How do you butcher a vegetable?

[Gobbeldegook]

The world just keeps getting stranger doesn't it?

Surely this is just a deli? (See BBC link)

Yabu-of course it's a butchers
Yanbu- there's no such thing as a vegan butcher

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-56717667.amp

Not sure but you have to do a really bad job of it 😂

Only if it's Kevin the Carrot!

"How do you butcher a vegetable?" - Give them to my ex-MIL to cook! Every single type would be boiled for an hour until they were tasteless mush.

Every time I see/hear that advert I think "vegan butcher" - an arable farmer then?

I saw something about that on telly last night! No idea what I was watching!

As an ex vegetarian I have no idea why anyone would want faux pastrami etc. Just eat bloody veg! It's not as though pulses and veg are incapable of tasting good!

From that article This vegan glazed belly pork has been created to look and taste like the real thing WHY? HOW?

The amount of processing involved must surely detract from any health benefits and green credentials!

I agree, it's a deli not a butcher.

A butcher is a specific trade of cutting whole animals up into defined cuts of meat, an association that I would have thought that vegans would like to avoid.

Be interesting to try some of their offerings. I’m not giving up meat or meat products but I think we could all do with eating less of them.

So, funnily, I ran a camp one year in our neighbourhood, which is an inner city area, lots of low income people, with a certain amount of gentrification. One of the things I did with the kids is we went on a hike through the neighbourhood.

In one place the kids noticed two new shops, one called "The Meatless Butcher" and the other "Blue Collar Barbershop". The kids thought these were both hilarious oxymorons - the barbershop wasn't, quite, but it was clearly really a hipster place.

As an ex vegetarian I have no idea why anyone would want faux pastrami etc. Just eat bloody veg! It's not as though pulses and veg are incapable of tasting good!

From that article This vegan glazed belly pork has been created to look and taste like the real thing WHY? HOW?

It's not that difficult a concept surely? A lot of people who are becoming vegetarians/vegans or trying to reduce their meat consumption love the taste of meat and want a substitute that's as close as it's feasible to get without the animal cruelty/the environmental impact.

You can eat meat substitutes and pulses. The two aren't mutually exclusive. And not every meal has to be super healthy.

It's just a gimmick. Fake meat doesn't appeal to me but some people like it and would really like this. Of course it's not actually a butcher but then vegan bacon isn't bacon etc is it

Also. There's a huge uptake in meat substitutes. There's a much larger variety available now in any supermarket, and many restaurants so the demand is obviously there.

As an ex vegetarian I have no idea why anyone would want faux pastrami etc.

You can’t understand why someone who likes the taste of meat but doesn’t want to eat animals would eat a product like faux pastrami? Really?

I get that @HoldingTheDoor I was seduced back to the meat eating side by a bacon butty

But my main point was the last sentence, the part you didn't quote, about the amount of processing it takes to make vegetables and fungi taste and look like meat!

And because of that I remain sceptical about the real value to our health and the environment of such foods. Shoving various vitamins and minerals into foodstuff that doesn't naturally contain them isn't the best way of eating.

That and veggie/vegan food is not always 'green' - from air miles through processing and pesticides etc.

Avocadoes, almonds ect are water guzzling monsters. Processing a 'raw/fresh' avocado just to get it to the shlef is gobsmacking and look at California and the enormous issues around almonds etc. Madness!

@PurpleDaisies

As an ex vegetarian I have no idea why anyone would want faux pastrami etc.

You can’t understand why someone who likes the taste of meat but doesn’t want to eat animals would eat a product like faux pastrami? Really?

I do wish peple would read a post as a whole thing rather than just picking a single part of it.

But no! I missed bacon but never ate fake bacon, well once, but never again!

It's not that odd! As I said vegetable and pulses taste nice anyway!

@CuriousaboutSamphire

I saw something about that on telly last night! No idea what I was watching!

As an ex vegetarian I have no idea why anyone would want faux pastrami etc. Just eat bloody veg! It's not as though pulses and veg are incapable of tasting good!

From that article This vegan glazed belly pork has been created to look and taste like the real thing WHY? HOW?

The amount of processing involved must surely detract from any health benefits and green credentials!

Really? It's not that difficult a concept. I like the taste of burgers, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, barbecue meat but I don't want to eat animals. This gives me that choice and in no way at all does it impose on other vegans/veggies' ability to stick to pulses and veg.

Each to their own, but it's not for me. I'm vegan and can't bring myself to eat anything that looks or tastes too much like the real thing. It may persuade some meat eaters to eat less meat though and try meat subs though, which of course is a good thing.

@VegCheeseandCrackers as I have expained - that last sentence...

I know that there are various issues around foods like almonds and avocadoes and I guess faux meat but that's too complicated to get into right now, at least until my next coffee,mparticularly as I''m not even vegetarian/vegan.

I just didn't think it was that odd for people to desire faux meats. I eat them occasionally. They're much better than they used to be.

Are you against all fortification of food including cereals, bread, flour etc? Just curious. I know there's a whole debate around whether folic acid should be added to certain foods as it is in many countries.

I read all your post @CuriousaboutSamphire. I didn’t realise it was compulsory to respond to every point.

I don’t buy fake meat because it’s healthy or non processed. I like the taste and I like that it wasn’t killed for my dinner. There’s clearly a market for it, regardless of whether you personally ate fake bacon or not. You don’t seem to get that not everyone thinks the same as you.

I know vegetables taste nice. That’s the major part of my diet but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy quorn chicken nuggets now and again.

Plenty of meat eaters eat a mix of healthy foods close to their natural state and processed stuff.

Are you against all fortification of food including cereals, bread, flour etc? And flouride in the water etc? Not really, with some caveats. But the amount of fortification some vegan foods require is ludicrous!

As I said, it is the amount of processing that is the issue. Selling a diet on health grounds and not including just how much 'fakery' means additional processies and possibly man made flavourings, colourings etc is misleading and doesn't help anyone make an informed decision - or help the environment much.

Then again, I don't eat much processed food, a hangover ftom being vegetarian in the 80s.

@PurpleDaisies more it would increase nderstadning to have linked sentence 1 with sentence 3 etc.

You don’t seem to get that not everyone thinks the same as you. Isn't that much the same as your taking umbrage with my post and repsonse?

Some will, some won't. Or do we have to take a straw poll before posting?

I think some faux meats are better than others. Some are more of an attempt to reproduce that very intense umami and a certain kind of texture. Especially when it's things like fake pastrami. People find those flavours and textures very satisfying, it's why you get things like fermented soy or marinated portobello mushrooms. But most people don't eat charcuterie on a daily basis.

On the other hand crap like that Beyond Meat sausages or mince are basically highly processed junk food from a lab. If you really care about the environment and ecology and sustainable food systems and health, and want to occasionally indulge a taste for meat, you'd be better off to just occasionally have some beef or lamb or pork raised on a sustainable farm close to where you live. Just eat less.

I don't get appeal of fake meat, but that's hardly relevant because as the article states many of the people local to the Faux business do.

However I don't think it's right that they call themselves 'butchers'. A butcher is a highly skilled trade, there's no doubt skill involved in creating a process whereby non-animal products can taste like meat...but it's clearly not butchery. Maybe Vegan Artisan might be more apt a description but the shop should be renamed as a deli type place rather than butcher IMO.

It's tongue in cheek marketing and anyone with half a brain can understand the concept of a vegetarian butcher providing meat-free substitutes. Don't understand your fuss?

@PurpleDaisies

I read all your post *@CuriousaboutSamphire*. I didn’t realise it was compulsory to respond to every point.

I don’t buy fake meat because it’s healthy or non processed. I like the taste and I like that it wasn’t killed for my dinner. There’s clearly a market for it, regardless of whether you personally ate fake bacon or not. You don’t seem to get that not everyone thinks the same as you.

I know vegetables taste nice. That’s the major part of my diet but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy quorn chicken nuggets now and again.

Plenty of meat eaters eat a mix of healthy foods close to their natural state and processed stuff.

Yes! This! We aren't stupid, we understand hot dogs and burgers aren't exactly healthy but after a week of running and eating healthy, a wee hot dog/burger/pizza/goujons goes down a treat, even when you're vegan!