Yes, I bet meat eaters say the same about beef burgers, there is difference in texture and flavor of each patty. Difference in quality of the meat, the coarseness of the ground, etc. But knowing that, makes me thing that meat eaters don’t actually like the meat part in their diet, and trying to replicate the meat part of a beef burger when making veggie patties just seems like a lack of imagination and an unnecessary limitation.
Have you considered the possibility that it is you who are missing out on experiences by refusing to eat these vegetarian alternatives that taste like meat?
"Oh, but real vegetarian food is so much better bla bla bla"
Ignoring your knee-jerk reaction, have you actually tried the Impossible Burger or the Beyond Meat burger?
Because it has the taste and texture of meat, which you don't eat. So eating these would be a way for you to experience this taste and this texture, and that should at least have some novelty value for you.
Backing up to the meta discussion, I love how these meat alternatives, and near-future things like cultured meat or synthetic milk test everyone's convictions and prejudices. Why do we eat the things we eat? Habit? Ethics? Preference? Virtue signaling? It's a good way to examine your principles.
You seem to have landed in that these meat alternatives are bad because they're "processed", and everything "processed" is bad. Alright. But would you eat clean cultured meat? Muscle tissue that has never been inside a living animal, and yet is indistinguishable from meat that's been cut out of a slaughtered animal?
And going further out, would you eat cultured human meat?
Food for thought.
I’m generally against fake and highly processed things, I don’t want them in my life, and definitely not on my plate. That would definitely include lab meat. So I’ll keep eating regular meat until the fake meat industrial complex gets it outlawed, and then I can just eat vegetarian food.
Imagine that many of your favourite dishes, those you grew up with, were suddenly unavailable to you because some ingredient no longer existed. If a new ingredient hit the market that was not quite the same but was a convincing substitute in taste and texture, would you consider it silly and avoid it?
But that’s not quite what we’re discussing. Meat exists but some people want to go vegetarian without sacrificing anything. I suppose it’s pretty similar to the logic of people who want to lose weight without giving up sweets or soda, so they switch to aspartame versions.
Yes, how dare they?!? How can you call yourself a vegetarian without sacrificing anything? If anyone could be a vegetarian, there wouldn't be any moral superiority for the real vegetarians! Oh the horror!
I just happen to think fake meat and fake sweeteners are some of the most absurd things in modern society. I prefer food to be natural and unprocessed.
> I’m not vegetarian and it’s not about feeling superior.
Well, clearly you have some martyr complex issues around it.