“Almost”
Lol, Impossible burgers and nuggets taste better than the real thing to me. The burgers’ mouth feel isn’t as good as the real thing, but the taste is better. And the nuggets both taste and feel better than the real thing.
I like not feeling disgusted about the cruelty. Really adds to the experience.
I wish vegan products did not try to recreate a meat product but instead just made naramd new products.
Making vegan chicken wings, forces you to compare them to real chicken wings.
If they instead were branded as something entirely unrelated to meat, they would have a decent chance at often being great products as they are!
I’m not a vegan, and I eat vegan meat alternatives when I have the chance. I don’t think these products are aimed at people who dislike real meat. They’re aimed at people who like meat but want a plant based alternative, and there are a lot of us.
This is my point though. Many of these plant based alternatives are pretty bad, if you already like the meat version that they are trying to imitate.
So if you like steak, the vegan steak will not live up to what you had imagined. If instead it was called Green bite, root rise, VerdeVibe, beanbliss or something else that had nothing to do with a meat dish, people would have nothing to compare it to and value it for what it is
With a steak, maybe, but with hamburger meat, the vegan options are better than the real thing. Same with processed chicken. I don’t want Green Bite, I want a vegan burger. One that tastes like a burger. And that’s an option, so I don’t see how that’s at all a bad thing.
I agree. I do miss chicken wings, not because I miss chicken, but because it was a fried vessel to deliver scrumptious sauces into my mouth. I love cauliflower bites covered with bbq sauce and hot sauce.
I eat soyrizo not because it mimics sausage, but because I love those spices.
So you mean vegetables? I eat vegan most of the time (but not “full vegan”) and I rarely eat the “alternatives” since there’s more than enough OG vegan food. I discovered Tempeh a few months ago and am now crazy about it - it has so much variety and I’ll be making it myself soon! No need to compare it with anything.
Also learning that tofu is already cooked has opened up a whole new culinary world for me. I love smoked tofu in a brine, but we also have “tofu rosso” which is marinated and has tomatoes and olives. Sorry for german, but check it out:
There’s more to a vegan diet than ultra-processed (not in a bad way) imitations. You can 100% eat only whole foods.
The replicating meat product isn’t really for “veagan” it’s for people who try to eat less meat or go vegan/vegetarian. If you ate meat for 30+ years every day, people are really hard stuck. But seeing something in the store that says: tastes like chicken or replacement for beef is just a little helper so people know what even to buy.
That’s not really correct. It is a vegan thing too. I was a meat eater for 25 years and turned vegan because I wanted to respect the animals. But I always liked the taste. The life of the animals is just more important to me than my taste buds. But if the taste is easily replicated using plant based ingredients, I don’t see it as an animal whatsoever and would enjoy it as a vegan food.
For things like frozen nuggets? It’s already just a breaded and deep fried protein paste at that point. Easy bar to clear and stay vegan.
Fake chicken > real chicken
Given how tasteless real chicken from the broiler varieties taste, I’m not surprised that something with a similar texture and the same spices tastes similarly. I had the misfortune to grow up around and eat colorful chicken and my brain still can’t get over the taste of factory farmed poultry.
