Veggie burgers are a flexitarian’s best friend. They’re plants in disguise, a faux meat made completely out of meatless ingredients. Shaped into patties and seasoned with savory herbs and spices, they sizzle up just like their hamburger counterparts. They taste just like ’em, too. And they’re popular — mainstream enough to have a place on fast food menus. Carl’s Jr. has a unique zucchini burger, Burger King has the Impossible Whopper, and both Denny’s and White Castle use the Dr. Praeger’s vegan patty (gluten-free and made with whole foods). They’re popular because health foods are trending, though they’ve been around a lot longer than the recent lean toward plant-based burgers.
The first veggie burger was served in London basement restaurant SEED in the late 1960s, but the concept didn’t start taking off with veggie-lovers until the 1980s. It was invented by a man named Gregory Sams, a vegetarian since childhood. At age 19, Sams opened his macrobiotic restaurant in London with his brother Craig, serving dishes designed to holistically nourish and support overall wellness. Later, he would go on to sell a revised version known as the VegeBurger in 1982.
Sams and his brother opened their restaurant a few decades before wellness trends made popular things like seaweed seasoning (which gives an ocean-fresh flavor to plant-based seafood) or vegan butter spreads. Sams found success through the commercial rise of his veggie burger — and he even had a few famous regular customers along the way.
How the VegeBurger found worldwide success
Veggie burgers, and meat alternatives in general, are popular these days. The number of Americans who have tried plant-based meat rose to 53% in 2024, according to the Good Food Institute, up from 41% of adults in 2020, according to Gallup. People are switching to plant-based meats because they want a healthier, more sustainable, and eco-friendly lifestyle, and all of them owe a little thank you to the father of the veggie burger: that health-obsessed restaurateur, Gregory Sams.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono were regulars at Sams’ macrobiotic restaurant, where he invented the veggie burger. The first recipe was made with seitan, aduki beans, tamari, and oat flakes, but neither the restaurant nor the recipe would last long. The brothers also had other ventures. Craig focused on whole wheat bread baking and Gregory set his sights on commercial natural food sales — though both arms became part of the Harmony Foods brand.
Eventually, financial troubles took Sams back to the veggie burger to save a struggling Harmony Foods. He restructured the recipe around wheat gluten, sesame, soy, and oats, and sold the first iteration in 1982 as a dry mix. Customers needed only add water and form into patties for veggie burgers at home. Then in 1984, Sams’ frozen VegeBurgers hit the market, and there wouldn’t be another prominent competing brand of veggie burgers out there until the 1990s when Gardenburger and Boca Burger arrived. In 1988, Sams sold his Realeat Company, which had been distributing the VegeBurger, but he had left his mark by then. Now, you’re likely to see a plant-based patty under many different name brands at your next cookout alongside the rest of your usual grilling lineup, but it all started with Sams’ vision back in the 1960s.
