Our food cravings adapt to what our bodies identify as having the nutrients we need. Most people who eat a plant based diet for 5-10 years rarely eat meat replacements. But in the beginning, these replacements are great for people that are still learning meal planning. Outside of that, some people have health issues, like cholesterol, where replacing some of their meat intake with immitation meats can be beneficial. Others like to reduce their carbon footprint by eating occassional plant based meals. These individuals do not experience the change in cravings and taste so they still appreciate the taste and texture of something similar to the meat they still consume at other meals.
To put some quantitative analysis on that, while sales of immitation meat products have increased significantly, we are not seeing significant increases in the number of US residents identifying as vegan(strict vegetarian) and only modest increases in those identifying as vegetarian. This means that much of the immitation meat consuption is done by those that are still eating an animal protein based diet.
Anecdotally, I am not a huge fan of those products and also find most traditional bean and root vegetable based meals more satisfying. But please keep in mind that many people are navigating their way towards a different way of eating and they can be very sensitive to harse words about their choices.
The market for these products is really omnivores who enjoy meat yet would prefer it to be made without the animal suffering and ecological footprint of meat if such a thing were available. You're never going to get the sort of market share these companies are looking for with only vegans and vegetarians - there simply isn't enough of them.
The vegetarian-curious also really don't need people bullying them about their food choices, that's unnecessary
> I hated vegan and vegetarian food ... it was always the meat replacements like veggie patties and tofurkey type products that turned me away... weird mystery replacement I find on almost every vegan or veggie dish
Completely unfair characterization of "vegan and vegetarian food." I've been a (western) vegetarian for close to two decades and commercial meat replacements are not an have never been a large part of my diet. I eat them MAYBE a few times a year, pretty much exclusively at cookouts.
That being said, that seems to have changed with the Impossible Whopper - that tastes pretty good and has a nice texture, I can see myself ordering that again.
Especially it would be great to evolve the current US food culture to be vegetarian as well. There is a lot of culture around food that is not just purely about it being tasty food. As a teen, we'd make dumb late night runs to the drive through. We grilled burgers and dogs on Memorial Day. We'd order Pizza and Wings while watching football.
A lot of these traditions were manufactured to begin with and could be wholesale replaced by other food cultures, sure. A lot of people want to change their impact on animal suffering/the environment without 100% swapping out these cultural memories too. I think that's perfectly fair.
Sure I eat Indian food weekly, but it's comforting to feel part of your broader food culture and connected to your childhood rather than needing to avoid all the places your peers frequent.
I'm from NC, so to me "BBQ" means something very specific and that meaning is a point of cultural pride. We like to trash talk our neighbors based on the sauce they use (eastern NC is vinegar-base, Western is ketchup-base, and South Carolina is mustard-based) but we still all agree that the meat is pulled or chopped pork. In Texas and Kansas City they call brisket and ribs "BBQ", and in other places, "BBQ" can just mean a outdoor get-together with anything grilled!
All that is to say that, becoming vegan or vegetarian in NC means losing a fun part of your culture if you throw out meat alternatives. Luckily, there are enterprising folks making amazing meat-free alternatives that still feel authentic to NC-style BBQ (I highly recommend "Fiction Kitchen" in Raleigh for eastern-style).
Kebab/Döner without veggie-meat just doesn't do anything for me, for example.
I don't get why people are confused about this. You've grown up with certain expectations of how food is being prepared so it should be obvious that you're interested in supplementing the parts that you don't want to eat anymore with something that's compatible with the way you've been preparing food your whole life.
Italian food is a perfect example, it's so easy to be vegetarian eating Italian (the original version, not the one covered in meat and cheese you find in the US).
Same goes for almost every other culinary tradition in the world, meat used to be expensive.
It’s not ready yet, and phase 1 was the really weird stuff. I think Beyond Meat is like phase 2 of “pretty close”. In the near future, you won’t be able to tell the difference
most of the interest i'm guessing is coming from what was previously thought to be "unthinkable": that is, fast food chains whose core business revolves around animal flesh introducing something else that isn't animal flesh. there are tons of consequences for this outside of American vegetarians wanting to replace meat or whatever.
Great for you that you don't miss meat in your diet, but is it so hard to imagine others do, especially if they've grown up in places were it is a big part of the typical diet?
Answer: Because taste isn't universal.
Vegetarians do not want to replace meat. (I mean, they are already vegetarian). Anecdotally, I haven't met a single vegetarian/vegan who is interested in Impossible or Beyond Meat substitutes. Such products are instead very helpful for those who want to reduce read meat in their diet.
Now you've met one.
That's a ridiculous generalisation; it totally depends why they're vegetarian.
Yeah, if it's the taste or the concept of eating meat, they're not going to want a substitute.
But if it's animal cruelty or environmental concerns, those are ameliorated by even lab-grown meats, nevermind the plant-based taste-alikes.
It's dangerous to make blanket statements about what all vegetarians think. For example, on the question of why someone has chosen to be a vegetarian, I've heard a long list of different reasons, including: animal welfare, environment, their own health/longevity/energy, not liking the taste of meat, not enjoying the idea of eating an animal's flesh (even if it were ethical), their religion encourages it, and/or it's their default because they were brought up that way and have never tasted meat.
Similarly, "gluten-free" is associated with breads, pastas, etc. Not rice or other non-imitation products.
I think it’s great that these substitutes are being seriously developed because even though they may not be good replications today, they eventually will be, and this will allow meat to stars to have their cake and eat it too when going vegetarian.
Another reason is that red meat is known to be carcinogenic and hard on lipids and while their isn't sufficient data on plant based meats the going assumption that it is at least modestly better is probably a reasonable one.
But yes, non-processed plant based food is terrific and probably the best for you.
Indian food doesn’t have some weird mystery replacement I find on almost every vegan or veggie dish. I had a conversation with and Indian colleague who lives in the states and she agreed a lot of veggie/vegan food is just plain weird.