Pre-note: When I mention “imitation products”, I mean a food item that is trying to exactly replicate a non vegan item. Something like a black bean burger is not an imitation production, it’s just an alternative.
I was bored so I started creating a tier list of vegan products and how closely they imitate non vegan products. I was trying to keep the list genericized with less emphasis on specific brands, but for some items the brand was really important.
What would you move around? What would you add? I only have a few items so far. I’ll update the list as comments come in.
S tier - practically indistinguishable
- Beef burgers (impossible, beyond)
- Breakfast sausages (impossible, beyond)
- Chicken nuggets/patties
- Mayo
A tier - you can tell it’s different but it’s just as good
- Queso dip (cashew based)
- Ground beef (impossible, beyond)
- Egg (just egg)
- Butter
- Milk
- Ice cream
B tier - you can tell it’s different and it’s a slight downgrade
- Deli cheese slices (some brands are C or F)
C tier - you can tell it’s different and it’s okay but a significant downgrade
- Cream cheese (most brands)
- Pizza
F tier - you can tell it’s different and it’s not good
- Beef jerky
Immitation burgers have gotten so good, even though I am not a vegan, I prefer them now over real burgers. Not necessarily because I feel they perfectly substitute a meat patty in taste and texture, but just because they taste so dang good.
EDIT: Vegan cream cheese is another one. It doesn’t taste the same, but I really like and prefer it.
That’s funny about cream cheese, I have mostly heard complaints about vegan cream cheese. Maybe I haven’t had the right brand yet but of the three types I tried I wasn’t a big fan.
I like the Violife brand.
The tofutti one is abhorrent, but I only tried it as a one to one replace for cream cheese on bagels with lox.
It might work for applications where you mix it with other things.