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.

Massive eye roll

This has been done to death. If you don't want to eat fake meat, no one is forcing you to.

The very fact millions are being spent across the world in development of fake meat shows that there's demand for it, so it doesn't really matter if you 'get it' or not.

I don't get it either. I'm happy to be educated but surely if you don't eat meat for reasons such as animal cruelty, the taste would not appeal to you either? Surely it is hard to mentally separate the taste from the whole process of obtaining that meat?

You wouldn't get B12 from lab grown meat, livestock need to graze and pick up something-or-other from the dirt to produce it.

Cattle especially need supplements to produce B12 if their grazing isn't adequate.

Personally, I'd rather just pop a B12 supplement myself than get it via dead cow guts.

I don’t think it’s an unreasonable question, but for a lot of folks it’s not simply about one thing or the other. I have had 30 plus years of folks being overly interested in my dietary choices, back to the days when not eating meat was way more difficult than it is now, with a lot less choice of options. It’s a personal choice, hopefully not harming me or anyone else.

"It's one or the other."

No it isn't. You can be vegan and eat fake meat, if you would like to. That's the whole point of your thread.

I think the reason it's getting so much investment is because it will probably spread veganism much further, if it gains enough traction. If they can get to a point where it's indistinguishable from real meat then it may result in lots of non vegans turning vegan.

I'm amazed that you needed this to be explained to you.

binky have I misunderstood something? I just looked at the ingredients list and with just the things that have % next to them it's up to 113% so far! I'm so confused!

As a non meat eater who hates meat substitutes which are currently replacing all the nicer vegetarian options recently they sound lovely. Did you say they were from asda?

Best friend is vegan. The thought of eating a dead animal sends her stomach churning, but something made of vegetables and pulses that resembles a meat product so isn't actually made of a dead animal, she can eat and enjoy. I don't know why you care at all what other people eat to be honest, get a better hobby...

Apart from a couple of products I loathe it. Most of all I hate it in restaurants when it has replaced the usual vegetarian options.

If that was affordable for the average family, of course it would be a good alternative to eating intensively farmed meat.

Ethically sourced meat is affordable for almost every family. Just eat it 3-4 times a week, rather than for every meal every day.

Meat doesn’t taste of animal cruelty though, does it? By the same logic, meat eaters find that element of it appealing?

I mentally separated taste of meat from the animal when I was omni, like most people do when we have such distance from the animal/process.

I'm happy to be educated but surely if you don't eat meat for reasons such as animal cruelty, the taste would not appeal to you either? Surely it is hard to mentally separate the taste from the whole process of obtaining that meat?

What do you need educating on, really? The vast majority of people who are now vegan/vegetarian grew up eating meat so know what it tastes like, it doesn't suddenly taste bad because you decide to stop eating it. It's seems like some sort of another weird justification by meat eaters that somehow "proves" that vegetarians and vegans are still "bad" if they like the taste of meat?

One of the reasons I gave up meat was because I didn’t like the taste.

For years I have quite happily eaten bean burgers and veggie burgers that tasted of beans and veggies

Recently though, when eating out I have ended up leaving a plate of food because they are using stuff that now mimics the taste of meat.

It is awful.

I eat meat and love it, but I am very happy to eat those Beyond burgers and Impossible burgers that you can now order at virtually every burger joint and diner in Manhattan. It's been a great innovation for opening up options. I have colleagues who can't eat a lot of stuff (Hindu and one Jain) and it has made so many places accessible to us as a group that weren't before. Just a lot easier. They ALL already have a burger on the menu so it's no big deal to just add a different patty.

Also on my friend's block there's an entirely vegetarian Dunkin Donuts run by Hindus, which would not have been possible before -- the breakfast sausage is vegan and tastes good to me.

I don’t eat out much, but veggie nuggets, salt and mayonnaise is one of my favourite meals.
Perhaps the home cooked stuff is better than restaurants?
Saying that I do like the greggs vegan sausage roll

oliversmumsarmy

Yes, this 100x over. I'm not vegetarian, but don't eat meat for a variety of reasons and I'm sad to find veggie dishes being substituted for fake meat.
We were in Holland this year and McDs veggie option was fake chicken, no actual vegetable option 🙄

It’s the latest dietary money spinner, but luckily, it will encourage folks to think about what they eat on a variety of levels, and perhaps people will make a choice that suits them. Maybe has added value in terms of eco and ethical changes as well.
I try not to judge anyone about their dietary choices, but I think it might be good from the point of view of helping in terms of getting people thinking more about what they eat, how it is produced, and where it comes from, as well as from a health and wealth perspective.

You can't make a real difference with a tiny number of people doing things perfectly, only with the majority of people trying

SO MUCH this ^^

I have never known a 'group' who are held up to such high standards as vegans. The absolute joy that some people take from throwing out their little "gotcha's". (FYI, they never are gotchas, but why do you feel the need to try?) As if they are the only ones to have oh-so-cleverly thought of "Well, what will happen to all the cows if we all stop eating them", or the classic "Processed chemical fake food, ugh no, wholesome dead stuff for me thank you". I am also enjoying the McDonalds vegan thread where we are being told that 'meat eaters' own the shape of burgers (because MEAT), and we should be happy eating our plant based food in the form of...what, a whole head of broccoli? Come back to me when you are served an actual dead-cow-shaped cow stuffed between two bits of bread and then we'll talk. FYI, you don't own nuggets either because no chicken I have ever seen is shaped that way....

Nobody can be perfect, none of us, but some of us want to try to do better, and for me that means I won't let animals suffer terribly and then die, just so that I can eat them. That's really not a bad thing, so why are you so very desperate to 'catch us out'?

@Ginkypig no idea sorry, I just copied and pasted from the supermarket website

I'm in Australia. That brand makes a couple of other nice varieties of veggie ball, a sweet potato one and a beetroot and blackbean one.

As lifelong vegetarian/vegan probably wouldn't buy something that looked or tasted like meat, but loads of people give up real meat for health reasons. They might enjoy a substitute "meat".

MsChnandlerBong

[img]media.tenor.com/images/039b76f457e474fccd92a26f5562393d/tenor.gif[/img]

I understand vegans want convenience, treats, junk food etc. What I don’t understand is people who are Vegan for ethical reasons, who say they don’t want to pay in to the meat trade, who don’t want to support meat farming, and don’t want to pay into meat or dairy farming..and then eat in mcdonalds.
Makes no sense.

Ehhmmm gif fail......

Amanduh, what do they eat in McDonalds?

French fries maybe

I think Amanduh is saying that you're still a bad person if you eat anywhere that sells meat? So, vegans need to stay home and never eat at any restaurant unless the whole restaurant is vegan. Don't buy vegan foods from shop if that brand also sells meat products etc etc? GOTCHA Vegan! :p