"Is this Fake Chicken the New Chicken?"

[Eric J in MN]

Fake meat isn’t a new thing, but good fake meat that is almost indistinguishable from real meat could be very big in cleaning up your diet and helping the planet.

Beyond Meat, a Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based food company that specializes in making “chicken” from plant-based protein, claims it is 80 percent of the way toward making real-tasting fake chicken. And you can find out for yourself as their products are now in Whole Foods markets and the Tropical Smoothie restaurants in New York City, where you can substitute its fake chicken for real chicken in burritos.

“What we offer the market is the cleanest form of protein that money can buy,” says Ethan Brown, Beyond Meat’s founder and CEO. “You don’t have any concerns about antibiotics, avian flu, mad cow disease. You have no hormones or steroid use.”
Brown noted that meat consumption has been linked to cancer and heart disease, and that it takes a toll on the environment, too.

“If you look at climate, 51 percent of greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to meat consumption,” he said.

Video of people taste-testing "Beyond Meat" chicken and real chicken at:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/fake-chicken-chicken-171938318.html

[silverweb]

1. From soy. Too bad.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]That kills it for me right there.

When I really need a meat substitute (which isn't often anymore), I'll stick with Quorn.

[Eric J in MN]

2. Why are soybeans an issue for you? (NT)

NT

[silverweb]

3. GMO-v-nonGMO.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I avoid Roundup-ready and GMO soy, and fields for non-GMO soy are carved out of clear-cut rainforest.

[LeftyMom]

8. Unless you're in Europe or a cow you have likely never eaten soy from South America.

The US produces a huge fraction of the global supply and exports the excess. Importing it would be like shipping Texas oil into Saudi Arabia.

Domestic non-gmo soy (mostly organic) is the norm in health food.

[silverweb]

9. That's nice to hear.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]If I can verify that information, I might consider eating more soy.

On the other hand, I'm perfectly happy with my current diet and may not bother.

[Warpy]

4. Quorn pretty much nailed fake chicken years ago

with a combination of a fungus and wheat gluten. The texture was so close that a lot of vegans would shy away from it.

Alas, I had to bid goodbye to wheat gluten. It's either beans and rice or eating real chicken for me.

I will be glad when they finally go into production growing meat on a collagen matrix and there is no blood, no bone and no animal suffering.

[flvegan]

6. Vegans never went near this egg-laden product. n/t

[Codeine]

12. Of course vegans shied away from Quorn. Shit had eggs in it. nt

[niyad]

5. I just keep seeing the descriptions of fake chicken in the sci-fi novel "space merchants"

[KaryninMiami]

7. It's actually really delicious

I am very pleased with it- hope it becomes available at mainstream supermarkets soon. Very tasty - my favorite so far!

[RebelOne]

11. I am hoping it becomes available at my local supermarkets.

I would love to try it. Morningstar and the other fake chicken brands just do not cut it. And Whole Foods is too far for me to travel to.

[byronius]

10. Hopefully I can find it somewhere besides Whole Foods. Their owner is a repugnant teabilly.

Won't go in the door. But I'm always looking for new fake meat.

Vegetarian Plus is my current favorite. Gardein is a close second.