I'm a vegan and I try to stay away from fake meat. Not only does it have a bit of a gross-out factor for me, I find most of it refined and processed food stuffs that I try to steer clear of in all forms.

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This last week I ate a variety of vegan "chicken" nuggets. They were tasty, but wouldn't fool anyone. We thought they might be good for kids, but the green interior would probably raid an eyebrow or two. In marketing terms they might work for some people, but I prefer something not pretend to be something it's not.

In your case the whole fake chicken bone is weird. I know a lot of people that don't like bones in their food, so why pretend.

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I'm a meat-eater myself, but I do like me some tofu. I don't like it when non-meats are treated as meat-substitutes, like "this is made of soy! but it tastes just like chicken!" If I wanted chicken, I'd eat chicken. I realize the situation is different for conscientious vegetarians who miss meat. But I think tofu and other non-meat proteins just work better if they come dressed as themselves.

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I like most of the fake meat products I've tried. I'm not a vegetarian, but my husband was for awhile and we still try to cut back on the amount of meat we eat. I use Boca Ground Burger instead of ground beef all the time, and we like it just fine. I don't know if I'd use fake meat for a party since so many people don't like it though. I'd just stick to regular vegetarian fare if it had to be meat-free.

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I'm not veggie at all, but I love the fake meat products (mostly). If you don't think of them as meat, or even as a meat substitute, but as a whole different food they are awesome.

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I'm a fan of meat! But I do like the MorningStar crumblers(fake hamburger meat). I substitute them in pasta sauces all the time. My husband and parents have both been easily fooled.

I also eat their sausage patties as well.

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I recently dated a vegetarian who cooked some fake meat meals for us; it was okay, but the concept still bothers me. If you're gonna make a big deal about never eating meat, why do you get to fake the meat flavors? Isn't that kinda like wearing imitation leather, thus perpetuating the use of leather in fashion?

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I have no issues whatsoever with fake meat, but I do not try to imagine that it is actually meat. Good fake meat is good food all on its own; bad fake meat is inedible. (I should note that I am not vegetarian -- I eat mostly veg for health and because my husband is veg but if I want meat, I eat meat.)

Fake chicken does a pretty good job at tasting surprisingly like chicken (although a lot of fake chicken is breaded and fried, which sort of negates the whole healthy thing). Fake hamburgers vary wildly: I like gardenburgers and not boca burgers. Fake coldcuts are generally pretty icky all around. Tofurky? no. no no no no no.

Fake sausage is probably the best fake meat out there, all around. I eat way more sausage dishes with fake sausage than I ever ate with real sausage because I like the fake sausage *better*. I like the gimme lean sausage for patty or free-form style sausage, and there is a "soyrizo" faux-chorizo that is great stuff. Field Roast italian and chipotle sausages are AWESOME for link-style sausages. Field Roast also makes a sort of small stuffed roast that looks kind of like a small roast beef -- its kind of disturbing but it tastes good.

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I'm a meat eater. But I like Seitan, and I love tofu. I don't consider them 'fake meats' persay - I just consider them other interesting things to incorporate into my diet.

but the faux chicken sounds delish!

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I'm a meat eater, but my house is kosher. Given how pricey kosher meat is, we rarely eat it, keeping to a more vegetarian lifestyle. (In fact, I often call myself a vegetarian in restaurants because it's simpler than saying "I'm kosher enough to not want to eat your meat products, however I'm not so kosher that I won't eat in your restaurant entirely." ;-) )

Given that we don't eat meat often at home, meat-replacements get some good use. My 4 year old son loves egg night because he gets "fakin' bacon" (Morningstar). In fact, he'd probably forego the eggs if I'd give him a huge plate of fakin' bacon. He (and I) also enjoy "veggie dogs" (not sure why I call them that given that they're soy, not veggie). We also eat fake burgers.

The best fake meat, though, is by far the Morningstar Burger Crumbles. I use it in sauces to make them faux bolognese. I use them in tacos instead of ground beef. Anywhere that a recipe calls for ground beef, I take a package of burger crumbles out of my freezer.

Now if I could only find the sausage crumbles in my local supermarkets.

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Man do I love me some "chicken" on a dowel! Seriously... soooo good. I am pescetarian, so fake meat is just dandy with me. Just had some delicious "citrus soy spare ribs" and rice today, in fact...

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While we think it is GREAT that there are lots of fake meat products for helping people become/stay vegetarian, we don't use many of these products.

We have a vegetarian home and prefer to eat vegetarian food. We don't use the fake meat products EXCEPT for the "crumbles" when we make tacos and pasta sauce. We LOVE tofu. We also make lots of interesting meals with various beans and pulses. We have found that by being creative, we eat VERY well!!!

All this being said, the fake meat products DO serve a purpose and if we were served these at a party, we would enjoy them.

All too often, we attend events and are told, "no need to bring anything, we will have lots of salads" [we usually ignore this advice and bring our own food anyway] as we will not eat a salad where one has to pick out the bacon bits or the chicken chunks to make it vegetarian...... there are lots of people who do NOT have a clue as to what being vegetarian means.

We have met people who tell us that "chicken is "OK" for vegetarians and that is what they serve to vegetarian who visit them"..... Fake meat products would be VERY helpful to people with this attitude!!!

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We're OK with some fake meat in our household - it just really depends on the brand/item. I've served Morningstar Sausage crumbles (different than the burger crumbles) in party appetizers, and the meat eaters seriously had no idea they were eating fake meat. Quorn makes the best fake chicken and burger crumbles by far!

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I'm with Kim -- Quorn's fake meats are the best (except for their hot dogs, which have a creepy sort of layered texture).

I'm often asked by my meat-eating friends why someone who avoids meat would want to eat something that tastes like meat but isn't. The simple answer is that I grew up eating meat and its savory flavors are enjoyable and very satisfying, and stuff like Quorn makes it easy for me to get those flavors without buying morally questionable factory-farmed meat (while being lower-fat and higher-fiber in the bargain).

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i have not eaten meat for 32 years and i stay away from the fake meat. It almost seems contradictory. I i really dont want to eat things that resemble or taste like meat. I would rather have a meatless meal.

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I'm with Kassie. I think of the fake meat things as being totally different food. I've tried a lot of them, being married to a vegetarian, and they are mostly OK. I do think it is weird to put a skewer in for a fake bone, and our wedding was mostly vegetarian (and vegan-friendly) without any fake meat. People were still complimenting us on the food a year afterward!

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Meat-free, yes! Fake meat, NO!!

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Although I do eat chicken occasionally, I prefer organic, free-range chicken or none at all. For the most part, there are wonderful vegetarian dishes that are filling and nutritious, without the need to substitute meat-like flavors. For me, the less processed the better, and I see nothing "natural" about chicken nuggets designed to look like chicken.

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I eat meat and also eat vegetarian on occaision. I was at a hospital in FL, that served tofu chicken soup, I thought it was awful. I had no idea it was tofu until after a few bites and I couldn't eat any more. I tried the veggie burgers years ago, when it was new, my kids and husband wouldn't eat it either. I avoid the processed foods. It seems the "fake" meats are processed, that would negate the health factors of eating vegan.

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A friend of mine is vegan and she has experimented with some of the fake meats because her husband is not vegan and likes meat quite a lot. I think she has pretty much given up on the fake meats but she does some wonderful things with tofu and cashews, etc. I think the hardest thing for her isn't the meat, it's things like cream soups, sour cream, and cheeses. She has gotten very good at approximating the flavors with tofu and nuts, etc.

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