“Real” Or Faux - What Does Our Choice Suggest?
If presented with two food options with identical taste - faux sweet and sour “chicken,” or real sweet and sour chicken - and we select the latter, “real” option, does that imply that we not only take pleasure in eating meat but that we insist on killing an animal?
Bologna is a common food item that is easily mimicked in both taste and “dietary” benefit. We can purchase mock-bologna that tastes, smells, feels, etc. like the real version from the majority of grocery stores. Now, if presented with the alternative version of this lunch meat and the traditional version, will we select the latter, “real” option? If yes, this suggests that mere taste isn’t the impetus for our collective insistence on torturing animals; something internal to us is motivating our desire to kill somebody (NOT something).
As a former omnivore who thoroughly enjoyed sausage, I was eager to find a faux substitute - what my mom accurately calls “make-believe-meat.” My search was short; vegan “sausage” is available, the taste is quite similar if not identical to the traditional version (depending on how it is prepared), and far healthier. Now, if X were to hold both the alternative and “real” versions in front of Y, after Y has been informed of the similarities, etc. between the two, and Y insists on eating a pig, is that telling of the type of person Y is? It seems that we are all Y, which says something about our culture: we demand death, we insist on it!
I don’t know what the impetus is for this; however, it seems reasonable to argue that whatever the motivation it isn’t moral or good.
Crossposted @ That Vegan Girl
I’ve definitely encountered this phenomena a lot. Tofu pups taste so much like hot dogs (since the latter are only death-laden-gobledeygook, they’re easy to imitate)–in fact, they taste way better. But on my campus, the only people who eat the tofu pups are the veggies. Similarly, my family once came across a randomly situated vegan restaurant while on a road trip. My father, a German through and through, hates chicken and fish, and insists on cow and pig for his meat choices. At this restaurant, he had the mock sweet-and-sour chicken, LOVED it (weird, right?), then the next day ate real other meats again! ???
My nephew wanted to bring veggie dogs to class on a “hot dog day” but the teacher wouldn’t allow it! Can you believe it?
As a long-time veg, whenever I eat fake meat, people seem to be really grossed out by IT (especially if they are omnis). They come at it from the perspective that the fake stuff isn’t “natural” and it’s “trying to be meat” so that means, to them, that I must unconsciously “like the taste of meat” but am going for a weird substitute.
This really, really irks me. I want to say to them “oh, because a dead, decaying animal is so NATURAL” but at the same time, a lot of faux products are processed, manipulated soy/wheat/artificial flavoring which probably isn’t very good for me. So on the one hand I am torn between the convenience of these products as a source of protein, and on the other hand, the people that I share meals with are constantly making smart comments about my food.