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Meat free.

ahh.

it seems my previous post though lighthearted in it's intent was deleted.

apologies to all.

the thread was NOT to my mind simply vegan..it was more general, as in HOLLYWOOD
making a stand..pretentious as some of us found it or not.

My humour overtook me, and may not have been too everyone's taste.


I do appreciate others have a different viewpoint, and appreciate that there are other ways of eating to combat T2, which I may, through personal choice need to utilise at some point.

However I would still like that to be a choice, as it is now..

@Marie 2 ..a nice point.
but the fear is not the food choice, the fear is NO choice.

hope your day goes well, all.

Nomaste.
 
I did a meat free event yesterday, 3 hours for the staff, colleauge sampling and 5 hours on the shop floor.
Not a massive positive response for one of the vegan foods.
These were the 3 varieties:
Vegan steaks
Smoky Vacon rashers
Shroomdogs
The steaks and the cumberland shroomdogs were better, the aroma of the sausages brought many customers to the stand, they did smell nice and made me but the Vacon ( bacon tasting rashers) were not liked.
Unfortunately, I couldn't taste them because of the wheat, Seltan.
I said to my manager (who turned up for the very first time and who was very nice and friendly) that the hardened meat eater's wanted the Vegan food to have the taste and texture of 'meat' but some were willing to try and the comment of 'needs more spice to it' came up a few times.
Lovely staff and most of the customer's too, but some did refuse point blank. A young family are trying different foods and are going Vegetarian next week, so the children were looking forward to it
All in all, a tiring day, but a very interesting one.
 
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One thing that confuses me about people on a vegetarian/Vegan diet is many still call the dish by its original name

Greggs for example Vegan sausage roll, Vegan steak bake, should it not just be vegan roll, vegan bake, as their is no "steak" in it
 
smc4761 said:
One thing that confuses me about people on a vegetarian/Vegan diet is many still call the dish by its original name

Greggs for example Vegan sausage roll, Vegan steak bake, should it not just be vegan roll, vegan bake, as their is no "steak" in it
Click to expand...
Calling foods vegan sausage, vegan bacon etc seems odd since I would have assumed that vegans would want to distance themselves from the names of meat. Surely vegetarian/vegan dishes should have their own names and shapes, they might appeal more to the general omnivorous public if they were foods that just happen to be vegetarian/vegan rather than pseudo meat.
 
All about market share. Appeal to vegan, vegetarians and those wanting to buy it who are or recently were meat-eaters. Food marketing is an extremely sophisticated field.
 

I think its an easy way to identify something. If it looks like a sausage roll, smells like a sausage roll and tastes like a sausage roll why not call it a sausage roll - but they are labelled as vegan and they are happy to tell you whats in it if you ask. If you try one you might find you prefer it to the original as my omnivore husband has found.
 
I might well prefer them as the Gregg's pork sausage roll is not very nice, unfortunately neither are low carb. That was not my point, falafels and cous cous for example don't have to be called vegan meatballs or vegan mince to be popular.
 
smc4761 said:
One thing that confuses me about people on a vegetarian/Vegan diet is many still call the dish by its original name

Greggs for example Vegan sausage roll, Vegan steak bake, should it not just be vegan roll, vegan bake, as their is no "steak" in it
Click to expand...


A Vegan 'sausage' roll, could be a Vegan cylinder roll, but probably joe public would probably question that as it's 'unknown' whereas the name 'sausage roll' is familiar, widely used and well known, it's down to marketing, sales and getting the product recognised.

Vegan Steak bake - Non animal bake
Other names for a vegan sausage roll ? :
Vegan drum roll
Vegan pipe shaped roll
Vegan Keg shaped roll
Vegan tunnel roll
Customer's will probably still ask 'what's in it' ?
 
How about “Quorn Roll”?
 
Robinredbreast said:
A lady tasted the steak and the shroomdogs yesterday and said she liked them, but will still buy the Quorn ones.
Click to expand...

Quorn was launched in 1985 by Marlow Foods, a joint venture between Rank Hovis McDougall (RHM) and Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), and is now owned by Monde Nissin Corporation.
 
Mr_Pot said:
I might well prefer them as the Gregg's pork sausage roll is not very nice, unfortunately neither are low carb. That was not my point, falafels and cous cous for example don't have to be called vegan meatballs or vegan mince to be popular.
Click to expand...

At around 25g of carbs, per sausage/vegan that is not an excessive amount of carbs, unless of course people are on a low carb diet
 
A product labeled vegan steak or vegan bacon, bologna, crab cakes etc identifies the flavors. If it’s not labeled vegan up front I would have to know the company to know if it’s vegan or look at each package. If it’s not labeled crab cakes, I wouldn’t know the flavor they are going for.

I would not buy anything fish taste as I don’t like it. But I love chicken and beef flavors. Some vegans do not eat the substitutes because it reminds them of real meat too much. But others miss the flavors but do not want to eat the real thing for several reasons that some will never understand.

Right now there is a huge increase in vegetarians and vegans. But also in what they call flexitarians. They still eat meat but want to substitute some meat to plant based foods for various reasons. So many newly changed or trying are looking for familiar flavors and familiar dishes.

I didn’t go near meat substitutes for years, the flavors bothered me in memory too much while it helped my husband transition so much easier. I learned for my preference that as I had already been willing to try new flavors it was another whole flavor group to enjoy.

Frankly I don’t even remember what the real stuff tastes like by now except to know when someone says it tastes like the real thing, as I haven’t had meat for over 50 years. I am glad of all the choices that are available for anyone that wants to eat them. Some coming out now are delightfully really good.

You don’t have to eat it, you don’t have to buy it. You don’t have to like it, some is definitely better than others, but don’t condemn it just because it’s vegan or vegetarian and you know nothing about how it tastes. You might never want to try it and that’s your choice, but it’s here to stay and one of the biggest growth categories of food right now as more people are choosing to at least add some to their menu of foods they eat.

I for one am excited about all the additions they are coming out with!
 

Totally agree Marie, there is a huge movement towards vegetarianism/veganism at the moment, it is most definetley here to say.

As a type 1 I am trying to reduce my carbs and over the past year or so have never eaten so much vegs I do now. I am however still a meat eater and fish eater. I have tried meat substitutes but frankly they are not for me. However if people do like them, it makes no odds to me, we are all different.

My sister in law is vegetarian and I agree with her that whenever she goes for a meal the choices at times can be rather limiting. Maybe the restaurant trade could move that bit faster and see that this is a real growth market
 
Wow over 50 years without meat! I thought I had some kind of record with not having eaten meat for 38 years (went veggie at 13, I'm 51 now) but you beat me hands down @Marie 2 good for you sister!

As for meat alternatives, I'll eat them sometimes as they are very convenient, I think they are excellent for transitioning veggie/vegan but if I'm completely honest I find some of them a bit too meat like and that puts me off. Personally I can relate somewhat to @Mr_Pot comments, but I suspect that most people like some clue about what they are buying and eating before they pony up and the meat like names offer that. Can't argue with that!

Either way, love em or hate em, I think they are here to stay!
 
smc4761 said:
At around 25g of carbs, per sausage/vegan that is not an excessive amount of carbs, unless of course people are on a low carb diet
Click to expand...
This thread is for all types of diabetics, so the carb information is an important consideration for some of us
 
I consider myself an omnivore - I'll eat predominantly meat/fish/fowl based meals, dairy based meals, and I used to be able should I wished, to eat entirely plant based meals - the latter I can no longer do easily as they don't fit in with my T2 LCHF diet. But I've never considered myself anything as fancy as a "flexitarian" - all these food choices have simply been an every day part of my normal eating options, as i suspect they are and have always been for many other people. And I seriously resent any attempt by whoever or whatever means to forcibly restrict my choice of food.
 
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