Just recently I attended dinner with fellow vegetarians. Sitting at my table was another vegetarian who was deriding mock meat, saying things like "if you are still craving for meat, then you might as well eat the real meat."
This is not an isolated incident. Over the years, I have encountered many vegetarians who attack or ridicule mock meat.
I can understand if a meat-lover sniggers at mock meat. But I find it most unfortunate that vegetarians do the same thing.
The ground for objections is over the fact that eating mock meat appears to indicate that the vegetarian has not given up meat and still craves for meat. In some ways, that is probably true. But it is not fair then to add on remarks along the line that "there is then no difference between eating mock meat and real meat".
Well, to the animal whose meat would otherwise being eaten, I am sure it is a BIG difference.
To a person whose purpose for becoming vegetarian is purely spiritual, eating mock meat perhaps indicates a craving for meat. From that perspective, the mind still craves, and perhaps it made no difference whether the meat is real or not.
Indeed, I can agree with that from an academic point of view. However, we must bear in mind that this is not the only reason for going vegetarian. One of the most important motivations for being vegetarian is the practice of compassion -- to spare the animals from suffering and to avoid killing. And that's precisely where mock meat comes into the picture.
While mock meat does not help a person get rid of the mental cravings, it does avoid the direct killing of animals. The bottom line is that mock meat is NOT animal flesh -- and that should matter.
As frequently as I have met people who are simply dismissive of vegetarians, I also have met many people who agree with the values or benefits of vegetarianism. But they feel that they are not able to give up the craving for meat altogether. To these people, mock meat can play in important role in helping with the transition.
Even from a spiritual perspective, I think there is still a difference. No matter what, these meat substitutes just are not the same as the real meat. If a person is willing to give up real meat and settle for the substitute, that is a level of giving up. The person should be applauded for the will power to give up that much in spite of his cravings. For the matter, who is to say that the vegetarian who does not eat mock meat has no craving for food in other ways?
Thus, I think mock meat has its place in the vegetarian diet. Whatever vegetarians may feel towards it, it doesn't not deserves that kind of scathing attack it frequently gets.
It's OK if you do not eat mock meat. However, do not mock my mock meat.
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Personally, I find that mock meat spice up the Asian vegetarian cooking. It adds variety and textures, and is also a source of protein (surprise, surprise! Most mock meat are actually vegetable protein). The key is not to look at these as "meat" -- in spite of names like "vegetarian BBQ pork", "vegetarian fish", "vegetarian squid", "vegetarian mutton" etc. Learn to look at these as processed vegetables.
However, I do not advocate eating too much of these. A balanced variety is key to a healthy vegetarian diet. It is unhealthy, if mock meat becomes dominant in the vegetarian diet. Further more, most of the mock meat are highly processed. They contain high levels of salt, sugar, fats and artificial flavouring. It is definitely not advisable to eat too much of these.
In my regularly diet, I always try to eat more fresh vegetables and keep mock meat to less than one third of any meal. So, for lunch, I may choose 1 dish of mock meat at most and 2 other vegetable dishes. That has work well for me.
