Am I not a vegan then?

[Val]

A vegan burger will never taste like a cow burger. If it did, I’d be worried that I’m being tricked. I’d be worried about eating out, if it were that similar then mistakes would be easier to make and I’d have no way of knowing. As long as it taste good and is filling.

About 1.5-2 yrs ago, i used to go dining out a lot, and i ate a lot of vegan burgers in the (non-vegan) restaurant in my hometown. Waiters knew me quite well and always were trying to make me feel comfortable. I loved chickpea burgers most. I was a picky client and always made them tell cooks my "special order". No one ever said a word. Of course, they liked me, as a client, because i was a drunkard then and also used to splurge on expensive booze in that restaurant. Needless to say, that they didn't mind indulging my whims, lol.

 

[Tom L.]

^^^ I wonder if this will be a complaint about Burger King's "Impossible Whopper" (that it tastes too much like real meat)?...

I was wondering momentarily if the Impossible is a bit more costly than their "real" Whopper, someone behind the counter might be tempted to substitute a meat patty to save costs... but if someone had a bad physical reaction to something they did not intend to eat, the employee could go to jail, and the chain would regret the horrible publicity.

 

[Danielle]

I'm not sure if I want to eat something that is directly cooked inside animal juices, when there are other things to eat instead. The patty itself is meatless, but it will still have the flavors and juices from the meat. Impossible burger isn't even my favorite, I'd rather have the beyond meat burger.

 

[Val]

I enjoyed foods of animal origin growing up, but I always liked vegetarian foods too- beans, rolled oats (then, now, and always my FAVE BREAKFAST!!!... and sometimes my lunch or even dinner), other grains, spinach, broccoli... so maybe the transition was easier for me than many. But I'm glad there are satisfying substitutes for folks who miss meat, fish, eggs, milk, etc more than I did.

Same here. As a kid and a teen, i loved veggies more (objectively), but i was addicted to meat, because my dad was feeding us various meat until it was squeezing out of our ears. (Being able to buy and consume a lot of animal products was considered an obligate atribute of wealth). But to be fair, we weren't deprived of vegetables and fruits either. First of all, my deceased granny Nina was growing a lot of plants on our plot at the country, because growing your own food was the only chance to survive and not to starve before/during/after Perestroika. Plus, we had our own small field of potatoes, given by authorities (these fields were located on a special glade,- a big amount of wood had been cut off to spare the room for these "delyanki"). "Delyanki" derives from the word "delit'" ("to divide", but also "to share" - lol, weird russian language). So, we were spending a lot of time, digging up potatoes, and also picking up Colorado beetles' maggots. They were so disgusting and stinky... I still remember their slimy bodies. Bleh... I'm just glad that we were too little to be made to kill baby moles who had been making their homes under the ground on our fields. My grandpa was killing them with a shovel... Since i first saw it, i didn't wanna go and dig up potatoes anymore, but our family needed helping hands, and we were digging and digging, being bended up under the scorching sun, and grandpa kept killing baby moles... Then i was helping to pull the cart with potatoes towards our summer cottage. It was a long way (though it wasn't long). OTOH, we never starved, while other families were browsing completely empty shelves of city shops. At least, we always had "zharyonka" (from the word "zharit'" - roasted potatoes with mushrooms, that we could, and still can, pick in neighbourhood woods).
So, my favourite plant-based foods in my childhood were: pearl barley; Kuban' rice, because that was the only cultivar available; (mostly) red beans, and Lima beans from our garden; fresh green peas; pea soup out of dried peas; corn, that was a very desirable treasure; mushrooms; buckwheat with sugar, because i've always couldn't stand it; SAUERKRAUT; eggplants; tomato-cucumber salad, and tomatoes as they are; BEETS, and of course, borsch(t), etc., etc....
So, if someone told me then that there is life without meat, i would have willingly ditch it right away, not giving a single thought. But i thought that meat is essential...

 

[silva]

The times that I accidently ate meat my first reaction, not knowing there was meat, was bile rising up my throat and an immediate need to spit it out. The last time this happened at Trader Joes. The sign where they have coffee and samples said a veggie blend, so I picked up a cup of what looked like a piece of seasoned cauliflower and other veggies. I bit, and was too far to grab a napkin, so I spit in my hand. It tasted spoiled, rancid, I tasted throw up. I went to the counter and found it was a chicken veg thing instead of what the sign posted by mistake. Same reaction when I got the wrong fried rice, and the wrong subway sub.
I stayed far away from most things that resembled meat, except those I had always eaten, like Boca chik'n patties, and soy burgers, but now I do like things like Beyond Burger, and the Beyond sausage--OMG! The certainly remind me of what I used to eat, esp the sausage, but they don't have the same flesh quality of flesh. I would not eat one made on a grill with meat, and I wouldn't want it microwaved

 

[Val]

The times that I accidently ate meat my first reaction, not knowing there was meat, was bile rising up my throat and an immediate need to spit it out. The last time this happened at Trader Joes. The sign where they have coffee and samples said a veggie blend, so I picked up a cup of what looked like a piece of seasoned cauliflower and other veggies. I bit, and was too far to grab a napkin, so I spit in my hand. It tasted spoiled, rancid, I tasted throw up. I went to the counter and found it was a chicken veg thing instead of what the sign posted by mistake. Same reaction when I got the wrong fried rice, and the wrong subway sub.
I stayed far away from most things that resembled meat, except those I had always eaten, like Boca chik'n patties, and soy burgers, but now I do like things like Beyond Burger, and the Beyond sausage--OMG! The certainly remind me of what I used to eat, esp the sausage, but they don't have the same flesh quality of flesh. I would not eat one made on a grill with meat, and I wouldn't want it microwaved

Ouch... How terrible... Sorry that you had to encounter the meaty lies... In summer of 2018, i had a similar "accident": i had bought a qutab with a label that claimed that it's a green veggie qutab. I made a big bite and realized that my mouth is full of minced meat...I thought i would fall through the floor out of horror. I didn't swallow it, luckily, but the meat juice penetrated into my throat anyway,- i felt that bloody taste. I was spitting for about a half an hour, i swallowed 10 pills, including adsorbents, other remedies against food poisoning, and pancreatine (i also drank 2 things of diosmectite). That was "outstanding"... Later, they started adding cheese into those green quatabs, i don't know why. So, no qutabs for me now. (The only exception - are qutabs with greens in Bakhroma restaurant).

 

[PTree15]

and...I'm really really sick of hearing if vegans don't want to eat meat why so many faux meats? First off, it only 'faux' if you identify it as faux meat. All the processed foods made of and from animal products, yet people can't understand processed food is just---processed food. It's processed to add taste, and cravability and ease of prep, and portability. If humans never ate animals I'm pretty sure there would still be processed food, just that no one would identify it as faux meat!
It's like when my Indian friend heard me saying kala namak tastes like egg. She kept saying no, no it doesn't, because she doesn't eat eggs, but does use kala namak. She couldn't believe it tasted like eggs

Good lord, I just had this very same discussion the other night. My good friend was like, I just don't understand why vegans still enjoy foods that mimic meat. Her reasoning for people going veg*n is that they must not like the taste of meat. I was like, No, it's very simple. I never not liked the taste growing up. What I want to avoid by going veg*n is cruelty to animals and saving the planet. I don't think that concept is very hard to grasp.

 

[Brian W]