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

[Big Daddy R]

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.

[luna]

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?

[itshotinjt04]

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?

[poeticjustyce23]

Maybe because they are against the slaughtering of innocent animals.

[Piscespets]

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.

[kingsoftheflames]

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

[Jen D]

"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 crap 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.

[majnun99]

"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.

[Maggie]

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.

[joe B]

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.