With gas being as high as it has been, hybrid cars are all the rage.  Now one company is trying to apply that concept to hamburgers.

St. Louis-based Solae LLC has come up with a solution, a patent-pending invention called SoleCina that involves both the process and the ingredients to produce either a "hybrid" meat — part soy, part real meat — or a completely meatless food that tastes like chicken, beef, pork or turkey.

This approach is in stark contrast to Hardee's and Carl Jr.'s "Where's the Beef?" plan as reported by the Associated Press.

In the past few months, McDonald's Corp. announced it would push healthy meals like salads while Wendy's International Inc. said it would fry foods in a healthier oil with less trans fats. And CKE Restaurants Inc.? The operator of Hardee's and Carl's Jr. unveiled a jumbo-sized cheeseburger smothered in sliced steak.

It is good to see that patent applications can be healthy too.