Poll for vegetarians: favourite meat substitute.

Although neither are really to my taste I can actually eat more veggie haggis than meat haggis. If I am forced.

Shit, I forgot falafel! I'm sorry about that.

You can just vote for something else and mention falafel on the thread, if that's your favourite. I can count the falafel votes separately.

Is faflfel a meat substitute though - surely it's a thing in its own right?

You need spme kind of met substitute pie - like Linda McCartney's Country Pies. I love them.

I cannot type straight today.

Well, I think some of the stuff on the list are things in their own right too, I just wanted to list all the stuff you can use in a similar manner to meat.

(xx-post)

hail seitan

i can't imagine tempeh being a meat substitute, excepting i had some really good tempeh bacon once.

giving up meat and then eating meat substitute has always struck me as missing the point slightly. but then there are as many reasons for not eating meat as there are vegetarians so...

Quorn is the obvious ommision, maybe that's a UK thing

tofu's the most useful for cooking and most versatile so I'm going with that. We have Quorn over here though for sure, it's delicious.

Veggie haggis is very nice.

I'm trying to work out whether "plain tofu" is the same thing as tasty tofu.

Tofu = teh yuck

I'm trying to work out whether "plain tofu" is the same thing as tasty tofu.

Well, obviously tofu can be cooked in many different ways, but I didn't bother to list all of them, only the things where tofu has been processed into something else, like sausage.

Smoked tofu is a fine, fine thing. I haven't ever had half the stuff on that list. What the heck is a carrot steak?

tofu was made to be cooked with meat

We have carrot steak in grocery stores here. It's simply a veggie steak made of mashed carrots and, er, some other stuff (don't know the exact ingredients). Just like beetroot steak.

I haven't had a mock meat that I didn't like in some respect. Yea, some aren't all that good but I can still find something to enjoy about the not-so-good ones.

But I have to go with tofu. There isn't anything quite like some fried tofu over noodles or rice, with some veggies, a good sauce, maybe a little Sriracha or some chili oil to spice things up...hmmm I really love tofu so much. When it's a little crispy on the outside but so soft and hot on the inside, hmmmmm there's something about it's texture that's so delicious. I know plenty of carnivores that are into tofu because it's texture is pretty unique. Really not so much a mock meat as it's own thing.

Some honorary mentions:

Mock beef -- Try the Reuben at the Chicago Diner and tell me that mock meats can't be succesful. That sandwich is pretty much perfect. Or the cheese steak there, also really really good.

Mock chicken -- The chicken sandwich at Red Bamboo in NYC, or the double chicken cheese sandwich at Yellow Sunshine in Berlin. These are amazing.

Yuba is fantastic. Portobello 'shrooms are also great.

giving up meat and then eating meat substitute has always struck me as missing the point slightly. but then there are as many reasons for not eating meat as there are vegetarians so...

Yea, never was "not liking the taste of meat" one of my reasons for being vegan.

Gimme Lean breakfast sausage is really really good! Comes in those tubes just like Jimmy Dean.

I'd be nowhere without Morningstar.

Tofu schnitzel?!

Or the cheese steak there, also really really good.

They need to stop pretending that it's a cheesesteak, though, and just call it an Italian beef.

i like vegetarian duck. i'm not a vegetarian though so i won't vote (also it's not on there)

Where's the wheat gluten? No, it's slightly different from seitan (even if seitan is also wheat gluten). Sorry to be so specific, but anyone who's been to Malaysia Kopitiam in DC will know what I'm talking about: they have two dishes w/ it -- Curry Gluten and Gluten with Scallion and Ginger. It's pretty amazing, very chewy texture. Better than seitan, IMO.

I'm getting hungry thinking about all these veg-meats.

This is such a European thread, if only because all the mainstream "meat substitutes" in the U.S. are given cute names like "Chik Nuggets" so you don't know what they are actually made of. "Beetroot steak" in the U.S. = gag me with a spoon.

I guess the exception, as always, is hippies.

^^ this is true. I've heard of neither beetroot steak nor carrot steak, I'd probably enjoy them well enough but they don't sound terribly appetizing.

if there is no meatz i can eat turkey instead

Yes, please:
http://www.kvue.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/06-07/0618llcorndog.jpg

Beetroot steak is great! I don't otherwise care much about beetroot, but you can make yummy steaks out of it.

i can't vote because none of these are really my "favorite," it's all situational. tempeh goes well in bbq, tvp (which i think is what you mean by "soy groats" and is a key component of many things on the list) is good in chili and makes good veggie burgers, seitan is excellent in assorted asian dishes, i love mock duck in thai curries, there are lots of good tofu dishes...

also i hear comments like this one a lot:

giving up meat and then eating meat substitute has always struck me as missing the point slightly.

which i think is itself missing the point slightly. what makes a burger or bbq or a curry taste good is not just the meat but all of the things it's cooked with, the means of preparation, etc. so a vegetarian version of any of those things is retaining as much as possible the flavors, textures, all the food chemistry that goes on besides the meat, and adding something with sufficient texture and flavor to play the role originated by the meat. i'm not vegetarian out of some kind of aversion to bbq sauce or chili powder.

Well said, Tipsy.

Well plus a lot of vegetarians aren't even vegetarians because of an aversion to the taste of meat itself. But I don't think we really want to have this conversation again.

At least I don't.

Morningstar corn dogs might be Nature's Perfect Food.

Plus they are named after Lucifer.

I am somewhat of a sucker for tempeh. You can get me to spend the extra $1.50 to have the tempeh added to my dinner option, no problem. Even though it is not always worth it. But it is alluring.

Shiitake mushroom-fillled dumplings somehow taste meatier and more delicious than their meat counterparts and therefore I MUST EAT SHIITAKE. I have some to cook up in the fridge right now..

I like tempeh (w/flaxseeds) best because it has a nice nutty, slightly sour flavor. But Quorn chicken nuggets/patties also very very good (and I don't see Quorn here).

I keep hearing people go on about the wonders of Quorn, but I am having trouble getting past the name. It sounds so unappealing. Clearly I'm going to have to go get some and try it.

My mind is actively boggling re: CARROT STEAK.

http://www.ateriamestarit.fi/gfx/tuoteryhmat/kasvisruoattuoteryhma.jpg

Like tiny round fish sticks it looks.

I keep hearing people go on about the wonders of Quorn, but I am having trouble getting past the name.

i think it's also a mold product or something? but it tastes pretty good, probably the best fake-chicken i've had.

Fusarium venenatum is a fungus, more precisely a mold, from which a mycoprotein can be derived.

It is used in the manufacture of Quorn, a meat substitute marketed to vegetarians.

In 2003 the Center for Science in the Public Interest issued the claim that the mycoprotein used in Quorn can be gastrotoxic, causing severe vomiting, stomach cramps, and diarrhea in susceptible individuals.[1] The manufacturer of Quorn disputes the figure, claiming that only 0.0007% (1 in 146,000) suffers adverse reactions.[2] Leslie Bonci, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, has described the CSPI's claims as "overblown".

they use egg albumen to make it, too, so i guess that could put off vegans.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I am pretty much into most vegan veggie chickens. I eat a lot tofurky slices sandwiches during the week, though.

I think Quorn is named after the town in the UK where it was invented, but it is confusing (corn??).

I'm not a vegetarian and tofu weirds me out, but for some reason I absolutely love the concept of tofurkey. Just as a platonic ideal, you know.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I am disappointed with the performance of carrot steak.

I was curious about this delicious-sounding carrot steak, and it turns out this thread is already #2 google hit for carrot steak. :(

Also #16!

None of the results are actually about the making, purchase or preparation of the carrot steak. It's mostly about steak recipes (beef) that also feature carrots. The last hit, #42, before google cuts it off due to duplicate results, is this:

Finally, i jennifer tilly nude her to the sexiness and alive on my carrot steak her hose on me. She gay cum shots on me, breathless, tenacious in sweat

Tofu isn't the necessarily the tastiest, but it's the most useful and universal, and it would be the hardest to live without. With the right preparation it can be really tasty, and I even will eat it cold from time to time.

marinated/baked tofu is tasty as all get-out.

You can get me to spend the extra $1.50 to have the tempeh added to my dinner option, no problem.

Huh? Seriously? Where in heaven do you eat that you get asked "Would you like tempeh with that?", or it's offered as a side on the menu? I wanna go there.

FWIW, I think seitan is overrated, and tempeh totally underrated. But I didn't even bother to vote, so fuck me.

Many places now offer salads or rice/noodle dishes with your choice of meat, listing tofu as an option.

Is tempeh something like the cilantro of soyfoods? People seem to have especially strong reactions to it in both directions.

i don't get Quorn - its fake chicken made w/eggs.

i dont understand this thred

Where in heaven do you eat that you get asked "Would you like tempeh with that?", or it's offered as a side on the menu? I wanna go there.

Uh, I live in Portland. So, I don't want to pretend it's like that at every restaurant, but it's certainly not rare for a restaurant to offer a dish that can come with, say, chicken or tofu or tempeh added.

There is a vegetarian Vietnamese place here run by cranky nuns who don't speak English and it serves the most amazing BBQ seitan. Otherwise I haven't been too impressed with it. Then again I got into tempeh at a place which served some amazing tempeh, which most other places don't really live up to. So.

i love tempeh, especially because of its non-gassy properties

seek burritoville's tempeh burger wrap

I've had good tempeh on a few different occasions, but most of the time it's pretty dry, too chunky, not that great of a flavor. it doesn't seem to hold moisture very well.

Back in college, our cafeteria served tempeh all the time, in giant 1 x 4 inch slabs, and they never really did it well. it's possible that I'm not too big on tempeh because how poorly they did it up.

i really missed all the morningstar farms stuff when i was in the UK, i like their breakfast links and patties, and bacon. i haven't tried the corn dogs-- how do you cook them? do you need a microwave?

i'm looking forward to having a tofurkey at christmas. i think toby will be eating fois gras. and that's just fine with both of us.

I have enjoyed tempeh when it's done in the bacon style, in BLT or something. very good.

There is a vegetarian Vietnamese place here run by cranky nuns

if you're trying to get me to confess to my fetishes you can forget it, I am made of stronger stuff than that, hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women and blessed is the oh oh oh oh

haha!

Thanks for the response, Kazooistry. Wow, now I'm really getting hungry. I like tempeh so much and feel so good after eating it that I almost suspect there is something wrong with me, like maybe I have horrible parasites hanging out in my gut that only a steady diet of fermented soy products can fix.

cutty, what's Burritoville? Is that a NYC place?

i really, really like tempeh.

if you run it through a food processor, you can sorta chop it up into a consistency that, in sauce, would be like bolognese? sort of?

yes, dell. highly lauded by the noise board.

can also make ground tempeh sausage w/fennel and other spices

Seitan is really the deal, I think. Sorry I didn't get to vote in this one. Seitan just has this thick texture that nothing else really does.

I made seitan from scratch and recommend this process to all