My biggest problem, though, is if I'm having ingredients that aren't meat, I'd like to have them be good. I've never had fake meat that I would call appetizing.
I've had lots of vegetarian dishes that were delightful, but not one included fake meat.
I am not vegetarian.
... at least one new product is a better-than-adequate substitute for chicken in things like wraps, salads and sauces. I know this because Ethan Brown, an owner of Savage River Farms, came to my house and fooled me badly in a blind tasting. (A pan-European “LikeMeat” project appears to be making progress on a similar product, and others are in the works.)
On its own, Brown’s “chicken” — produced to mimic boneless, skinless breast — looks like a decent imitation, and the way it shreds is amazing. It doesn’t taste much like chicken, but since most white meat chicken doesn’t taste like much anyway, that’s hardly a problem; both are about texture, chew and the ingredients you put on them or combine with them. When you take Brown’s product, cut it up and combine it with, say, chopped tomato and lettuce and mayonnaise with some seasoning in it, and wrap it in a burrito, you won’t know the difference between that and chicken. I didn’t, at least, and this is the kind of thing I do for a living. Brown does not see his product as a trendy meat replacement for vegans but one with more widespread use. (His production is at an early stage, but Whole Foods is planning to start using his products in prepared food soon. Retail sales of his “chicken,” which does not yet have a trademarked name, are expected to begin this summer.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunday/finally-fak...
So it sounds like this is a complete substitute in dishes where you chop up the chicken and add strong flavors, and not really intended to be a substitute otherwise. It's not 90% of the way there in all dishes -- it's 100% of the way there in 75% of dishes. And it's cheaper and takes probably a quarter of the resources to produce. Given the size of the total market, that's a huge deal.
Compared it to the NutritionData info for "USDA commodity, chicken fajita strips, frozen", it stacks up about like this:
- 13% fewer calories (100 vs 114 in a 3oz serving)
- 75% less fat (1.5g vs 6g)
- 100% less cholesterol (0mg vs 75mg)
- 72% less sodium (190mg vs 670mg)
- 67% more carbohydrate (5g vs 3g - but 3 vs 0 of that is fiber, so from an 'Atkins' perspective it's a lower-carb food)
- 27% more protein (19g vs 15g)
- And a good bit more calcium and iron.
Less fat, less net carbs, more protein, more vitamins. . . at least judging by the label, this stuff beats the real thing pretty solidly in the nutrition department.
This. I know good chicken (3 hoorays for the countryside) and I know the stuff they sell in many places taste nothing like it.
Selling fake chicken to meat lovers won't work, selling frozen vegetable chicken nuggets rather than frozen pseudo-chicken nugget would.
He eats meat, just not as often as your average person.