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Redveg993
May 8th, 2008, 04:05 PM
It would be really good to get people's opinions on the consumption by vegans of so-called 'mock meats' made from soya and/or wheat gluten.

I have been a vegetarian for over 30 years and a vegan for nearly three and I must admit that I do like the taste and texture of these foods. Sometimes this leaves me feeling that I am not a 'good enough' vegan and that my choice of food implies that I am paying homage to meat even though I do not eat it. (Am I paying homage to dairy by drinking plant milks and eating vegetable spreads, soya yoghurts and custard and tofu cream cheese?)

I would take issue with the description 'mock meats' as none of the foods in any way resembles a piece of animal corpse, e.g. they are usually sausages, burgers, etc. Wheat gluten (seitan) in particular is a vegan food of great antiquity and may be even older than bread, and is arguably produced by a completely natural process when flavoured with miso/tamari, herbs/spices and inactive yeast.

Like every other vegan I am saving animals, people and the planet and feel that soya and gluten foods could be the key to saving the biosphere for future generations because Mother Earth cannot take much more in terms of mass meat consumption (and mass motorised transport). Although I do not accept that their taste duplicates that of animal flesh to the extent that I remember it after such a long time, they resemble traditional savoury foods well enough to enable many more people to become vegan than would be likely to become so if these choices are excluded.

All the same, I do have nagging doubts about the issue and am not sure if I would feel justified in introducing 'mock turkey' for instance to a young grandchild (my own children are adults). I'd be glad to know what other people think about this, but maybe I'm shooting at a straw person, after all these foods are vegan and as long as our food choices avoid pain, exploitation, hunger and loss of habitat for human and non-human animals, this is OK. Over to you......

Marrers
May 8th, 2008, 05:20 PM
I'm sure we already have a thread about this. If not it has definitely cropped up in another thread somewhere.

Marrers
May 8th, 2008, 05:41 PM
Here is the link:-
http://veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19343

ellaminnowpea
May 8th, 2008, 07:03 PM
I don't think there's anything wrong with eating fake vegan meat. It's not hurting any animals. However I wouldn't personally eat it. I don't care for it and don't think it's healthy (only slightly healthier than real meat). It's just like eating other packaged foods. There are plenty of alternative that are healthier and easier to digest, like lentils and beans, and some forms of soy.

I don't have children, but I'd probably refrain from giving them fake meat as much as possible. I know they'll want to eat "regular" kid foods around friends, so it'll probably be available. Again, I'd stick to the alternatives that I mentioned instead. Refraining from eating anything that resembles omni food would just be very, very difficult and perpetuate the myth that we are extremists.

harpy
May 8th, 2008, 07:14 PM
I don't have a problem with it even if it does resemble meat etc. - as long as it doesn't come from an animal it's OK with me.

I eat it sometimes, but because it's usually highly processed it doesn't seem as good a thing to build your diet around as veg, grains, beans etc. Also to me it never really tastes as good as stuff made from first principles can.

Knottykc
May 9th, 2008, 09:16 AM
I eat these so called mock meats and enjoy most of them. Sometimes it does creep me out a bit as some of them are very like what I remember meat to taste like and also texture wise...

yum
May 9th, 2008, 09:45 AM
I eat these so called mock meats and enjoy most of them. Sometimes it does creep me out a bit as some of them are very like what I remember meat to taste like and also texture wise...

I'm abit like this- i'll only eat some mock meats that don't taste like meat- like redwoods vegan bacon- yummy and tastes and resembles nothing like meat. I won't try the cheatin' ham as it looks to fleshy coloured for my liking:amazed_ani:

I like the texture of mock meat...it's nice every now and then for a change.

x

journey
May 11th, 2008, 06:40 PM
Mock meats serve a great purpose in making it easy for people to transition away from eating real meat - they can still have foods with same taste/texture they're used to.

It usually grosses me out though if it looks too much like the real thing (plus being expensive and processed). I do occassionally eat vegan veggie burgers, but am looking into making them from scratch.

A book I read recommends calling them alternatives, rather than mock meat or meat subsitutes, which make it sound like they're something less than the real thing.

squigaletta
May 12th, 2008, 07:14 AM
I was veggie for 3 years before going vegan, and in that time never ate any mock meats. But as a vegan I tend to really like them, I don't think it is as a meat substitute per se (because i never missed meat as a veggie) I'm really struggling to find a reason for it. Currently my theory is that I tried them out bcz I wanted to see how nice evgan foods could be, and disprove myself and my friends that vegan food was cardboard and boring. And since trying them I love them!

pavotrouge
May 12th, 2008, 08:39 AM
I'm often ridiculed by people for the plain existence of mock meats. People ask: "If you don't want to eat an animal, why do you eat veg sausage?"

Which is stupid really, because it's (for most people) not the taste or shape of animal products we are against, but the way animals are exploited. I don't see anything bad about it.

I eat some of the processed varieties maybe once or twice a month- tofu, tempeh and seitan are no fake meats in my book.

When it comes to kids- I have none but many close friends of mine do- I think fake meats are an excellent idea. Not in huge amounts and not every single day, but vegetarian/vegan kids often have a hard time fitting in, so eating seemingly "normal" foods can help that. Plus, they often come with cute names and packaging which the kids love.

ellaminnowpea
May 12th, 2008, 05:27 PM
Currently my theory is that I tried them out bcz I wanted to see how nice vegan foods could be, and disprove myself and my friends that vegan food was cardboard and boring.

I tried one yesterday and have to say it was pretty good. I doubt I"ll be eating them that much, but they do help us to fit in with omnis a bit better.