Convenient Shapes

[kentauros]

Every now and then I've noticed some omnis around here on DU that seem almost indignant that we continue to eat things like veggie burgers, veggie hotdogs/sausages and veggie meatballs. The impression I get from them is that because we've given up meat, we should also give up those convenient shapes like the round patty, the cylinder/tube and the sphere (burgers, dogs and balls ) Never mind that not only are store-bought and home-made buns usually the same shapes as what will go on them, I guess we're supposed to use only those breads that are odd-shaped for our non-standard-shaped veggie-substitutes...

The next time I see this sentiment, I'm going to mention that just because I gave up meat doesn't mean I also gave up geometry ;)

To me, these shapes are about convenience, but there are other reasons. We might want to remind some of these indignant omnis that not all vegetarians give up meat because of the ethical reasons. Some are strictly vegetarian for their health as suggested/dictated by their doctors. Are they, too, supposed to give up the familiarity that fake meats offer?

That's all I can think of for the moment. What other examples can we give these uppity omnis for why we like round patties, cylindrical hotdogs and spherical meatballs?

[flvegan]

1. We also didn't give up taste.

As I like to remind them (even though they've already said it) some of those things (burgers, etc) taste good. Why give up things that taste good that are also veg*n? It's one of the bigger logic fails that I see during those all-too-common "discussions"

But yeah, you're right. Until someone invents buns for whatever shape we're still allowed to eat, we really should just keep it simple.

[superconnected]

2. It's highly individual. I've tossed many boca burgers

because they struck me as too real and even knowing they were fake wasn't enough, I couldn't handle eating them. Some can, some can't.

I know other vegetarians that vigorously suggest I go to restaurants and try the real tasting fake turkey or meat loaf, etc. Fine for them. Still, I can't handle it, and you can't make me go. I don't spite them for it though. If only we could get people who do eat meat to switch to the substitutes!

My very good friend Mario - a vegetarian, did give me some vegetarian beef jerky once that was cool and it didn't taste like real beef jerky so I didn't mind it - the problem was, he found it in some cheap bin at the grocery store for products they were getting rid of, and we never found it again.

[Kolesar]

3. You know, falafels really don't fit into pitas

Discuss