Faux Meats... Yum or Ewwww?

There was once a time in my life, many moons ago, when I went the good part of a year eating turkey sandwiches and not much else. I also just mentioned my love of tuna salad. Grilled cheese, hot Italian subs with lots of dressing, meatball subs with sauce and melted cheese, chicken tender subs from the Publix deli... sandwiches have been a staple in my diet forever. And I figured I'd really be giving them up by going vegan.

That's one of the good lessons, though, that I've been learning. There are items out there that I don't have to give up. And sandwiches are one of those.

Let's start with my first experience with faux meats. After seeing non-vegan co-workers eating faux chicken patties, I got up the nerve to try them. My first try was with the Whole Foods 365 brand "Chickenless Patties". Are these a nutritional powerhouse? No... but on bread with vegenaise and pickles, they remind me of a Krystal Chik, which used to be a really gross guilty pleasure of mine. These are NOT GF, but they are vegan, and they only contain traces of soy.

Why do I care so much about soy? I've read for years the pros and cons of soy, how it interacts with estrogen, how it reacts in your body... I don't avoid all soy, but I avoid things that are overtly soy (soy milk, edamame...) because it never really sat well with me, and there are other substitutes. But I was not at Whole Foods the other night, and I wanted more not-chicken patties, so I tried the highly-rated Gardein Crispy Chik'n Patties. I made one the next morning and took it to work for lunch. Oh boy. It sure was delicious. This is actually closer to a "chicken" taste and texture, if that's important to you (it's not to me).

However. About 15 minutes after eating it, my cheeks were on fire, I developed intense stomach cramps for the first time in seven weeks (since going vegan), and it was not a pleasant afternoon for me. I was nauseous for the rest of the day.

I'm certainly not saying anything bad about Gardein products. I've read tons of great reviews on them, and their product tasted amazing. For the vegetarian and vegan community, they do great things. I think I just have a real issue with digesting soy, which I kind of thought anyway.

So I'm sticking with my 365 brand for chicken. Oh, and for meatless meatballs (also not GF)! The boyfriend and I had these last night, mixed with GF pasta and bottled tomato sauce that was doctored up with a nutritional yeast cheese sauce. Even the bf ate them! I thought they reminded me of those meatballs you would find in Chef B canned spaghetti, which was fine by me, because I always liked those. These are also made with a base of textured wheat protein instead of soy isolate. These would be completely awesome with some Daiya and tomato sauce. I'm also going to try to trick delight my family and bring these to a gathering in my crockpot covered in bbq sauce.

I think my favorite, though, of the faux meat products I've tried, has to be Amy's Sonoma Burger. I picked this particular one to try because not only is it vegan, it's also GF and soy free. It also has a quinoa base and lots of good ingredients (and nothing I can't pronounce).

I threw it in the oven for 5 min on each side, topped it with some Daiya Mozz, kosher dills, ketchup and vegenaise, and it was AWESOME.

I think I've mentioned that there are aspects of meat that always made me a bit uncomfortable. I mean, I liked the flavor, but I've never liked textures that don't seem to bother most other people. Fat on meat or poultry, chicken skin, the graininess of ground meat... Eww. The meat I would eat had to be incredibly overcooked, well-done steaks, burnt bacon, extremely crispy chicken fingers. But sometimes I would like a really good (well-done) cheeseburger. Doused in ketchup and plenty of American cheese and pickles, this burger would call to me about once a month or so.

This burger totally meets that need. Plus, I feel fine after eating it. Eating a regular burger always made me feel really stuffed and bloated afterwards. Do you know how amazing it is to eat something that is truly fulfilling, hits on all the taste buds and all the cravings you have, but doesn't make you feel sick afterwards??

If you're vegan you do. :)