Fake Meat So Real, It's a "Bit Freaky"

 

Posted by Healthy Bitch Daily on Jun 27, 2012

Why some of the biggest Silicon Valley hot shots are investing in a faux meat product


Is a better vegan meat finally on the market? 

Sounds like it. The company behind it all, Beyond Meat, is so, well…meaty, that some pretty big names are jumping on board in support.

Like who? Well, Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone, for starters. (Stone has been a vegan for years. Who knew?)

Salty, rubbery goo? Nuh uh. The company’s chicken strips look, taste and chew like the real thing – and their popularity has exploded, causing several Whole Foods Markets to completely sell out of products when they hit the shelves in early June. Many of us love our meat replacements – Tofurkey, Tofupups, Boca Burgers – but let’s face it, chickies: none of it tastes like the real thing. Until now.

But It Tastes So Real

“For people who are actually repulsed by meat, they’re not going to like this," Stone said. “There’s something about the mouth-feel, the fattiness. It feels fatty and muscly and like it’s not good for you when you’re chewing it. For a long-time vegan, it’s a little bit freaky."

Beyond Meat founder, Ethan Brown, was even able to fool well-known New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman in several taste tests.

“On its own,” Bittman wrote, “Brown’s ‘chicken’ — produced to mimic boneless, skinless breast — looks like a decent imitation, and the way it shreds is amazing.”

That Brown was able to achieve meat-like texture was impressive on its own. But what about taste?

“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,” Bittman said. “I didn’t, at least, and this is the kind of thing I do for a living.”


I’ll Take Mine Medium Rare

But how real is too real?

After learning about slaughterhouse practices, many vegans don’t even want the taste of meat anymore. We’re quite happy to marinate our tofu in soy sauce and cayenne pepper, thankyouverymuch. Other vegans get cravings and wish for something a little closer to the taste of a freshly-grilled burger.

In terms of fake meat, how real is too real?

We can say this – we’ve sampled Beyond Meat’s chicken strips. And they are damn good. As Bittman wrote, it’s the shredding that’s the most impressive – so real, I couldn’t tell the difference. Tofu pups may taste similar to a hot dog, but the texture is nowhere near close enough. Beyond Meat doesn’t have that problem. The taste didn’t freak me out at all – I found it a little bland on its own, but from what I can remember, chicken on its own is bland too. With a little lemon and garlic, I felt like I was back in my meat-eating days. I even felt a little…guilty.

In other words – if you serve this to your man, he ain’t gonna know the difference. Like, for real.

Bright Idea 

Brown grew up in Western Maryland, following his father’s dairy operation. As a young adult, Brown went for a career in clean energy, but a single question bugged him: If he could make plant-based meat truly taste like the real thing, would billions of animals need to be slaughtered each year?

 "What fascinated me that we’d be sitting around in these alternative energy conferences, these big hotels with fancy speakers, and at the end of the day you’d sit down and have steak," Brown said. "There’s a misallocation of focus. People haven’t focused on this area. So many greenhouse gas emissions are because of livestock."

We’re all for that. When it comes to eating less animals, we need the omnivores to be on board. So the better tasting the faux meat, the more lives we save.

Quality Questions 

Currently, Beyond Meat’s chicken strips contain soy, which gets some people’s panties in a wad because of possible health risks. Another possibly icky ingredient? Canola oil. (Ever seen how it’s made?) The beef crumble is made primarily from pea protein, though, and the company has its focus on moving beyond soy.

"We want to expand the use of alternatives and the number of alternative proteins available," Brown said. "Instead of just relying on soy, we want to use lupin, mustard seed protein, and barley to give consumers a broad range of plant-based proteins."

But let’s face it – to create something that truly feels “meaty,” certain flavors/ingredients that may not be super good for us have to be added. We don’t like it, but that’s the way it has to go.

Or is it?

When it comes to eating fewer animals, is it better to have a more realistic-tasting product, or make the break from meat and faux-meat products forever? Sound off in the comments and let us know.


Jennifer St. Germain, Contributing Writer
A long-time health and fitness writer, Jennifer recently moved back to Los Angeles after spending two years writing and teaching English in Japan.  She now writes for several publications on a variety of topics, but veganism and animal rights are her favorite subjects.  When she isn't writing, you can find her drinking a little too much organic coffee, playing with her dogs or photographing her third favorite subject - jellyfish.