Thursday, March 27, 2008

Why I Couldn't be a Vegan, Part II

Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)...you could use this as packing material if it was wet and in large pieces. It just doesn't seem natural. The sad thing is that if you added enough spices, a pretty delicious equivalent to Sloppy Joes could be made.

I really think that using fake "cheez" to duplicate macaroni and cheese is wrong. Its not real food, and I have more of a problem with preservatives and additives than a piece of beef.
If you want to be vegan, get rid of all the dishes you want to copy that have meat in them and decide you want to create really great food that doesn't need a meat substitute. Don't get me wrong, there are wonderful entrees that have tempeh/tofu/beans, etc in them that have merit on their own accord.
I just found a chile-beer marinade for a vegan dish that would be great for meat..maybe there is a double-standard here.

Whenever I think about food for too long, at least in a practical sense, I think of the store where got started in this industry. The older I am, the more I work with people, (to be honest, I didn't have to deal with many strangers/customers/guests before I turned 24), ]the more I realize that that place was flawed. They didn't treat people in a way that made them feel comfortable, unless they were regulars, meaning people who spent a lot of time and/or money. In fact, a lot of the time I felt really uncomfortable and forced to fit into a mold based on who they thought I was.

I'll stop now. I don't miss the place, meaning the city, I miss the lifestyle. And that is shallow, but honest.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We've been eating a lot of meat substitute products, and think it is actually pretty good. We've bought meatless taco filling, sloppy joes and spicy "chicken" patties (which are actually better than the frozen grilled veggie burgers).