I am seeing more and more pretend meats be them vegan or vegetarian options. Like plant-based chicken nuggets, hotdogs, chicken breasts, burgers, and so on. I don't know anyone who eats this stuff, not a single person. So I have to wonder who is buying this stuff. I see it in every store but never see people buying it!
I have only ever had veggie burgers and I like them but they don't pretend to taste like meat. I think that the stuff that pretends to taste like meat kind of defeats the purpose. If you are a vegan or vegetarian, why would you want meat tasting foods?
I like a lot of vegetarian-style dishes but the intent is never to replicate the flavor of the meat. So yeah, I don't get that either. It seems like people who continue to eat things that taste like meat are just doing it to virtue signal or something.
It seems like they stock them all over but not many people buy them. I am not sure how they make their money. I think I read somewhere that 7% of the US is vegetarian or vegan so I guess there is a market for it.
You can often make better dishes yourself without using meat. I never understood these packaged pretend meats which are mostly made of the worst and most unhealthy soy you can get!
I guess for people who want to eat this stuff, they are just looking for more variety and flavor. I don't know if everyone is doing it to simply not eat animals. Some people do it for health reasons.
I have a family friend who is a vegan and buys these items. I asked the same question of her. If you don't like eating animals, then why would you eat something flavored to taste like them? She responded saying that most vegans still enjoy the taste of meat and the flavor isn't the issue but rather the fact that it was once a living animal.
