Reply With QuoteI like Moving Mountains burgers - really tasty.
My son is veggie and often buy him fake meat products. There is a huge range and I find some a bit meh, but some are truly outstanding. In some circumstances I prefer the veggie option to meat.
The Vivera range of plant based bacon, lamb schwarma and chicken kebab are amazing and I would never eat a doner, but am happy to do so, and really enjoy the Vivera stuff. I’d happily live off Vivera bacon even though there can be no substitute for the real thing.
This isn’t range of pork sausages give meat a very close run and I really enjoy them. I don’t mind Cauldron sausages but they are not quite there.
I am keen to expand my plant based range, but conscious some of the offerings are poor, so interested to hear your recommendations of the stuff that is as enjoyable as meat.
I like Moving Mountains burgers - really tasty.
There is no such thing as a lovely meat substitute. Some of it is OK but none of it that I have eaten compares to the real thing. So he either eats meat or lives on second rate meat substitute, fruit or veg.Originally Posted by noTAGlove
I have a friend who lives on Quorn and he likes it but I reckon it is glorified sawdust. Only he can decide what he likes.
If he wants to be a vegetarian then he has to do the homework himself.
Interesting - on the bacon-substitute for sure.
But: If all I need from the supermarket, is a cucumber - I also buy a tube of vaseline - in case the girl or boy at the checkout thinks I'm a vegitarian.
Quorn is in the meh camp for me.
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macsween vegetarian haggis Is well worth checking out
Bought by mistake once, as an accompaniment to steak - couldn't really say it was inferior to the real thing.
Fake meat good
Fake watches bad
Who’d have thought it?
They are also exceptionally high in fat. I’ve stopped eating them because of it.
Agreed re ‘This isn’t’ pork sausages. The closest to real pork that I have found so far.
My absolute favourite is the ‘Squeaky Bean’ range. Particularly the ‘Cajun’ and ‘chargrilled steak’ ready to eat bits:
https://www.squeakybean.co.uk/
Unless the meat is good quality, I prefer to eat vegatarian versions of cheap processed meat products...ie sausages, sausage rolls, burgers etc. With the cheap stuff, I'm just never sure what part of the animal is ground up to make it so I'd rather avoid. Linda McCartney is usually what I buy for sausages and burgers. The mozzarella 1/4lb burgers are ok.
Also, when you compare the run-off from a Geroge Foreman grill, I'm always put off seeing the puddle of solidifying fat from the meat version versus the vegetarian.
They ain't fake, they are homage.Fake meat good
Fake watches bad
Who’d have thought it?
Good point, the world is all good again!
Big fan of plant based 'meatballs'.. tried a few and I like Wicked, Birdseye Green Cuisine and Linda McCartney .
I had a nice fake burger in brioche (fake bread lol) last week. It was so real I was squeemish about the fake blood coming out of it.
I tried a really good meat substitute burger in Sandals last year. I was really impressed.
Returned home full of enthusiasm for a change to more plant based. I then saw fat contents, calories etc and decided to carry on as I was.
Plant is not a cheap way to eat from my brief experience. I will try the bacon and shawarma mention by the OP, but if he’s misguided he had better nail that letterbox shut!
That’s really weird. Not heard of this before.
Was this out & about or something you cooked at home? My vegan friends would love it, I’m sure
One of my daughters is a veggie and we always keep a few things in the freezer for when she visits, I have tried some and they have been ok and some rather nice.
I just can't get my head around why they call them sausages etc etc, they are veggies and don't want to eat meat which I can totally understand as even though I eat meat I can not abide cruelty to any animal.
So why do they want what there eating to look like, taste like and be called a sausage ??? why not call it something funky and green ? or something boring like Roll mix 1 etc etc ?
There was a discussion about meat alternative products on radio 4 recently.
They are categorised as ultra processed foods which is bad and are also very high in fat, sugar and additives etc.
It was also mentioned that the term plant based is a little sneaky as it makes them sound healthy.
Roll Mix 1….a new career in marketing awaits lol.
Fixed that for you.
I eat and prefer some of the Quorn products to meat. The mince is great in a bolognese or chilli. I like the sausages as well. I used to really enjoy the 'meat balls', but they disappeared off the shelves a while ago (at least in my supermarket).
I wouldn’t eat a beef sausage, I am definitely not going to eat a vegetable one!
Joking aside, no substitute has ever come close in my experience. If going veggie I prefer tofu or mushrooms, eat veggie food and enjoy it, I don’t really see the point in a substitute.
I am vegetarian and actually avoid meat-tasting/simulating products. I have tried a few over the years of course but never really liked them.
Except the veggie whopper burger at Burger King. That’s just too good.
(I write as a meat eater)
Earlier this summer we bought the 'GoVeggie: Aubergine & Feta Burgers' from Waitrose, for vegetarian guests expected for lunch. We ended up trying them too and found them to be fantastic! Sure they're not a 'fake meat' or 'meat substitute' but as a veg burger in their own right, very tasty indeed. So much so we started to have them out of choice (over beef or chicken burgers).
Hope others can chime in with hidden gems (and agree with the above comment, the stuff that tries to simulate meat looks/taste is setting itself up for failure!).
This is as enjoyable as meat: Full on vegetable foods, perhaps roast sweet potato, veg say stir fried cauliflower with herbs and spices and beans.
We don't eat processed food if at all possible and grow our own veg too. We olnly use the microwave to heat our plates and maybe re-heat rice etc.
Maybe go for 'real' veg instead of processed synthetic foods?
NB A nice whiskey goes down well and the wine is cheap here!
“ Ford... you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.” HHGTTG
I am still yet to try the whopper. BK is not as easy for us to get to, as the car park is tiny and poorly designed. I need to be in the main town, and when it happens I end up with a double whopper. I can’t help myself.
Read a good few reviews about how good it is, maybe a cheeky one for the table, like we tried the first plant based one on holiday.
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No it was a left over in the freezer that my (mostly veggie) Daughter had brought for a barbi last summer and we've thrown the packet so. It was quite fat and juicy looking then when I gave it a blast in the micro it leaked some red fluid that looked convincingly bloody. If I had been served it in a bun in a caf I would not have known it to be veggie, possibly.That’s really weird. Not heard of this before.
Was this out & about or something you cooked at home? My vegan friends would love it, I’m sure
I really like Richmond veg sausages btw. I went off supermarket sausages years ago ago when I saw a program about Mechanically Recovered Meat and Slurry.
My veggie wife loves this, it’s great with a traditional roast in place of stuffing
I spent a prior career in the food industry, so I know the nastiest things about meat extraction!
Richmond are possibly the worst meat sausages I’ve ever had. No way on earth id trust them with a veg one lol. No texture left at all.
I think the problem with some meat replacement products is they try to make them too much like the 'real' thing, like with the fake blood.
I'm a notorious squeam and easily put off. I had a burger in a local pub about 20 year ago and I spit out a chewy bit to find what looked like a piece of lip complete with bristles, gag. I did not eat another burger for at least 10 years.
Last edited by Harry Smith; 3rd December 2022 at 20:36.
Be careful about re-heating rice - you can get food poisoning: https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-que...ood-poisoning/.
Nothing wrong with a microwave as a method of heating or cooking food.
That is nothing squeam.
I’d have been vegan if that happened.
I’m seriously hoping it wasn’t as I’m dry heaving at the thought!
Philistine.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Real meat has one ingredient, fake has an endless list of processed slop.
No thanks!
“Don’t look back, you’re not heading that way.”
Agreed.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Depends on what quality you buy. Go to a proper butcher and I'd agree with you. It was only a couple of years ago we didn't know whether our supermarket bought cottage pies were beef or horse, let alone which part of the animal they were.
My wife has been vegetarian for 40 years and won’t touch a meat substitute, as it’s the taste and texture of meat she dislikes. The rest of the family eat meat - although probably less than average as we like to eat the same things as a whole family quite often. But we have never bought a fake sausage or burger etc. I’m surprised more vegetarians aren’t like my wife in not wanting to replicate meat tastes or textures?
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Tried a bunch of a fake meat in recent years and think it’s great. I get to scratch the itch for a tasty burger and something didn’t have to die to provide it for me… win win.
There are probably thousands and thousands who like your wife are vegetarian simply because they do not like meat.
However, she and they do not need to advertise the fact as it's a matter of taste and not principle for them.
I have a foot in both camps in a way. Neither my wife nor I are vegetarians, but she doesn't like to eat meat often so we often have substitute products, especially sausages and Quorn. I agree that none of them tastes closely like meat, or none of the products I've tried anyway. But I really like (and sometimes prefer) them anyway and to me, they certainly aren't second-rate.
Every bit of meat substitute I have ever tried was second rate. I agree that is subjective but experience has taught me to eat natural stuff, be it meat or vegetable based and it is nearly always more healthy than some jazzed up artificial processed stuff.
My body is my temple blah blah blab.
I dabble with veganism; by that I mean that about three months a year I'm pretty much vegan, and the rest of the year I eat what I want. I've tried lots of meat substitutes, but I'm generally unimpressed. Taste has improved in the last few years, but the texture and mouth feel is usually poor. Fake meat products are also highly processed, so I doubt they have any real health benefits. They remind me of all those low fat alternatives, that are loaded with sugar and additives to make them palatable. When I eat vegan or vegetarian, I thy to stick to food that is traditionally meat free. I would much prefer a vegetable and lentil stew to a Quorn "bolognaise."
Well done.
Regards
V
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Well arent you a ray of frikin sunshine.
And I do love how in one sentence you say theres no suh thing as a lovely meat substitute and in the next that the OPs Son has to make their own mid up. Ergo, there could be a lovely meat substitute for them.
Rgds
Linda Mcartney cottage pies are really rather nice. Its an individual pie in a foil dish that you bake in the over from frozen. The mince inside has great flavour and texture and has a good gravy in it. We add some granual gravy on top to go with the veg.
Not a huge fan of Quorn mince but its OK in sauces, but one thing I will say i really like is the Quorn chunks, they're white in colour and firmer in texture than the mince. Stick them in a sauce or stir fry and its very much like adding chicken to a dish, very tasty.
Wifes a former veggie and we're both eating less meat for environmental and health reasons so had these two items recently.
Rgds
Last edited by Mr Yarrow; 4th December 2022 at 23:51. Reason: bed spolling
My son is vegetarian, and has been since he was 8. I’m happy to find options for him, but I am and always will be a devote meat eater - and for my own health reasons.
It's just a matter of time...
SO VERY VERY TRUE. Read the labels before buying. Most meat alternative products are ultra processed with additives which can compromise our gut microbiota.
If you're interested in healthy eating and reducing your meat consumption please consider reading Prof. Tim Spector's latest book, "Food For Life" – it's a wealth of knowledge.
We've evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to be omnivores and we do eat too much meat – but this fact does not mean we should eat unhealthy ultra processed meat substitutes.
It's quite safe and healthy to eat good quality meat just two or three times monthly. And for meat substitutes, eat as many different types of mushrooms as you like – and with added herbs and spices.
Mushrooms are far cheaper than ultra processed artificial meat products and mushrooms' prebiotic content will improve and maintain your microbiota diversity thus maintaining a healthier immune system.
Last edited by sundial; 5th December 2022 at 03:41.
"Well they would say that ... wouldn't they!"
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