Can you taste the difference?
The researchers report that although many people claim that they eat meat rather than a vegetarian substitute because they prefer the taste:
Our results challenge that claim. Participants who ate the vegetarian alternative did not rate the taste and aroma less favorably than those who ate the beef product. Instead, what influenced taste evaluation was what they thought they had eaten.
It seems that when it comes to taste, our perceptions and expectations shape our experience more than the actual food we eat. I'm not quite sure that this is a major scientific breakthrough, but at least the next time someone tells you they eat meat for the taste, you can confidently tell them that it really is all in their head!
News link: Give meatless rolls and cheap cola a chance
Journal link: The Interactive Effect of Cultural Symbols and Human Values on Taste Evaluation
Comments
There was an episode of Hell’s Kitchen where Gordon Ramsey served the contestants several dishes and asked them what was missing. The contestants - all cooking pros - guessed various spices and other ingredients, but not a single one guessed that the dishes contained no meat. It was all made with vegetarian “meat.”
http://www.vegblog.org/archive/2008/05/28/vegetarianism-in-pop-culture-may-2008/
I actually prefer things not to taste of meat.
At our church we had a potluck, my husband and I are vegans. I took a taco salad where for the meat I used shredded Tempeh. The salad contained everything else that goes into a taco salad except no cheese. The salad was gone quite quickly and everyone including our minister (who in his words is a carnivore)wanted the recipe. When I told them it was strictly vegan they couldn’t believe it. They thought I was playing a joke on them. But I wasn’t, I gave the recipe out and suggested that once a week they eat the entire day like a vegan. One woman sought me out two weeks later to tell me she is going vegan the one day isn’t enough, she said that in two weeks her vital numbers all went down.
It is amazing the things that clear up by being vegan.
I guess this whole question turns on the REASON why people are vegetarian. For me, the thought of all the cruelty involved in producing meat, chicken and non-free range eggs is just too much and I refuse to be a part of it! If you’ve stopped eating meat, why on earth do you want something that looks like the stuff you don’t want any more??
PS. I haven’t eaten meat for about 12 years, and if I eat it now, i’m physically sick…..
I actually agree with you, Allison. There are lots of mock meats I don’t like, because I never like the original either, but others that I think are quite tasty in their own right. To each their own, I suppose.
I did a double blind test of my own (neither I nor the person giving me the samples knew whether each was meat or not) and while I know this is anecdotal I personally found the real meat tasted better every single time. I wasn’t even trying to find which was meat, just which tasted better.
I actually perfer my fake meat to not taste like meat. I’ve tasted fake meat that really does taste like meat and I think it doesn’t taste good. I just stick to fake meat that doesn’t like meat which I love. I’m really glad there are quite a few products that are like that.
I’m with you, Dawn. I like some mock meats, but some of the really realistic ones freak me out a bit!