what's the best fake meat out there? - Stereokiller Message Boards

Lament Configuration

your mistake
647 Posts
40/M/NA

(1)

February 3 2016 1:37 PM QuickQuote

Quote

quality, availability, price point value, etc.?

soy vs. wheat?

WREN

Pulp Free
52,194 Posts
36/M/PA

(20)

February 3 2016 1:46 PM QuickQuote

Quote

Seitan has the most protein per serving (23g per serving) and despite being made mostly from vital wheat gluten and nutritional yeast, isn't considered to be too terrible in the carb department either. I also just found out personally that it's incredibly easy and cheap to make yourself.

Soy is easily the most regularly available though because the meat eating world who is starting to dabble in the vegetarian/vegan sections aren't really familiar with anything aside from tofu and soy milk. I believe that's going to change though because a lot of people are starting to lean more towards almond milk and jackfruit is becoming all the rage.

Now for flavor, I lean towards seitan and put soy towards the bottom even though I do love a lot of dishes with tofu in it. Tempeh falls in the middle. Jackfruit is too new to me but my limited experience with it has been pretty decent. I just don't like how it has relatively no protein (2.8g per serving).

Shostakovich

do svidaniya
6,566 Posts
36/M/MD

(6)

February 3 2016 2:10 PM QuickQuote

Quote

Beyond Meat is awesome/kinda creepy. as long as you use a dry method to cook it, it's pretty realistic, to the point that my girlfriend won't touch it because it's too lifelike for her. the chicken actually tastes a little more like Thanksgiving turkey because they use carrot, onions, and celery to flavor it. but it tears apart and chews almost exactly like chicken

WREN

Pulp Free
52,194 Posts
36/M/PA

(20)

February 3 2016 6:24 PM QuickQuote

Quote

If you want to get into all that packaged brand stuff, Quorn has the best products followed by Beyond Meat. Morningstar is kind of crap but I eat some of their stuff still. Boca just sucks.

Tofurky has some solid lunchmeat though.

XUXYUXHHHXGUXHGXGHXG

Probe Baby Zole
1,460 Posts
M/NA

(1)

February 3 2016 7:34 PM QuickQuote

Quote

Is it hard to build muscle as a vegetarian?

Pollcat

afam / aasr 32°
23,564 Posts
40/M/PA

(1)

February 3 2016 7:45 PM QuickQuote

Quote

Isn't almond milk pretty shitty for the environment?

WREN

Pulp Free
52,194 Posts
36/M/PA

(20)

February 3 2016 7:52 PM QuickQuote

Quote

Originally posted by: Klaxton

Is it hard to build muscle as a vegetarian?

Not any harder than it is as a meat eater.

WREN

Pulp Free
52,194 Posts
36/M/PA

(20)

February 3 2016 7:52 PM QuickQuote

Quote

Originally posted by: Pollcat

Isn't almond milk pretty shitty for the environment?

I'm not 100% sure but I think it tastes gross as shit. Same with cashew milk. That's even worse.

Lament Configuration

your mistake
647 Posts
40/M/NA

(1)

February 3 2016 10:40 PM QuickQuote

Quote

excellent, will try making saitan.

have had most commercially available stuff and would recommend field roast from my own experience.

right now i'm using this dried survivalist/prepper stuff that comes in one gallon cans and doesn't expire till 2025. lol. which is made of soy, corn, wheat and yeast. not bad but i wanted to see what was available before the apocapalypse too.

will try beyond meat, haven't had that yet. boca burgers are an ok cheap stand-in, but can also sometimes taste like the cardboard they come in.

also, yes, almond milk is not great. i like coconut milk better, but as it tastes like coconut it's only really useful for sweet food. coconut cream is great too, but also, tastes like coconut and can't really be used as a substitute for cream in all savory dishes, like italian alfredo for instance, and makes everything taste like thai food.

WREN

Pulp Free
52,194 Posts
36/M/PA

(20)

February 4 2016 6:47 AM QuickQuote

Quote

Originally posted by: WREN

Originally posted by: Pollcat

Isn't almond milk pretty shitty for the environment?

I'm not 100% sure but I think it tastes gross as shit. Same with cashew milk. That's even worse.

Looked up what the issue was with almond milk. The articles all seemed to be coming out around the time that California was at the height of their drought last year. According to articles, it takes about 5 liters of water to produce a single almond (it's about 100 liters to produce 100ml of cow milk). About 80% of the world's almonds are produced in California and because of the lack of precipitation, almond farmers were drilling into aquifiers to pump the water out and that can cause another slew of problems.

It sounds that if almonds weren't mostly produced in California, the production wouldn't be that much of an issue because the water burden that California faced wouldn't be there.

Shostakovich

do svidaniya
6,566 Posts
36/M/MD

(6)

February 4 2016 8:08 AM QuickQuote

Quote

Originally posted by: WREN

Boca just sucks.

Shostakovich

do svidaniya
6,566 Posts
36/M/MD

(6)

February 4 2016 8:12 AM QuickQuote

Quote

also when you talk about meat analogues you are pretty much invariably talking about processed food, but I find Morningstar and Boca to be pretty bottom of the barrel in terms of overall quality. I will say during the time I was vegetarian in 2004-5 Morningstar hot dogs were my shit though. my roommate seems to prefer Quorn though I haven't had it. I'm pretty glad that since my girlfriend is vegetarian, and I seem to be back on that horse as well right now, that the last 15 years have been pretty kind to people like me who enjoy realistic substitutes for meat

but man.....I fucking hate Boca burgers

Pollcat

afam / aasr 32°
23,564 Posts
40/M/PA

(1)

February 4 2016 8:19 AM QuickQuote

Quote

Originally posted by: WREN

Originally posted by: WREN

Originally posted by: Pollcat

Isn't almond milk pretty shitty for the environment?

I'm not 100% sure but I think it tastes gross as shit. Same with cashew milk. That's even worse.

Looked up what the issue was with almond milk. The articles all seemed to be coming out around the time that California was at the height of their drought last year. According to articles, it takes about 5 liters of water to produce a single almond (it's about 100 liters to produce 100ml of cow milk). About 80% of the world's almonds are produced in California and because of the lack of precipitation, almond farmers were drilling into aquifiers to pump the water out and that can cause another slew of problems.

It sounds that if almonds weren't mostly produced in California, the production wouldn't be that much of an issue because the water burden that California faced wouldn't be there.

That sounds familiar.

WREN

Pulp Free
52,194 Posts
36/M/PA

(20)

February 4 2016 8:20 AM QuickQuote

Quote

Quorn is technically a fungus so it's another option out there to go beyond soy. Their "chikn" tastes the closest to real chicken if that doesn't freak you out. Their Cranberry/Goat Cheese Chikn Cutlets are really fucking good but are not vegan.

Morningstar Grillers and their nuggets are the only things I really like from them. Any of their flavored burgers aren't really good but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't eat them in a bind. I try my best to avoid Boca but if their crumbles are on sale, we'll buy them. But we rarely have anything Boca in our fridge.

For veggie dogs, Smart Dogs are the way to go. Tofurky has really good sausage though and they grill great.

WREN

Pulp Free
52,194 Posts
36/M/PA

(20)

February 4 2016 8:24 AM QuickQuote

Quote

And I keep forgetting about Gardein. They are one of the few brands out there that attempts at making mock fish. It's not really the best but I give them credit for trying and providing that option. Their meatballs and "beef" tips are really solid though. I recommend the tips if you want to make Shepard's Pie.

the jizzler

cum @ me
14,574 Posts
33/M/PA

(9)

February 4 2016 8:34 AM QuickQuote

Quote

wegman's store brand faux sausage crumbles and chicken strips are really good, i think they might be gardein.

Listener Sign-Up

Band / Artist Sign-Up

Label / Management Sign-Up