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A rise in vegetarian options leads customers to embrace meat-free meals

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Re: A rise in vegetarian options leads customers to embrace meat-free meals

#91

Post by jedimastert »

_Microft wrote: post #8

The dish mentioned sounds far better than what is usually served as vegetarian food at canteens and restaurants. Quite often they offer just a compilation of side-dishes to have something vegetarian on their menu. (Dumblings with red cabbage and - wait for it - gravy from roasting meat is a widespread menu offer for vegetarians in southern Germany. Not sure if it counts as vegetarian option though). Once people notic…

POV: Omnivore with a (previously) vegetarian spouse. We generally ate veg @ home

One of my biggest issues with modern veg diets is all of the veg food trying to masquerade as other food. Soy bacon does not taste like, or taste as good as, real bacon. Tofu and Boca burgers do not taste like actual meat. But tofu and the like can taste amazing on its own merit. It's an ingredient with it's own flavors and textures, so put it where it can do some good.

And don't get me started on veg patties. I have a (very) meat loving father who got completely hooked on Boca burgers while on Weight Watchers. He'll still eat them on a regular basis, even though he looooves regular burgers, just because they're delicious.

In my mind, you don't have to try to pretend to be something else to be good, especially veg sandwich patties. Latkes are amazing. Refried beans bound together with eggs, breaded and deep fried sounds amazing. Don't put yourself next to something else and force a comparison. Just be tasty.

Re: A rise in vegetarian options leads customers to embrace meat-free meals

#92

Post by gridlockd »

edent wrote: post #57
geggam wrote: post #35

Would someone who is a vegan answer this question I have and I mean no offense by it. Why do you want to eat vegetables that are fake meat or made to taste like meat ? It seems silly to me.

Most meat flavour come from sauces. Your burger mostly tastes of ketchup, mayo, mustard, pickles, and fried onions. Your steak is slathered in mushroom sauce, your fish is covered in batter or white wine, and your chicken is coated with 11 different herbs and spices. You're eating meat, but you're tasting condiments. I like veggie sausages because they fit in hot-dog buns. And burgers because they fit in burger buns.…

There's some truth to that, but it depends.

Properly prepared meat/fish often has great own taste. It depends on (the part of) the animal, of course. You need the right amount of oil (or natural fat) and salt to bring out the flavor. Unfortunately, lots of people prefer boneless, skinless and fat-trimmed meat/fish.

Re: A rise in vegetarian options leads customers to embrace meat-free meals

#93

Post by dagw »

hannob wrote: post #72
coldpie wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I travel to Europe about once a year and I've noticed they're far behind the US in terms of vegetarian options. In the US it's been easy to get a high quality, vegetarian meal at almost any restaurant for at least a decade (edit: at least in metro areas; perhaps rural areas are different, although I haven't noticed this personally). Meanwhile in Europe it's almost impossible to get anything resembling a full meal. Li…

Which country? It highly depends. More veggie friendly: Germany, Sweden, UK. Less veggie friendly: Denmark, France. And then it depends on the region. (And with my few visits in the US I didn't find it particularly rich in vegetarian options, with the exception of San Francisco.)

More veggie friendly: Germany

Even that is highly variable. Berlin, absolutely! Small town outside of Dresden, not so much.

Re: A rise in vegetarian options leads customers to embrace meat-free meals

#95

Post by mikekij »

andrewfromx wrote: post #64

i really think the way to getting millions to change their meat eating ways is one animal at a time. Don't tell a typical meat eater give up all meat. Tell them give up cows only. Then pigs. Then maybe stop there for a while. Exist on chicken and seafood and that would change the world. Just place cows and pigs in same category as dogs and cats and all of a sudden, wow, huge win for everyone.

This extends to individual meals too. Lots of meat eaters feel some desire to be vegetarian, but have a particular dish or two they “can’t live without.” The environmental and health impacts of even avoiding meat in 50% of meals would be enormous.

There’s no gold star for being a “perfect” vegetarian. Just do what you can.

Re: A rise in vegetarian options leads customers to embrace meat-free meals

#96

Post by derefr »

jedimastert wrote: post #91
_Microft wrote: post #8

The dish mentioned sounds far better than what is usually served as vegetarian food at canteens and restaurants. Quite often they offer just a compilation of side-dishes to have something vegetarian on their menu. (Dumblings with red cabbage and - wait for it - gravy from roasting meat is a widespread menu offer for vegetarians in southern Germany. Not sure if it counts as vegetarian option though). Once people notic…

POV: Omnivore with a (previously) vegetarian spouse. We generally ate veg @ home One of my biggest issues with modern veg diets is all of the veg food trying to masquerade as other food. Soy bacon does not taste like, or taste as good as, real bacon. Tofu and Boca burgers do not taste like actual meat. But tofu and the like can taste amazing on its own merit . It's an ingredient with it's own flavors and textures, so…

Veggie “meat equivalent” foods weren’t created to feed people too picky for tofu or chickpeas.

They’re there because, pretty often, someone first decides to cook a traditionally meat-containing dish, and buys all the ingredients for it; and only then finds out (or only then considers) that some of the people they’re feeding are vegetarians; and so, to save the dish they’ve already planned, buying some veggie pseudo-meats to put in some of the food in place of the meat they were going to use, is the simplest way to ensure everyone can eat “the dish.” (Even though, if the dish is just meant to highlight or accent the flavour and texture of a meat, then what they’ve made the vegetarians is in essence an entirely different dish. The packaging on the meat-substitutes promises that it will try as hard as possible to not take your meat dish and turn it into a different dish, and many cooks believe them.)

Re: A rise in vegetarian options leads customers to embrace meat-free meals

#97

Post by merpnderp »

elektor wrote: post #13

Speaking from personal experience, I've been eating a lot more plant-based meals now that Beyond and Impossible Beef are available in grocery stores. I wouldn't say I'm completely vegetarian but I'm 60% there.

I was so excited about the Impossible Burger at Burger King. But I made the mistake of ordering it and a regular Whopper for comparison. I tried the Impossible Burger and thought wow, this is amazingly delicious. Then I took a bite of a Whopper and realized that the Impossible Burger will never be able to replace this. You could make the world's best vegetarian burger and some discount meat from the local dollar store would still taste better.

Re: A rise in vegetarian options leads customers to embrace meat-free meals

#98

Post by geggam »

edent wrote: post #57
geggam wrote: post #35

Would someone who is a vegan answer this question I have and I mean no offense by it. Why do you want to eat vegetables that are fake meat or made to taste like meat ? It seems silly to me.

Most meat flavour come from sauces. Your burger mostly tastes of ketchup, mayo, mustard, pickles, and fried onions. Your steak is slathered in mushroom sauce, your fish is covered in batter or white wine, and your chicken is coated with 11 different herbs and spices. You're eating meat, but you're tasting condiments. I like veggie sausages because they fit in hot-dog buns. And burgers because they fit in burger buns.…

I like sushi and steak tartar.

My steaks typically have a bit of himalayan salt and a touch of pepper. I like the flavor of meat.

Sauces and whatnot are used to hide the poor meat quality.

Re: A rise in vegetarian options leads customers to embrace meat-free meals

#99

Post by merpnderp »

aloisdg wrote: post #19
elektor wrote: post #13

Speaking from personal experience, I've been eating a lot more plant-based meals now that Beyond and Impossible Beef are available in grocery stores. I wouldn't say I'm completely vegetarian but I'm 60% there.

You can describe this as a semi-vegetarianism or flexitarian diet.

Maybe you could make up a scientific classification for this: maybe pick some appropriate latin like "omnivorous"?

Re: A rise in vegetarian options leads customers to embrace meat-free meals

#100

Post by athriren »

geggam wrote: post #35

Would someone who is a vegan answer this question I have and I mean no offense by it. Why do you want to eat vegetables that are fake meat or made to taste like meat ? It seems silly to me.

It's not universal! Some people don't how it tastes because it reminds them of real meat and that grosses them out. This is a wider topic of discussion in the vegan/vegetarian community--what even are the ethics of fake meat in the first place (see Summer Burton's very recent piece about this in Buzzfeed: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/summeranne/morality-did...)?

Personally, I just really wanted to eat burgers and bratwurst again while maintaining my dietary choices (for moral and health reasons) but didn't like any of the previous widely available vegan alternatives. I find the seitan/soy/tvp options gross and black bean burgers never did it for me. I had to get over the taste and texture of the Beyond products making my brain and stomach feel like I was eating meat, but now I have a meal with them once every few weeks when I have the craving.

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