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Mock meat foods are a great way for restaurants to easily serve vegetarian or vegan plates with a simple substitution. They also make a massive number of recipe

Mock meat foods are a great way for restaurants to easily serve vegetarian or vegan plates with a simple substitution. They also make a massive number of recipes accessible to vegetarians or vegans. They also lower the barrier to entry for meat eaters to convert to eating less meat. I think they're really great in many ways. Downsides: they are highly processed, currently expensive, and of questionable nutritional value.

stronglikedan 7y ago
Another downside it that they have the potential to turn people away, because they don't even resemble what someone is expecting. For example, calling fried jackfruit "fried chicken". Fried jackfruit is delicious on it's own merit, but it doesn't even come close to a fried chicken substitute. And if I order vegan fried chicken, anything can be the chicken substitute, but I bet it won't be as good as fried jackfruit if it's not fried jackfruit. I'd rather they just call it what it really is, and if it's tasty, it will be memorable.
JackRabbitSlim 7y ago
Trying to offer "bridge" foods that are vegetable versions of normal dishes doesn't help. It never is as good, at best it's "yeah...its OK." So you have only re-enforced the idea that vegetarian food will never be quiet as good as the "real thing". On the off chance it is exactly like the meat its pretending to be then all your saying is "See? All you have to do is spend more for exactly the same thing!" I might try a "Quenwopper" bowl for 9 bucks if they offered it at BK. I'm not spending 9 bucks on a burger who's entire selling point is that it tastes exactly like the cheaper burger.
- jlmorton 7y ago
  Kind of a shor-term view, no? The Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat patties are significantly closer to a beef-life flavor than past patties, and they're improving at a quick pace. They may be more expensive now, but it's pretty likely that economies of scale will reduce the price of plant-based meat substitutes, while pretty unlikely that Tyson Foods is going to quickly find a cheaper way to raise a cow.
  - myu701 7y ago
    I rolled into Burger King and bought a normal whopper and a Impossible whopper for the express stated purpose of being able to say the thing I was pooh-poohing (meatless burger!? let's be serious, I said to myself) was something I had tried before. Besides being slightly too burnt from the flame grilling of a high school kid, it tasted delicious. Quite comparable to the usual fast food burger in terms of taste, look, and texture. I would not recommend it as a steak replacement though. Could be hamburger helper if it retained its form when boiled. I will opt for it again when available, admittedly I eat at BK approx. once a year.
NeedMoreTea 7y ago
That was the approach you'd see in UK restaurants and pubs 15 or 20+ years ago. In place of a vegetarian dish they'd prepare some mash up of regular dish with meat substitute - Quorn sausages, or mince in a lasagne etc everything else as for the carnivore serving. Or a side dish bulked up to pretend to be a main. They were usually to be avoided, unless like one or two of my friends you were vegan or vegetarian and stuck with them. Now, more of my friends are vegan, and all good restaurants have vegan first dishes, created to get the best of the ingredients rather than pretend to be something else. Many of them are incredibly nice and I might choose them over a steak with no more difficulty than deciding lamb over beef another day. As a result we are eating less and less meat - because we are discovering great vegan dishes beyond Indian cuisine - that's always been strong on vegetarian dishes. Not because we've decided to don hair shirts and "tolerate" vegetarian meals. That it's better for the environment is a bonus, but food quality and taste can stand by itself now.

stronglikedan 7y ago

Another downside it that they have the potential to turn people away, because they don't even resemble what someone is expecting. For example, calling fried jackfruit "fried chicken". Fried jackfruit is delicious on it's own merit, but it doesn't even come close to a fried chicken substitute. And if I order vegan fried chicken, anything can be the chicken substitute, but I bet it won't be as good as fried jackfruit if it's not fried jackfruit. I'd rather they just call it what it really is, and if it's tasty, it will be memorable.

JackRabbitSlim 7y ago

Trying to offer "bridge" foods that are vegetable versions of normal dishes doesn't help. It never is as good, at best it's "yeah...its OK." So you have only re-enforced the idea that vegetarian food will never be quiet as good as the "real thing". On the off chance it is exactly like the meat its pretending to be then all your saying is "See? All you have to do is spend more for exactly the same thing!" I might try a "Quenwopper" bowl for 9 bucks if they offered it at BK. I'm not spending 9 bucks on a burger who's entire selling point is that it tastes exactly like the cheaper burger.

jlmorton 7y ago
Kind of a shor-term view, no? The Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat patties are significantly closer to a beef-life flavor than past patties, and they're improving at a quick pace. They may be more expensive now, but it's pretty likely that economies of scale will reduce the price of plant-based meat substitutes, while pretty unlikely that Tyson Foods is going to quickly find a cheaper way to raise a cow.
- myu701 7y ago
  I rolled into Burger King and bought a normal whopper and a Impossible whopper for the express stated purpose of being able to say the thing I was pooh-poohing (meatless burger!? let's be serious, I said to myself) was something I had tried before. Besides being slightly too burnt from the flame grilling of a high school kid, it tasted delicious. Quite comparable to the usual fast food burger in terms of taste, look, and texture. I would not recommend it as a steak replacement though. Could be hamburger helper if it retained its form when boiled. I will opt for it again when available, admittedly I eat at BK approx. once a year.

NeedMoreTea 7y ago

That was the approach you'd see in UK restaurants and pubs 15 or 20+ years ago. In place of a vegetarian dish they'd prepare some mash up of regular dish with meat substitute - Quorn sausages, or mince in a lasagne etc everything else as for the carnivore serving. Or a side dish bulked up to pretend to be a main. They were usually to be avoided, unless like one or two of my friends you were vegan or vegetarian and stuck with them. Now, more of my friends are vegan, and all good restaurants have vegan first dishes, created to get the best of the ingredients rather than pretend to be something else. Many of them are incredibly nice and I might choose them over a steak with no more difficulty than deciding lamb over beef another day. As a result we are eating less and less meat - because we are discovering great vegan dishes beyond Indian cuisine - that's always been strong on vegetarian dishes. Not because we've decided to don hair shirts and "tolerate" vegetarian meals. That it's better for the environment is a bonus, but food quality and taste can stand by itself now.