To not get the vegan meat thing.

[Katzia]

I just don't get it. Surely if you're vegan/ vegetarian you don't want things to taste of meat which you have foresworn, so why want a fake meat taste. I just don't get the fake steak, fake bacon etc thing. Be vegan/ vegetarian or just eat meat. It's one or the other.

What if you're ethically vegan/vegetarian? But like the taste.

I don't want to preach, but as you asked.

I LOVE the taste of meat, lamb, sausage, corned beef, steak, tuna, all of it. But, I don't think its ideal for our bodies, I don't think the way the animals are treated is very nice, and I don't think the farming industry is sustainable or good for the environment and we all eat too much meat in general. Alot of people think you need some with every meal (I know I used to).
But most vegan foods are cheaper, I cook more healthy and fresh foods than ever before.
I get 20 "meat" balls for £1.75! They taste gorgeous and good quality. But I haven't contributed to the above factors.

Veganism is keeping you up at night? 4 am!

Many are vegan for ethical not taste reason.

princess, where do you get the "meat" balls from please?

I eat fish and fowl. I don't miss eating the other animals. I've always slightly preferred vegetarian alternatives to processed meat items add such as sausages, etc., would love to know of a tasty meat ball alternative.

I just don't get why this is a problem for you OP.

Why does the form of a vegan/vegetarian's meal matter to you so much? So long as they're not eating real meat in secret whilst happily calling themselves a vegan/veggie in public it shouldn't matter at all to anyone.

Are you jealous of people who have the will to live by their food principles? Just want to knock them down a peg or two so they're no more principled than you?

YABU. Leave them alone FGS

@dudsville
I get mine from Asda's meat free range out the freezer. Cook them in the oven for 30 minutes until crispy then add them to my pasta. I sometimes have homemade bolognese sauce, sometimes just a pot of stir in sauce, DH has them in a baguette like a meatball sub. They are one of the better meat alternatives to me. Less fat and greasy but have been flavoured really well :)

Thanks princess!

I'll look out for those @dudsville

One of my family's new year resolutions is to eat no meat at least one day a week.

Sorry, that should be @PrincessPain

I agree. I saw an ad on television last night for a vegan “whopper “ and I heaved, yuck I do not want the taste or feel of dead animal flesh in my mouth. The thought sickens me. I don’t get it. I like veggie burgers but ones that taste like veggies. Not replicated dead animal flesh.

I haven’t yet found a vegetarian meat product that reminds me 100% (or even 80%) of the meat I gave up 30+ years ago.

I think the op is suffering from a misapprehension. I doubt many of us vegetarians and vegans have given up meat because we don’t like the taste. Most meat I liked (always thought any kind of pig was vile). I did not like that an animal was suffering and being murdered for my palate. Tofu and what gluten have not suffered so I have no problem with them being moulded into a round or sausage shape.

I gave up eating meat 33 years ago because I didn't want to eat factory farmed animals. However, I still remember the glory of bacon. I never buy meat replacements (with the exception of vegetable balls and homemade veggie burgers on the freezer) but I do enjoy the Quorn 'fakin bacon'. Friends and relations often provide meat replacement dishes which I eat and thank them for. An elderly relative was moaning about a fussy relative that she hated feeding and I was pleased to hear that she considered me easy and appreciative of her efforts.

I transitioned to vegan all of 6 weeks avo and already so fucking sick of meat eaters telling me what I should eat and why, and what my ethics and lifestyle should be. Honestly, just fuck off.

Another vegan here who loves the taste of meat but do it for eco/animal cruelty reasons.

It’s for some more pragmatic reasons that they’re called sausages etc. Marketing an item that looks familiar to people is much easier, what else would you call protein shaped as burgers and sausages? They don’t really taste like meat in most cases, it’s just easier than saying vegetable circular patty.

It’s also normalising - why should my food have to look radically different? To identify me as a vegan at a glance? I don’t think so.

The overwhelming flavours it’s providing are usually salt and savoury and providing some texture/contrast to pure vegetables. Are you really suggesting that’s unreasonable because meat also has that flavour texture?

Mostly though, it doesn’t impact your life a jot what other people. Stop wasting your brain space on it.

I think the op is asking a question out of curiosity and there is nothing wrong with that snide remarks is unhelpful

The vegan "steak bake"? Yes a fair few people are asking why its not just a vegan bake because it's not steak and they are getting the same snide remarks too

I don't understand it either OP ... I also don't understand the whole substitute everything, if you're going to not eat meat then fine, but stop pretending with all this "fake chemical shit"

But I'm from a family of farmers and butchers

It's so meat eaters will eat less meat.

They are also to make being vegan easier.

But primarily they are developed so food manufacturers and outlets can tap into the new profit making market when their traditional one is getting smaller.

I'm on a few Vegan/Vegetarian forums and we discuss if we should be shopping at outlets that are responsible for so much planet destruction and world hunger etc.

We can't sustain our leven of meat eating.

I find the whole thing so hypocritical. I am supportive of life choices but all this ethics and saving the planet is contradictory when all these "fake meats" and "substitutes" are made in factories giving off fumes and adding to pollution and climate change, what about the road miles / air miles for imported vegan products?

I'm not ridiculing, I'm just curious as to the sustainability argument!?

@slipperywhensparticus the OP finished with "Be vegan/ vegetarian or just eat meat. It's one or the other" which is not a question based on curiosity.

As for the 'fake chemical shit' claims, here are the ingredients of the vegie balls I buy from my local supermarket: Lentils (25%), Roasted Zucchini (24%), Chickpeas, Vegetable Oil, Roasted Onion, Besan Flour, Parsley (1.5%), Garlic, Brown Sugar, Salt, Yeast Extract, Crushed Chilli (0.5%) (Chilli (62%), Water, Sugar, Salt, Acetic Acid, Vegetable Gum (Xanthan Gum)), Vegetable Gum (466).

And here are the ingredients for the actual meatballs. Does one sound more fake and chemical than the other?
Australian Pork (60%), Australian Veal (20%), Water, Gluten Free Crumb (Mineral Salts (450, 500)), Rice Flour, Salt, Carrot Fibre, Vegetable Protein (Soy), Potato Starch, Sugar, Dehydrated Garlic, Herbs (Parsley, Rosemary), Spices (Chilli, Caraway, Pepper, Mace, Fennel), Lemon Juice, Preservative (223), Natural Flavouring (Lemon), Fermented Rice.

That's a bit like saying why do sugar free soft drinks exist, you could just have a normal soft drink. Why do fat free/low fat versions of food need to exist, just eat the normal version. It's because some people like the flavour of soft drink/fatty food/meat but don't want the sugar/calories/cruelty and environmental degradation.

I think vegan meats haven't gone far enough. I would love to eat them but I think they taste horrible and not like meat at all.

@binky ... I make my own so I know exactly what goes in it, I wouldn't buy ready made meat balls

Not sure there is a great deal to get really, it's just personal choice surely. Lots of people who like meat give it up for all sorts of reasons.

When you've spent most of your life having dinners with a 'meat' on the plate with the veg or whatever it allows you to have a more ethical or healthier lifestyle without the feeling of missing something on the plate.

DP has it for that reason, and well as because he likes the taste of certain 'fake meat' products, plus there is often a decent amount of protein. He has been vegetarian for 20 years and would rather it didn't look like meat, if anything, as would I as I can't see the point. In the respect of supermarkets doing it I think it's to encourage the meat obsessives to swap out a meal to a veggie alternative, tapping in to the trend and wishing to make a sale whilst its trend-led.

I'm not specifically a fan of most quorn etc as it all tastes pretty rubbish to me but there is the odd thing I like so it's just nice to have a different dinner, like anyone enjoys. No big conspiracy.

I love the taste of meat but I don't want to be a part of the cruelty that goes with it so I eat 'fake' meat. Vegans often don't dislike animal products they just don't like the cruelty.

I sort of know what you mean. I am a v long term non meat eater fundamentally because I don't like meat, especially its texture. Never did and gave it up as soon as my mum let me in my early teens with nothing so much as a backward glance.

I am therefore personally not a fan of these products - I very rarely buy quorn/Linda McCartney any more because of this.

I don't mind at all things being meaty product shapes (sausages, burgers etc) but not meaty product taste even though I know it doesn't really taste the same. The idea of having something bacon flavoured is as bad as having the bacon to me.

It is great that there is such an increase in choices and options to go meat free but in some ways I am finding it more restrictive when eating out. My mate took me out to a burger place the other day and whilst it had both veggie and vegan options, the halloumi burger was 'chicken fried', ie covered in a chicken flavour veggie coating and the vegan option was 'meaty' flavoured.

Appreciate this is my personal taste issue though