• 1967
    Gregory Sams opens SEED restaurant in the UK. John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin frequenting the restaurant.
  • 1979
    The Boca Foods Company is founded in Boca Raton, Florida, in 1979 with the vegetarian "Sun Burger"
  • 1982
    Gregory Sams releases the first commercially-available meatless burger, the VegeBurger
  • 1997
    Gardenburger products become available in retail stores nationwide
  • 2000
    Kraft Foods announces it has purchased Boca Burger
  • 2003
    Garden Protein launches its Gardein line of meat-free products out of Richmond, Canada
  • October 2005
    After helping take veggie-burgers mainstream, Gardenburger files for bankruptcy
  • November 2007
    The Kellogg Company announces it has acquired the makers of Gardenburger
  • 2009
    Ethan Brown founds Beyond Meat, a company specializing in vegetarian protein alternatives
  • 2011
    Stanford biochemistry professor Patrick Brown founds Impossible Foods
  • 2013
    The number of Americans who identify as vegetarian grows to 7.3 million
  • July 2013
    Bill Gates is among a group of investors to give $108 million to Impossible Foods
  • August 2013
    Dr. Mark Post, a Dutch scientist and doctor, unveils a five-ounce, lab-grown hamburger via live taste test. Sergey Brin picks up the $325,000 tab.
  • October 2014
    The Wall Street Journal publishes a closer look at Impossible Foods' "veggie burger that bleeds"
  • October 2015
    Beyond Meat raises $17 million in funding from a group of investors (including Bill Gates)
  • February 2016
    Memphis Meats releases a video of “the world’s first cultured meatball” being cooked
  • May 2016
    A Whole Foods in Boulder, Colorado sells out of beet-bleeding Beyond Burgers in just an hour
  • June 2016
    Modern Meadow raises $40 million to grow leather without the use of livestock
  • July 2016
    Chef David Chang puts Impossible Foods' meat-free burger on the menu at Momofuku Nishi in NYC.
  • November 2016
    Memphis Meats begins testing lab-grown turkey.
  • March 2017
    Memphis Meats introduces lab-grown chicken nuggets.
  • March 2017
    Impossible Foods announces construction of massive new production facility.
  • May 2017
    SoCal-based Umami Burger chain puts Impossible Foods burger on the menu.
  • August 2017
    Impossible Foods raises an additional $75 million.
  • August 2017
    Memphis Meats raises an additional $17 million.