In Defense of Meat Substitutes

One thing that I hate about being vegan is eating lunch at school.  I tend to pack a piece of fruit, and something to microwave--usually a mix of veggies, quinoa, and some kind of fake meat.

"What is that?  Is it chicken?" my students will ask.

And then I have to go through the rigamarole of explaining that while it LOOKS like chicken, it is NOT chicken, because I am vegan.  Which leads to conversations like the following:

Student:  So you don't eat chicken wings?
Me:  No.
Student:  What about chicken noodle soup?
Me:  No.
Student:  Well what about Chicken In A Biscuit crackers?
Me:  No.
Student:  But don't you LIKE meat?  I've seen you eat meat before.  And if you hate meat, why would you bother eating fake meat-flavored meat?

Because here's the thing: I don't hate meat.  If I could have babies with a pulled pork sandwich (preferably a pulled pork sandwich from Outlaw's in Sonora, CA, HOLLA!), I would totally do that.  I didn't become vegan because I hate meat; I became vegan for a lot of other reasons having nothing to do with the taste of burgers, Thanksgiving turkey, or chicken fingers.

That said, there are a lot of awesome fake meats out there!

Lightlife makes a lot of good stuff--their fake Italian sausage is pretty awesome too--but I really like these Mexican-style crumbles added to a jalapeno jack rice cheese quesadilla.  Add some sliced bell peppers and avocado, stick it in the oven, and YUM.

Gardein also makes a ton of awesome stuff.  This is the fake chicken that I take in my lunch almost every single day of the week.  It comes frozen, which is kind of a bummer, but I've gotten really good at snapping them in half on the edge of the kitchen counter to make them fit into my tupperware containers.  I'm a big fan of putting one over the top of quinoa and spinach, then adding a little lemon juice and black pepper.  Gardein also makes pulled pork shred style fake meat, which I have yet to try, because I keep forgetting to look for vegan barbecue sauce.

SO.  Check this shit out.  It's delicious, it's easy to cook, and most of all--it isn't tofu 7 days a week!