If vegetarians are so against meat why do they make everything taste like meat?

Question

Many vegatarians do it for the social cause as the primary reason and not the social benift. They hate meat and what it stands for. yet there are so many vegatrian things on the market that try to taste like meat (burgers, sausage etc)

To me that seems to be wrong.

Answer 1

I am absolutely repulsed by this sick, twisted, uncultured western vision shared by you vegatarians.  

I've lived in 3 continents and have been to over 40 countries and until you can experience life as I have, you need to set aside your ipods and get a little cultured perspective.

I don't at all agree with the treatment of animals in our society and espeically the way they are fed with injected hormones. Though nor do I support it as I  ONLY buy organic.  That applies to my fruits and produce as well.  Do you have any idea how much pesticides and preservatives are used on the vegatables you eat?!  There is a likelyhood that any importanted vegatables from China and India are laced with DDT, which can be found in your precious imported green teas as well. DDT has been banned in the United States since 1972 but many countries use it, and guess what? You can get a small dose of it whenever you eat your "healthy" imported vegatable meals.

This whole "pain" or slauthering of innocent animals thing is really getting tiresome.  Grow up already!  Have you ever seen what happens out on safari?  Trust me that animals go throw much more pain suffering then can be inflicted upon by humans and it happens a million times a day everywhere.  It's evolution, its science folks! It's natural!

But of course I'm sure some of you vegan idiots would sleep easier at night if you could kill the natural animal instinct of flesh eating species by feeding them blocks of tofu instead.

As for Health" reasons, why not speak to an immunologist? or an educated nutritionist? or learn a little about science and evolution and you might gain a little insight.

Food is a celebration!  It's a gift. That is why we traditionally give thanks at our meals.  Native indians actually give thanks literally to their meal.  

What I experienced in my travels, exposure to new things, being invited to strangers homes is priceless.  I can't even fathom putting forth this deviant ideology at the expense of sharing in ones culture and traditions.

Answer 2

I for one would NEVER want my food to taste like raw meat, ever. Raw meat tastes and looks jiggly, bloody (metallic iron-like taste) and like salmonella and E.Coli.

What makes MOST meat taste tolerable is the way it's prepared - what it's fried or baked in, the onion and garlic powder, the salt and pepper, the chili flakes, tomato and oregano flakes, savory marinades and sauces. Heck, it could be argued most people want their meat to taste like plants (spices, seasonings, veggie add-ins, vegetable oil). Unless you eat all your meat raw and unseasoned, that's quite what it looks like to me. I can make a chicken breast or a slab of tofu taste the same as long as I use the same plant-based seasonings to flavor it, after all.

I'd rather eat plain unseasoned, raw veggies and raw fruit any day over a hard, solid hunk of raw pork. It's nothing but flavorless sinew and muscle.

And no animal comes in a sausage or burger shape. Cows and pigs and chickens come as they are, feather and bone and blood and flesh. People have invented ways to make them convenient and fit them into their pasta, hide them in their sandwich bread, put them on their pizza, stick them in a bun, put them on a shish ke bob.

I as a vegetarian have the right to make my fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, beans and legumes fit into my hamburger bun too so I make a patty. I make a link if I want to put it in a hot dog bun. That's not an animal, it doesn't represent an animal to me.

The day I go to the store and see a seasoned and flavored pig made out of tofu, made to look like a freshly slaughtered pig, raw and unseasoned, is the day I believe most vegetarians want their food to taste like meat.

Until then, we all just cook and season our food and shape it so that it's palatable and something familiar.

Answer 3

Why does what vegetarians eat bother you? You are a meat-eater and have nothing to do with vegetarianism! Plus there is huge difference between soy chicken and slaughtered chicken. Use your brain, and stop asking silly questions. Stop putting down vegetarian beliefs. If you think fake meat is wrong, why don't you take a look at your steak? It bleeds! You're telling me that's right and humane? Sick.

Answer 4

somepeople do it to fit into the crowd, you don't go to a grill out and have stir fry. other times people are trying to become vegaterian and are used to eating burgers so they are trying to ween themselves. sometimes... they are just hungry and even meat eaters will agree, a burger is pretty easy to make.

also, not a vegetarians are against meat and what it stands for, i am a survivalist, i will eat meat if it means starvation otherwise, i just don't like killing something becuase i want a steak.

Answer 5

Maybe because they are against the slaughtering of innocent animals.

Answer 6

We do it so we don't have to kill animals. Also, we want to put healthier foods into our bodies. And the vegetarian versions don't tatse like real meat, but have the reminiscence of it. Last of all, have you ever tried to feed a meat-eating child non-meat foods?

Answer 7

"Everything?" I'm not sure what the "social benefit" would be.

I don't mean to be rude, but this question gets asked so often here it's getting old.

1. Some vegetarians miss certain foods they grew up with and want to have meatless versions of them.

2. Sometimes vegetarians want to eat something like looks like what everybody else is eating so they don't stand out from the crowd quite as much.

3. Sometimes people have to give up meat for health reasons and maybe they don't really want to. Fake meat makes this a little easier.

4. Some people may not have any health problem in particular, and don't really want to go vegetarian, but they think it's a good idea to cut down on meat at least some of the time or they just eat the fake meats because they like them. I know a lot of people at work who do this.

5. They don't really taste like meat. I have accidentally tasted meat a few times since I became vegetarian and I thought it tasted horrible.

This just seems like a silly thing to be concerned about. What if I said "why do meat eaters eat something called hot dogs but they think it's horrible to eat dog meat?" It would make about as much sense as far as I'm concerned.

Answer 8

I think vegetarians and vegans are the greatest people in the world. This means more meat for the rest of us! Woot!

Answer 9

"Social cause?"  "Social Benefit?"

Vegetarians don't hate what meat stands for- it isn't an issue with politics or symbolism.  They hate what meat IS, and how it came to be that way:  the torture of animals in factory farms; the destruction of the environment; slaughterhouse practices which make it the most dangerous industry- 100% injury rate; the c**p injected in and fed to livestock which leaves meat full of antibiotics, hormones and pesticides.  To me THAT seems wrong.

None of these things have anything to do with the consumption of a garden burger, which tastes NOTHING like meat.

Answer 10

Most of us are people who have families and friends who are not of necessity following a diet similar to our own. The social benefit is simply this -- these meat-like soy analogs are culturally, and hence socially, more easily accepted by those in transition as well as those who are guests to our homes.

I teach vegetarian cooking classes to a wide variety of people in the Mid-West many of whom are not vegetarian but have family members who are; people who are making the shift not for reasons of animal rights so much as for their health; people who are more concerned about the environment and the carbon footprint of flesh food production than they are with the issues of ahimsa; non-violence and the inhumane treatment of animals. Their reasons are varied. Their interest in good food is real. Let's acknowledge this -- we human eat meals not nutrients. Meals are social times; times when the family gathers to share the bounty of food and their mutual affection. From the first meal an infant is fed as he or she is  held close to the breast and  nurtured with cooing, sweet murmuring and lullaby -- food is intimately connected with love and security. We learn to appreciate God's great bounty in the gift of food and are deeply saddened by the millions of people all over the planet who starve to each each year. Being vegetarian, eating lower on the food chain makes for a more socially conscious life.

Judgment of other people's intentions is not only inappropriate but, frankly speaking, subject to error. Vegetarians are people who pretty much choose to cause the least amount of pain on the planet that they can.  We may not have much control over the big pain producing issues such as wars, earthquakes, tornadoes, cyclones and tsunamis but we can control what we put into our bodies. If eating veggie dogs and sausage makes mealtime less stressful for our non-veg friends then? What is the problem?

Check out the following   TED | Talks | Mark Bittman: What's wrong with what we eat (video)*  

And if you are at all interested in good vegetarian food there are amazingly wonderful recipes at

http://www.your-vegetarian-kitchen.com/h...

Answer 11

I grew up on recipes that all included meat.  I liked how they tasted and I had no idea that what kind of suffering those animals had to go through.

Now that I know, I don't eat meat anymore.  I do however like to eat the same recipes as I used to.  I just happen to replace the meat with things that fit in really well.

Also, these products don't taste like meat.

How is that wrong to you?  If we aren't actually eating the meat, how is that wrong.  It is wrong for to judge anyone.  You should be ashamed of yourself.

Having things that seem familiar that easily replace meat in recipes is a good thing to have.  It shows non vegetarians that they can eat very similarly without actually eating meat.

Answer 12

Most vegetarians and vegans grew up eating meat or were raised by omnivores.  Many of us like the texture of meat and the taste of the seasonings, which is what you taste when you eat actual animal flesh.  (I can't imagine a meat eater who would eat a plain hunk of cow without cooking and seasoning it, can you?)

As others have pointed out, the analogues make it easier to avoid animal foods and the associated cruelty.  They taste good (though not really like "meat" as I recall it), they have a nice texture, and they have far less fat and no cholesterol.  If I'm with a group of omnivores, I'm going to want a veggie burger while they eat their cowburgers, even though it surely doesn't taste the same.  

I think it makes vegetarianism more accessible and less threatening to people.

Answer 13

its not that we dont want to eat "meat", its that we dont want to eat animals.  tofu is not an animal!

Answer 14

I don't understand why you are so offended by the concept of Fake Meat?  What's to be offended about?  Everyone here has listed great reasons why Fake Meat is produced.   The real issue here is the fact that you have an issue with people who follow a vegetarian diet.

Answer 15

there's a ton of questions asked on this already....

why does it bother you? what does it matter to you what other people eat?  why are you concerned at all as to what i eat???????

to answer you, becuase some people like the taste of meat.  simple.  but they don't like the pain, suffering, torture that goes into producing it.  so if i can have something that tastes good to me without any pain and suffering and torture what is wrong about that?