Vegetarian Chicken Pieces

Mollygo I absolutely agree.

Apart from the mention of meat in the sales pitch-e.g. no-chicken kiev* or vegan king-prawns, which is a joke, I don’t think what vegans eat or don’t eat is a problem, for them or for me.
It’s more the sanctimonious preaching by some vegans about how good they are. Some vegans, because I only hear from the ones who do that, and I’m sure there must be many others who never mention what they or I eat.

Beswitched Vegans and Vegetarians feed children without giving them meat. if you reduce meat portions you up other foods with it. In our household I have always been an enthusiast for casseroles and stews where much of the substance comes from the cheaper cuts of meat and I simply put more vegetables, beans, etc etc in the casseroles to replace the meat.

I made this change back in the late 1980s at the start of the BSE crisis and when both children and DH were saying how unpleasant, fatty and gristly supermarket meat had become.

Halve the meat portions and if the meat cost twice as much, you are still not paying anymore per meal.

I do not quite understand why plant based versions of processed foods is cashing in. I am not talking about plants being turned into 'meat' without an animal in the process, but I buy plant-based sausages and burgers etc which are what they are without pretending to be meat, because I like them, the flavour etc.

I also buy meat based sausages and burgers, the plant based products aren't alternatives to meat, they are an expansion to the range of foods I eat, and as the buzz word goes, I am eating diversity

vegansrock

Lots of meat products are processed foods - sausages,salami, pork pies, chicken nuggets, ….the list goes on, the vegetarian alternatives are just the manufacturers trying to cash in.

Yes, of course they are - but would you not agree that if these processed products at least encourage some people to try plant-based foods, when they otherwise might not have done, then it's a step in the right direction?

Lots of meat products are processed foods - sausages,salami, pork pies, chicken nuggets, ….the list goes on, the vegetarian alternatives are just the manufacturers trying to cash in.

There are lots of foods listed as processed.
Some ultra processed, and they arent meat substitutes at all.

Just a point about all ultra-processed food. It’s just not good for your body or your micro biome. The less processing the better.
As someone up thread said it isn’t good for the environment either.

That's fine if just feeding yourself. But if you are feeding a family organic and free range meat can be very costly. And with teenagers or a husband keeping portion sizes down is not always feasible.

I confess I do not eat chicken daily, only weekly, but the easy way round with organic chicken, as with any other meat, is to eat smaller portions.

I do not buy whole chickens or chicken breasts. I find chicken thighs work just as well as breast in every chicken recipe I have and I keep portion size down to 3oz max.

M0nica

But you do not need to buy battery hens. I eat organic chicken or regeneratively farmed chicken only.

They are very expensive though and not everyone can afford them, certainly not on a daily basis.

My teenage nephew doesn't eat meatvon ethical grounds. However he's never been a big vegetable lover so the meat substitute products come in quite handy at times.

I only ever buy free range chicken and eggs, Monica, but then I can afford to be choosy.
Some people can’t. Of course there are others who could afford to but don’t care - I have a friend like this, and she’s from Sweden, where you’d think animal welfare might be a concern.
Not that I’d say the same for Denmark, where factory farming is a major industry.

But you do not need to buy battery hens. I eat organic chicken or regeneratively farmed chicken only.

Germanshepherdsmum

I think any alternative to battery chicken is a step in the right direction.

Absolutely.

As a long standing veggie I too can’t understand the attraction of fake meat products, in fact they turn my stomach! Probably like those fake cakes made for people on diets who can’t resist the sweet stuff, but taste nothing like the real thing.

Well I remember Jamie Oliver showing kids what was in a chicken nugget - I suppose "technically" it is chicken

(video of it from youtube)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKwL5G5HbGA

M0nica, probably the idea of carnivore soyaburgers. I admit it’s an equally silly idea as is vegetarian chicken or, as I saw on TV tonight, bee-free ‘hunny’.

Gagajo what wouldn't vegans care about at all?

I don't spend my time puzzling about why people are as they are, particularly when it has no impact whatsoever on my life.
As long as something gives me protein, and is a texture I like, I'll eat it.

I'm sure vegans wouldn't care at all.

Perhaps we could have carnivore soya burgers next.

I am another who find it difficult to understand those who do not want to eat meat wanting to eat things that pretend to be meat.

I have no problem with sausages, burgers, rissoles because that describes how the contents have been processed not what they contain. But on tv last Christmas I saw someone making a vegan turkey. I cannot remember precisely what it was made of, but it was shaped and molded like plasticine, so that it was shaped like a real turkey and the outside was finished off to look like skin. I simply could ot understand how anyone who had given up meat, for any reason, would want to eat something like that.

To put it another way. I am an omnivore, but I happen not to like meat that is not fully cooked and also not like meat-based burgers. I would always choose the bean burger, or whatever over a beef burger.

Last year some plant based manufacturer boasted they had developed a plant-based beefburger, based on beetroot, that when cut would shed 'blood'(beetroot juice) just as if it was a half cooked, sorry rare, quality beefburger. It made me feel ill, just to look at it, and I could never manage to eat a product like that without throwing up, even though I would know it was not really meat.

I meant to say, these vegetarian chicken pieces.

I'm not a vegetarian but am trying to reduce meat consumption. I find these chicken pieces perfectly satisfactory in a stir fry, or curry, whatever.

The main problem with veganism is how to get enough protein.