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Kevster
Feb 20th, 2005, 04:30 PM
I tend to avoid them, vegan rashers and the like, but they don't taste too good anyway.
Plus they're usually quite pricey.

VeganMan
Feb 20th, 2005, 04:56 PM
Red Bamboo is a Vegan restaurant located on W4th Street between 6th avenue and MacDougal Street (New York City), great food good service. If you’re ever there try the Mock Bourbon Chicken, it’s fantastic.

I was eating a quick lunch and I overheard someone with a heavy English accent say, “Oh this is all fake meat, do you have any vegetable dishes? I don’t eat anything that even looks like meat.”

I thought to myself, “He’s a real purist, how admirable.”

I turned to look and I couldn’t believe it, he was wearing a leather jacket!

I asked him, “That’s not real leather, is it?”

He said, “Yes it is as a matter of fact.”

So I asked him: “Let me get this straight, you won’t eat anything that even looks like meat yet you’ll wear a murdered cow to a Vegan restaurant?”

His reply: “That’s right. I’m sitting in a Vegan restaurant wearing leather.”

He was a pretty big guy and probably psychotic (given the above) so I had nothing else to say.

Evilfluffbunny
Feb 20th, 2005, 05:14 PM
I tink it's a bit creepy when it gets TOO real

You should see the mock duck, it's even got pimples so it looks like the feathers have been plucked out! There's a vegan chicken thing I like which is shaped like a roast chicken (with little drumsticks and everything) but I think they've done it for comedy value more than realism. :D The only thing I've ever tried that was too realistic for me was a fish steak, it had fake skin, stank like real fish and had a really squishy texture. I just kept thinking of rotten dead fish and couldn't finish it. :p


I tend to avoid them, vegan rashers and the like, but they don't taste too good anyway.

Really? I think they taste great. I suppose it just depends on what you try and your individual tastes as well. I've tasted a few burgers that are really bland and tasteless, but other things which are meaty enough to fool meat eaters. One time my Mum had made a buffet with a mixture of vegan & non-vegan stuff and my Grandparents had been using our vegan chicken & beef slices to fill their sandwiches and had commented on how tasty they were and wondered what me and my Mum were having. They were really shocked when we told them it wasn't real chicken!

VeganMan - that was a weird story! I wouldn't have had the guts (pun intended) to say anything to him.

snivelingchild
Feb 20th, 2005, 05:47 PM
I only dislike fake meat when it looks like the actual animal. That grosses me out.

John
Feb 20th, 2005, 06:05 PM
Red Bamboo isn't completely vegan. Fortunately, they mark the non-vegan dishes on the menu. My mouth is watering thinking about their buffalo barbecue wings with vegan bleu cheese. Funny thing is, they aren't wings, they're drumsticks.

kriz
Feb 20th, 2005, 06:56 PM
I've also wondered if I'm the only one who likes fake meat. I love it! :) But I try not to eat too much as most of it is highly processed. On the other hand it's usually loaded with protein, so that's definitely a plus if one is worried about that. For me "fakes" are quick and easy food to make. Good for travelling, or to bring when you visit meat eaters - all you have to do is add the "pattie" to whatever side dish (hopefully vegan) they're making.
Meat substitutes are great, if you ask me! ;)

kriz
Feb 20th, 2005, 07:07 PM
After 27 years of being veggie, I've become a specialist on good "fakes." I know exactly which one to use in what recipe...smoked, deep fried, peppered, spiced... I can turn almost any meat dish into a much tastier vegan dish! :) :)

boomer
Feb 20th, 2005, 07:17 PM
When veggie I ate quite a few fakes, and since becoming vegan the consumption of fakes is getting less and less, I now find the taste weird and only eat them when I'm in need of a quick lunch pack for work.
I would rather have a meal of veg than something that resembles the dead, I understand the concept of enjoying the flavour, but it's not what I want anymore. I find that when at home I can be much more adventurous with veg and don't want to spoil it with fakes.

Gorilla
Feb 20th, 2005, 07:45 PM
i too used to eat a few fake meats when i was veggie, i used to quite like Quorn but as that's not vegan i tried the vegan equivalents and thought they were horrible. i'm not really that bothered about eating them any more, they may be convenient but i don't like the taste or texture. that's not because they look or taste like meat, because a lot of the time they don't anyway, it's just that i don't think they taste nice.

i quite like VegeMince and Making Waves fish fingers, and Redwood sausages which are kind of like meat sausages, but that's about it. i wouldn't say i was offended by meat substitutes though, personally.

Kiva Dancer
Feb 20th, 2005, 08:12 PM
I used fakes a lot when I was in transition but now, I don't use them so much at all. I'm not against them, I just simply don't like them. My guy has rised the question about eating fakes vs eating the real thing and it has given us many nights of good discussion on the reasons why people eat them.

I like that fake fur response. I may have to use it the next time someone asks me why I don't just eat the real stuff if I'm going to have fake.

Mystic
Feb 20th, 2005, 09:51 PM
I am not offended by fake meat - I think it is fantastic for people who like the taste or texture of meat but want to be vegan. For me personally - I never liked meat so I am just as grossed out by the fake stuff as the real stuff. I love veggie burgers - but 'sausage rolls' and 'not chicken' make me sick! My boyfriend wants me to buy vegan sausages but I cannot bring myself to do it! Same with seitan - I cannot try it coz it just represents the real thing too much. I tried toffutti cheese slices the other week and I choked coz it was so cheesy - you would never tell that it wasn't a slice of Kraft plastic cheese!

Tofu Monster
Feb 20th, 2005, 10:40 PM
this may be a dumb question but does anyone know if you can make tofu from shop-bought soya milk?

pixeequeen
Feb 21st, 2005, 12:36 AM
Fake meat has become my kinda treat now, i try to rarely eat processed and expensive things like that. like others have said, i cant bring myself to eat it if its too meat like, the duck pimples thing is just wierd! but the vegan rashers yummy! its a sandwich thing too - i love sandwiches but struggles to find other vegan sandwichable foodstuffs!

Gorilla
Feb 21st, 2005, 08:36 AM
that's not a dumb question TM ;)

i don't see why you couldn't use shop bought soya milk, although probably best to use unsweetened soya milk (might taste a bit funny otherwise!). i found quite a good website about making your own tofu Here (www.soymilkmaker.com/making_tofu.html)

celtic rose
Feb 21st, 2005, 09:50 AM
You should see the mock duck, it's even got pimples so it looks like the feathers have been plucked out!
Yuk that's gross

Tofu Monster
Feb 21st, 2005, 12:19 PM
cheers for the link gorilla. it's just that i want to make my own tofu and i've seen a japanese tofu box thingy online which isn't expensive, but at the moment i can't afford the machine to make the actual soya milk first!

Tigerlily
Feb 21st, 2005, 04:08 PM
The reason why I hardly ate meat as an omni and the reason why I wanted to stop eating it completely (other than ethical reasons, of course) was because I absolutely hated the texture and flavour of meat. Especially the texture. It really did remind me of the "real animal" and I never really enjoyed it. So when I became vegan (skipped the vegetarian stage that most people take), I did try out the veggie burgers. I didn't like them. In fact, after forcing myself to finish of the box of Boca burgers, I thought I was going to puke.

Fake meats, in my opinion, are too much like real meats and it totally turns me off.

I do, however, eat fake deli slices. But when I was omni, although steaks and stuff turned me off, I ate a lot of deli meats.

Vora
Feb 21st, 2005, 07:07 PM
There isn't much of fake meat in France so the problem is easily resolves but, when I eat vegan burgers that taste or even smell a little too much like meat, they're really making me sick.

Wildflower
Feb 21st, 2005, 08:26 PM
I don't have a problem with fake meat, I have been asked why I eat fake meat and not just real meat if I want it so bad. I tell people because I want to. It's not dead and isn't laden with horomones, cholesterol and saturated fats.

I like some fake meats for protien and variety, but they are kinda expensive (but cheaper than real meat). There have been a few times I have been eating meatballs or something and it tastes so real I have to go read the package again...Then I remind myself I haven't eaten meat in so long I probably don't remember what it tastes like anyway...

Fake meats are becoming widely accepted here in the states as a "healthy alternative." You can find veggie burgers - generally Boca Vegan Originals, almost anywhere and people arn't thinking it's weird to eat them anymore. For that - I think they are great!

l337_v3g4n_1
Feb 21st, 2005, 09:13 PM
The pimple thing is really wierd.... I saw an advertisement in a "the vegan" magazine where they had pimply meat, fish stakes that looked wayhayHAy too real, and other stuff

Once I had some fake meatballs that tasted so real I had to check the package and ask mum, it was so frieky!
But I do enjoy fake meats, not because I miss eating flesh, but some of them just taste good, and I like good tasting stuff :p

Astrocat
Feb 21st, 2005, 09:30 PM
"One guy even said "I know a great meat substitute - it's called a salad!""

He has a good point though, eh ? Not that he was probably intending it in the way i read it , but here is how i see things.

I think the name "fake meat" or "mock meat" is an artificial creation designed to make plant-based food products appeal more to people weaning themselves off flesh but who have a need-meat mindset still.

I do not link eating processed plant products "fake meat" with eating decomposing flesh in the slightest, no more than i correlate eating jelly babies with eating babies or gingerbread men with eating men.
I never have and dersay that i never will.

Granted, i haven;t seen any of the especially creepy-looking ones so i can only speak about the ones which aren;t deliberately crafted to look eerily like flesh, but if anything is to be considered a "meat substitute" then to me a salad, or for omnivores some tasty cooked vegan dish, would seem to fill that criteria just as much as a processed TVP burger.

Personally, i would say that flesh is a plant-food substitute rather than the other way around, or that flesh is "fake food" rather than planty food-products being considered some kind of substitute for meat, but that's another story...

scorpy
Feb 21st, 2005, 09:36 PM
No meat for me. Not even fake meat! No thanks. But, if you have eaten meat for a while before going veg*n, then it's understandable. If not, then it's weird :)

Astrocat
Feb 21st, 2005, 10:24 PM
"But, if you have eaten meat for a while before going veg*n, then it's understandable. If not, then it's weird :)"

If a person hasn;t eaten flesh before then would it really seem weird, to your mind, that they should enjoy plant-based foods on their own merits without mentally connecting their consumption with eating flesh ?

I think you're assuming that people are eating processed plant foods primarily because they enjoy or crave the taste of flesh, but people have all different reasons for what they do.
:)

Wildflower
Feb 21st, 2005, 10:44 PM
I do not link eating processed plant products "fake meat" with eating decomposing flesh in the slightest, no more than i correlate eating jelly babies with eating babies or gingerbread men with eating men.
I never have and dersay that i never will.

Hahaahaa!

I had a friend who when people offered her animal crackers, she would say very politely, "No thank you, I am vegetarain." You would be amazed how noone got that! :D

kriz
Feb 21st, 2005, 10:55 PM
I can't even remember how meat taste like. I haven't eaten meat since around the age of 4. But I've always enjoyed the "fakes". And maybe it is because I don't really associate it with real meat at all - I have no idea how a real burger taste :confused: :rolleyes: