I liked steak before I went vegan-ish. I was a rare to medium rare gal. I’m a vegan who was never squeamish about meat. I’ve seen vegans try to shame people for not being physically grossed out about meat. I’ve seen non-vegans utter things like, “If you miss meat, then why are you vegan? Just eat meat.” I don’t understand either of those groups. If reducing or eliminating meat is only for those grossed out by it, then that’s almost no one, right? Most people aren’t grossed out by meat! And I’ve never seen the same argument about dairy. For some reason, you are allowed to miss cheese. (I’m sure there is the rare vegan who has argued you should be violently repulsed by dairy but it must be pretty rare, as rare as the steak I used to eat. But for some reason, generally, it’s okay to admit you miss cheese.) Just a little background info on me, I used to work in hospital settings, both on a medical-surgical floor then later in an emergency room. I dealt with objectively gross stuff. I am not squeamish, and I think that can be a great thing. You don’t want someone who gags at the sight of blood when they are doing a blood draw or witnessing victims of gory accidents. And you also don’t someone with a sensitive stomach who can’t eat their lunch during a very physically demanding 12 hour shift! So screw this idea that it’s a virtue to be physically repulsed by eating meat. It’s morally neutral. It might be easy and helpful to be grossed out by meat if you want to pursue some variation of a veg diet, but that’s all.
But anyway, I liked steak, but having not eaten meat in almost five years, I am over the hump of actively missing it. I am not repulsed by it, though. I would love to be able to experience steak again anyway, and it may just be that time is here!* Today my Juicy Marbles arrived. Juicy Marbles is a combination of soy and wheat proteins, but that’s not what makes it so unique. There’s a patented process that allows for the marbling and layering (I think it might have something to do with 3D printing?). There’s another vegan steak called Meati that is fungus-based (think Quorn) but I’ve had trouble getting it. Like seriously, I thought I was getting some Meati but as soon as put my credit card info in, it said it was sold out. I was pretty mad then, but I’ve calmed down…LOL. Right now you can get three 24 oz. whole loins for $165 with free shipping. That should make 18 servings of filet mignons if you were to serve them like that. I’m loving the nutrition on it too. Every 4 oz. serving has 26 grams of protein, 80% of vitamin B12 and 25% of your iron, and only 0.9 grams of saturated fat…all this in 200 calories. For reference, according to the USDA, a beef version has 300 calories, 29 grams of protein and 8 grams of saturated fat with only about 10% of your iron and 28% of B12. Per calorie, the Juicy Marbles definitely has more protein and much less saturated fat along with more iron and B12.
Now this is kind of pricey, I think, compared to what a beef filet mignon would cost, although I haven’t shopped for the beef version in years. However, I don’t know if I ever ended up with tender ones! So if this is tender, which I suspect it will be, then I don’t know what grade of beef to compare it to. I think the last ones I had, which was many years ago, were from Aldi and they weren’t that tasty or tender. I recall them being okay, but I don’t think I paid a lot for them. I usually reserved steak for restaurants because my luck getting good ones at the grocery store was slim. If the restaurant one was bad, you could send it back.
I’ll be making it tonight. I haven’t decided if I’m going to cut up the one loin I have thawing into filets or if I’ll cook the loin whole. I’ll be posting what I did, and my opinions later though!
*Oh, and I did some review of Juicy Marbles that claimed it was so realistic that the reviewer didn’t like it because she had been vegan so long, it was too meaty she even checked the package to make sure it wasn’t meat, as if that’s what always happens when one goes vegan. She also said something about it “ending excuses” to not eat meat by meat lovers. I thought the whole thing was cringe. One, meat eaters don’t eat just steak, there are much cheaper meats that people eat more regularly. Even meat eaters, like I was once, might eat steak rarely. Two, it’s not a given you will ever hate meat so much even vegan versions gross you out. Hasn’t happened to me yet and I have not bitten into meat in nearly five years. I can only speak for myself when I say I just don’t miss it after this long, but I will happily try a vegan version. Needless to say, I don’t think she was helpful in convincing meat eaters. I am not here to start drama, so I’m not going to link her article or name the journalist. Just wanted to vent!
Love this ! Such great points. Yes, if reducing the amount of meat you eat is only for people who are grossed out by it, that’s such a small part of the population.
And yes, I agree, it’s not a given that just because you are following a meatless or vegan diet that you will become repulsed by meat or anything meat-like, even if it’s actually a vegan or meatless alternative that is meant to resemble meat.
I never thought about that before, but you’re right. It seems acceptable for vegans to talk about how much they miss cheese, but not acceptable to talk about enjoying the smell of meat cooking or missing the taste of meat. Personally, I don’t miss the taste of cheese or meat or any other animal product … Even if it’s something like fried chicken, which I used to enjoy as a child (I pretty much stopped eating food like that as a teenager), I’ve had some really good vegan versions of fried chicken which would definitely do the trick for me. I really do like my vegan food. At the same time, if there is cheese or meat there, I can indeed eat it and it tastes fine. But if I could have an all vegan nutritious and delicious feast instead, I would prefer that.
Thanks for writing this. Looking forward to seeing more about what you can make with your meatless marbles!.
A separate thought that your post brought up for me.
You know what, in my opinion, being repulsed by perfectly good food that is very nutritious and could actually help you be stronger and healthier is not a virtue at all. Some people like to talk about how they are repulsed by meat because they’ve been vegetarian for so long as if it is a badge of honor, but honestly I think it’s the opposite. If you are repulsed by food that is nutritious and good to eat, that is not a good thing. Just my opinion.
Sometimes I feel uncomfortable eating meat, it just makes me feel uncomfortable, hard to explain … I think it’s because I spent such a long time strictly avoiding it, it feels like I’m doing something taboo (something I
shouldn’t be doing), if I eat it.
Meanwhile, I do understand that is irrational. Sometimes I eat meat, and post about it publicly, just to show people that nothing changes. I’m still the same person I was before.
It’s really easy for people to feel superior because they are vegan or they are vegetarian or whatever, but the reality is, we’re still the same person, no matter what we eat.
Even if a person is vegan or vegetarian, that doesn’t mean that the food industries will slaughter any fewer animals this year compared to last year. So a person can’t even take credit for having saved any animals, just by virtue of the food that they do or don’t eat. If we’re going to help animals, the food industries will need to change dramatically. That is about a lot more than just one person and what they do or don’t eat.
Some people become frustrated when I point this out, they think I’m saying that it doesn’t matter to choose alternatives like these juicy marbles or to follow a vegan or vegetarian diet if one can. That’s not what I’m saying at all.
I think it’s really important that people switch over to vegan / meatless options because … if lots of people switch over (could be for just 50% of meals, as an example), it shows the food industries that we are ready.
Right now, sadly, here in the USA, it seems that most people are not ready. There have been so many failures, like McDonald’s, White Castle, KFC, Burger King, and other popular restaurants, where the alternatives have not sold well and have quietly faded into nonexistence.
Yes, there are restaurants like slutty vegan in Atlanta which are doing great and have a cult following, and that’s fantastic, but it’s clear that right now, the majority of the USA population is not ready to eat the type of food that is available at places like slutty vegan.
The food industries are not going to change everything over until the majority of the population is actually ready to eat vegan food or meatless options instead of actual meat. That means we have a long way to go.
That means it’s very important for those of us who are willing to eat meatless options instead of regular meat, to continue doing so and continually inspiring others to do so also.
As it seems to me, wherever you may be in the world, things won’t change for animals in your country until more of the people, in whatever country where you live, are ready to make that switch.
I’m not sure all those things have faded into nonexistence. I believe BK still has Impossible Whoppers and is actually expanding their Impossible Whopper offerings. I do think they quit the Impossible breakfast offering, which I had a feeling would happen. Not as many people get fast food breakfast so I don’t think it had the demographic. I don’t think McD’s has actually rolled out their plant burger option yet nationwide? I’ve not really closely kept up with all this stuff though so I might be wrong. I have no idea what KFC plans to do with the Beyond chicken. I think they probably needed to improve upon the product, from the reviews I read.
I actually do think there is a lot of hope things are going to take a turn for the better. Between climate disasters and rampant livestock diseases, meat production and prices keep getting more precarious. I think we are going to reach a point, like pretty soon, that there’s not going to be a way to keep up animal agriculture. Not that I’m rooting for it to go that way, but it seems inevitable to me. I’ve already noticed non-vegan and vegan products inching closer to each other in price. I do absolutely believe the government will begin subsidizing meat alternatives and lab-grown meat, probably in my lifetime. I figure overall food production is going to change, at least if we aren’t going to go extinct.
I do definitely agree though it has to become cheaper than meat to make any impactful change. I just think that day will be here sooner than I thought 5 years ago.
Hopefully !!!!
From what I know, BK Veggie was never popular and is gone. I had heard that the Impossible Whopper at BK was in danger of being discontinued. Do you know if that’s true? KFC in the USA no longer offers the Beyond Nuggets, as that was just a temporary thing. McPlant was offered during non-breakfast hours at McDonalds at only some locations for a short time and isn’t being offered anywhere in the USA now, as far as I know. It seems to me, if people really cared so much about having options and alternatives to eating actual meat, these things would be very lucrative and profitable for these companies. Please do correct me if I’m wrong, I haven’t looked into this stuff in detail, but as far as I’m aware, none of these options or alternatives have become very popular.
I’m hoping that things will change in the future. It just seems that we’re very far away from a situation where the vast majority of people would prefer a meatless alternative over actual meat.