to think that people are telling fibs when they say they "Can't tell the difference" with meat substitutes?

[00100001]

I am not having a go or anything.
I quite like meat substitutes such as Quorn or whatever.

But all those videos, and blogs and other people.

Beyond Meat Burger - people claim it tastes and feels "just like beef" - NOPE.

Jackfruit pulled 'pork' - tastes and feel JUST LIKE PORK!!
Nope.


Quorn mince bolognaise - you can't tell the difference with mine!

YES I CAN.


They're nice and I like to think of them as their own 'thing' ratehr than fake beef/chicken/pork iyswim?


Is anyone fooled by these replacements - genuinely??

[Ninkanink]

But a mozzarella burger isn’t pretending to be a beef burger, it’s just a different, very nice burger. I like a good bean burger, but I just enjoy it for what it is. I love most foods so I’ll happily eat veg based meals, and I like a lot of vegetarian and vegan dishes. I just don’t want to eat substitute meats (but then I love meat so I’m obviously not the target market).

[zscaler]

@LunchBoxPolice I’m a committed vegan and I completely agree. I’ve never tried a vegan cheese which isn’t rank. I’m happier having none at all than the substitutes (although that is being sorely tested because I’m pregnant and craving cheese like you wouldn’t believe, despite never having missed it before).

[Quartz2208]

quorn nuggets I dont think you can

Sausages its the fat - I make a toad in the hole veggie for the veggie half and meat for the meat eaters and the difference is the fat that comes out of it

[Unshriven]

ALDI vegan sausage rolls are just like the Greggs regular sausage rolls.

[safariboot]

As an omnivore, I can still tell the difference.

I'll cook with meat substitutes if I'm cooking for someone who doesn't eat meat, but personally I don't really care for them. Had some Heck meatless sausages today, they taste pretty crap. Quorn mince is OK but doesn't have the same texture, same with Meatless Farm, it just sort of fell apart when I cooked with it. (To be fair frozen beef mince also falls apart, which is why I don't use it.)

Maybe 1% of the products on the market would fool me in a blind taste test.

[UncleFoster]

Linda macartney sausages taste fuck all like sausage. Neither do cauldron or quorn sausages. Ive never had a good vegetarian sausage - and Ive had so mant veggies tell me xyz is amazing.

I dont like pastry made with not butter so I doubt Ill enjoy linda maccartney sausages rolls - but I dont really like supermarket meat ones either.

I think its the same as sweeteners, sort of similar but not right. You can train yourself to think they taste the same. But they arent sticky.

You can get meat subsitutes that sort of replicate the taste, but they never replicate the true texture. Animal fat is very hard to replicate I think, chicken is a bit easier than beef/pork.

Just like marg will never ever taste like butter.

Some meat subsitutes are nice, and I will more than happily eat them. I prefer a bean/chickpea burger over fake meat. I aactually love quorn chicken but its not chicken its more like a nutty taste.

[TooOldForSims]

I’ve never tried a vegan cheese which isn’t rank.

Have you tried the applewood one? I haven't but it's supposed to be really nice.

[Floofsquidge]

I have a fairly violent digestion intolerance to TVP / processed mushroom derivatives so I can tell the difference pretty damn quickly.

[LunchBoxPolice]

zscaler vegan cheese is just a disappointment, isn’t it. I felt really rude but I had to spit it out, it tasted that bad. I don’t think anyone would be fooled by it in a blind taste test.

[UncleFoster]

Vegan cheese is definitely rank!

[TooOldForSims]

The cheese that Zizzi use on their vegan pizzas is really nice though. It doesn't taste like cheese but somehow it works.

[zscaler]

Actually, I did once have a vegan pizza in Franco manca where the cheese was ok. It still wouldn’t fool you it’s the real deal though!

I haven’t tried applewood, will look out for it. I’ve heard as well that the fauxmagerie in London does fantastic vegan cheeses but I am obviously taking that with a massive pinch of salt having been burned before!

[WithIcePlease]

The greggs sausage rolls were indistinguishable to me
Got one of each next to each other, tasted the pink and didn't know which one to give to veggie DD until other DD explained about the patterns on them

[ItsSpittingEverybodyIn]

Totally agree, but Richmond meat free sausages had me fooled.

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

Before lockdown DH and I took grown up veggie DD out for a full English to a trendy cafe in Manchester.

“Taste this veggie black pudding,” she said, “”It tastes just like the real one.” And it did. It tasted (and looked) identical to the black pudding DH and I had on our non veggie plates.

DH and I exchanged a look, but said nothing.

[CovidicusRex]

Maybe they’re just used to eating disgusting meat? I’ve tried some meat free burgers that taste like cheap European beef. But then again cheap European beef doesn’t taste like meat to me (was raised on Australian beef which has a really different taste somehow so I guess in the absence of what I think of as beef flavour the vile consistency just doesn’t cut it for me in the same way as cheap Australian beef which I find perfectly tolerable).

[Tarararara]

I'm a veggie so I have no idea what normal burgers taste like but committed carnivore DH says that the Linda McCartney mozzarella burgers are better by a long way. He hasn't actually eaten a meat burger for over a year since trying one.

Yes, here too! DS can't tell the difference even in a side-by-side taste test. I can just about tell the difference (and marginally prefer the Linda McCartney). We also tried Co-Op's own brand of meat-free burger - just as good. We will never buy a meat burger again! Not least because there is so much less mess to clear up (fat) when cooking meat-free burgers.

I've never tried other meat subsitutes (believing they wouldn't taste as good) but the Mozzarella burger experience has widened my horizons and I'm willing to give others a go, so following this thread with interest.

[ChristmasFluff]

As a previous meat-eater who has been vegaterian/vegan since the early 1990s, I can tell you that people may well be fibbing.

I can spot even the tiniest bit of meat because it is so greasy and heavy on the palate. I love the memory of meat - but in fact the grease and heaviness is nauseating.

So I would imagine that the lack of that would be very obvious. Maybe less so if you fill the grease-gap with cheese.

[LisaSimpsonsbff]

I haven't eaten meat in 19 years and so barely remember what it tastes like - and I still haven't ever eaten a meat substitute that I thought could be meat. I've eaten plenty that I thought were nice, but nothing that I thought could be mistaken for meat.

I have a colleague who bakes things that she insists no one would ever know are vegan and gluten-free. They might not say 'is this vegan and dairy-free?' specifically but they would say, if she weren't stood there when they tried it, 'what on earth is wrong with this?'

[pigsDOfly]

Comparing things like greggs sausage rolls with vegetarian sausage rolls or meat sausages with vegetarian sausage or vegetarian chicken nuggets with meat chicken nuggets is just comparing one poor quality processed product with another.

Nothing that is vegetarian is going to taste anything like a good quality piece of beef or a good quality piece of chicken.

[AravisTarkheena]

Tbh when I ate meat I really enjoyed beef and lamb and I don’t really expect or want a vegetarian replication, but I’m surprised to see so many people talk about chicken like it’s inimitable. I never ate chicken and thought - ah yeah this is next level I can’t do without this. It’s so unexceptional. To me it’s serves the same purpose as tofu or paneer in that it takes flavour.

[AravisTarkheena]

I agree about vegan cheese mind - I just gave up cheese and didn’t miss it nearly as much as I thought I would.

[MyShinyWhiteTeeth]

I've unfortunately had really bad, low quality meat that doesn't taste like meat. I was in a house share with people that wanted to share food costs, cook and eat communally and spend more on alcohol than food. I became a vegan to opt out of the arrangement and moved out asap. It was more the excessive drinking and smoking than sharing vile meals though.

I think the vegan alternatives could fool someone used to eating poor quality meat products.

[NaturalBornWoman]

I bought some terrifyingly expensive vegan cheeses from a non-dairy artisanal cheese shop when my stepdaughters came for pre-Christmas. They loved it. It was one of the most unappetising things I’ve eaten but I can only assume they’ve forgotten what cheese is like.

[hamsterchump]

@Yearcat13 Most vegans and vegetarians like the taste and texture of meat and grew up eating it. The vast majority have decided to stop eating it NOT because they don't like it (although these people will exist of course) but for ethical or environmental or health reasons typically. Could you really not have worked that out with a moment's thought?