This isn’t bacon

But do those costs include the R&D , marketing, media, etc costs?

@mrmoofo
No idea… do you think that any vegan food company (or even ALL of them combined!) is spending more on marketing than McD, BK, KFC, etc…

R&D kind of irrelevant I think as, yes it might be substantial (esp. “lab grown” meat, didn’t one team make a $200k artificial meat burger last year?) but obviously on-going, that will get less and less. George Monbiot did a very interesting doc recently on this exact subject – basically arguing that switching from traditional animal farming to meat substitutes/lab grown meat will be vital in the future wrt. climate change/over population/lack of resources etc.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/08/lab-grown-food-destroy-farming-save-planet

Cougar – processed food. Something that you take out of a packet, do very little to … and not first principle cooking.

That seems a pretty loose definition. It’s only processed if someone else does it?

Is a jar of pasta sauce “processed”? What about pre-packaged mashed potato as opposed to mashing it yourself? Or Smash, someone takes potato and sucks all the water out of it, you then add it back. Where do we draw the line here?

And as you posit yourself – are these things inherently bad for you just because words like “processed” sound a bit scary?

I defer to the resident food tech but I was told that ingredients are listed in quantity order from biggest to smallest. So it looks like water (ie a cheap ingredient) is the largest in that.

This tends to be a problem with processed food- water is used to bulk it up cheaply. This makes it bland so salt is added to bring the flavour back, which makes it salty so sugar is added to counter act it.

So we’ve gone from “processed food is bad” to “excessive salt and sugar is bad,” which we already knew. Can we start referring to “heavily salted food” rather than “heavily processed food” then, if that’s the real problem?

So normal STW hair splitting resumed.
Only trying to advise …

And yes , i would consider a pasta sauce processed, as I would a Kipling apple pie…
Is it bad for you – no
Neither are Marcy Dees or BK

Unless those are the only food groups you eat. And you would be surprised at how many only eat “highly” processed foods

OP is your username indicative of location? Because if

As a lifelong baconite

your confliction is surely sorted by buying some of wallers finest?

So normal STW hair splitting resumed.
Only trying to advise …

I’m not trying to split hairs.  You’re the one throwing the term around, I’m trying to get you to hang a definition on it.  Because if it means something different in your head than what it does in mine it’s going to lead to a confusing discussion.  That’s how Internet arguments start.

And yes , i would consider a pasta sauce processed

So if I buy a jar of sauce it’s “processed,” presumably if I make my own it isn’t (otherwise you’d be arguing against “cooking”).  What’s the difference?

So if I buy a jar of sauce it’s “processed,” presumably if I make my own it isn’t (otherwise you’d be arguing against “cooking”). What’s the difference?

Mainly the sugar, salt and other additives to affect the colour and taste of the jar item.

You can make a tomato sauce for pasta without added sugar- what’s in the tommies will do. Dolmoo will add it and salt.

The odd jar now and then isn’t a problem, but if you’re eating box meals every day it will have an effect. Especially if you’re adding it to pasta it’s a double whammy of carbs.

When I stopped eating meat I ate loads of pasta with jar sauces. Hence I was a fat veggie, when you normally expect them to be anaemic and skinny!

Right, tried both the “Isn’t Chicken” and the “Isn’t Bacon”. The texture and taste of the chicken (used it in teriyaki sauce) was brilliant… will use it again. The smell of the bacon was spot on… like a real fry up… but not keen on the taste or texture… I’d rather just have more fried mushrooms… won’t be getting it again.

Not a bacon post but looking for advice with swede and carrot mash. I used Vitalite vegan butter and whilst it tasted fine immediately after making, when thawed out from frozen it tasted bloomin’ awful and couldn’t finish. Clearly Vitalite doesn’t like being frozen so does anyone have a (vegan) alternative that works well with swede and carrot mash?

Thanks.

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Have tried loads of branded spreads, stuff like Pure is neutral-tasting and in that I suppose pleasant enough, but (as with most commercial spreads) I believe it includes palm-fat so that may be a concern. (Pure Spreads claim there’s sustainably sourced tho)

Decided instead to use Oatly Creamy Oat (like single cream) for creaming spuds along with a dessert spoon of Engevita Savoury Nutritional Yeast flakes for a kick of B12 and a little twang of taste to complement the oat cream.

And I’ve no idea why people would make plant-based meat alternatives look, feel, smell and taste like ‘our’ meat-based alternatives? Why would they?

For someone like me, who eats chicken and fish, and mince beef in something like a lasagne, or a burger, but really doesn’t like pork or lamb, or beef with fat in it, then those plant-based alternatives are ideal, taste and texture without lumps of fat or gristle that genuinely makes me feel nauseous.
I’m perfectly happy to stop off at the local kebab place after the pub, he’s got an excellent reputation and his ‘babs are huge, or the burger place in town, which also does excellent blue cheese burgers, but steaks or chops or ribs are definitely out.

We had to buy this yesterday as waitrose was all out of the quorn facon we normally eat. It didn’t look bad but on tasting only I was willing to eat it. So three breakfast’s for me, cereal for crankygirl and crankbrat . Family opinion was they’re trying too hard to make it like real meat and it tastes funny. As a hypothetical vegetarian a meat themed alternative is just a way of delivering some nutrition and taste,I like some facon as it’s a tasty morning hot sandwich not because it’s a dead pig’s doppleganger.

Thanks as always M R. Shall give Oatly cream a try and liking the idea of yeast flakes. Also struggle with sauteeing leeks and mushrooms, the Vitalite just doesn’t cut it. Have tried the Oatly custard and whilst it has a nice taste it’s really too watery for my liking.