Vegan sausages

[nickyboy]

I'm a meat eater but am more than happy to try alternatives and am trying to reduce meat intake

So Mrs N brought home a pack of vegan sausages from, I think, Asda. They looked a lot like "real" sausages in the pack and when they were cooked

But cutting into them the texture was all wrong. Mushy comes to mind. Of course it didn't taste like a "real" sausage either

I suspect that the contents as, say, a patty, fried would have been quite nice. But masquerading as a sausage leads to inevitable sausage comparisons

So this go me to thinking....what's the motivation in turning perfectly decent and tasty vegan stuff into poor copies of meat products? Do vegans hanker for the visual appeal of the sausage? Or is something like this marketed to carnivores like me who are cutting down their meat intake?

 

[Markymark]

Both. They do what sells. Meat alternatives sell and the industry is booming.

It is hard to replicate the taste and texture of meat so you get the best that is available for the price you’re willing to pay.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Both. They do what sells. Meat alternatives sell and the industry is booming.

It is hard to replicate the taste and texture of meat so you get the best that is available for the price you’re willing to pay.

That replication is developing at pace however and is getting very close.
It’s a familiarity thing, a gateway drug to hardcore veggie food of Tofu, beansprouts and almond milk....

Mocky D’s in Nottingham do very fine vegan versions of McD products which are going down well (and are fab!).

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Personally I think it is really patronising to make all these vegan and veggie foods to look like meat. None of them replicate meat texture and the bacon looks like something out of a Playmobil set. Vegetarians and vegans don’t even want anything that looks like meat on their plate so I don’t understand how sales are booming.

We like the Lynda McCartney Red Onion and Rosemary sausages at Chez HC. The texture isn’t like meat at all, it’s just very pleasant.

Just finished reading Ed Stafford’s book, ‘Naked and Marooned’. I think raw snails will put you off suspect food textures for life.

 

[Adam4868]

Veganism is booming,its everywhere you look lately.Id suspect the substitutes,such as sausages,bacon,chicken pieces,are so you can feel included and not odd one out.Such as going for a veggie/vegan breakfast.

 

[Katherine]

The more food has to be made to look like something else, the more processed it has to be, which surely can't be good. There must be more enticing ways to get people to eat more meatless products.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I'd be more impressed if manufacturers could make chocolate cake look exactly like an apple.

 

[Adam4868]

A close friend of my partners is vegan,its a lot harder than i think.Giving up meat is easy in comparison.Id struggle for the one reason Cheese !

 

[nickyboy]

The more food has to be made to look like something else, the more processed it has to be, which surely can't be good. There must be more enticing ways to get people to eat more meatless products.

That's my point. It was, frankly, a rubbish sausage.

I assume these are targeted at people like me who fancy a meat free alternative?

I don't have any vegan friends to ask but I would have thought vegans would prefer the food to not look like meat?

 

[Adam4868]

I'd be more impressed if manufacturers could make chocolate cake look exactly like an apple.

On that note mrs adam made some vegan chocolate mousses that were lovely.Im pretty sure they were made with chickpea brine water ? They were eaten fast enough anyway.

 

[Katherine]

That's my point. It was, frankly, a rubbish sausage.

I assume these are targeted at people like me who fancy a meat free alternative?

I don't have any vegan friends to ask but I would have thought vegans would prefer the food to not look like meat?

I suppose it depends on why people are vegan in the first place. I have a vegetarian colleague who is put off by the thought of meat.

 

[AndyRM]

Shop bought vegan sausages are a convenience product, no different than their meat based equivalents, beyond ingredients.

The aesthetic thing is an interesting idea, which I hadn't really considered before. I will ask my vegan pals about this.

 

[Crackle]

Veganism is a pain in the arse, or in my case the toe and the knee. Most stuff is made from Soy. Soy gives me gout and it's now in everything. Bread, sausage, chocalate farking trifle, Belgian farking chocolate cake. wtf!!

 

[nickyboy]

Veganism is a pain in the arse, or in my case the toe and the knee. Most stuff is made from Soy. Soy gives me gout and it's now in everything. Bread, sausage, chocalate farking trifle, Belgian farking chocolate cake. wtf!!

So nowt to do with the humongous quantities of cheese and red wine you consume then?

 

[Markymark]

Vegetarians and vegans don’t even want anything that looks like meat on their plate so I don’t understand how sales are booming.

Because you are wrong. Many clearly do.