Faux meat: would you eat it?

A common hurdle for people wanting to eat more veg meals is that faux meat and meat replacements are seen as overly processed and a far less healthy option than eating a piece of unprocessed steak or a thigh of chicken. 

While that may have been the case 20 years ago, vegan and plant-based foods are now catering for the health-conscious.  They are usually highly nutritious and, if you make a smart choice, relatively unprocessed.  They are just as nutritious as a piece of meat (often more so) but far better for the environment.  Lentil burgers, tofu and nut-cheeses are all excellent and convenient ways to get your daily protein intake.  Likewise, tempeh is a wonderful plant-protein; it’s also a fermented food and gives you your gut-healthy probiotics.

Brands such as Quorn make excellent meat-free products like mince, fish, schnitzels etc. and they are created from a fermented fungus, mycoprotein. “To make mycoprotein … we take a natural, nutritious fungus that grows in the soil.  We then use … the same process used to create bread…to grow mycoprotein. And because producing mycoprotein uses 90% less land and water than producing some animal protein sources, it is a great example of a more sustainable and nutritious protein source for a growing global population.” 

Out of necessity, vegetarian foods are often health-conscious, innovative and creative products.

Sunfed chicken-free chicken is made from pea protein and actually has 62% more protein than chicken!  It is high in iron and zinc, minimally processed and probably a far healthier choice than actual chicken, of which 60% has been found to be contaminated with faecal matter.  In the US, according to the non-profit organisation Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a federal food safety inspector stated “We often see birds going down the line with intestines still attached, which are full of fecal contamination. If there is no fecal contamination on the bird’s skin, however, we can do nothing to stop that bird from going down that line. It is more than reasonable to assume that once the bird gets into the chill tank (a large vat of cold water), that contamination will enter the water and contaminate all of the other carcasses in the chiller. That’s why it is sometimes called ‘fecal soup.’” (pcrm.org story)

Ironically, whilst many people worry about vegan food being overly processed, they forget that when they sprinkle bacon on their alfredo pasta, or slip some ham into a salad sandwich, they are actually eating a category 1 rated carcinogen.  Processed meats are ranked as dangerous as tobacco in the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) list of known carcinogens.

Last week I was at Gisborne FoodWorks. They have a great selection (in many different places within the supermarket) of plant-based products.  Next time you’re there, or any supermarkets around the area, find a meat-alternative and try it out. 

These would be my current top 5 meat + dairy substitutes that are delicious and nutritious, available at the major supermarkets:

o   Soyco Japanese style marinated tofu

o   Vegie Delights lentil burger

o   Yumi’s Veggie Bites: zucchini and lentil

o   Susie Spoon smoky rasher (currently only at Bendigo Wholefoods)

o   Made with Plants sesame cream cheese

Wholefoods and vegetables should be the star players in most meals. Carefully selected meat-substitutes, however, can be a convenient and healthy way of transitioning away from meat products or of grabbing a quick bite of deliciousness during the mid-week chaos.