To wonder what most vegetarians prefer

[shaniahoo]

I was looking at reviews of a brand of meat free burger and somebody said that they're sick of these meat replacement products and that vegetarians tend to prefer a burger made with chickpeas, beans, pepper etc which is more like real vegetarian food. I'm not a vegetarian but sort of a meat-avoider because I don't like meat very much and prefer vegetarian products, but I still firmly prefer a veggie burger or sausage to taste like meat and I often find the stuff made of pulses to be quite mealy. If you're a vegetarian what do you prefer?
YABU - prefer pulses and vegetables etc
YANBU - prefer meat imitation

Pescatarian here, not eaten meat in 30 years. Not a fan of fake meat at all, although if I’m in Burger King I’ll tolerate their latest efforts. Much prefer bean/pulses in burgers.

Not fake meat. It's revolting

I’ve been vegi for about 25 years. I’ll have the odd fake meat burger or sausage but on the whole I prefer other food. I hate going out and paying the price of a meat burger for a fake meat burger with fake cheese. There is so much else on offer. I’ve got a Moving Mountains burger in my freezer thanks.

Faux meat isn't nice. I'd rather eat vegetables being vegetables instead of some chemically, ultra processed crap. We have a million choices of non meat or non faux meat options that taste great. And I do love me a bean burger.

I’ve never heard of Moving mountain burgers so just did a Google.
It says it will fool a carnivore.
Does it taste like meat in your opinion, appreciate you’ve been a veggie for 25 years.
If it does what animal would you say….

Ethics for me and would like it to be as like meat as possible.

I've been veggie for 30 years, I can't stand the thought of eating something thats died. So I love the fake meat- Richmond sausages, Quorn ham, McPlant burgers etc.
I cannot stand pulses, so avoid any bean burgers and such. I also cant stomach spicy food, so I'm often disappointed when the veggie alternative is a curry/ spicy lentil type dish.

Richmond Sausages are great! And there's a great streaky facon which my meat mad DP has instead now...'This Isn't' range.

Fake chicken is preferable to real, cheap chicken - quorn nuggets/burgers are good.
My kids make nice lentil burgers as they are veggies.
Fake beef burgers are gross. Especially ones that bleed.

The newer weirdly realistic fake meat puts me about. I don't mind the odd bit of (very specific types of) quorn. I'm not that keen on a bean burger generally. I like halloumi a lot though.

The newer vegan quorn is horrible. I'm glad they switched to both vegan and vegetarian versions because the few things I like aren't vegan.

It depends on the specific burger. I enjoy a good, flavourful bean burger but equally there are bland ones that I dislike. Some fake meat tastes fine, others taste funky. And texture is important too - some fake meat is dry and chewy and generally unpleasant. I do abhor someone cooking a portabello and popping it in a bun and calling it a burger tho!

It's decades since I ate meat and don't miss it, so a burger isn't a craving / meat replacement for me. I actually can't recall the last time I ate a burger (I don't tend to buy them for home and wouldn't order them in a restaurant unless there was no other option, simply because so many restaurants cook them on the same surface as regular meat ones, which I dislike).

Veggie for 45 years because I don’t want animals killed for meat
Ill eat anything but will not buy from a producer that also produces meat based products.
I wouldn’t give them the time I’d day as I feel they’ve just jumped on the bandwagon but also because they are making money from suffering
So the likes of Richmond sausages are off the table for us

We re about 10% the odd processed sausage 90% lentils, tofu and beans. However I did grow up without lots of processed alternatives

I do it for health reasons, so I wouldn't really eat those processed types of burgers or meats. But because my brain still expects to taste "meat" the fake stuff tastes awful to me anyway. The occasional IKEA plant-based meatballs are about my limit.

I like homemade vegetable burgers rather than veggie burgers. Sweetcorn, carrot, peppers, peas, cauliflower, cheese, with a little mashed potato to bind it, coated in breadcrumbs then baked.

I never ate a meat burger even when I did eat meat and I didn’t eat beef that often, so I can’t say I’m afraid.

Most long-term vegetarians I know prefer food that doesn't try to mimic meat. The fake-meat products seem aimed at carnivores who enjoy the taste of meat but want to move towards vegetarianism.

I'm not a vegetarian but I enjoy a lot of vegetarian food - there are so many vegetarian dishes I'd prefer to something that was trying to mimic meat in a synthetic way. I do enjoy natural substitutes like tofu, tempeh etc though.

If varies. Sometimes the meat alts are good as you can have the lazy meal which is filling and like you used to enjoy as a meat eater, without actually being meat and without smelling like meat.

I’ve been veggie for a long time
but like them sometimes as I used to enjoy some of the textures of meat products (eg. Proper cheeseburger) so I want that without it being actual meat. Also it’s definitely still different!

Out of interest how does that work with supermarkets then, which all sell own brand meat? Do you not use supermarkets at all?

I was a vegetarian for quite a few years as a teenager and most of the "fake meat" options gave me an awful stomach ache.

I'm like you, I eat meat but only when someone cooks it for me. I am not a fan of things like 'meat-free steaks', but I don't mind a bolognese made with Quorn. Much prefer a bean burger.

I’m vegan and like both in certain circumstances. Bean burgers are crap on the BBQ and as hangover food for example but more preferable for an everyday meal.

Bean burgers are so hard to find nowadays though and those that exist seem to be breadcrumbed. It’s good that there’s a lot of choice in the veggie burger market and a lot more than when I first went vegetarian decades ago but I wish more of them would come up with a decent bean burger than yet another fake meat burger which are all basically the same.

Also, I don’t like vegan cheese but vegetarians are kidding themselves about veggie options being better before veganism became mainstream. Goat’s cheese tart and endless mushroom risotto anyone? 🤢

No choice unfortunately.
We also paid for school meals (compulsory) even though they serve meat too.
We do what we can to avoid the big meat producers ie Richmond whose original sole purpose was to produce meat products. We d rather buy Linda Mc which has always been a no meat producer and advocate of vegetarian foods. I’d rather promote that sort of company in the hope they aren’t pushe out of business and thrive.

The same with shoes, I’d rather give my money to vegan shoe shops but there’s no such thing as a vegan dress shop so I have to buy those where they may also sell leather.

Much much prefer the proper bean burger type, with pulses or beans etc

Really don’t like the fake meat kind. Tends to taste like/ have the texture of uncooked mince which I hated the texture of when I ate meat!

I am pescatarian now but haven’t eaten meat for 45 years (FUCKING HELL 😳)

ethical reasons and i prefer bean and vegetable burgers. It winds me right up that the default veggie/vegan option in a lot of places we go to is a fake meat burger

Having black bean burgers for tea actually, haven’t tried them before