From trying a lot of vegan meat alternatives my assumption was they have no fucking idea what they are doing.
The time making fake meat would be better spent promoting vegan dishes that aren’t pretending to be something else, because those are fantastic.
Agreed. Got a huge amount of Indian and Asian cuisine that happens to be vegan, either incidentally or for religious reasons, and it’s all absolutely delicious; but no, ‘vegan food’ means deep-fried highly processed dinosaur shapes and cheese with a distinct aftertaste of sewage.
I feel bad for vegetarians. If pubs and restaurants have one meat-free item on the menu then it’s going to be vegan, and if it’s going to be vegan then it’s going to be some awful faux food where the main plant source is chemical plant. Vegetarian meals that celebrate the quality and freshness of the vegetables are the equal of any meat meal, but you’re not having those.
I think a lot of these kinds of products are for hosting vegans. I don’t find them tasting good enough to acquire over making something that’s actually delicious. But it is nice to eat some burgers with the family.
They’re also great for when you want something you miss. Like I havent eaten chicken in 4 years, the fake shit is close enough for the craving
Are Impossible meats vegan? Because Impossible stuff (ground “beef,” “chicken,” whatever) are delicious. They definitely got me into eating far, far less meat.
The ingredients are vegan. Apparently there was animal testing involving rats for an ingredient or something like that.
Yes, but have you tried Beyond? It’s delicious. Now if we can just get get vegan cheese up to par…
I have tried Beyond and found it bland and tasteless. The texture was ok.
Why is trying to pretend to be cheese worth the time when stuff like guacamole, white bean dip, hummus, corn dip, etc. exist?
Just no, hard no. Came off a kayaking trip starving for whatever. My vegan gf got us Beyond burgers. Absolutely revolting. I can’t put my finger on it, but it tasted like “chemicals”. LOL, I know, great description, but I couldn’t choke down half the thing.
It is 100% chemicals. ;)
One of the best (by taste) and most successful industrial manufactures in Germany for meat alternatives is “Rügenwalder Mühle”, a quite big traditional family owned meat corp. And they are doing their job this good, because alot of the food technicians responsible for the products could rely on the knowledge of the long time working butchers in company. Like getting the texture and seasong right or reducing the ingredients to make the product more “natural”.
So yeah, its a thing, imho. If you want to develop something meat like for industrial production, its helpfull to know a thing or two about industrial meat production.
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Sometimes they probably have long forgotten how meat tastes and feels like, judging from some of the products.
There are people who eat both. I’m not a big meat eater and prefer the veggie versions of things, but will eat the occasional meat (mainly chicken and sausage).
I don’t think a lot of meat alternatives are trying to perfectly replicate their meat counterpart but rather work as an alternative in dishes. Tempeh bacon for instance will never match the taste or texture of real bacon, but tempeh is delicious on its own so I will never complain about smoked tempeh. It’s easier to imitate processed meat like sausage or nuggets.
Though I will say I used to get a lemongrass seitan “chicken” from a pho place that was better than any real chicken I’ve ever had
