It’s always bothered me that there’s an entire industry churning out vegetarian food made to look like meat.
I saw quite a lot of it last week at the Grocery Innovations show.
This is uniquely North American, because vegetarian cultures have never run out of satisfying ways to cook vegetables without any need to pretend they’re meat. When these cultures use tofu and tempeh, it’s as the things themselves. No mocking, faking or subterfuge.
The Chicago Tribune ran a piece last week about what it called “fake food,” like “Vienna” sausage and “cheese food” singles. But for vegetarianism, why does it need to be fooled into being itself? is it really vegetarianism for carnivores or for social vegetarians? And if so, are they your real market? And if not, is your market not even your own?
Veggie resto owner Karyn Calabrese tells the reporter: “It’s a cultural lure. I serve ‘ravioli,’ but they’re made of turnips, and the filling is macadamia nut cheese. Who do you think would buy it if I said ‘I have a plate of turnip and macadamia nut cheese’?” A vegetarian, for one, is what I’m thinking. It’s a dubious state to be in if you’re selling your stuff to the self-described converted as something other than what it actually is — or worse, as the thing you oppose.
As a committed carnivore, I had one of the best meals in my life at Live Organic Food Bar on Dupont. What they were able to do without meat was something genius, gorgeous and delicious.
When its integrity is recognized, the thing itself is good, and that’s a worthy thing.
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