AIBU to find fake meat a bit wierd?

[Millybingbong]

There is a lot about currently about vegetarianism and veganism, and I am quite interested in reducing the amount of meat we eat as a family.

We don't eat meat at every meal certainly, but we really like meat and it is a learning curve not to put it at the start of the list for the meal planning. Most of the meat we eat comes with our farm box; we eat sausages/bacon or ham maybe once a week, but rarely things like chicken nuggets or kiev that I would considered to be processed food.

What slightly perplexes me is when people offer up "meat alternatives" as an option to avoid meat. Things like "non-chicken nuggets" or non-ham. And I dont understand an interest in Quorn or Tofu either.

Do people literally just have a ham sandwich with just non-ham?

Surely it is about a dietary change where you actually eat different foodstuffs?

What is good about this change? Diet wise I mean - I can see the cows might prefer us to eat a load of processed non food.

I eat meat, but I love tofu and eat it regularly.

Fake meat stuff is handy in a household with some people who eat meat and some who don't.

Going veggie,you get a cookbook you like,experiment with recipes
River veg, and Gino Locatelli are IMO good, plus online recipes
Just be mindful it’s not like meat cooking you need to season,use herbs and prepare

Tofu isn't and was never intended to be "fake meat." Tofu is traditional Japanese food. Please don't put it in the "fake meat" category with quorn.

Tempeh - so horrible but good for you (apparently).

And some quorn (mince) does give me stomach cramps but poor DS gets this and diarrhoea. Not any other type though (the chunks makes me a bit gassy though).

As a pp I do rarely eat actual meat substitute, with the exception of barbecues. If I made a chilli, it would be bean. Curry would have mushrooms and/or lentils as well as other vegetables.
However my mil makes a lovely quorn in white wine sauce which is a chicken recipe. I enjoy that am just too lazy to make it myself.

“Do people literally just have a ham sandwich with just non-ham?“

I might, sometimes... why not?

I eat a pretty varied diet, lots of fruit and veg, pulses, grains, tofu and yes also meat substitutes.

But sometimes I might want a sandwich with quorn in it, or cheese, or I might make a chickpea tagine, depends what kind of mood I’m in.

Not eating meat and not eating processed foods aren’t the same thing.

My sincere apologies to tofu. I hereby apply to join the TASociety.

(I thought as I typed that I eat tofu in pad thai)

Mixed bag of views as expected. A few have said "don't eat it then". Great advice and I might take it; but I do wonder why it is so often suggested a a good way of going veggie/vegan.

It would not pass muster as a middle ground for those who eat meat or don't in my household. I am mildly interested in this as my 5yo has never liked the texture of meat, and although I wouldnt encourage her to be a veggie, I have included more beans recently as she loves them, and I do give her the greater share of veg and the meat-head 4yo the greater share of meat when I cook a stew etc.

I agree with OP but tend to get shouted at about it...

I was vegetarian for environmental reasons. For me, fake meat was just something else to eat (that hopefully didn't have as high env. impact as meat). That said, If you think eating meat is wrong for moral reasons, then eating meat seems to be part of normalising a cultural practice that you believe is morally wrong and should be stopped. yet the point of fake meat is thinking people must miss meat. Seems like contradiction between practice & belief.

Not everybody is vegan because they 'hate meat'.

from what I understand, British vegans have to be vegan because they want to not exploit animals. Whether they hate meat or not is irrelevant.

I suppose I think that it should just be quorn (or whatever) rather than called "meat substitute XXX"

I'm doing my best to be vegan for most meals. I'm not a huge meat fan anyway, so quorn/soya mince wouldn't be part of my diet anyway. Tofu is nothing like meat though.
I do use fake cheese though.

To echo others, tofu isn't fake meat, we really enjoy it and lots of the recipes I use it in aren't even vegetarian.

f you think eating meat is wrong for moral reasons, then eating meat seems to be part of normalising a cultural practice that you believe is morally wrong and should be stopped. yet the point of fake meat is thinking people must miss meat. Seems like contradiction between practice & belief

No contradiction at all. If you think eating meat is morally wrong, you don't eat meat. Eating quorn does not normalise the eating of meat in any way. it normalises the eating of quorn!

I never liked meat so it was no big deal to go veggie.or to maintain it
I’ve never had a Big Mac,never been to KFC,eat veggie at Nando

from what I understand, British vegans have to be vegan because they want to not exploit animals. Whether they hate meat or not is irrelevant.

Huh? It was watching environmental videos that swayed me towards veganism. Not sure what being British has to do with it?!

I'm a veggie. Eat quorn very occasionally, and the odd veggie sausage but they are very unlike meat!

I've never found good tempeh here, it's just all wrong.
I loved tempeh Kerring in Indonesia, it's thin and fried until crispy with a sweet chilli sauce, or sometimes you get a few plainer slices as part of a padang meal.

I think I have figured it out. It is basically marketing isnt it?

Pulses are a big deal when you're veggie
Mung beans
Aduki bean
Varieties lentils
Chick peas

I am a vegan but I did not go vegan because I don't like the taste of meat. I went vegan because of animal welfare.

Therefore I still enjoy the taste of meat, so may on occasion have quorn

Quorn doesn’t taste like meat imo,quorn is quite bland.its how you season it matters

I eat the fakey-bacon because sometimes I like the saltiness

Someone asked me years ago (in the 80s) why I ate a veggie burger that was pretending to be meat....well a flat disc shape cooks evenly and fits in a bun. What other shape should it be?

I don't like fake coffee (decaff)
or fake soft drinks (sugar free) but I don't like fizzy and I drink my squash full sugar

British vegan society says
"Veganism is a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose."

so they defined it. You can't be British vegan even if you eat like a vegan if you do it only for health, political, distaste, environmental or not-animal-related reasons. You have to eat like a vegan for avoid-animal-exploitation reasons (according to them) to be a vegan.

Other countries/places don't have that interpretation. But the British Vegan society lay narrow claim as having the only valid definition in Britain.

AIBU to find fake meat a bit wierd?

YANBU, you dont have to eat it, I've always found meat a 'bit weird' so just dont eat it but I understand other people dont and still want it.
I also find quorn ham a bit weird so again I don't eat it although even when I was not veggie I much prefered the taste and texture of quorn mince and chicken pieces, Tofu I have never seen as fake meat and never used it to substitute meat.

Oh I use fake milk though

DD bought some Swedish Glace ice cream and left some in the bowl. After 3-4 hours it had melted but the shape was the same , in a scoop. God knows what is in that stuff