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I love how every time something like this comes out they ask someone who hasn't had meat in 10 years if it's just like meat. Yeah, because they would know. My

by ebbv 14y ago

I love how every time something like this comes out they ask someone who hasn't had meat in 10 years if it's just like meat. Yeah, because they would know. My biggest problem, though, is if I'm having ingredients that aren't meat, I'd like to have them be good. I've never had fake meat that I would call appetizing. I've had lots of vegetarian dishes that were delightful, but not one included fake meat. I am not vegetarian.

deleted 14y ago
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bunderbunder 14y ago
I think an inescapable problem is that it's hard to get past the framing. A product might actually be a very good food that easily stands up on its own merits. But if it's being carefully processed in a way that attempts to mimic all the cosmetic characteristics of chicken, being labeled as "chikkin", and being served lightly breaded with honey mustard on the side, then it's perpetually doomed to just be an imperfect imitation of chicken.
- uvTwitch 14y ago
  I'm an omnivore, and if this stuff was equivalently expensive, and sufficiently chicken-like, I'd buy it instead. Real Chicken isn't exactly some holy grail of food, it just tastes good.
- mberning 14y ago
  I believe that regulations exist to prevent the food industry from marketing non-genuine food items as the real thing. I have heard that chicken wing shaped chicken products cannot be sold as 'wings' but must rather be labeled 'wyngz'.
lreeves 14y ago
From the article - "New York Times food writer Mark Bittman mistook the fake stuff for the real stuff". So it seems like it really does taste like chicken.
- JackC 14y ago
  For those who aren't familiar, Mark Bittman is kind of a foodie god; I'm pretty sure organic wheat springs up under his feet when he walks around. Here's the part of Bittman's article about the fake chicken, from back in March (linked from the Slate article): ... at least one new product is a better-than-adequate substitute for chicken in things like wraps, salads and sauces. I know this because Ethan Brown, an owner of Savage River Farms, came to my house and fooled me badly in a blind tasting. (A pan-European “LikeMeat” project appears to be making progress on a similar product, and others are in the works.) On its own, Brown’s “chicken” — produced to mimic boneless, skinless breast — looks like a decent imitation, and the way it shreds is amazing. It doesn’t taste much like chicken, but since most white meat chicken doesn’t taste like much anyway, that’s hardly a problem; both are about texture, chew and the ingredients you put on them or combine with them. When you take Brown’s product, cut it up and combine it with, say, chopped tomato and lettuce and mayonnaise with some seasoning in it, and wrap it in a burrito, you won’t know the difference between that and chicken. I didn’t, at least, and this is the kind of thing I do for a living. Brown does not see his product as a trendy meat replacement for vegans but one with more widespread use. (His production is at an early stage, but Whole Foods is planning to start using his products in prepared food soon. Retail sales of his “chicken,” which does not yet have a trademarked name, are expected to begin this summer.) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunday/finally-fake-chicken-worth-eating.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunday/finally-fak... So it sounds like this is a complete substitute in dishes where you chop up the chicken and add strong flavors, and not really intended to be a substitute otherwise. It's not 90% of the way there in all dishes -- it's 100% of the way there in 75% of dishes. And it's cheaper and takes probably a quarter of the resources to produce. Given the size of the total market, that's a huge deal.
  - MattSayar 14y ago
    This almost sounds too good to be true. I wish they would release more nutritional information about the "chicken." And give it a good name.
    - slantyyz 14y ago
ahage16 14y ago
"I’m not a vegetarian, and I love real meat, but for various health and ethical reasons, I’ve long tried to cut down on eating animals." He eats meat, just not as often as your average person.

by ebbv 14y ago

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

bunderbunder 14y ago

I think an inescapable problem is that it's hard to get past the framing. A product might actually be a very good food that easily stands up on its own merits. But if it's being carefully processed in a way that attempts to mimic all the cosmetic characteristics of chicken, being labeled as "chikkin", and being served lightly breaded with honey mustard on the side, then it's perpetually doomed to just be an imperfect imitation of chicken.

uvTwitch 14y ago
I'm an omnivore, and if this stuff was equivalently expensive, and sufficiently chicken-like, I'd buy it instead. Real Chicken isn't exactly some holy grail of food, it just tastes good.
mberning 14y ago
I believe that regulations exist to prevent the food industry from marketing non-genuine food items as the real thing. I have heard that chicken wing shaped chicken products cannot be sold as 'wings' but must rather be labeled 'wyngz'.

lreeves 14y ago

From the article - "New York Times food writer Mark Bittman mistook the fake stuff for the real stuff". So it seems like it really does taste like chicken.

JackC 14y ago
For those who aren't familiar, Mark Bittman is kind of a foodie god; I'm pretty sure organic wheat springs up under his feet when he walks around. Here's the part of Bittman's article about the fake chicken, from back in March (linked from the Slate article): ... at least one new product is a better-than-adequate substitute for chicken in things like wraps, salads and sauces. I know this because Ethan Brown, an owner of Savage River Farms, came to my house and fooled me badly in a blind tasting. (A pan-European “LikeMeat” project appears to be making progress on a similar product, and others are in the works.) On its own, Brown’s “chicken” — produced to mimic boneless, skinless breast — looks like a decent imitation, and the way it shreds is amazing. It doesn’t taste much like chicken, but since most white meat chicken doesn’t taste like much anyway, that’s hardly a problem; both are about texture, chew and the ingredients you put on them or combine with them. When you take Brown’s product, cut it up and combine it with, say, chopped tomato and lettuce and mayonnaise with some seasoning in it, and wrap it in a burrito, you won’t know the difference between that and chicken. I didn’t, at least, and this is the kind of thing I do for a living. Brown does not see his product as a trendy meat replacement for vegans but one with more widespread use. (His production is at an early stage, but Whole Foods is planning to start using his products in prepared food soon. Retail sales of his “chicken,” which does not yet have a trademarked name, are expected to begin this summer.) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunday/finally-fake-chicken-worth-eating.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunday/finally-fak... So it sounds like this is a complete substitute in dishes where you chop up the chicken and add strong flavors, and not really intended to be a substitute otherwise. It's not 90% of the way there in all dishes -- it's 100% of the way there in 75% of dishes. And it's cheaper and takes probably a quarter of the resources to produce. Given the size of the total market, that's a huge deal.
- MattSayar 14y ago
  This almost sounds too good to be true. I wish they would release more nutritional information about the "chicken." And give it a good name.
  - slantyyz 14y ago

ahage16 14y ago

"I’m not a vegetarian, and I love real meat, but for various health and ethical reasons, I’ve long tried to cut down on eating animals." He eats meat, just not as often as your average person.