What the fuck is the ‘authentic experience’ of a chicken nugget that seitan is incapable of replicating, anyways? Also the burger patties I ate in school as a cringe baby carnist were 60% TVP soy to begin with, so if anything I’m being even more honest with my frozen slabs now

  • @Yurt_Owl@hexbear.net
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    5 months ago

    I like my meat substitutes because I’m thoroughly uncreative and don’t ever intend on changing that. “Just learn new recipes” yeah I can’t even wake up in the morning let me have my fake mince Bolognese

    • laziestflagellant [they/them]OP
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      185 months ago

      For real, and if the only thing standing between me and some godly grilled cheeze sandwich and tomato soup is “suffering” through a slice of coconut fat, salt and emulsifiers, I’m going to be enjoying a delicious grilled sandwich and dunking it in the soup.

  • beef_curds [she/her]
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    265 months ago

    The line between “meat substitute” and “regular veggie dish” is kinda bullshit anyways:

    Like, if I make my own seitan from scratch and use it in unique ways is that meat substitute?

    If I make a roux, and make it salty and a little sour, is that a queso substitute or just a roux?

    If I crumble firm tofu and pan fry it until it’s a bit crispy, is that meat crumble substitute or is it just tofu crumbles? Am I sinning if I use tvp instead?

    Makhani sauce uses cashew cream by default but if you take that same cashew cream in another dish, maybe you’re a big faker.

    How much squash do I have to put in my patty before it flips from “burger” to “veggie fritter?”

    It’s all silly.

  • BeamBrain [he/him]M
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    235 months ago

    My diet is like 70% carbohydrates and 30% meat substitutes

    Yes I know it’s unhealthy, I’m in this for the animals, not for myself

  • Are_Euclidding_Me [e/em/eir]
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    205 months ago

    Also, and this is a bit of a different issue, but there is absolutely no reason that “meat” has to mean animal flesh. Historically the word “meat” has been used to refer to all sorts of things. Nutmeat and sweetmeats are the two examples that spring to mind immediately, neither of which is dead animal. I support taking back the word “meat” from the carnists. Yeah, I eat meat, it’s soy meat and it’s delicious! No dead animal involved!

    • Lemmygradwontallowme [he/him, comrade/them]
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      5 months ago

      Historically the word “meat” has been used to refer to all sorts of things

      The only modern use of the old definition is in mincemeat pie…

      That being said, I think the chuds are gonna do a slogan of “put the meat back in mincemeat pie” or somethin’, when someone tells them that fact…

      • SpiderFarmer [he/him]
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        15 months ago

        Honestly if someone has a vegan or vegetarian recipe for mincemeat pie, feel free to send me your favorite recipes. I’ve been wanting to find something that can match the stupidly umami and salty notes of an Australian pie. Vegetarian is cool with me too, honestly.

        • I think we’re referring to different mincemeat pies (the one I’m talking about is the one ironically without much beef or suet, and it’s rather sweet)

          Australian mie pies probably need something like a mushroom gravy and some nice seitan and tofu to substitute for that

          However, I did find this prbly Quebecois dish

  • muddi [he/him]
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    125 months ago

    Honestly anything fried properly ends up crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside.

    Protein helps since it’s naturally soft and chewy when cooked, but it’s not like my mouth and stomach counts the macros. Fried tofu is a cheap and easy go-to for me. I like tater tots too

    Sauces don’t belong to anyone lmao I add sauces to everything anyways

  • @WithoutFurtherBelay@hexbear.net
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    115 months ago

    Good bread is extremely “meaty” in texture. Dense, chewy, savory things have always been the Vegan’s domain. I understand people who are “turned off” by meat substitutes because it reminds them of murder, but I think it’s moreso an issue with framing than anything. We aren’t eating these “meat substitutes” to “substitute” for murder, we are eating them because they are dense and chewy.

  • CarbonScored [any]
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    5 months ago

    Is anybody actually getting hostile about that?

    Eat chewy savory protein as much as you please, I ain’t stop you. But my issue is implying these foods are a healthy option when there’s no doubt that most fake meats are heavily processed, full of weird shit, and relatively unhealthy compared to some cooler vegan dishes.

    • laziestflagellant [they/them]OP
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      175 months ago

      I personally see this opinion pop up just about every time meat substitutes come up in conversation, including on hexbear.

      And re: meat substitutes being ‘full of weird shit’ just comes off as silly when the majority of them are basically just fancy bread. Soy protein, wheat gluten and seasoning oooh so scary.

      • CarbonScored [any]
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        5 months ago

        Fair enough if you see the opinion a lot.

        But that is an absolute understatement. They all have an assortment of arguably dodgy (if common) additives and thickeners and so forth. The most popular veggie sausages here literally have rust in them. They pretty much all have relatively high salt content, some have a surprising amount of sugar. And just being mushed and squished and processed in weird ways itself can cause worse nutritional uptake. And what the fuck is a textured rehydrated soy protein? A long way from actually just eating soy beans.

        I’m not saying all these ingredients are necessarily wrong, and again, I ain’t stop you eatin’ 'em. But don’t start telling me it’s silly to point 'em out as weird. I repeat - Feel free to eat it, just don’t live under the impression they are necessarily healthy options.

        • HexBroke [any, comrade/them]
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          55 months ago

          The most popular veggie sausages here literally have rust in them

          You know iron is a pretty important nutrient right?

          Humans have processed food (and sou beans in particular) in various ways for thousands of years, from fermented soy beans to bread.

          • CarbonScored [any]
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            5 months ago

            Needing iron =/= happily adding rust to my food to make it red-brown.

            I’ve already said I don’t think these things are necessarily wrong. And fermenting is typically a cool thing to do with food. But many modern methods of industrial processing of food demonstrably contribute to worse health outcomes.

        • laziestflagellant [they/them]OP
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          35 months ago

          And what the fuck is a textured rehydrated soy protein? A long way from actually just eating soy beans.

          Kind of a bad example to pick since TVP and soy curls are just what’s left behind when you squeeze the fat and moisture out of soy beans (ie to make vegetable oil). There are less steps in between TVP and soy beans than there is between certain grains and stuff like pasta made from them.

    • ChestRockwell [comrade/them, any]
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      75 months ago

      Honestly the Carl’s jr beyond famous star/ burger king impossible whopper basically taste the same as the normal in my mind. I’ve never done side by side though.

      • the_itsb [she/her, comrade/them]
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        25 months ago

        I did a side-by-side last summer with my husband; you can tell the difference when you’re paying attention, but it’s very very close.

        I still like regular veggie burgers better, but the Impossible stuff is definitely useful for turning people.

    • AlpineSteakHouse [any]
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      55 months ago

      For Chili and stuff, definitely use soya de carne. It’s almost indistinguishable form ground beef. Harder to make into a burger of course but still okay.

      Cuts of beef are a lot harder to make and will probably necessitate some more research tbh.

      • SpiderFarmer [he/him]
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        45 months ago

        Gonna look into that, thanks. And yeah, black bean burgers are “good enough” since burgers are really all about the texture and the cheese, honestly.

  • idkmybffjoeysteel [he/him]
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    5 months ago

    There are these little packets of fake steak you can get from Japanese / Korean stores and git damnnn they are delicious, like actual stew.

    Soy bean snacks in general are rock and roll, I love the lil cumin bbq stick thingies, they have been a favourite of mine all my life.

    Vegan subs are getting pretty good now. Honestly I would prefer if all things were just as expensive as they needed to be to be ethical / environmentally sound. I can’t even eat a bar of chocolate without the benefit of slave labour, but I bet it would taste even better if it was more expensive. Not that it needs to be, it is expensive enough now, just the profits need redirecting to workers.