

Trans. (Sefaria):

Shirayim [type of silk which resembles linen] and kolach [a type of silk which resembles wool], are not subject to the laws of kilayim, but are [nevertheless] forbidden due to mar'it ha'ayin...

The Rosh (quoted by his son, the Tur on YD §298) ruled:

ואע"פ שמן התורה אין כלאים אלא בצמר ופשתים חכמים אסרו משי עם צמר לפי שדומה לפשתים וכן אסרו כלך עם פשתן והוא מין צמר שגדל בכרכי הים על האבנים שבים ודומה לצמר ואסרוה משום מראית העין שלא יאמרו על הלובשן שהוא לבוש כלאים וכתב א"א הרא"ש ז"ל ומפני זה אסרתי באשכנז שלא לתפור בגד קנבוס תחת בגד צמר לפי שאין בגד קנבוס מצוי באשכנז ויהיו סבורין שהוא בגד פשתן והאידנא מצויין בגדי משי בינינו והכל מכירין בו הילכך מותר לתפור בגדי משי תחת בגדי צמר וכן חוטי משי בסרבל של צמר ע"כ:

This is the basic thesis, IIUC, and the author goes on to demonstrate with many examples and proofs that when the composition and permissible alternates are known, even when not widespread, there is no issue of marit ayin.

A few of the opinions he marshals in substantiating his own opinion are: R. Shmuel Abuhav (Dvar Shmuel §92) who permitted the wearing of a garment woven from goat feathers and linen; R. Baruch Echfeld (Pe'at HaSadeh §36) who permitted chicken with margarine (?) which was, at the time, a relatively uncommon item; R. Ovadia Yosef (Yabia Omer vol. 6 YD §8) who permitted drinking synthetic milk after meat (though the author argues, after a discussion of ROY's resp., that the latter would permit the consumption even at the meal).

One of the popular examples he cites is the permissibility of wearing shoes on Yom Kippur that look like leather which a number of authorities permit.

Answer 3

I recently saw in kitzur shlchan aruch that if one cooks meat using almond milk one should place almonds on the dish as a sign. I would think based on this that at most one would simply need some sort of a visual sign to indicate that in fact the meat was parve.