A question for vegans/vegetarians: Meatless "meat"

[chromedome]

I've just finished reading an interesting article about a startup, Impossible Foods, which is working on a plant-based burger that will be indistinguishable from beef to the casual diner (you'll find it here: https://psmag.com/the-biography-of-a-plant-based-burger-31acbecb0dcc#.nfqtah12r). 

 

For a while now I've been following the efforts of other researchers to create lab-grown meats (aka "beef in a bottle") from various sources. I've informally polled most of my omnivorous acquaintances about this, and the consensus seems to be that as long as it's 1) a good substitute, 2) price-competitive, and 3) comparable in nutrition, they'd probably give it a try (I live in a frugal part of the world, and price would play a large role here). 

 

I'm curious to have the same kind of feedback from any vegetarians and vegans who participate here on the boards. Would you eat a meat substitute that was produced in the laboratory, all things being equal? Would it matter to you that it be all plant-based, or would you be willing to entertain the notion of a "genuine" artificial meat that was created without animals? 

[blue_dolphin]

I was a vegetarian (lacto-ovo) for around 30 years, mostly because I never cared much for making meat the center of a meal so a meat substitute would have had no appeal to me.  

Unless maybe it tasted like really, really good bacon !

 

[patris]

I have been lacto-ovo vegetarian for somewhere around 4 years. I am intrigued by the idea of lab-grown meats, but doubt I would ever try them. On several occasions I have been served things I was unaware were prepared with chicken or beef stock, or cooked in lard, or seasoned with bacon or bacon fat, either at restaurants or by family who did not consider those ingredients non-vegetarian, and each time found the flavor unpleasant enough that I could not stomach a second bite. I do sometimes miss the texture of a perfectly cooked chicken breast, but on flavor alone I would probably never be able to stomach lab-grown meat. Once upon a time Wegmans sold a crispy fake chicken breast that ticked all the boxes for me, especially on top of a nice cold salad. If it had truly tasted like chicken I doubt I would have liked it at all - it was all about the texture for me.

[Lisa Shock]

I became a vegetarian in 1979 because I was really tired of steak for dinner at home (my family raised our own grass-fed beef before it was cool) and the college cafeteria meat was frightful -a lot like the soles of shoes. I think I was a vegetarian for a semester without really knowing it because I'd go through the cafeteria line and get the vegetables and the salad bar and was happy.

 

Over the years, I turned out to be the only member of my family without high blood pressure and without a need to take antacids. (sometimes, I will sip on pickle juice because I like it) A year ago, I had a doppler ultrasound of my neck (carotids and jugulars) and my blood vessels are totally clear. The tech said the images were like the images she had seen in her textbook of a baby's blood vessels. (some of this might be due to the fact that I gave up eating transfat around 1992 when that first big study about it clogging arteries came out)

 

I currently don't eat much of the meat analog stuff, I'm just not that interested in meat. As a child, I loathed hot dogs because they oozed grease. I hate/d pepperoni on pizza because it forms little cups filled with grease. I also hated bacon as a child. I do like Smart Dogs, mostly because they are not greasy at all, don't have a meat texture, and because I really like the combination of mustard sweet relish and chopped onions as a topping. But, I eat Smart Dogs maybe once a year, usually if I am trying to feed someone else's kids.

 

IMO, the world has so many vegetables and so many ways to prepare them, I get a lot of variety in my meals.

 

I did taste a burger, one bite, at one of the newer super-hyped gourmet burger places a couple of years ago. I am still wondering why people bother to eat this stuff at all -it tasted like a thick chunk of felt. Boring. I'd prefer a falafel over it anytime. So, no, I am really not interested. I really prefer the veggie burgers where you can taste the vegetables they are made from, or mostly just not having a burger at all. (falafel, grilled cheese sandwich, eggplant parm, etc.)

 

If the new meat from a petri-dish stuff is better for the environment and doesn't hurt animals, I would be happy to see real burger fanatics switch. I really wouldn't eat it, not interested.

Edited September 8, 2016 by Lisa Shock
To clarify that I read the original post. (log)

[Cyberider]

5 hours ago, chromedome said:

I'm curious to have the same kind of feedback from any vegetarians and vegans who participate here on the boards. Would you eat a meat substitute that was produced in the laboratory, all things being equal? Would it matter to you that it be all plant-based, or would you be willing to entertain the notion of a "genuine" artificial meat that was created without animals? 

 

I never cook meat at home but will eat it if I'm out.  However, I don't really care for prepared foods, much preferring to put the individual ingredients together myself.  A good recipe for veggie burgers, sure.  Already prepared veggie "meat," no.

[chromedome]

I should clarify, I'm not referring to the already-existing prepared veggie hot dogs, sausages, etc (veggy manufacturer Yves makes a faux-lamb product called "Lack of Ram," which cracks me up). I'm canvassing for reactions to a) realistic simulations of natural, raw meat form plant sources, or b) actual "meat" produced by an animal-free process.

[huiray]

42 minutes ago, chromedome said:

I should clarify, I'm not referring to the already-existing prepared veggie hot dogs, sausages, etc (veggy manufacturer Yves makes a faux-lamb product called "Lack of Ram," which cracks me up). I'm canvassing for reactions to a) realistic simulations of natural, raw meat form plant sources, or b) actual "meat" produced by an animal-free process.

 

Neither appeals to me, nor even the notion of doing those things. I'm NOT a vegetarian/vegan and am certainly an omnivore - but in the E/SE Asian style, as that is what I am by heritage. I eat vegetables as vegetables, and cook and treat vegetables as what they are, and am not perturbed by the absence of meat in many of my meals. I am amused by the deceit that vegetarian burgers have to look and taste like meat. It's pandering, in my view, and even a little cowardly - insofar as it applies to the carnivorous Western diet.  Why not simply rejoice in those vegetarian dishes without pretense that it looks and tastes like meat!!! Sigh. But I suppose I am not the demographic you are looking for. 

[chromedome]

It's a perfectly valid perspective, Huiray. In gluten-free cooking classes, I've often steered people toward innately wheat-free foods from various cultures as opposed to gf analogs of familiar wheat-based foods. 

You're right about not being the demographic I was looking for, but that's fine. All opinions are welcome.

[Katie Meadow]

I assume there must be a serious nostalgia factor among some vegetarians or vegans who don't eat meat for moral or political reasons that makes them crave the foods they loved as kids or in past lives or whatever. If you don't really enjoy the taste or texture of meat it doesn't seem like you would want to create an imitation. Because most vegetable matter that tries to be a burger doesn't cut the mustard; it's over processed and manipulated. Bulgur wheat or black beans with ketchup and mustard and pickles can't possibly taste like meat. Meat tastes like animal fat. All fats taste different. You wouldn't expect coconut oil to taste like olive oil, and you probably wouldn't put it on a caesar salad or make hummus with it. Unless of course you wanted your hummus to taste like an Indian garbanzo curry. 

 

I'm not a vegetarian, but I usually eat meat or fish only a couple of times a week, and the rest of the time I'm happy with vegetables that look like and taste like what they are, especially at the time of year they are at their best. Life is hard enough without trying to make one food tastes like another. If I were starving to death I would eat a tofu dog before I'd eat a real dog, and I'd be awfully grateful for it, but I am counting on never having to make that choice. Food produced in a lab seems so incredibly unappealing. How is trying to make meat without an animal so different than trying to make an eggplant taste like a tomato? But do whatcha gotta do to, and hopefully you can find someone who will do it with you. Lab coats can be sexy in the flickering light of a bunsen burner!

[shain]

Being vegetarian for many many years, I think that such faux-meat or lab grown can be a wonderful thing, It's don't that I miss meat in my diet, but as a person who enjoy cooking and eating all kinds of foods, I think that every good ingredient is a poitive thing, and I'll be happy to try cooking with it and eating it (assuming it actually tastes good). That's being said, I think the important aspect of those products is not for vegans/vegetarians to be able to eat meat, but rather environmental.

[IndyRob]

I was just reading a Serious Eats review of the Impossible Burger and the Beyond Burger.  Kenji's conclusions strike me as more qualified than, say, David Chang's seemingly unreserved enthusiasm.

 

The comments on the page seem to be all over the place and quite contentious.  I appreciate these things as simply interesting developments that may provide new options.  But for so many it seems that a burger cannot simply be a burger, but must be some sort of sociological or ecological line in the sand.

 

I hypothesize that for every person wondering why we can't just let a veg be a veg, there's another wondering why a Kobe Ribeye needs to be ground up into burgers.

[kayb]

I eat meat probably every other day, on average. There are meats I absolutely adore, most of them pork -- bacon, ham, barbecue. I enjoy a good steak, but I don't want one all that often; ditto a good chuck roast or beef stew or roast beef sandwich.

 

I like the idea of substitutes for meat that would taste the same/have the same texture in the dishes I enjoy, mostly from an environmental and pricing standpoint. I don't care about making a vegetable taste/act like meat just for the sake of having meat in a meal; I'm perfectly happy with a bowl of beans, or a plate of cheese, or some other protein.

 

I could, however, never be vegan. I don't think I could function without butter, cheese, eggs, and half-and-half for my coffee. I am willing to pay a premium for the assurance the animals/birds that produced those products did so in a safe and healthy environment and enjoyed a comfortable and pleasant lifestyle.

[chromedome]

I've spoken to vegans who tell me that a really persuasive faux-meat product, one that genuinely could be mistaken for meat, wouldn't sit well with them...never mind a "real" meat generated in a lab. 

 

I guess part of the impetus for the question was an exchange between my girlfriend and one of her co-workers, who happened to be a vegan. My sweetie doesn't like the cold, and habitually wore a faux-fur coat to work that winter. Her co-worker, while acknowledging that it wasn't real fur, felt that she'd still be unable to wear it because it was too realistic. 

 

"Really?" my girlfriend told her. "Honey, if I was cold and you were slow, I'd wear you!"

 

(It's even funnier when you know that my girlfriend is a cute and tiny redhead...her co-worker was aghast.)