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Sarabi
Mar 19th, 2009, 06:07 PM
I am giving up fake meat for now until the end of this school year at least. Maybe forever. Unless it's made of tempeh, maybe, because I think tempeh is healthy. But that soy-based meat sucks, and fake meat is usually unhealthy, I think. TOO MUCH SOY.

And I'm sick of fake meat that tastes and looks exactly like meat. I don't want to have to question my veganism, even if the thing was labeled vegan!

Sorry, I just needed to say that because it helps me stick to it if I hold myself to other people.

sandra
Mar 19th, 2009, 08:13 PM
I don't look on it as 'fake meat'..........to me it's just another kind of plant based food. It's convenient and quick to cook, so it's handy when you have 4 or 5 people to cater for in a hurry.

firstandthen
Mar 19th, 2009, 08:30 PM
I love "fake meat" - especially fishless fish fingers. Mmmmm.

I probably shouldn't eat so much but I don't think its something that makes me question my veganism.

missbettie
Mar 19th, 2009, 10:44 PM
i love the fake "meat" too. but everyone is different :D

sometimes I question if I eat too much soy as well, then i drop back down and stop eating tofu everyday, but sometimes i just get in one of those kicks!

Sarabi
Mar 19th, 2009, 11:07 PM
Thanks for your support, guys. Now you sound like all those people who say, "I like meat!" when I talk about veganism.

If you want to eat fake meat, I'm not complaining... I just noticed myself liking the taste of vegan nuggets precisely because it tasted more like chicken meat, and I found that idea revolting... and I think that if I were a meat-eater, it would probably make me crave chicken meat!

Prawnil
Mar 19th, 2009, 11:13 PM
For balance's sake, I don't like "meat substitute" type food.

missbettie
Mar 19th, 2009, 11:37 PM
Thanks for your support, guys. Now you sound like all those people who say, "I like meat!" when I talk about veganism.



no one was putting you down.:confused:

if you don't want to eat the fake stuff don't, ur way right, its waaay healthier for you, especially if you stick with all the nummy whole foods. a lot of fake meats have a bunch of weird stuff in them.:smile:

Nobylspoon
Mar 19th, 2009, 11:53 PM
But where are you going to get your protein from?!? Lol sorry I couldn't resist.

I have been cutting back alot on my fake meat and anything else loaded with preservatives for that matter. I like knowing whats in my food, a big reason why I started making my own bread. Although I don't plan on giving up chik'n nuggets anytime soon :P

Sarabi
Mar 19th, 2009, 11:54 PM
Well, they're very often processed, I think. I know no one was putting me down. I just thought that was funny...

missbettie
Mar 19th, 2009, 11:56 PM
oh i thought you were being serious. sorry! :) everyone has been so sensitive lately, myself included. :D

Sloth
Mar 20th, 2009, 12:03 AM
I'm not overly keen on fake 'meat', for similar reasons to those you stated. I don't personally like the idea of a food based on the taste of animal flesh.

I am IN NO WAY though, attacking those who do eat 'meat substitues', and understand that different people think through this in different ways. :)

Sarabi
Mar 20th, 2009, 12:36 AM
Yes. However, I do object to *mock* meat, i.e. a loaf of bread shaped like cooked turkey. That is not appropriate for a vegan, imo. If you're going to do that, it might as well be shaped like a LIVE turkey.

Guate_Vegan
Mar 20th, 2009, 12:41 AM
Hi Sarabi!

I'm doing this for now as well, and I have found it much better on the $$ and also on my health. I felt always a bit weird that it tasted so much like real animals and kinda guilty as well, even though I don't object to anybody else eating the stuff. I will eat it if there's nothing else to eat, or if I'm going out to dinner and they have it in my plate, I'm not gonna refuse it since it IS vegan.

I don't know many reasons why not to eat it for health, but I think if you don't eat it like 3x a day every day then we're fine.

missbettie
Mar 20th, 2009, 12:59 AM
Yes. However, I do object to *mock* meat, i.e. a loaf of bread shaped like cooked turkey. That is not appropriate for a vegan, imo. If you're going to do that, it might as well be shaped like a LIVE turkey.

but its not the same thing. nothing is getting hurt, and it really helps people transition.

I like the taste of meat, i just choose not to eat it becase it is completely and utterly wrong. And just for my own selfish pleasure of eating something that I think tastes good, its just not worth it. Its not worth the pain and the suffering of completely innocent beings.

I know you think differently, obviously you don't like the taste of meat, but for those who do miss the tastes of their omni days (not the torture and awfulness) the fake meats are really nice.

I guess its the same things with wearing fake leather huh?

Sarabi
Mar 20th, 2009, 01:15 AM
but its not the same thing. nothing is getting hurt, and it really helps people transition.

I like the taste of meat, i just choose not to eat it becase it is completely and utterly wrong. And just for my own selfish pleasure of eating something that I think tastes good, its just not worth it. Its not worth the pain and the suffering of completely innocent beings.

I know you think differently, obviously you don't like the taste of meat, but for those who do miss the tastes of their omni days (not the torture and awfulness) the fake meats are really nice.

I guess its the same things with wearing fake leather huh?
There is a distinction between fake meat and mock meat. Fake meat is done for the taste or because people are unoriginal.

Mock meat like the one I described above is done sometimes just to be original and sometimes to make a mockery of real meat, and it doesn't necessarily have the same taste or quality as real meat.

Prawnil
Mar 20th, 2009, 01:23 AM
There is a distinction between fake meat and mock meat.
Is that true there? At least in the UK, as far as I've ever seen, "mock" and "fake" are synonymous - "meaty" vegan foods are sometimes marketed as mock meats (Mock Duck...).

Sarabi
Mar 20th, 2009, 02:57 AM
Is that true there? At least in the UK, as far as I've ever seen, "mock" and "fake" are synonymous - "meaty" vegan foods are sometimes marketed as mock meats (Mock Duck...).
Well, fake meat can be mock meat, but I wouldn't call a turkey loaf fake meat because no one's going to be fooled into thinking that it's meat, no one will treat it like meat. I mean, the sourdough boy is not a "fake boy" but more like a play on a boy. Not necessarily a mockery, as there's nothing wrong with being a boy as there is with being meat.

Quantum Mechanic
Mar 20th, 2009, 04:32 AM
I have fake meat products every once in awhile. I only buy them once or twice a month, but in the cafeteria sometimes they have good vegan food that have a fake meat product in it (like the vegan shepard's pie), but I'd rather not have it on a regular basis (such as having fake meat slices on sandwiches every day).

Korn
Mar 20th, 2009, 07:23 AM
I sometimes eat seitan of the type sold as 'mock duck' or 'mock chicken'. That's not because these products possibly reminds of duck or chicken. I know this, because I've never eaten duck or chicken - or wanted to do it. These products only serve as one of very many ways of eating plants, and I like variation. Plus, when prepared with garlic, spices, ginger etc, they don't even taste like seitan, which by itself don't have a taste that appeals to me much. To me, they're more like a variation of, say, spaghetti than a variation of meat.

VeganMonkey
Mar 20th, 2009, 10:37 AM
Personally I don't think that eating meat substitutes means on some level I want real meat. I never enjoyed meat and I don't think the substitutes are really very close to the real thing - the flavours are vaguely similar but the textures are totally different (and it was the texture of meat that I most disliked).
I accept that of course it's healthier to mimimise your intake of processed foods but I personally like to include meat substitutes in my diet (though not to excess) - I guess partly because they're convenient. They're a vegan's 'junk' food I suppose, and as health wasn't my primary reason for becoming vegan, I like to indulge sometimes! Few things beat a fishless finger and tomato sauce sandwich after a night out huh Firstandthen?!

leedsveg
Mar 20th, 2009, 12:35 PM
Personally I don't think that eating meat substitutes means on some level I want real meat. I never enjoyed meat and I don't think the substitutes are really very close to the real thing - the flavours are vaguely similar but the textures are totally different (and it was the texture of meat that I most disliked).
I accept that of course it's healthier to mimimise your intake of processed foods but I personally like to include meat substitutes in my diet (though not to excess) - I guess partly because they're convenient. They're a vegan's 'junk' food I suppose, and as health wasn't my primary reason for becoming vegan, I like to indulge sometimes! Few things beat a fishless finger and tomato sauce sandwich after a night out huh Firstandthen?!

Hi VeganMonkey

Following on from what you say, when I went veggie in 1990, then vegan 6 years later, it was nothing to do with disliking the taste or texture of meat or fish. If they stopped making the fake items which I sometimes currently eat, no way would I go back to eating real meat/fish. My beliefs are stronger than that. The fake items may be junk food but I don't feel obliged to eat as healthily as I can all the time. Part of a meal I had yesterday included chips (fries) undoubtedly unhealthy but if they've reduced my life span by 10 minutes, so what. Sometimes even vegans have got to take a walk on the wild side.

;)

VeganMonkey
Mar 20th, 2009, 12:56 PM
Hi VeganMonkey

The fake items may be junk food but I don't feel obliged to eat as healthily as I can all the time. Part of a meal I had yesterday included chips (fries) undoubtedly unhealthy but if they've reduced my life span by 10 minutes, so what. Sometimes even vegans have got to take a walk on the wild side.

;)

That's my philosophy too! Each to their own though. :rollseyes_ani:

sandra
Mar 20th, 2009, 01:27 PM
There is a distinction between fake meat and mock meat. Fake meat is done for the taste or because people are unoriginal

I am not 'unoriginal' in my cooking..............I just like using different types of food..........if a food is vegan then I will eat it (well maybe not if it's fresh corriander, I don't like fresh corriander :()

I think you can get a bit carried away with worrying too much about liking something that is supposed to be 'like' meat, meaning you are secretly wanting 'real' meat. I was 16 when I went vegetarian and I can't rememer what meat tastes like (I'm very old) so I don't use 'fake' meat products because they taste like meat...........I use them because as I said before, they are convenient. :)

At the end of the day if the 'fake' meats are completely vegan and they help meat eaters to convert to a vegan diet more easily, then I don't see the harm in them.

1gentlemaorispirit
Mar 20th, 2009, 02:23 PM
Variety is the spice of life! :)

I eat fake/mock meats to add variety to my meals. I don't eat them all the times as I love beans and pulses, more. Sometimes they can work better in recipes, than beans and pulses and like tofu I can marinated them.

I'm not keen on the Seitan mock duck and chicken as they do have the texture of the real thing, and I've never liked eating meat. I buy seitan that doesn't have the texture of meat and use that.

Everyone is different, and I accept that. Our food tastes also change, depending on our mood, and/or as we change in life. My OH used to love fake meats, now he's not so fond of them, he prefers lentils and beans.

horselesspaul
Mar 20th, 2009, 06:04 PM
I sometimes eat seitan of the type sold as 'mock duck' or 'mock chicken'. That's not because these products possibly reminds of duck or chicken. I know this, because I've never eaten duck or chicken - or wanted to do it. These products only serve as one of very many ways of eating plants, and I like variation. Plus, when prepared with garlic, spices, ginger etc, they don't even taste like seitan, which by itself don't have a taste that appeals to me much. To me, they're more like a variation of, say, spaghetti than a variation of meat.
Good post.
I don't think of meat or any animal product as food.
These "meat" analogues do have a place in a varied approach to cooking in my household and are merely what they are to me, another kind of food.