this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2026
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My experience:
Veggie dish pretending to be meat dish leads to disappointment.
Dish that just doesn't have meat in the first place means I can enjoy it without comparing it to the dishes designed around meat.
Ever had soya chaap?
Maybe, there's a bunch of things I've had at buffet style places that I have no idea what it's called.
It's textured soy with a very meaty texture and is prepared with identical spices. When done correctly, it is better than chicken.
I'll have to check it out sometime. I think the Indian place in town might do it. Thanks for the info!
My pleasure!
PS: make sure it's from a place that has a tandoor. That's how it gets that melt-in-your-mouth texture and smoky taste, with a charred surface.
Is that one of those ridiculously hot ovens?
Yep! 500 degrees celsius. Can melt zinc. Tandoor sounds the same as "keep your body tf away from this thing" in many northern Indian languages. Charcoal-fired, cooks with infrared heat.
Makes anything cooked in it juicy and tender.
Will probably cook your hand if you left it in for more than half a second.
Most everything in a rustic eatery that's not a gravy is cooked in a tandoor. Flat breads like naan, vegetables, kebabs, etc.
They had one on one of the more recent Netflix cooking competitions, the thing looked more like a forge than an oven lol.
I'd like to try using one but would probably only make lightly singed charcoal.
"OUR BREADS ARE FORGED, NOT BAKED!" Sounds neat. But yeah, tandoor is just a forge that wanted to try being an oven.
100%
As a nonVeg/Vegan I will always pass on an impossible burger, I eat black bean burgers, palak paneer, mushroom steaks, etc... regularly. I don't see them as vegetarian (cus I don't care if they are) just a meal choice that tastes good which is weirdly the most important thing when I am looking for something to eat. Making meat substitutes that don't live up to the original just invites comparison as you said.
That said always exceptions to rules! I have heard of some meat free bacon being delicious.
What is a nonVeg/vegan? Struggling to understand how that isn't a contradiction. I also don't understand how you have a disdain for impossible burgers but not black bean burgers - you know they are both trying to substitute for a meat dish? This one is just a personal opinion, but I've had over a dozen different black bean burgers and none of them have been as good as an impossible or beyond burger. In fact, burgers were my primary example for years of why replicating meat dishes with vegetables sucked. The common issue is primarily that beans are dry/don't have enough fat and combined with a bun, it exacerbates the issue. So I feel the opposite - the meat substitute companies actually nailed this and have been successful in getting folks to eat less meat.
I'd love some recommendations on meat free bacon. I already substitute meat free burgers and breakfast sausage. Morningstar is butt.
Not the person you're responding to, but I think they mean they're non-(vegetarian/vegan), so both not a vegetarian and not a vegan.
And I do get them on liking black bean burgers but not liking the impossible burger. Black bean burgers aren't trying to imitate a beef burger, they're trying to be an easy way to put black beans on a burger bun. On the other hand, if you want a beef burger and are handed an impossible burger, you might be disappointed because they're not the same.
To blatantly put words in brognak@lemmy.dbzer0.com 's mouth: "Eat meat if you want meat, eat veggies if you want veggies, eating veggies disguised as meat leads to a mismatch of expectations which leads to disappointment."
As someone who likes meat but doesn't eat it for ethical reasons, I'm very grateful for beyond burgers. They're close enough to meat to satisfy a craving in a way that black bean burgers just aren't.
I've said it before and I'll keep standing by it, the "fake meat" style products taste a lot more like meat if you haven't eaten real meat in a while. I think that being vegan actually changes your taste buds a bit 🤷♀️
Exactly and said much better than I could 😅💜