Very interesting and informative- as always. I only recently realised that look and taste alike meat could actually be made from cells- which I see is entirely different from meat substitutes that also gt called meat. So climate change issues aside- which you make a convincing case for- I wondered if down the track they will find that they have some awful health implications too- given they are playing around with cells.
I'd love to know similar data on Quorn, the mycoprotein that's been around for decades. I don't eat it often, but there's always a bag of Quorn pieces lurking in my freezer to add to a lazy stir fry. As someone who's morally happy to eat well looked after meat, but who doesn't like the texture of most of it, Quorn is a lifesaver! And I love seitan and tofu. But I also love not killing the planet...
The only time I had and enjoyed a Beyond Burger was at Hopdoddy's in Austin TX (highly recommended!), where you can opt to add bacon (pig) jam. 🤤🤤🤤
I confess I've never tried Quorn. I enjoy soy, tofu and seitan for what they contribute in absorption of flavours and texture to a generally Asian recipe. But my feeling about most replacements is why not have what you desire to eat, whether it's chocolate or meat that you're depriving yourself of for whatever reason. Just have it rarely and pick the best and most thoughtfully produced. Cuisines across the world have wonderful ways with vegetables and pulses that won't make you notice you're not eating meat.
Unfortunately, as has long been demonstrated by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Quorn has a long history of causing (rare but very serious) allergic reactions and more common mild-to-severe GI problems. There are many better, safer (and non-fungal) meat substitutes.
Interesting. I'm instinctively a Quorn avoider - I'm not even sure why. And, as I've written, I'm more inclined to move to some entirely different ingredient (in any category) than to seek out a substitute. Carob chocolate, for instance, is not a successful alternative to chocolate, in my view, nor aspartame and its associates a replacement for sugar. I'd rather drop the analogue food or flavour entirely.
Quorn pieces (they have too many options now!) work like a firm tofu that doesn't fall to bits in the pan. I think they're great, lower calorie and salt than buying chicken, and it's cheaper too. For c£2 I can get 6ish meals and I can spread the use over a year or more, which is something chicken can't offer (at least not without going nasty in the freezer). As it's mushroom and egg I rank it more with tofu and seitan than modern meat replacement, although it's probably the halfway house.
Also re your first sentence, I actually don't want meat most of the time, I think it's fatty and gristly and not very nice. But when I do want it, I want it happy and cooked by someone who knows what they're doing.
I am a rancher. Your point about water consumption by cattle is accurate … but maybe a bit of a red herring. A large amount of the water consumed by cattle is impounded, and a lot of that is in locations that would never make it to a lake or river. I get that cattle may be a polluter, but they also feed us and the exploding population. There are also technologies on the horizon, if they catch on and work, that may reduce emissions greatly. Still, out under the blue sky in the cleanest part of the country, it remains hard to believe that cattle ranching is a significant issue. Am always interesting topic of conversation.
The issue of pollution and of water usage seems to focus on feedlot cattle farming - a process that has raises questions of cruelty as well as health (with reference to hormones and antibiotics that may be passed on to beef eaters), rather than ranch or pasture farming. I think you're right that we are still at the dawn of plant or cell-based meat replacements. My own feeling is that the way that you are raising cattle is the only way we should eat it, not the feedlot way. We need to accommodate ourselves to the fact that even while we now struggle with the impact of austerity and war on prices, we have been paying too little too long for good, thoughtfully produced food, which is no support to farmers or other producers who struggle themselves to stay in business.
Sorry to post on such an old reply, but I have been pondering the farm to table movement and some issues with it and wondered: in France, is beef generally grass fed, grass fed-grain finished, or what? If you strike out the grocery chains, is beef generally bought at a butcher, a farmers market?
As far as I know, beef in France is fed on fresh grass and hay and corn sileage. Just as in the US and elsewhere, French supermarket cuts, imported from the Netherlands, German and Ireland, are cheaper than the home-grown meat from small producers sold in farmers' markets and butchers. Local butchers are prolific and a happy price medium between farmers markets and supermarkets, and are well supported. French shoppers as in other countries buy at the sources they can best afford. But given the choice, the French in both cities and the countryside will avoid supermarket chains if they have the financial flexibility to do so.
Very interesting and informative- as always. I only recently realised that look and taste alike meat could actually be made from cells- which I see is entirely different from meat substitutes that also gt called meat. So climate change issues aside- which you make a convincing case for- I wondered if down the track they will find that they have some awful health implications too- given they are playing around with cells.
It is so early-days in this development, all manner of discoveries may be likely down the line. Which is why I keep banging on about Eating Naturally.
Good analysis. Good recipe too.
Given your own wonderful food blog, I'm thrilled and not a little relieved you approve the recipe.
I'd love to know similar data on Quorn, the mycoprotein that's been around for decades. I don't eat it often, but there's always a bag of Quorn pieces lurking in my freezer to add to a lazy stir fry. As someone who's morally happy to eat well looked after meat, but who doesn't like the texture of most of it, Quorn is a lifesaver! And I love seitan and tofu. But I also love not killing the planet...
The only time I had and enjoyed a Beyond Burger was at Hopdoddy's in Austin TX (highly recommended!), where you can opt to add bacon (pig) jam. 🤤🤤🤤
I confess I've never tried Quorn. I enjoy soy, tofu and seitan for what they contribute in absorption of flavours and texture to a generally Asian recipe. But my feeling about most replacements is why not have what you desire to eat, whether it's chocolate or meat that you're depriving yourself of for whatever reason. Just have it rarely and pick the best and most thoughtfully produced. Cuisines across the world have wonderful ways with vegetables and pulses that won't make you notice you're not eating meat.
Unfortunately, as has long been demonstrated by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Quorn has a long history of causing (rare but very serious) allergic reactions and more common mild-to-severe GI problems. There are many better, safer (and non-fungal) meat substitutes.
Interesting. I'm instinctively a Quorn avoider - I'm not even sure why. And, as I've written, I'm more inclined to move to some entirely different ingredient (in any category) than to seek out a substitute. Carob chocolate, for instance, is not a successful alternative to chocolate, in my view, nor aspartame and its associates a replacement for sugar. I'd rather drop the analogue food or flavour entirely.
Quorn pieces (they have too many options now!) work like a firm tofu that doesn't fall to bits in the pan. I think they're great, lower calorie and salt than buying chicken, and it's cheaper too. For c£2 I can get 6ish meals and I can spread the use over a year or more, which is something chicken can't offer (at least not without going nasty in the freezer). As it's mushroom and egg I rank it more with tofu and seitan than modern meat replacement, although it's probably the halfway house.
Also re your first sentence, I actually don't want meat most of the time, I think it's fatty and gristly and not very nice. But when I do want it, I want it happy and cooked by someone who knows what they're doing.
I am a rancher. Your point about water consumption by cattle is accurate … but maybe a bit of a red herring. A large amount of the water consumed by cattle is impounded, and a lot of that is in locations that would never make it to a lake or river. I get that cattle may be a polluter, but they also feed us and the exploding population. There are also technologies on the horizon, if they catch on and work, that may reduce emissions greatly. Still, out under the blue sky in the cleanest part of the country, it remains hard to believe that cattle ranching is a significant issue. Am always interesting topic of conversation.
The issue of pollution and of water usage seems to focus on feedlot cattle farming - a process that has raises questions of cruelty as well as health (with reference to hormones and antibiotics that may be passed on to beef eaters), rather than ranch or pasture farming. I think you're right that we are still at the dawn of plant or cell-based meat replacements. My own feeling is that the way that you are raising cattle is the only way we should eat it, not the feedlot way. We need to accommodate ourselves to the fact that even while we now struggle with the impact of austerity and war on prices, we have been paying too little too long for good, thoughtfully produced food, which is no support to farmers or other producers who struggle themselves to stay in business.
Sorry to post on such an old reply, but I have been pondering the farm to table movement and some issues with it and wondered: in France, is beef generally grass fed, grass fed-grain finished, or what? If you strike out the grocery chains, is beef generally bought at a butcher, a farmers market?
As far as I know, beef in France is fed on fresh grass and hay and corn sileage. Just as in the US and elsewhere, French supermarket cuts, imported from the Netherlands, German and Ireland, are cheaper than the home-grown meat from small producers sold in farmers' markets and butchers. Local butchers are prolific and a happy price medium between farmers markets and supermarkets, and are well supported. French shoppers as in other countries buy at the sources they can best afford. But given the choice, the French in both cities and the countryside will avoid supermarket chains if they have the financial flexibility to do so.