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I don’t understand why vegans try to mimic things. I have no problem eating vegetables and mushrooms but I would never eat bacon made of mushrooms. The devil de

• Qem 4y ago
  Probably most vegans are converts, raised by meat-eating families, that later decided to adhere to a meat-free diet. The problem is, once your taste-sense and food preferences are conditioned in childhood, it's hard to change them as a adult. So people seek alternatives compatible with what they are used to.
  • brnt 4y ago
    Actually, I have found this difficulty is exaggerated. I moved country twice and maried from another still: all involved significant changes to my diet. Yes, there is a mental hurdle, but like learning languages, by doing it repeatedly, it gets easier. Also, the rewards are exploring tasty new food universes!
• Klonoar 4y ago
  Food is more than just nutrition; it’s culture and art and probably more. Substitutes are important for these reasons as they allow people to enjoy without violating their diet/ethics concerns/whatever. They’re not harming anyone by existing so I frankly don’t see why this complaint comes up in every thread on the internet. Just don’t eat it if you don’t want it, meat isn’t going away.
  • coffee_beqn 4y ago
    It’s also really hard for most people to think of what to cook at the end of a long day. Meatballs and potatoes is the first thing that pops to my head and turning that into brussel sprouts and potatoes sounds unappetizing but impossible meatballs and potatoes is quite close especially if I add a sauce. I guess that’s the cultural imprint. I do also care about the animals and the environmental impact and it’s just extremely naive to think that a large part of humanity would switch from meat-based diets to tofu and steamed veggies. People are lazy and like tasty easy things.
• bee_rider 4y ago
  Me either. I'm not a vegan or vegetarian or anything. I do know some vegetarians who are also pretty confused about the imitation meat stuff. It is these companies coming up with these products, not the potential customers -- clearly the companies have customers, but their products aren't necessarily universally beloved, right? Maybe they just assume that creating a good replica of a popular meat product will result in a popular vegan product? I wonder to what extent the customer base of these products is mostly curious people who are just dipping their toes in, not quite ready to take the plunge into veganism/vegetarianism. Or well-intentioned parents/friends who want to include vegans in things like cookouts? I dunno. I'll observe that people who've successfully been vegan for a long time (the kind of recurring customers you'd presumably want) have been following their dietary restrictions that whole time, I guess they don't have an overwhelming hankering for bacon or whatever. But then I guess they are hard to address, if they are already happy!
  • serverlessmom 4y ago
    A lot of my vegan friends really enjoy the meat substitutes- I am a meat eater and the meat substitutes tend to make me pretty nauseous.
    • bee_rider 4y ago
      My observations are based on pretty limited anecdotes, I certainly don't have enough info to make a robust argument.
  • deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  • coding123 4y ago
    These companies are marketing to the largest segment of vegetarians: the temporary ones.
• hombre_fatal 4y ago
  It seems straightforward that someone who enjoys the taste of bacon but does not eat it (for ethical or health reasons) may still want to partake in the experience.
• boringg 4y ago
  It's not vegans who are the ones building this - I'm pretty sure its corporations who are looking to make money on veganism and the changing dietary habits of the populations. Most vegetarians/vegans don't try and mimic food like this. Just want you to target your statement to the right people --> companies trying to make money on niche/high margin items.
  • hombre_fatal 4y ago
    Well, you could say the same about all of the foods at the supermarket from Red Baron experimenting with new frozen pizza toppings to Big Apple coming up with new apple specimens to HEB trying out a new flavor of fizzy water. With the growth of veganism in the west, it's not surprising that we will see more companies targeting them with novel food products. It doesn't seem like there's any more conspiracy when it comes to alt-meat products than what underlies all of the products in the supermarket, especially all of the packaged goods.
• Tagbert 4y ago
  Meat substitutes are not really targetting vegans. The are aimed at meat eaters who what something healthier and / or reducing meat consumption. I am very much a meat eater but often have days where I eat vegan or days when I eat meat substitutes. The aim is to reduce climate impact and reduce dependence on animals while I am not will to completely eliminate meat. We have completely eliminated ground beef from our diet and choose Beyond Beef instead as it tastes better. I have tried lots of bacon alternatives and most of them are disgusting.
• ashes-of-sol 4y ago