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> Huge win-win, can't come soon enough. This is probably going to sound gross, but for me it's the allure of not having to bite into bone fragments or tendons.

> Huge win-win, can't come soon enough. This is probably going to sound gross, but for me it's the allure of not having to bite into bone fragments or tendons. I'm one of those types of people where if there's an eggshell, piece of bone, stem, or anything else that's an unintended guest in my food, I will find it. I don't mean for this motive to sound selfish, but it would be nice to be able to enjoy something of the sort (e.g. ground beef) without it becoming meat-flavored chewing gum. Joking aside, I think the potential for a high degree of consistency in terms of texture and flavor would be another bonus.

pmoriarty 6y ago
"it would be nice to be able to enjoy something of the sort (e.g. ground beef) without it becoming meat-flavored chewing gum" I can't name a brand for you off-hand, but whenever I've bought vegetarian ground-beef substitutes at grocery stores, I've never once had this issue. They all tasted pretty much exactly like ground beef. In my experience, that particular substitute is not a challenge. There are also some pretty great vegetarian hamburger substitutes, like Boca Burger.
- Zancarius 6y ago
  > In my experience, that particular substitute is not a challenge. It's not. Some of the TVP products are pretty decent (and surprisingly so). And honestly, it's off-putting enough that it'd be worth using a substitute for. I eat hamburgers only rarely, so most of my ground beef consumption is in other dishes that are heavily seasoned enough that using a substitute is no problem (e.g. taco meat). Otherwise, my problem is if I'm fixing chicken breasts for something and miss some connective tissue when I'm preparing it. I can guarantee with near certainty that if I do, I will be the one to find it. :) (Sorry to gross you out if you're vegan.)
rootusrootus 6y ago
FWIW, if you are regularly finding abnormal things in your ground beef, then switch providers. In my experience some shops (e.g. Winco, who I otherwise appreciate for their meat selection) have a really high contamination rate in their ground beef for things like bones. A halfway decent butcher won't have the same issue, and they're not that much more expensive.
- Zancarius 6y ago
  > A halfway decent butcher won't have the same issue, and they're not that much more expensive. This is true. Unfortunately, where I live, all of the grocery chains have reduced or eliminated their own butchers. The one that I can think of off hand that is still in town was good for a while, and contamination is unlikely, but the quality of their sources seems to have diminished over time. I'm honestly half-tempted to go back to grinding my own, which probably sounds unnecessary. But hey...

pmoriarty 6y ago

"it would be nice to be able to enjoy something of the sort (e.g. ground beef) without it becoming meat-flavored chewing gum" I can't name a brand for you off-hand, but whenever I've bought vegetarian ground-beef substitutes at grocery stores, I've never once had this issue. They all tasted pretty much exactly like ground beef. In my experience, that particular substitute is not a challenge. There are also some pretty great vegetarian hamburger substitutes, like Boca Burger.

Zancarius 6y ago
> In my experience, that particular substitute is not a challenge. It's not. Some of the TVP products are pretty decent (and surprisingly so). And honestly, it's off-putting enough that it'd be worth using a substitute for. I eat hamburgers only rarely, so most of my ground beef consumption is in other dishes that are heavily seasoned enough that using a substitute is no problem (e.g. taco meat). Otherwise, my problem is if I'm fixing chicken breasts for something and miss some connective tissue when I'm preparing it. I can guarantee with near certainty that if I do, I will be the one to find it. :) (Sorry to gross you out if you're vegan.)

rootusrootus 6y ago

FWIW, if you are regularly finding abnormal things in your ground beef, then switch providers. In my experience some shops (e.g. Winco, who I otherwise appreciate for their meat selection) have a really high contamination rate in their ground beef for things like bones. A halfway decent butcher won't have the same issue, and they're not that much more expensive.

Zancarius 6y ago
> A halfway decent butcher won't have the same issue, and they're not that much more expensive. This is true. Unfortunately, where I live, all of the grocery chains have reduced or eliminated their own butchers. The one that I can think of off hand that is still in town was good for a while, and contamination is unlikely, but the quality of their sources seems to have diminished over time. I'm honestly half-tempted to go back to grinding my own, which probably sounds unnecessary. But hey...