5 Responses to How Do You Feel About Faux Meat?

1. cvc commented on Jun 5th, 2008 at 11:50 am

   I have mixed feelings about faux meat and some I’ve had is definitely better than others, taste-wise (I’m thinking on restaurant experiences: mock chicken, mock duck, mock beef, mock eel and other fish, etc.). Mostly, I think they creep me out. Some seem eerily reminiscent of their animal counterparts (been veg for 20 years now so it’s hard for me to even remember what meat tastes like, but…) and I worry about the protein isolates and MSG content inherent in many of them.

   That said, I do like to bust out a faux meat product every now and again to “wow” meat-eaters or to just add in some variety to our own meals. We’ve had really positive results with friends and family with crunchy taco night using ground soy taco filling and also with fakin’ bacon (many varieties, including tempeh strips), sausage patties, and sausages. Bocas and veggie burgers (do these count??) are also so super simple to make after a busy work day.

   Initially, I never really grokked the idea of why people liked them because when I stopped eating meat, I never missed eating it, I didn’t like the taste of it, and I never ever craved it again, so looking for a meat alternative never really occurred to me as being desirable for my own meals. But, many years later, of course, I see more clearly that not everyone is me!

   ~ Recent blog post: Use PLU codes to ensure you’re buying organic at http://veganhacker.com ~

2. Eccentric Vegan commented on Jun 5th, 2008 at 12:20 pm

   Because I went vegetarian at a young age and basically grew up as a vegetarian, I don’t truly remember the taste of meat. My experience and my perception of faux meat is very different than that of many vegetarians and vegans.

   When I eat faux meat I am not replacing a lost food item, I am adding a new one. I always judge faux meat from the perspective of new taste and never from the perspective of expected taste. I am never comparing it to another flavor. I am tasting it as a new flavor. And I’m almost always excited to try a new flavor, so I say, “bring it on!” (And I am irritated at omnivores and former meat-eaters who judge these new flavors on the basis of expectation rather than as a new flavor.)

   However, I dislike the naming of faux meats as “faux meats” or when they’re named the same name as real meat because it confuses me. I always have to wonder, “Can I trust them? Is this really vegan?” because I can’t know. If it’s a new flavor to me, I don’t know if it’s meat or not meat. And for this reason, I worry about the future of our community in that regard. As more and more people are born vegetarian and vegan, we must protect their interests by assuring vegetarian and vegan standards so they can eat new flavors without fear that someone has ’snuck’ animal products into them.

   All of that said, sometimes the smell of certain faux meats bother me. I think this is because they are similar to smells from past experiences with omnivores. Though I can’t remember the taste of meat, I cannot escape the smell of it. It is everywhere - on the streets, in backyards, at campfires… And it saddens me. But in many cases, education can overcome that emotion. When I learned that the smell of liquid smoke was the true origin of something I considered to smell like roasted dead pig, I can accommodate the smell of liquid smoke much more easily. So… as usual, it all depends

3. Jen commented on Jun 5th, 2008 at 4:59 pm

   You took the words right out of my mouth EV. Having tasted very actual meat in my life, I have little to base the comparison on, and am generally not bothered at all by ‘meatless meat’. For example, I’ve never eaten bacon and find the smell of real bacon offensive, but I enjoy the tempeh variety. When I get asked this question by omnivores I stress that the flavor of the food is not what I find offensive: I can’t help what tastes good to me. What is disturbing is origin, not necessarily the taste, although like EV some smells have become disgusting by association.

   I suppose don’t really think about meatless alternatives as meat, ever. They’re food that doesn’t come from animals and they taste great to me, regardless of whether or not they taste like ‘they’re supposed to’.

   That being said, I am sometimes hesitant to eat ‘false meat’ in certain situations. There have been times where I have gone to a restaurant and had something that just tasted a little too, well, real.

   ~ Recent blog post: An environmentalist who eats meat? at http://www.not-quiteright.net/tvg ~

4. Joselle Palacios commented on Jun 6th, 2008 at 8:49 am

   I ate meat for most of my life and I really loved the taste of it so I do use faux meats to replicate those tastes. I love seitan. And I will eat morningstar farm steak strips once in a blue moon when I want something meaty. And I love fake chicken drumsticks at Chinese takeout places and at Foodswings in Brooklyn.

   As for the health concerns, they are kinda like real meat in that it’s best to eat them in moderation (obviously only talking about health here, not animal rights). They are not great to live off of, like my longtime vegan boyfriend does, but soy cream, vegan cookies, and REAL happy meat–’cause it’s fake–are nice occasional treats.

   As for vegan cheese, well, I usually go without because, I must admit, the dairy stuff tastes better to me. So I’m just abstaining completely until the memory really fades.

5. Alex commented on Jun 6th, 2008 at 11:25 am

   Quote:

   “And I love fake chicken drumsticks at Chinese takeout places and at Foodswings in Brooklyn.”

   Those sound great, Joselle!

   ~ Recent blog post: A contradiction in environmentalism: at http://www.not-quiteright.net/tvg ~

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