Well it had to happen

[Rosendula]

I used to eat quorn when I was pescy. And the meat-eaters of the household used to eat it sometimes as well. It was a way for us to only cook one meal that we could all eat. We usually used it instead of chicken, and made into a curry it was OK. The Quorn itself is tasteless, but as part of a dish it gives it texture, which I appreciated.

Since returning to carnivorousness, I haven't eaten Quorn, and I don't think I will ever again. How things change...

Edited to add what I actually came on to say: You're right. Quorn is made from a type of fungus. And I think there's egg in it, so not suitable for vegans. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure there was a bit of a hoo-har a few years ago when it was discovered the eggs used were from caged hens.

[lovelygreenleaves]

Quorn lets meat alternatives down. It's not tasty. However, RealEat chicken style pieces are so much like chicken it's weird. Redwood (various), Linda McCartney stuff, etc are all tasty. Just wish I could make them myself!

[Millymollymandy]

However, RealEat chicken style pieces are so much like chicken it's weird. Redwood (various), Linda McCartney stuff, etc are all tasty. Just wish I could make them myself!

See I don't get this. If you are vegetarian then why on earth would you want something that tastes (or has the texture of) meat?

[Rosendula]

Quorn lets meat alternatives down. It's not tasty. However, RealEat chicken style pieces are so much like chicken it's weird. Redwood (various), Linda McCartney stuff, etc are all tasty. Just wish I could make them myself!

I hated Linda McCartney stuff. I found it so dry and tasteless. Funny how different people can be though, isn't it?

See I don't get this. If you are vegetarian then why on earth would you want something that tastes (or has the texture of) meat?

I understand what you're saying. I never really set out to find something that tasted or looked like meat and TBH I never thought any of them did. I just tried new things as they came along. When I first stopped eating meat, the meat 'alternatives' were vegetables compressed into a burger shape, vegetables compressed into fish finger shapes, or vegetables compressed into Dalesteak shapes. For a special treat, you could get these same things covered in breadcrumbs. So when these new things finally reached our town, I was very eager to try them.

I did used to envy those vegetarians who used to make whole veggie dishes, but living with a bunch of meat-eaters, I tried to just make 'normal' meals and replace the meat for myself. I couldn't cook, so on the rare occasions I made something like a packet nut roast, either I had to eat and eat and eat it, or I had to throw half of it away. It was when I started learning to cook and started getting my confidence in the kitchen that I realised I had never tasted meat cooked by myself, and as the main reason I gave up meat was because I didn't like the taste or texture of it, I felt that excuse didn't hold up any more. So I tried meat. It was terrible. So I bought better quality meat and learned to cook it better. Now I like it. I'm just sorry that, as a former non-meat-except-occasionally-flat-fish eater, I never realised what crap I was feeding to my family.

[Green Aura]

See I don't get this. If you are vegetarian then why on earth would you want something that tastes (or has the texture of) meat?

I know what you mean MMM. I think there are two main reasons.
1) You can eat the same as your mates
2) Convenient for the veggie in an omnivore family

or variations on those.

The one thing that's generally missing from a vegetarian's diet is something to chew - there's little in their diet that has a texture like meat, and I think many people miss that more than the taste etc if if they can't put their finger on it. Some of these knitted products come fairly close.

The trouble is, they generally taste awful. Sorry, lgl, only someone who's not eaten real meat in a while could think they taste anything like the real thing.

[Millymollymandy]

OK that's sort of understandable. It's just that when I do veg meals it is a proper veg meal with no need for a meat substitute to go with the two veg!

I would have thought there would be tons of stuff to chew in a vegetarian diet. I'm always chewing on bread, beans, veggies, salad etc. I really and truly wouldn't miss chewing on meat, especially the dire beef they sell in Brittany (need to chew it about 50 times before you can swallow it! ) And meat always gets stuck in between my teeth!

Yeah sometimes I don't know why I eat it! But I do like the taste of some meats. And loathe the taste of others. Hmmmmmm

[lovelygreenleaves]

See I don't get this. If you are vegetarian then why on earth would you want something that tastes (or has the texture of) meat? [/quote]

Because lots of people are vegetarian due to moral reasons, rather than not liking the taste. Also, I wasn't really talking about vegetarians, as meat alternatives are for meat eaters too, it's just a different type of food that some people like. It's just variety. For example, I love love love the taste of soya milk and have attempted to make it myself, but that doesn't mean to say I don't drink cow's milk!

The trouble is, they generally taste awful. Sorry, lgl, only someone who's not eaten real meat in a while could think they taste anything like the real thing.

Not the case here, they're just an alternative as said above. Most don't taste like meat, but Real Eat chicken pieces are freaky - as said by meat eaters!!

It's all about personal taste and preference.

Edited to respond to Green Aura as well

[Flo]

I'm totally confused. The scientists in question are taking animal products from animals to make meat from the way I read the article. So at present they are still working with animals and will have to keep some of them to do whatever they do. What a very odd way to go on when you think about it.

To those who ask - yes there used to be egg in Quorn which is why I've never eaten it as a vegetarian going on vegan. TVP tastes like cardboard no matter what you try to do with it.

It's an odd thing wanting to be vegetarian and yet have meals that look like meat and two veg. Having always been a dab hand with broth in many forms over a lifetime, the uses of lentils and beans have become many and varied. Anyone fancy a very nice shepherd's pie using lentils? Or one of my broths using vegetable stock and with dumplings thrown in (vegetable suet of course) learned from mother and grandmothers who were not vegetarians?

The mind is a powerful thing isn't it? It can convince you that you can have prefabricated meat as per these scientists and yet still be using animals to produce whatever it is that they produce. It can convince you that you can't be properly fed if you are a vegetarian or vegan or that you must have a meal that looks like meat and two veg.

We are very set in our ways and easily led when it comes to food.

[mrsmiggins]

It's an odd thing wanting to be vegetarian and yet have meals that look like meat and two veg.

I disagree, I like allsorts of things, I like meat alternatives sometimes as well as lentils, beans, etc. I like veggie sausage rolls, yum yum!

Anyone fancy a very nice shepherd's pie using lentils? Or one of my broths using vegetable stock and with dumplings thrown in (vegetable suet of course) learned from mother and grandmothers who were not vegetarians?

Yes please!!!! Ooh dumplings

The mind is a powerful thing isn't it? It can convince you that you can have prefabricated meat as per these scientists and yet still be using animals to produce whatever it is that they produce. It can convince you that you can't be properly fed if you are a vegetarian or vegan or that you must have a meal that looks like meat and two veg.

We are very set in our ways and easily led when it comes to food.

I agree, good point

[thomaslatfield]

Wow! Is it really necessary to take science this far to start cloning things and making artificial meat. I dont want to say that slaying animals is a good thing but in some species it keeps it at a balance. Such as deer. If no one hunted deer then they would probably multiply to fast.

I dont know much about being a vegetarian but if i was one i wouldnt mind eating artifical meat because its not really meat so i do not see what would be wrong with that.

It just goes to show you that anything is possible in this world when people really put there mind to something

[sortanormalish]

I noticed that one of the original purposes of this meat project was to reduce green house emissions from animals, but a recent article from the associated press? or national geographic? (I'll try to find a link) says that animals do not make up the percentage previously reported. Apparently the fellow that tallied up the animal contribution figured in feed production, hauling to market, passing gas, etc. while the automobile fellow only figured up actual driving emissions without any of the associated production emissions. So the estimated 18% contribution from animals is actually only around 5%. I haven't seen how they manipulated these numbers, but as a mathematician it does seem a little hinky looking at it just with this information.

Then the whole idea that pig keeping is better than cattle keeping? Clearly this person has never been to Iowa! The whole state stinks. Pigs produce less methane, but more carbon, and according to University of Iowa it balances out in terms of green house gas.

My point is if we want to reduce the number of emissions from animals, we need to eat smaller portions of meat. Producers will only produce in ratio to that which is sold. I produce pastured geese. It is a nice sideline. I am not going to hatch and raise 6000 if I can only sell 4000. I would go bankrupt. (I might produce 4000 if 6000 were the demand. )

thomaslatfield, Deer are an excellent example of your point. Populations here in America are more than 400 times what they were when the first Europeans landed. No more natural predators (in most places), suburbanites feeding 'the cute little things' in their yards, few subsistance hunters, and ready access to livestock feed and de-worming blocks have caused the populations to explode. The result is that the populations are easily stressed and become riddled with disease and strain natural feed stores to their limit. Here in the southeast we lost almost 80% of the population to blue tongue as a result of the drought. Good riddance. They are almost as bad as mice and rabbits in Australia. Blue tongue is a horible way for these animals to die. Weeks of torment.
What if we replaced feed lot cattle with Bambi? Considering the property damage they cost me every year, you can count me in. Wait, I already am.