Fake meat

[Mystic]

I don't have pretend meat coz I don't really like it. And I hate tofu too. But tofu is something in itself and doesn't remind me of meat at all. I just hate it. And I hate soy milk and milk substitutes coz I hate that soy flavour.

[tails4wagging]

I am getting better with Tofu and will experiment with it. I have a Tofu cookbook and you can even make cheesecake with it, it so versatile!!.

[DianeVegan]

I absolutely loved some of the sauces that went with meat dishes when I was omni. It wasn't the meat - it was the sauce. Now I make those same dishes with seitan or tempeh or tofu.

[DoveInGreyClothing]

I eat tofu 'cos I like it. Since no animals were killed to make meat alternatives I have no moral qualms eating them, it's the best of both worlds. Anything that make veg*nism more appealing to the omnis is a good thing.

[Gliondrach]

Tofu things can help people to make the switch to veganism or vegetarianism, as Evil says. I don't like the taste of plain tofu except when it is made scrambled eggs-style. I mix it in a pan with soya milk - or human milk if I can get it - and add some herbs. It is nice on toast and has a light, refreshing flavour.

Just joking about the human milk - before anyone comments.

[whats-her-name]

good for sandwiches, but not only with sandwiches.
I like it with, for example, tomatoes and use it to make, erm, i don't know what's its name in english, pierogi? i mean, sth like this, its very tasty <3

[harpy]

I've heard others argue against fake meat products on the grounds that they will make people think we are having problems doing without meat. I think though that it's a cultural thing - most of us were brought up as omnivores so it's natural that we will sometimes hanker after, say, a sausage when a lifetime vegan mightn't. I don't think it does any harm to have them (most of the products in question don't seem that nice to me, but that's a separate issue).

Like others I wouldn't put tofu in the meat substitute category though. It's a food in its own right, not an imitation of something else.

[sugarmouse]

[QUOTE=harpy]I've heard others argue against fake meat products on the grounds that they will make people think we are having problems doing without meat.

this is the problem!


but liek korn says it isnt really true.i dnt mind tofu-take it or leave it.i dnt think of it as a substitute, just a diifferent type of food.

[Korn]

I've heard others argue against fake meat products on the grounds that they will make people think we are having problems doing without meat.

Some habits are more addictive than others. Again, I can't see any similarities between tofu and meat, but seitan reminds of meat (the way it looks + texture). If someone decides to break a life-long food habit, I can't see anything wrong with admitting that he has problems with the switch (if he has), and is missing meat? To me, it would be weird to miss meat and not accept and admit it. Or not to miss it, but blame others for missing it.

If a person moves his trash bin from one place to another, it will take some time before he not automatically looks for it in the old location whenever he wants to throw something into it. If someone wants a ie. protein boost, and has had meat as his only high protein source for most of his life, his sub-consiousness will assoiciate the need for protein with meat - until his system has gotten used to other high protein sources.

IMO, nothing is wrong with habits, we just need to learn how to change / let go of the habits we're not happy with...

[catmogg]

The Uk vegetarian Society recently ran an article called 'the great fake meat debate' in their quaterly mag. Here are some of the arguments pitched for or against...

For
without fake meat i think fewer people would try vegetarianism

most people who becomer vegetarians, or eat vegetarian meals, in the uk, have been brought up on meat. I see no harm in fake meat products, because tastes are inbuilt into our systems as young children. After all the reason most people give for not being vegetarian is: 'i like meat'...

I live with my partner, who is a carnivore...without fake meat i could not expect him not to bring meat into the house...

Against:
meat substitutes also strengthen the idea that a vegetarian diet can't be balanced and that 'subsititues' are the only way for us sickly lettuce eaters to get enough calcium, iron and protein...

Most fakes parody processed or reconstituted meat and fish products...Moreover, they are usually made from a bland base product and pumped full of salt and chemicals in order to give it some kind of flavour.

New vegetarians are in danger of thinking this is all vegetarianism has to offer, becoming bored with their limited options and just eating chicken now and then 'for a change'...


So what are vegan forumers' opinions on this debate and the wider issues it raises? How do you feel about vegan sausages, burgers and the 'fake fish head soup' on menus in vegetarian/vegan restaraunts in China. What about other fake animal products like cheese, ice cream or pleather, faux fur, etc?

[Stu]

Well I always wonder how they get the taste right (or at least, vaguely right).

For example, if they make something that's supposed to mimic the taste of chicken, they must surely use real chicken in the erm, design (for want of a better word) process, as a means of comparison. And if that's the case, buying such products would be a pretty unvegan thing to do.

[catmogg]

I LIKE the taste of tofu - it's nothing like meat and I don't pretend that it is.
Unfortunately, as I'm following the McDougall programme, I'm not eating it anymore.

Geoff, whats the McDougall programme??

[Roxy]

I am FOR fake meats - as long as they are vegan

[strawberry]

I like some fake meats. I abs. hate seitan, but maybe its b/c Ive only had it once and I thought it was so tough and unedible. I love soy everything, esp. choccie milk
Tofu is alright, but I'd rather just stick to the veggies in stirfry most of the time.

[LittleNellColumbia]

Hey!

I must say i do get quite repulsed when i come across a veggie "bacon" with the fake bits of fat...why would a vegan even want to think that what they were eating was the "real deal"??? eww and i cnt stand the thought of thoe "fake racks of lamb" or "chicken legs".....i dont much go for anything that really resembles an animal part. But thats just me.

I do like veggie sausages though, and burgers and i like tofu. I also really used to love sausage roll and pies so i wouldeat an alternative.
There is nothing wrong with thats, after all, veganism is about not harming or supporting animal cruelty. If we arent contributng to the harm, then why isis a bad thing?

[Atticus]

I think it is outrageous for anyone to condemn or be against the idea of anyone eating FAKE meat just because they are "pretending." Absolutely outrageous.

[LittleNellColumbia]

Totally agree^^

[satirecafe]

I have them occasionally but they kind of creep me out, as if I want to have animal products and I'm only able to vegan because our society can make me substitutes for them. I just like to stick with the traditional vegetables.

[puca]

Can fake meat taste too meaty?

I went to Peking Palace Friday and some of the food well tasted like meat. I didn't think it'd make me squeamish, but it did in a weird way.

I once bought vegan fishcakes which tasted waaaay too fishy. I nearly gagged.

Ok, maybe I shouldn't buy a fake meat if I don't like meat. lol

[wendy]

I think it is great if fake meat tastes like meat. It will make it much easier for a lot of meateaters to turn vegan. Their is nothing wrong with the taste meat, only with meat itself. And you said it yourself if you don't like a meaty taste : don't eat it

[harpy]

As I've probably already said somewhere, it would bother me to be served very realistic fake meat in an omnivorous restaurant because I would take some convincing that they hadn't mixed up the orders, but I don't really mind it somewhere like the Peking Palace, just for a change. (Those fake king prawns they have are seriously weird though )

[everdream]

As an omnivore, I loved the taste of meat. I don't struggle with cravings, per se, but when my family are tucking into hotdogs made with 'quality' sausages, I do sometimes envy them. But of course, I'd never go back to eating meat. So to me, meat subs are great as like it has been said, it's not the taste/look of things such as sausages that is bad, it's where it comes from.

[Ms_Derious]

How long have you been vegan Everdream? I never like red meat that much, but I loved chicken. It took me maybe a six months to a year to stop seeing it as food.

I now no longer think of meat as food at all, and increasingly don't see dairy products as food either. For me, my brain eventually 'switched off' those associations.

I do like seitan and TVP, but I don't kid myself for a moment they are anything like meat really... I just think of them as handy bits of protein.

[everdream]

^not too long really, about 2 and a half months now. (I was only vegetarian for about a month before that, so I suppose it was overall a pretty quick move over). It's not just the taste though, it's the smell. Sometimes the meat my family cooks smells really good. But I supose in time it won't, right? I've heard others say the smell of cooking meat sickens them, but then I think, 'but I like it', and feel guilty.

[Ms_Derious]

The smell of meat makes me nauseous now, but for a long time it smelled of food. Don't feel guilty over that... it was the way you were bought up, how your mind is conditioned, etc.

Think of it this way... the fact you are tempted by it and don't give in shows strength... if you didn't much like it in the first place that wouldn't be so nearly impressive.

Give yourself a break and you are doing something because you feel that it is right, not that it is easy. Be proud of yourself

[pavotrouge]

I've had a few- mainly Asian- fake meats that seriously freaked me out because they were too meaty, as did the Tesco chicken fillets. Those from Peking Palace have quite an authentic texture IMHO but don't taste like meat.

Generally, I don't miss the texture or taste of meat (although I sometimes have fish cravings... enter seaweed), but I don't mind having some properly cooked fake meat every now and then.

[wendy]

Hi,

I am 30 and vegetarian for 17 years and vegan for about 3 years and I still think meat smells great. But I never feel the need to eat it, I realise all to well that the meat once was a living breathing animal cut down in it's prime only fot that smell and taste

[Roxy]

Can fake meat taste too meaty?

I went to Peking Palace Friday and some of the food well tasted like meat. I didn't think it'd make me squeamish, but it did in a weird way.

There is a Vegetarian Chinese Restaurant here that serves some kind of fake sizzling "beef" dish. I had one taste of it and couldn't eat any more. It tasted exactly what I remember roast beef to taste like. In other words it was too real.

I otherwise don't mind fake meats at all.

[DavidT]

I'm happy if meat substitutes mean fewer animals killed.

Personally, I try my best to avoid anything that acknowledges consumption of animals, such as veggie 'bacon', veggie 'chicken', veggie 'fish' etc. Unfortunately I love McSween's vegetarian haggis, aaaah, wonderful stuff.

I have no problem per se with veggie sausage or burgers because no area of food production has a monopoly on these words. A burger or a sausage is simply a convenient way of serving types of food that might otherwise be awkward. Sadly most manufacturers of veggie burgers and sausages try to make them like meat; more imagination required!

In fact, the junk-food regular veggie burgers at our local fast-food joints are far more vegetabley than most of those in the whole food shop!

[Roxy]

I think they're a great source of food for people who are transitioning to veganism or vegetarianism.

[Sarabi]

I went to an Italian restaurant with my friend and her family...... it was veal, veal, veal, mozzarella, etc.... not a single vegan meal. So I ordered s/t and asked for the cheese to be taken off. I got it and forgot what was in it... I stared at it for a long time... there were square-ish bits of something that looked and tasted a lot like animal fat... but I remembered the dish had eggplant in it. Who knew eggplant could taste like animals? I know they didn't intend that... sometimes plants just taste like animal flesh unintentionally... or maybe it's our imagination.

[Roxy]

I've never tasted a plant that tasted like animal flesh. Imagination maybe?