Mock Meats?

My mate and I decided we are going to phase out mock meats from our vegan diet before our baby is born. We think like this: We decided to be vegan for ethical (as well as health) reasons. It is physically repulsive to us to consume animal flesh, why do we want to continue to keep it in our diet? Cultural reasons? Also, feeding a kid a chik'n (chik'n sounds alot like chicken to me!)patty that tastes remarkably like one he's likely to find at a fast food joint is just going to make a future transition to meat eating more likely. It will desensitize him. Plus those fake meats are pretty highly processed. So we we are going to take our cues from cultures like the Hindus in India, who have diets that are wonderfully delicious, flavorful, and full of variety, with no mock meats! What does everyone else feel about this?

 

I totally see your point of view. When I started out veggie, I didn't even TRY mock meats, because it just reminded me of eating meat. Eventually I ended up eating them anyway, just because I needed some source of protein and I wasn't really getting much of any protein anywhere else except a miniscule amount through the veggies I ate.

You should check out my thread in the consumer forum about False Adverstising...
I'm almost afraid to eat products like fake meat after reading that some companies "forgot" to label that they contained eggs and such...what a bunch of crap. After reading that, I'm tempted to just explore different ways to be a healthy vegan and omitting these mock foods.

I understand where you're coming from with your child too... How are you going to explain the difference to them when they're at school and the rest of the kids are chowing down on real chicken patties that look exactly like "chik'n" patties that you may have served them? I see that point totally.

I'd like to hear some more of your ideas on raising vegan children...for future reference. When I decide to have children, I'd like to raise them vegan, but of course that's going to take a lot of knowledge so...it would be much appreciated if you could tell me what you know so far and your ideas thanks!

 

I know the Chik*n nuggets by Morningstar Farms are not vegan, the breading or whatever has eggs in it, just so you know...


I totally understand your point of view, and I'm really not one to base my protein intake around fake meats... lol, but they are yummy every once in a while! And due to their MUCH higher price per serving, I totally view them as a once-in-a-while kind of treat.

 

i can see your point of view, but i don't personally have a problem with 'fake' meats. if i think about it too much then yeah it does seem a little weird but i don't really see the problem with them. i don't see them as replacing meat (although yes i know they are), i just see them as another food, the same as (e.g) tofu or cereal. i think they taste good and provide protein and make things like sanwiches and sauces more filling and interesting.

to be honest i don't actually eat that much of them anymore as i don't like the fact that they are so processed, but there are a few i have found which are organic and much less processed and i don't see why its a problem to eat them.

also, i think using them in meals takes us one step closer to providing an easier meat free diet. i know it is very easy to be vege without using these products but if we replaced all meat with them then we reduce the arguments that meat eaters have to use against vegetarianism, i.e the flavour, texture and recipes they would miss if they stopped eating meat.

 

Lillyblu, that is where they actually DO have a value, in usurping meat in the diet of otherwise carnies, usually for health reasons. They just have no place in my vegan diet I feel. Apples+Oranjes, I cook alot of stew type dishes full of lentils and brown rice, beans, tomatoes and other veg. Again, we eat alot of Indian food. My aunt that helped raise me married a persian man, so we eat some persian foods too. We use our rice cooker ALOT. I highly recomend getting one. When we want to pack sandwiches, they are veg. For instance, avacado, tomato, cucumber on seven grain bread with a little veganaise and dijon mustard. You don't even miss the meat! And actually, someone in the vegan food forum posted a smash bang recipe that I'm now addicted too! Chickpea sandwiches! You mash a can of em in a bowl with some minced celery and onion, a scoop of veganaise and squirt of mustard. Delish! You just have to stop thinking like a typical american and think outside the box. Experiment! The other night my mate said he wanted something light and healthy for dinner, so we each had half an acorn squash, boiled and mashed, a sweet potato, and a white potato, both baked. So very simple, so delicious! And don't worry so much about protein intake. Too much protein inhibits calcium absorption. Keep a food diary for three days, calculate the protein in each item of food you eat. ( I'm pregnant, I just did this!) You want 65-80 grams a day. You'll find you probably get much more than you even need! Our baby will eat what we eat. When he wants sweets, we'll give him a "treat", a big sweet soft date! (The big fat soft ones you get at ethnic groceries. These are a treat even for us ex candy eaters. My mate scarfs them all in one sitting!) Or a scoop of homemade fruit sorbet. We'll teach him our values and when he is older and wants to try things we don't believe in, he may, just not in our house or with our money. Chances are those things won't even appeal to him. They'll be like lightbulbs on a plate!

 

i'm glad to hear you're bringing up your kids to eat well JazzMama. i was just pointing out why i don't feel fake meats are a problem, but like i said i don't really eat them anymore cus of the amount they're processed.

for a number of months now i've been cutting out artificial foods and trying to make a much larger percentage of my diet vegan. its amazing how many things i've learnt to cook and how much better i feel for it. its almost like a religion, and i have to be wary i don't start preaching about it!

 

I eat Vegan mock meats once in awhile. I agree that mock meats are not very healthy, since they are highly processed foods. However, I don't see why they can't be a part of a Vegan diet. After all, mock meats make great transition foods for people who want to stop eating animals but who have a hard time overcoming the "center of the plate" mentality. I don't think I could have gotten my husband to stop eating meat, for instance, if Boca Burgers and Riblets didn't exist.


Plus, there is no mandate that you have to eat healthy all the time to be a Vegan, and there is nothing unethical about eating mock meats from a Vegan standpoint, as long as all the ingredients are plant-derived.

I can understand you not wanting to confuse your children, and I can definitely understand why you don't want to feed your children processed foods.

 

*shrug*

I'm against the killing of animals to eat their meat.

That being said, I really don't give a hoot if someone wants to create synthetic food that tastes similar to meat.

Meat tastes good. I won't deny that. But it's nowhere near good enough to warrant murder.

I just see nothing wrong with synthesizing meat, since no harm comes to animals by doing that.

 

Interesting question. To mock or not to mock? Of course, morally there's nothing wrong with mock meat, but some people are in it for the discipline as well.

It's sorta like quitting cigarettes by switching to the nicotene patch. The patch works, if your goal is to stop smoking, but some people like to do it the willpower way.

Personally, I agree with JazzMama that going veg is a great opportunity to diversify your diet. I've found myself eating & enjoying things that I never would've thought of, had I kept eating Boca Burgers.

 

I never ate fake meats, they are just far too expensive. In my oppionion they are just for people that need a substitute for their meat cravings.


I just eat flavored plain tofu, and (my favorite one is an italian/meditereanean flavored one with a lot of herbs and tomato.)
And my homemade burgers out of grains or legumes. Not all of them are vegan though.

 

I do eat soy burgers but not because I need a substitute for meat cravings....I don't crave meat. At first when I tried them I couldn't finish one becuase it reminded me too much of meat......but soy burgers have been my main source of protein. I try not to think of it as a "mock meat" but rather as unique soy product....makes them easier to consume

 

Wait, do you mean you eat cooked tofu without seasoning? How on earth do you get it down? I for one, cannot... Lol, that's why I love garlic, it makes everyhing better... (Can you TELL I'm Polish???)

 

I agree, except Hikky, check out my earlier post in this topic about my thread in Consumer Advocacy... Sometimes I'm almost a bit paranoid of what they're truly putting in my food... Apparently a few so-called vegan products have had issues with "mislabeling" the ingredients.

But, other than that I agree with you. Even my omnivorous boyfriend likes some of the fake meats I've asked him to try. If it works and reduces the amount of meat we, as a population, consume [decreasing the demand for meat] then more power to fake meat industries! :-D

I actually, am <3 addicted <3 to these vegan chik'n "strips" by smart choice, that resemble cut up, skinnless-boneless chicken breasts so that you can make fajitas and stuff with them. They're better than chicken that's for sure!

 

I've always thought that vegetarians who ate fate meat were fantazing about the real thing. I had an ex girlfriend who was a vegetarian, yet she always at soisage and other fake meat products. I never understood it.

 

I have tried the fake meats but got sick because I guess I was feeling guilty or something. SO I stay away from them as well.

 

im 17 and have been veg for 7 or 8 years. my family arent veg however i dont eat meat due to its origins and i feel that it is wrong to kill just so we can eat meat when we are fully capable of livin witout it. I do not crave meat as i didnt really eat it much before i was veg, but it doesnt mean that i think 'mock' meat shouldnt be eaten. its a good source of nutrients that others get from meat, and i think it tastes good. i mainly eat quorn, yes it is processed and mocking meat, but its not meat, i like it and i think you should be able to eat wat u want.

 

I suppose that could be true for some people... Some people go veggie/vegan for health reasons, not because they dont agree with what happens to the animals, or the taste...etc. So I suppose that way they can still enjoy the things that they used to [for the most part]

With me, I just always ate fake meat products because it's my main source of protein. I'm a finicky eater, and I eat foods in such small amounts that I need something that is loaded with what I need rather than eating something that contains less protein, which I would have to eat much more of.

 

What if they made mock meat and never called it that, would you still eat it, it doesnt really taste all that much like meat anyway

 

isnt the one of the points of become veg is to cut down on the population of eating meats and stop the needless killing of animals? so, if eating "mock meat" is doing that, why should anyone care??