Why do vegetarians use substitute meat?

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this is a very good question, don't worry if it offends anyone, I am a vegetarian, and it doesn't offend me, i can see where you are coming from

there are many reasons people may do this

it is easier, some people like the taste of meat, they don't want to give it up, it is there conscience that drives them to be a vegetarian

some may also find that it is easier to do this, it can be very hard to know what one should eat, since there is often replacement ingredients in these imitation foods, it makes it a lot easier
as a meat eater, this you should be aware of, there is major commercial influence on the food we eat, make sure you know what you are eating, even if you do eat meat, as it is said, buyer beware

another thing you might find, some of these imitation foods may taste different, what makes meat taste good is that the body knows that it makes it feel better, although there are other non-meat imitations that are just as healthy as the meat imitations, often the meat imitations are enriched with vitamins and such, that it may be healthier to choose the imitation product

there are more reasonsill eat immitaimitationproducts, but those are some of them...Show more

'Meat substitutes' exist in our culture because the habits of eating are based around meat' Many traditional meals and recipes are centred on meat and without something to take its place people would find it very hard to eat foods that they are familiar with.

In other cultures where meat is scarce, unaffodable or avoided for religious reasons you can find vegetarians that do not buy meat 'substitutes'. Culture has a lot to do with it- for example in Asia, where people eat a lot more fish, vegetarians can buy many more 'fish substitutes'.

I would disagree that 'it feels right for a reason' because it does not feel right to many people, they just say that they don't like the taste or texture. Vegetarians do not avoid meat simply because of how it tastes, they might love the taste of meat they ate when they were growing up and miss those familiar flavours and textures. They don't eat meat because of other issues - that is why people say they 'gave up meat' because although they may have enjoyed eating it they decided it was not the right thing to do when they realised how the animals and the environment are affected by the meat industries.

In any case, I have never met anyone who like the taste of freshly slaughtered bloody meat. Most people like meat that has been cooked, seasoned and often processed into burgers and sausages, etc. So even those products can be seen as 'un-natural' in a way :-)

Anyway - what tastes good for you cannot be assumed to apply to everyone. Lots of people say tomatoes, peaches, apricots and mangoes taste good - I cannot stand them!...Show more

Some People Find It Hard When Making The Transition From
Meat Eater to Vegetarian. to give up meat at once, and need something that looks and tastes like meat in order to satisfy the Cravings for the real thing. Meat Substitutes can be used in cooking to replace a favored dish that originally had meat in it.
i.e Mince, Sausage, Burger, Fillet, Steak, etc...

I use soy mince when making a Vegetarian Lasagna, or Cottage Pie.

At a BBQ I use Veggie burgers instead of Beef Burgers.
Its a way of eating something like the real thing without eating the real thing if you see what i mean?

This is my all time Fave Meat substitute of all! Quorn!
Checkout this link for GREAT Info!
http://www.quorn.co.uk/

I hope I answered your question! have a nice day!...Show more

You're not the first person to ask this question, but that's okay.

My digestive system can no longer process meat properly. And I have come to believe that eating animal foods is wrong and unnecessary. However, I lived for 33 years as an omnivore before I went veg 7 years ago. Habits as ingrained as that are hard to break. I eat the analogues (as I call them) because they taste good. It also makes being vegetarian/vegan look more "normal" to meat eaters who think it's weird not having a chunk of animal flesh on your plate at every meal.

Remember, as someone else pointed out, what makes "meat taste good" is the marinades, flavorings, processing, cooking, etc. I don't imagine any person (except maybe Gordon Ramsay) would want to eat flesh ripped from the body of an animal. So flavoring soy and/or wheat protein to mimic meat products is no less strange than flavoring animals' flesh to be palatable....Show more

This is a really good question and there are a lot of reasons that vegetarians and vegans (veg*ns) choose to use fake meat.

I choose to use fake meat because nothing died to produce it, and I don't eat meat because the animal died. I'll be happy to admit that chicken tastes good. Fake chicken works just fine for anything I want to cook.
I also use fake meat because I'm a lazy chef. Sad, but true. I'm not too creative, so I make hamburger helper sometimes. I love to cook, and I have a significant other who loves meat, so I have to compromise when I make dinner. He knows it's fake, but he gets his fix, so we're both happy.
Fake meat is nutritionally balanced and actually pretty good for you, so it's not a bad dietary choice.
Also, new vegetarians like to use it because it's a very easy transition. It doesn't feel like they are giving up anything when they eat fake meat instead of real meat.

Some vegetarians are creeped out by the idea of eating anything that even tastes like meat in any way, so not all of them want to eat fake meat. I personally prefer the meat substitutes that are more like compressed vegetables than meat analog....Show more