“Almost”
Lol, Impossible burgers and nuggets taste better than the real thing to me. The burgers’ mouth feel isn’t as good as the real thing, but the taste is better. And the nuggets both taste and feel better than the real thing.
I like not feeling disgusted about the cruelty. Really adds to the experience.
There’s that too. After seeing the way chickens are factory farmed, even if real nuggets tasted better than Impossible nuggets, I’d still go with Impossible. Luckily, Impossible’s are better, so it’s the easiest choice ever.
For things like frozen nuggets? It’s already just a breaded and deep fried protein paste at that point. Easy bar to clear and stay vegan.
And I bet all of them are loaded with methylcellulose (a.k.a. nature’s laxative) just like every other bullshit fake meat product.
I follow a vegan diet now, but grew up in the southern US around legit BBQ. There is no point trying to replicate that, never going to come close and it’s just going to use shitty processed food techniques to accomplish it. If you’re going to go vegan, how about actually be vegan instead of chasing a life you decided to leave behind.
I’ve been eating Impossible burgers and nuggets for years, and it’s never had a laxative effect. I think you might be assuming there’s a high enough dose to produce the effect, when there probably isn’t.
What’s wrong with being vegan but wanting a meat substitute? Does it make someone a worse person than you if they do that?
I’m not vegan, and I eat Impossible meats, because I try to eat less meat and they taste really good. Would it be better if I ate real meat instead? Because the way you’re talking, it sounds like that’s what you’d prefer.
This. I’m not giving up BBQ, sorry. However, if I can replace my heavily processed meats like nuggies or hamburger patties with something that tastes more or less the same, has a vaguely similar or better texture, and doesn’t involve killing an animal, then fuck yeah I’ll try it.
Talking about how an ingredient is a laxative as if it’s going to immediately make everyone shit their brains out just pushes me and presumably others away from meat substitutes. Tbh it almost feels elitist or like meat propaganda. “The fake meat is gonna make you die from diarrhea!!!” or “Oooo… Look at me, I’m a real^tm vegan because I don’t eat that chemical filled, laxative laced fake meat”.
I’d rather people eat for their blood types than trying to force fuck themselves into what someone else suggests they eat.
https://www.webmd.com/diet/blood-type-diet
MC may not have the same effect on you as some other people, just like red meat may not have the same effect on you as it does others. Some blood types actually need meat, others require raw roots and less cooking.
So yes, eat the meat if your body and metabolism react to it in a healthy way. Just do yourself a favor and go to a local butcher, don’t buy the pre-packaged garbage from grocery stores or Boar’s Head.
Lastly, my point was that the fake meats are all heavily processed foods, as opposed to real meat which is considered a whole-food in most forms. Let your body break it down into what it needs, not some machine in another state run by a CEO who wants to make money off you.
In the years since D’Adamo introduced the Blood Type Diet, many studies have looked into whether the diet actually works, but none of them have shown a clear link between eating according to your blood type and better health.
I’ve seen how Impossible burger meat is made. It’s just ground up plants and oils. If that’s what you call “heavily processed”, I feel like I shouldn’t take your advice on diet.
- Source: https://youtu.be/6fGEggkj02g
Savage
How many people even know their blood type? Certainly noone before types were even discovered.
I get what you mean especially in comparison to the real southern BBQ. However things aren’t rational … I used to have cravings for meat all the time and a random veggie dog or burger would make it go away.
I don’t really chase the vegan lifestyle so there’s probably a market for those people like us that would try to eat vegan/veggie more often than they do.
Yeah, but what if they’re not loaded with methylcellulose, or what if we do eventually come close to the real meats or what if this is a gateway product that could convert carnists?
Nope. Give me real plants, unprocessed. Just because a heavily processed compound that happens to be considered vegan might taste like meat has absolutely no bearing on whether or not someone is going to stop eating meat.
It’s kinda like a heroin addict. They’re not gonna stop just because you took their needle away or gave them a different drug. They have to want to stop on their own, otherwise anything you try is moot.
In your heroin example, when they do decide to break the addiction, giving them a different drug (Methadone) is exactly what you do.
Fair point, although the addicts are not actually interested or want to take the methadone as a replacement and is mainly for uncontrollable withdrawal symptoms.
It’s a larger difference gap than plant meat vs animal meat IMO. In other words, not taking methadone could be a life or death difference (or at least the difference between relapse and not).
In the meat debate, you could most definitely get a very close texture/taste without the fake meats if you use the right plants and spices. You don’t need the fake meats in order to replicate and satiate that meat-taste desire.
I don’t think the question should be whether or not it’s needed, but rather whether it’ll make things easier and encourage more people to make the switch.
No one is making you eat these products. If you’re so addicted to meat that you can’t have even fake meat without risking falling off the bandwagon, then it’s probably better you don’t anyway.
There are plenty of people (me included) who enjoy the taste and experience of eating meat, but would rather eat a plant based alternative. That’s who these products are for. When I have a choice between a real burger and an Impossible burger, I’ll choose the Impossible burger every time. But when I don’t have that choice, I’m going to eat the real burger.
Falling off the bandwagon is not my point. I’m not trying to convert anyone to veganism here. All I’m saying is, just because something tastes like meat doesn’t mean it will pull someone away from eating meat. If they don’t actually want to stop eating meat, then they won’t.
Besides taste, there are very real changes in your body’s gut biome based on the content of what you digest. Your body knows that what you ate is not animal protein and adjusts the enzymes in your stomach as a result. This is why a lot of people complain for the first several weeks of going vegan, because they are gassy as all hell due to these changes.
However, if you keep a little meat mixed in with your new plant diet, that won’t be as strong of a change. Your body knows even if your taste buds don’t.
I can definitely tell you’re not trying to convert anyone to veganism. If anything, I’d say you’re trying to keep people from becoming vegan.
I just don’t see it as a religion to force down other people’s throats.
And from your other comment, oils are processed foods on top of the fake meats still containing preservatives.
I’m glad you don’t shit yourself, that means you don’t need to pay attention to my warning about MC in the fake meats. Some people have reactions to it, though. Are you also going to tell me that Lactose Intolerance is bullshit because you’ve never shit your pants from drinking milk?
If I added some olive oil to a recipe, I wouldn’t consider it processed. Here are the ingredients of Impossible burger meat:
Ingredients: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Sunflower Oil, Coconut Oil, 2% Or Less Of: Natural Flavors, Methylcellulose, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Yeast Extract, Dextrose, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Vitamin E (Tocopherols), L-Tryptophan, Soy Protein Isolate,
Vitamins and Minerals: Zinc, Vitamins (B3, B1, B6, B2, and B12)
Contains: Soy
The only preservatives in there are cultured dextrose and vitamin E. Vitamin E occurs naturally in meat anyway, and cultured dextrose is just dextrose that’s been fermented. It’s used as a natural preservative in tons of foods, including deli meats.
Nothing in there is something I would consider “processed”, but I guess that depends on your definition of processed. If fermentation is “processed”, then tons of healthy natural foods are processed, including yogurt, cheese, kombucha, and sauerkraut.
Well that’s exactly what I did, so obviously it didn’t work for you, but substitutes absolutely did it for me. Don’t know why you’re so incredulous.
I’m able to make a false analogy too : It’s kinda like training wheels on a bike. It makes the experience of biking easier for the one learning and eventually you can remove them.
Fake chicken > real chicken
Given how tasteless real chicken from the broiler varieties taste, I’m not surprised that something with a similar texture and the same spices tastes similarly. I had the misfortune to grow up around and eat colorful chicken and my brain still can’t get over the taste of factory farmed poultry.
I found the same with beef, bland and flavourless, compared to moose my dad would hunt.
I don’t see the appeal. If I want vegan fried snack food / street food I’m going for falafel, pakora, tempura, or even beer-battered onion rings. Fried chickpeas, fried plantain chips, potato chips, fried tofu skins, vegan fried spring rolls, blooming onions, fried wonton nachos topped with vegan pulled pork (made with jackfruit), vegan empanadas, vegan pizza rolls, …
The list goes on and on and on. There is so much better stuff to eat than highly processed nuggets. Even if you aren’t vegan, there are much better things to eat than chicken nuggets.
But I see it. I want this.
I am happy for you if you don’t want chicken, but I like chicken and I want to eat it. If there is an alternative that tastes the same, I’m going to use that. If there’s falafel as an alternative, I’m going with the chicken.
I do want chicken. Just not chicken nuggets which are made from mechanically separated chicken aka pink slime. If I’m having fried chicken, it’s gotta be whole muscle meat.
Sure, if your definition of “meat” is frozen chicken nuggets or those sawdust & gristle pre-made burgers. I’ve tried all these meat alternatives and they’re nothing like actual meat, both in taste and texture, and they come with the added bonus of being ultra processed.
Let’s see the cloned meat. I’m really curious to see if that’s any good.
What does “ultra processed” mean, in this context?
That they are made from heavily refined products such as pea protein as compared to non-processed foods like whole vegetables or minimally-processed like salads.
That, however, does not make them bad by itself - they are generally still healthier than other ultra-processed (junk) foods since they are not made to be addictive with a lot of salt, sugar, and fat.
You should watch this video. This shows how Impossible burger meat is made.
Nothing in it is what I would describe as “heavily refined” like you said. The “heaviest” refinement process they use is fermentation, like sauerkraut, beer, yogurt, etc. I don’t think anyone would describe sauerkraut as “ultra processed”.
Here are the ingredients:
Ingredients: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Sunflower Oil, Coconut Oil, 2% Or Less Of: Natural Flavors, Methylcellulose, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Yeast Extract, Dextrose, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Vitamin E (Tocopherols), L-Tryptophan, Soy Protein Isolate,
Vitamins and Minerals: Zinc, Vitamins (B3, B1, B6, B2, and B12)
Contains: Soy
I’m a hardcore meat eater, and TBH, I would rather eat a vegetable, than something ultra-processed and vegetable adjacent.
Don’t even need to taste as good, I’ll gobble up most vegan nuggets alternatives regardless.
The secret is salt.
And fat. Vegan burger patties taste like heaven because of fat and salt.
Only the first paragraph or so is readable, however the entire article is viewable from the source. https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/best-vegan-meat-brands-taste-test-nectar-almost-as-good-as-the-real-thing/
Four of those products performed so well they almost reached taste parity, which Nectar defines as there being no statistically significant difference in how participants scored the vegan product versus the animal one in terms of overall liking. Those four are Impossible Foods’ unbreaded chicken breast, chicken nuggets, and burger, as well as Morningstar Farms’ nuggets.
the sheer amount of carnist misinformation in this thread is something else…
It really is something to behold. The animal agriculture propaganda did its work.
“Taste tests prove these vegan meat brands do not taste as good as the real thing.”
I already like how they will cost the same as meat, even though they are much cheaper to produce. /s
That’s not how any of the products in the supermarket are priced though
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I’m going to be pedantic here, because it’s sometimes my favourite thing to be. But “Vegan Meat” is an oxymoron.
Meat is specifically defined as the flesh or edible parts of animals.
These aren’t Vegan Meat brands, they’re Meat Substitute brands.
Meat also refers to the edible nut part. Like the meat of a wallnut is inside the shell
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meat
Meat is only specifically animals when in that context. Example: “let’s get to the meat of the issue” is not referring to animal flesh, but the details of an issue. Not even food related.
No, vegan meat exists, because I use it in that way.
if vegan is so fucking good, why are they trying to imitate meat all the time? If you want to taste meat, eat meat. If meat is offensive to you, then don’t try to fucking create a meat taste
Many vegans were brought up in meat eating families before they started questioning it and going vegan because of moral reasons. It’s not weird to miss the taste while refraining from eating the meat because of the belief that the life of an animal is more important than taste buds. And that’s how this industry exists; to satisfy taste with respect for animals.
But continue hating if you want to.
Have you considered that maybe meat tastes good, but I don’t want to kill and consume animals?
Because we want to keep our favourite foods. So many people say they don’t want to go vegan until they realize there are vegan alternatives to almost everything.
The vegan alternatives do not have animal abuse and environmental degradation.
Tastes good
