Questlove, legendary drummer and frontman for The Roots and bandleader for The Tonight Show, took to Instagram today to announce a new, non-musical project: a sandwich.
Dubbed “Questlove’s Cheesesteak,” the sandwich is a vegetarian version of a Philly Cheesesteak made with Impossible’s plant-based meat 2.0. Livekindly reports that the sandwich will not be 100 percent vegan, as it will have dairy cheese.
It will be available starting March 28th at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park during all home Philadelphia Phillies baseball games. Over the next few months, it’ll roll out on menus of 40 Live Nation-owned event spaces across the U.S., including concert and sporting venues. This comes a year after Live Nation put the Impossible Burger on the menu at 35 of its music venues.
This isn’t Questlove’s first foray into the food world. He wrote a James Beard-nominated culinary nonfiction book, Something to Food About: Exploring Creativity with Innovative Chefs, and has been on a number of food-focused TV shows.
Though not a vegetarian, the musician wrote on Instagram that he fell in love with Impossible Foods several years ago. In fact, he invested in the plant-based meat startup in 2017. He’s also from Philadelphia, so, as he puts it, “i gotta know #Cheesesteaks right?”
Both Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have been accumulating quite a roster of celebrity endorsers and partners. My colleague Chris recently wrote about Beyond’s posse of high-profile athletes and musicians that have partnered with or endorsed the company. In addition to Questlove, Impossible also has investments from “Harold and Kumar” actor Kal Penn, and has been endorsed by celebs like Miley Cyrus and Chrissy Teigen.
These celebrity supporters could help both companies continue to gain influence with vegans and flexitarians alike. In the case of Beyond Meat, it could also help the company’s impending IPO pop — which might in turn make it easier Impossible and other plant-based meats to go public down the road.
As a vegetarian, I know how hard it can be to find a decent meat-free meal option at a sports arena or concert hall that’s not just french fries. That’s why this Questlove-Impossible sandwich is a win-win: Impossible gets to target the captive audience (literally) at huge venues, and LiveNation gets to add a vegetarian option to its menus and look cool. As an investor in Impossible, Questlove has an obvious motive to help the startup sell more of their meat 2.0.
If you get a chance to sink your teeth into Questlove’s Cheesesteak, drop us a line and let us know how it is!
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