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“Almost”
Lol, Impossible burgers and nuggets taste better than the real thing to me. The burgers’ mouth feel isn’t as good as the real thing, but the taste is better. And the nuggets both taste and feel better than the real thing.
I like not feeling disgusted about the cruelty. Really adds to the experience.
There’s that too. After seeing the way chickens are factory farmed, even if real nuggets tasted better than Impossible nuggets, I’d still go with Impossible. Luckily, Impossible’s are better, so it’s the easiest choice ever.
I wish vegan products did not try to recreate a meat product but instead just made naramd new products.
Making vegan chicken wings, forces you to compare them to real chicken wings.
If they instead were branded as something entirely unrelated to meat, they would have a decent chance at often being great products as they are!
I’m not a vegan, and I eat vegan meat alternatives when I have the chance. I don’t think these products are aimed at people who dislike real meat. They’re aimed at people who like meat but want a plant based alternative, and there are a lot of us.
I agree. I do miss chicken wings, not because I miss chicken, but because it was a fried vessel to deliver scrumptious sauces into my mouth. I love cauliflower bites covered with bbq sauce and hot sauce.
I eat soyrizo not because it mimics sausage, but because I love those spices.
It's not like that doesn't happen too.
EDIT Fixed a typo
So you mean vegetables? I eat vegan most of the time (but not "full vegan") and I rarely eat the "alternatives" since there's more than enough OG vegan food. I discovered Tempeh a few months ago and am now crazy about it - it has so much variety and I'll be making it myself soon! No need to compare it with anything.
Also learning that tofu is already cooked has opened up a whole new culinary world for me. I love smoked tofu in a brine, but we also have "tofu rosso" which is marinated and has tomatoes and olives. Sorry for german, but check it out:
There's more to a vegan diet than ultra-processed (not in a bad way) imitations. You can 100% eat only whole foods.
For things like frozen nuggets? It's already just a breaded and deep fried protein paste at that point. Easy bar to clear and stay vegan.
Given how tasteless real chicken from the broiler varieties taste, I'm not surprised that something with a similar texture and the same spices tastes similarly. I had the misfortune to grow up around and eat colorful chicken and my brain still can't get over the taste of factory farmed poultry.
Don't even need to taste as good, I'll gobble up most vegan nuggets alternatives regardless.
The secret is salt.
And fat. Vegan burger patties taste like heaven because of fat and salt.
Only the first paragraph or so is readable, however the entire article is viewable from the source. https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/best-vegan-meat-brands-taste-test-nectar-almost-as-good-as-the-real-thing/
Four of those products performed so well they almost reached taste parity, which Nectar defines as there being no statistically significant difference in how participants scored the vegan product versus the animal one in terms of overall liking. Those four are Impossible Foods’ unbreaded chicken breast, chicken nuggets, and burger, as well as Morningstar Farms’ nuggets.
I don’t see the appeal. If I want vegan fried snack food / street food I’m going for falafel, pakora, tempura, or even beer-battered onion rings. Fried chickpeas, fried plantain chips, potato chips, fried tofu skins, vegan fried spring rolls, blooming onions, fried wonton nachos topped with vegan pulled pork (made with jackfruit), vegan empanadas, vegan pizza rolls, …
The list goes on and on and on. There is so much better stuff to eat than highly processed nuggets. Even if you aren’t vegan, there are much better things to eat than chicken nuggets.
But I see it. I want this.
I am happy for you if you don't want chicken, but I like chicken and I want to eat it. If there is an alternative that tastes the same, I'm going to use that. If there's falafel as an alternative, I'm going with the chicken.
And I bet all of them are loaded with methylcellulose (a.k.a. nature's laxative) just like every other bullshit fake meat product.
I follow a vegan diet now, but grew up in the southern US around legit BBQ. There is no point trying to replicate that, never going to come close and it's just going to use shitty processed food techniques to accomplish it. If you're going to go vegan, how about actually be vegan instead of chasing a life you decided to leave behind.
I’ve been eating Impossible burgers and nuggets for years, and it’s never had a laxative effect. I think you might be assuming there’s a high enough dose to produce the effect, when there probably isn’t.
What’s wrong with being vegan but wanting a meat substitute? Does it make someone a worse person than you if they do that?
I’m not vegan, and I eat Impossible meats, because I try to eat less meat and they taste really good. Would it be better if I ate real meat instead? Because the way you’re talking, it sounds like that’s what you’d prefer.
This. I'm not giving up BBQ, sorry. However, if I can replace my heavily processed meats like nuggies or hamburger patties with something that tastes more or less the same, has a vaguely similar or better texture, and doesn't involve killing an animal, then fuck yeah I'll try it.
Talking about how an ingredient is a laxative as if it's going to immediately make everyone shit their brains out just pushes me and presumably others away from meat substitutes. Tbh it almost feels elitist or like meat propaganda. "The fake meat is gonna make you die from diarrhea!!!!" or "Oooo... Look at me, I'm a real^tm vegan because I don't eat that chemical filled, laxative laced fake meat".
These are not for vegans. Vegans alone couldn't remotely pay back what has been invested in these products. These are for carnists looking for the moral license to continue eating shitty food. Like how when people order a diet pop, they allow themselves any amount of high-calorie food to go along with it. It's a marketing gimmick for carnists, not a solution to any problem vegans have.
Fair enough, I can agree with that for sure. I just hate how taste is the driving factor in these kinds of articles / sentiments, and that most people focus solely on taste. It's way better when it's tasty, no doubt, but the purpose should be more on fueling the complex biological machine that carries you around and interacts with your friends and family.
To add to your point on the flipside, I know several vegans that think they are healthy just because they only eat things with a vegan label. High Fructose Corn Syrup is technically vegan, and can be included in products that have a label (in high amounts, even). Vegan != Healthy. It just means no animal products.
I get what you mean especially in comparison to the real southern BBQ. However things aren't rational ... I used to have cravings for meat all the time and a random veggie dog or burger would make it go away.
I don't really chase the vegan lifestyle so there's probably a market for those people like us that would try to eat vegan/veggie more often than they do.
Yeah, but what if they're not loaded with methylcellulose, or what if we do eventually come close to the real meats or what if this is a gateway product that could convert carnists?
"Taste tests prove these vegan meat brands do not taste as good as the real thing."
Sure, if your definition of "meat" is frozen chicken nuggets or those sawdust & gristle pre-made burgers. I've tried all these meat alternatives and they're nothing like actual meat, both in taste and texture, and they come with the added bonus of being ultra processed.
Let's see the cloned meat. I'm really curious to see if that's any good.
What does “ultra processed” mean, in this context?
That they are made from heavily refined products such as pea protein as compared to non-processed foods like whole vegetables or minimally-processed like salads.
That, however, does not make them bad by itself - they are generally still healthier than other ultra-processed (junk) foods since they are not made to be addictive with a lot of salt, sugar, and fat.
You should watch this video. This shows how Impossible burger meat is made.
Nothing in it is what I would describe as “heavily refined” like you said. The “heaviest” refinement process they use is fermentation, like sauerkraut, beer, yogurt, etc. I don’t think anyone would describe sauerkraut as “ultra processed”.
Here are the ingredients:
Ingredients: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Sunflower Oil, Coconut Oil, 2% Or Less Of: Natural Flavors, Methylcellulose, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Yeast Extract, Dextrose, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Vitamin E (Tocopherols), L-Tryptophan, Soy Protein Isolate,
Vitamins and Minerals: Zinc, Vitamins (B3, B1, B6, B2, and B12)
Contains: Soy
Can't remember the brand it was but I tried these vegan chicken nuggets once that did indeed taste like chicken. But they also had the texture of wadded up paper, so it was just weird. I'd get them again if I could remember the brand.