Serious question not an attack, just curious
I am a new member here, brought here by lobster hand holding, lol, seriously! I must admit I am not a vegetarian or vegan, I am a meat eater, but I hope that won't be a problem as I am here to learn and not start wars or problems. Something I have always in all seriousness wondered has to do with vegetarian food items. Something I don't understand is why some of that food is made to look like meat. I understand the motives and principles of vegetarian lifestyles, so it doesn't seem to make sense to me why a tofu mixture would be made to be shaped like a hamburger or chicken nugget. (I apologize for my ignorance, I am not even sure if those are made of tofu, I just assume it is). I am not attacking or saying that is awful or anything, I just am really curious about it. If anyone could let me know their opinions or experiences about this, I would appreciate it. Thank you all for your open mindedness! =)
For me there is also the thrill of recreating something. Like if I see something that someone else is eating I know I can find a vegan alternative. I can find a healthier (usually) and animal/earth friendly alternative. Being vegan isn't so much about denying myself foods but finding alternatives.
this all reminds me of butler and discussions of originality.
re: dino nuggets. at camp we got those "smilie potatos" shaped like faces. i don't know if they taste like faces at all.
http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:QWQjm-vVb9Pn-M:http://2.bp.blogspot.com/__GucmtzTeYc/SKJNL5qy-2I/AAAAAAAAChc/jUlvlYtitqk/s320-R/smiley%2Bfries%2B003.jpg
Take it from a woman who has sucked a lot of face in her time...they don't! :-D :-D :-D :-D
I can't really say anything that someone didn't already say, but I'd figure to bring out the point...
not all the fake meats really taste like the truly accurate thing (then again, I don't know its been so long)
but I really would like to see Veganism get big enough and well enough welcomed, that perhaps the names for these products can be created as something else...
its just a bit easier to put a taste to the fake beef or the fake chicken, than it is to two words that not everyone is familiar with.
I used the substitutes for transition, but now I love seasoned tofu and TVP and seitan... which are all there own besides the seasonings....
I can't really say anything that someone didn't already say, but I'd figure to bring out the point...
not all the fake meats really taste like the truly accurate thing (then again, I don't know its been so long)
but I really would like to see Veganism get big enough and well enough welcomed, that perhaps the names for these products can be created as something else...
its just a bit easier to put a taste to the fake beef or the fake chicken, than it is to two words that not everyone is familiar with.
I used the substitutes for transition, but now I love seasoned tofu and TVP and seitan... which are all there own besides the seasonings....
I wouldnt touch any fake meat for the first 4 years of being vegetarian. I thought it was weird, it tasted like meat (yuck) but it had green and orange bits in it... it just freaked me out. And then the things that looked like meat and cheese but tasted nothing like it... awful. I guess i just had to wait for my palet to change before I could go back and see these alternatives for what they were..... vegetables and grains : )
I can't really say anything that someone didn't already say, but I'd figure to bring out the point...
not all the fake meats really taste like the truly accurate thing (then again, I don't know its been so long)
but I really would like to see Veganism get big enough and well enough welcomed, that perhaps the names for these products can be created as something else...
its just a bit easier to put a taste to the fake beef or the fake chicken, than it is to two words that not everyone is familiar with.
I used the substitutes for transition, but now I love seasoned tofu and TVP and seitan... which are all there own besides the seasonings....
I wouldnt touch any fake meat for the first 4 years of being vegetarian. I thought it was weird, it tasted like meat (yuck) but it had green and orange bits in it... it just freaked me out. And then the things that looked like meat and cheese but tasted nothing like it... awful. I guess i just had to wait for my palet to change before I could go back and see these alternatives for what they were..... vegetables and grains : )
Actually, that is true. I did at first use them, but as as you pointed it out, I stopped eating them for a good while because I'd think about how it was supposed to be meat. Now I just don't eat anything processed so I try to mock it myself...
I forgot about that. lol.
I think vegan cuisine is its own thing in many ways, and once vegetarians learn to cook, there are all these dishes we all know and love that many people would think were odd, just the way my small-town Texan friends look at African food or something.
However, I also enjoy eating the food of the culture I grew up in - being a white American, I don't get the chance to claim much heritage, but my dad and I both grew up eating the same state fair corndogs, etc, and sometimes I really like to have something old and familiar, even though it takes a new form.
That said, I much prefer making something homemade. And when a restaurant makes its own veggie burger patty, I can see through almost any fault...
I think a lot of meat substitutes are shaped like meat for just plain convenience. That way you can still slap the veggie patty on a bun and your "hot dog" on a hot dog bun or dip your "chicken nuggets" into ketchup from little bite sized pieces. Plus eating just a shapeless pile of faux meat would look pretty unappealing.
BTW I just tried Amy's California Burgers for the first time and they are awesome!!!
Thank you all for your replies, I think I have a way better understanding now. I was a bit nervous to post this as I really wanted to make sure I wasn't coming off as being negative. Thank you all for your patience and for sharing your personal experiences! ;)b
Meat subsitutes are exactly that.......meat substitutes. So it's expected that they look, taste and feel as close to the real thing as possible.
Some people who are vegetarians like the taste of meat. I'm a vegetarian for a variety of reasons, not one of which is that I don't like the taste, look and feel of meat. It's the cruelty, ill health effects, etc. that I don't like about meat. So I eat and make veggie meatballs, sandwiches, etc usually when I'm in a rush. The wrap I make or the burrito I make looks suspciiously like a burrito that meat eaters eat. No big deal to me.
I understand and appreciate that some veg*ns think meat is gross and meat analogs are gross too. I understand I make some veg*ns look bad in the eyes of certain meat eaters who are looking for any reason to make us look like hippocrites, but I don't care. There was even a letter to the editor in VegNews from a vegan who claimed people that eat vegan meat subtitutes aren't really vegan. It's my plate and my plate and it's as compassionate as it can be, veggie "meat" and all.
Meat analogs aren't a stable in my diet though, but I live alone and don't always have time or energy to create sometimes popping a veggie burger is the best I can do. If nothing else even though it's processed, it's low fat, good protein, and meatless.
One reason that I didn't see anyone mention for veg*n meat substitutes is for mixed veg/omni couples like my DH and me. If I couldn't sometimes serve him something that was a reasonable facsimile of what he's used to eating, he'd be cooking separate meat meals and stinking up the house! He actually tells people how good tofu can be because it absorbs the spices instead of them just sitting on top. If I hadn't "started him out" with meat substitutes that look and taste like dead animal, he'd probably never tried tofu. He also loves the mock tuna made with garbanzo beans which is funny because he hates tunafish! The fakes were his gateway into vegetarian food. I remember a few months after I converted, he said that the variety of stuff and the tastiness sure had improved! ;D
It seems to me that in a carnivorous diet the flesh is merely a vehicle sprinkled and doused with sauce. Rarely is meat applauded for its raw taste so replacing it with something that didn't have to die seems reasonable. For most people its the routine of it, the 'normalcy', that one has to get over. It's the very same normalcy that allows one to let a creature be tortured and die for their diet.
I prefer not to revisit those days and if something is too much like meat I tend to stay away from it. However, I understand that there are certain dishes where the shape and texture are desired to make it work. At a Veggie Heaven in New Jersey I tried the mock peking duck and nearly tossed after discovering the taste and texture of it. While I haven't a clue what duck tastes like I had the creepy feeling I'd just found out.
For me, fake meats are kind of a novelty. I don't have to have them, but now and then they're kind of fun (and funny). I used to eat them more, simply because they were analogs to what I used to eat, or because I was serving it to non-vegan family. It seems to be more for, as many have said, people in transition. I stopped caring whether it actually tasted like meat years ago - it's just about whether or not it tastes good.
Still, most of the reason why I still have them around is for the sake of my omni boyfriend, who likes his non-vegetabley-sandwiches (fake-meat deli slice things instead).
..I have a question, why do some of you type "veg*n" and others "Vegan"?
..I have a question, why do some of you type "veg*n" and others "Vegan"?
Veg*n encompasses vegetarian and vegan.
Vegan is when you specifically mean vegan.
ahhh, thanks!
For me there is also the thrill of recreating something. Like if I see something that someone else is eating I know I can find a vegan alternative. I can find a healthier (usually) and animal/earth friendly alternative. Being vegan isn't so much about denying myself foods but finding alternatives.
Oh! This too. As far as making "fake ____" rather than buying it entirely prepackaged, it's like a culinary challenge. If I were less lazy, I'd probably try to make "raw ____" everything too.
It seems to me that in a carnivorous diet the flesh is merely a vehicle sprinkled and doused with sauce. Rarely is meat applauded for its raw taste so replacing it with something that didn't have to die seems reasonable.
WORD. This is why, for me, the best "substitute" is just something to absorb sauces. (Kind of similar to my comment (under percussion0806) about how I finally understood that the appeal of tuna was the dressing/salt/pepper/onion/celery combination and not the fish itself). I've also been known to test BBQ sauces on leaves of lettuce.
Which, slightly off-topic, brings me to a slight rant. When things are sauteeing or barbecuing, I often say how yummy it smells. To which some ass always says something like "oooh, that's the smell of MEAT! You LIKE MEAT!" No, I really don't. Sautees are much more about the onions cooking, and barbecues are much more about the smoke. You could have veggies in the sautee or barbecue and get an even better effect. In fact, really smelly meat cooking is gross. (In addition to the obvious bacon I'm thinking about turkeys in the oven on Thanksgiving. SO GROSS).
OK, relating back to OP's question--in some cases, prepackaged "meaty" foods will do this for you--taking the tastes and working with something close to the original texture as possible--thus giving you the flavors you crave without the cruelty. Exhibit A: the riblet.
I grew up a vegetarian, and while I did try meat occasionally as a kid, I made my own decision at about 10 or 11 to be vegetarian in my own right. Since then, the taste of meat actually makes me ill - I don't know if its a "my body isn't used to it" thing or a psychological thing or what, but I hate it. I'd always thought it was the first though, so thought it was just real meat that had that effect, but about a week ago at a BBQ i bought some TVP patties I hadn't tried before and they had a taste and texture exactly like meat - I couldn't eat them and they upset my stomach for the entire night so maybe it is psychological.
For me, meat substitues are for convenience in shape (eg sausages so I can join a BBQ, burger patties), or for protein and "something substantial in my meal" (eg chunks of tofu in a curry). They are not there so I can trick myself or others into thinking I'm eating meat, and as I have found out, they should be clearly distinguishable from meat or I don't like/trust them.
However, I can understand that people who grew up with meat and like the flavour/texture but not the cruelty would rejoice to find the patties that taste like meat! So really its an individual thing, everyone has different reasons for being veg*n, different tastes, etc.
And I so relate to the thing about thinking sautees and BBQs smell good!
You don't have to hate the taste of meat to be vegan. There are three main reasons to be vegan: health, environmental protection, and animal welfare. In reality, it's usually a blend of the three. There's nothing inherent in any of those that says a person wouldn't like the taste of meat, just that the person is making an active personal and/or ethical choice not to participate in using animal products.
my thoughts exactly. ;)b
I am a vegetarian for ethical and religious reasons. I still miss bacon. I like the taste of most meat. I won't eat it, though.
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