Why bother making foods such as veggie sausage?

Is a sausage the natural form of a piece of meat?

Good question. I often ask myself that. It seems useless, really, except maybe to try to tempt meat eaters to accept a vegetarian diet.

Okay, I won't be flip: I don't get shaping them like, say, chicken breasts. But a hamburger patty isn't shaped like that because it's natural; it's shaped that way because it's a convenient way to cook some ground up stuff. A garden burger is just ground up stuff -- mushrooms, cheese, grains, etc. So why not make it that way, especially when we've already got all these buns ready to receive it?


And is a garden burger patty more closely related to a hamburger or to falafel?

I'm against any sort of "fake" food--but those of use on A2K may be a minority. In nursing homes there are many residents who can't manage to chew and swallow food without choking and coughing.

Solution? Run the meal through a blender.

Problem: The Old Folks didn't think puree looked like food--and they didn't want to eat it.

Solution: Mold the puree--problem solved.

I'm not sure whether molded puree is a manifestation of aesthetics or of senility.

I was in Chinatown the other day and saw "Vegetarian Pork Intestines" for sale.

One of the more bizarre products I've saw.
I couldn't believe that one. Someone became a vegetarian and missed pork intestines?

I think that people have been socialized to believe that meat is an integral part of a healthy diet.......even if they are vegetarians. So they make their veggies look like meat, and everybody's happy!

Hey, why should unhealthy, processed food be the provenance of meat-eaters?

I like to make my mashed potatoes into the shape of big womanly breasts. Is that what yer talkin' about?

(as opposed to big manly breasts?)

Re: Why bother making foods such as veggie sausage?


One valid? reason for the reshaping might be: some people become vegetarians not by choice, but due to health reasons--they're forced to. Maybe for these people, it makes a little sense to reshape it to the food they wish they could eat. But admittedly, still seems pretty silly.

Re: Why bother making foods such as veggie sausage?
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Re: Why bother making foods such as veggie sausage?
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With the advent of the Adkins diet craze, watch for people starting to make meat look like starchy vegetables.

Re: Why bother making foods such as veggie sausage?


Well, I don't personally know exactly why the manufacturers such as Gardenburger, Natural Touch, Boca, etc. create vegetarian fake meat products to resemble the meats themselves, but I can assure you "vegetables" aren't just what the products are made of and the products shaped meat-like help the transition from meat-eater to vegetarian.

You most likely think since vegetarians abstain from eating meat itself it's pointless to shape vegetarian products to resemble some meats. But like I mentioned, it helps in the transition.

But, as patiodg asked, "Is a sausage the natural form of a piece of meat?"

It seems truly pointless to me. I recently went for dinner at a Vietnamese Vegetarian Buddhist restaurant. The vegetables and soups were great, but some of the crazy things they thought they could turn tofu into! Layers of tofu sheets with bbq sauce is NOT bbq duck. It just isn't. The tofu was best when they weren't trying to pretend it was something it wasn't.

Since when does a hamburger or any sandwich meat resemble a natural meat shape except for an animal run over on the road? Which, of course, begs the question, which came first, sliced bread or sandwich meat and hamburger patties? Virtually any processed food we buy doesn't resemble any natural food. Do oats grow in little Cheerios rings?

A hot dog or sausage is made from stuff that nobody would consider eating in its natural form before grinding it up; it was a convenient invention for selling meat and meat-by-products that nobody would otherwise eat. Why should'nt people who spent their whole lives eating hamburgers and hot dogs eat healthier stuff in the same shapes. So what's the difference between a veggie hot dog and a hot dog made from ground-up meat, fat, gristle and sawdust, except that with the veggie hot dog, you get less heart disease and cancer.

If you decide to stop eating meat for health, ethical, or other reasons, you still need a certain amount of amino acids that can only be gotten from external protein, but your source is now limited. Some people can't eat beans becuse of the high fiber content, and their options are limited, so any form of proten is welcome just for variety's sake.

I guess our culturally conditioned taste requires the "experience" of eating meat in a "complete" meal. I think that's partly because Americans simply do not know how to eat vegetables. My wife and I eat them with all kinds of sauces, mainly prepared in a wok. They are so rich in flavors, AND FILLING. When I go to eat American food in a restaurant and they bring me as a side dish insipid steamed or boiled vegetables, usually carrots and cauliflower, I send them back referring to them as dead. I try to do it as unaggressively as possible. But I consider it my obligation. Now I DO occasionally eat sausages made from chicken with herbs and sometmes apples and other fruits (purchased from our WholeFoods market). They are not as delicious as a true polish saugage, but I eat them instead for the sake of my heart, and--and this is just as important for me--as a necessary backdrop for the eating of good MUSTARD.

Re: Why bother making foods such as veggie sausage?


There has certainly been some interesting viewpoints on this topic and I appreciate your participation. Through several of the posts there were several comments relating to the shape of sausage not being its original form either. To that point, I'm not trying to point out that no food should be shaped to something than its original form but rather that vegetables are purposely being shaped (and named) to imitate a common meat product...which is what vegetarians are trying to avoid. It just doesn't make sense to me. I'm not shaping my chicken breasts to look like carrots!

Also, a few friends and I went to lunch today. On the menu were veggie hamburgers...with lettuce, tomatoes, etc. Come on!!! Why do you need to add vegetables to a veggie burger?!

I think from the comments here (thanks for helping me see it) the main reason for manufacturing these products is to assist meat-eaters to changing to the vegetarian lifestyle but I see no sense in a true vegetarian participating in this disguise act.

Because it's not made out of lettuce, tomatoes, etc., nor does it taste like them. C'mon, now -- have you ever even eaten one? I'm a carnivore, but I love the things. Variety, spice of life, broaden horizons, all that stuff...