[Sca-cooks] meat "substitutes"- Rant

[Deb]

Phlip  said in response to me,

> Yeah, I know- it's a personal choice, but the whole
> gig sounds to me rather like the Protestant
> revolution- "I'm a Christian-Lutheran-Methodist-
> Baptist- Southern Baptist" as opposed to I'm a
> Vegetarian- lacto-vegetarian - ovo-lacto vegetarian"
> etc. I suppose by the same token, I'm an anti-
> bellpepperian omnivorian. I guess I'm getting turned
> off by the utter silliness of the self-important
> labeling.

Well is there an easier way to convey the defination. For Example isnt
Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian easier then saying I'm a person who wont eat Meat, but
will eat eggs, milk, honey, and cheese? I guess I just see it as a  kind of
shorthand.



> I certainly wouldn't try to feed
> it to someone else for several days in a row- or pork,
> or chicken, or anything else.

So the problem was that they tried to serve the same food four days in a
row, not implicitly that it was vegetarian. Who knows, had they served you
Ground beef straight for four days in a row, you may have gone into town
looking for a nice salad.


> > And they are eating meat how? By eating protien
> > thats formed in the shape of
> > meat? By eating vegetable protien thats been spiced
> > with mexican spices  and
> > slipped into a cornmeal shell with veggies? (gasp! a
> > veggie taco)
>
> No- by eating imitation meat. I was watching that one
> guy on Food Network, East Meets West, I think the show
> was called, with interest, until he came up with what
> he called, "Coq au Vin". which was tofu/bean curd
> shaped and cooked like coq au vin. But why couldn't he
> just have called it "Tofu (or better yet) Bean Curd au
> Vin"? What is this necessity to pretend veggie protein
> is meat? I like bean curd, and I'd certainly try it
> cooked any possible way (minus, perhaps, either bell
> peppers, or cow manure, no matter how fresh).
>
> And, a veggie taco sounds good- I like veggies- I just
> dislike "imitation meat".

But again on the Veggie Taco we are bringing in the use of a "fake meat"
TVP. (Textured Vegetable Protien. ) Its all in how you serve it. I
personally am addicted to Veggie hot dogs with Veggie chili at the bar under
my office. Sure they are called hotdogs what else should they be called? The
are the proper size and shape for a hot dog, should we call them soy product
sausages? or do sausages have to contain meat too? Sometimes I'm not looking
for the greasy taste of the meat and the flavor of the veggie dog with chili
and onions hits the spot. (again my choice)
As far as Ming Sai, well what he does is his business. He's not even a
vegetarian, so its not really an example of a vegetarian trying to pass it
off as "tasting like meat"



> > >And why must vegetabletarians try to "convert" the
> > >rest of us, particularly by trying to tell us that
> > "it
> > >tastes just like (whatever)"?
> >
> > Absolutly, it never tastes like the meat product
> > would, but some items are
> > good enough to stand on their own as good food.
> > (veggie burgers for example,
> > that i still eat as a non vegetarian. )
>
> Why call it a veggie burger? Why not just a veggie
> patty?

Why call it a burger bun and not call it just a "roll" or "patty roll" ?
Does a burger have to be meat based?


> > It sounds like you have some obviously rude friends
> > who force their meals
> > down your throat. I'm very sorry for you, maybe you
> > need some new friends.
>
> Well, no, it's more like they want me to "see the
> light"- their light, their way.

Then mayhaps you want to rant at them, not about Vegetarians in general.
I've never attempted to convert anyone.


> But, I choose to eat meat, and I can enjoy not eating
> meat or other animal products just for the flavors of
> the vegetable foods themselves. What I'm saying is
> that the imitation meats are a self-defeating error of
> good sense. In short, if you want to be a
> vegetabletarian, enjoy your veggies and call a carrot
> a carrot, or a bean curd a bean curd, not an imitation
> chicken patty.

I can think of another example here to. I think that humans assoicate
positive experiences with foods they eat. For example, I like spicy chicken
wings.  I've always liked them. Is it the chicken itself that pleases me or
is it the spicey coating, and the flavorful dip into the blue cheese
dressing? I've bought Morning Star farms veggie buffalo wings. no they arent
real chicken. However they too provide me the satisfaction of a spicy nibble
with a dip into flavorful blue cheese dressing. Is this what I wanted as a
vegetarian the whole time? Heck no! Did I desire it sometimes? Yup sure did.
Should the call them Veggie Buffalo wings? Well I guess not, but who's going
to by Soy protien with spicy buffalo coating ?

Am I making sense?

Zoe

Ps. I'm very very sorry that my  delurkdom is on such an OOP subject, I
promise, yet tonight I'll make some appropriate posting.