[Sca-cooks] meat "substitutes"

[Olwen the Odd]

Well, the Morningstar Farms products are pretty good.  Their breakfast links
are what I use at home all the time.  I use the veggie 'ground beef' in my
lazagna to cut down on the extra fat because the cheeses already add so much
of that.  When I make stuff with the "non-meats" for an office party folks
can't tell.  My daughter used to be a vegetarian for a lot of years and I
just got used to doing the substitution.
Olwen

>I think you're right, to a big extent.  I know I *did* find the
>meat-like hot dogs useful when non-vegetarians were coming to visit.  I
>think they are also marketed toward people who are just making the
>transition to vegetarianism, especially teenagers, who don't really want
>to think about alternatives.
>
>As I recall, the alternatives were generally not much better than the
>regular meat versions.  A hamburger may be high in fat and calories, but
>at least it had some nutritional value.  The fake-meat burgers were
>often also high in calorie, sometimes high in fat, and were generally
>nutritional voids.  That, fortunately, has also gotten *much* better.
>Ironically, the newer nothing-like-meat veggie burgers are now also
>taking off among the omnivore population - my relatives, even the
>borderline-rednecks, love them.  When they tasted like a bad attempt to
>simulate meat, they wouldn't think about touching them.
>
>Here's an interesting thing to think about:  Most of the vegetarians or
>ex-vegetarians, like myself, have much more varied diets and are willing
>to try far more unusual foods than most omnivores I know.  When our
>alternatives were eating salads and pasta at every regular restaurant or
>trying an Indian or Middle-Eastern restaurant, we experimented.  While a
>vegetarian's diet may have certain specific restrictions, they are
>generally far more liberal and varied than a "traditional" omnivorous
>diet.  I don't think I'd be willing to try game meat or goat cheese or
>sushi today if it weren't for 12 years of eating vegetarian!
>
>-Magdalena
>
>Steve wrote:
>
>>--
>>I personally think that the meat flavored things that were made were
>>designed not for vegetarians/vegans, but for the omnivores.  Many of the
>>veges that I know and have known didn't eat meat for ethical/religious
>>reasons and eating something that reminds them of something that is meat
>>would not be appealing.  However, if they could make something that tasted
>>like meat it might make the omnivores eat a little healthier.
>>
>>Æduin


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