My Nephew is a rep for Gordon food service (GFS) in Columbus, OH. Last week he cooked up two of these burgers, they actually bled and tasted like beef. He did however, use cheese and condiments, so I didn't taste it by itself. But dang, it was tasty!

I’ve never understood the desire to eat non-meat items made to taste or look like meat. 

If you’re vegan or vegetarian, wanting to eat meat-like items seems contradictory or even hypocritical to me. In theory, at least. 

caliking said:

I’ve never understood the desire to eat non-meat items made to taste or look like meat. 

If you’re vegan or vegetarian, wanting to eat meat-like items seems contradictory or even hypocritical to me. In theory, at least. 

All the vegans I've known are converted carnivores so they certainly have some remembrance of a nice juicy beef burger and likely miss that flavor and mouth feel to some degree.

If the marketplace delivers a product that "meats" (heh-heh) their occasional longing for the taste/texture of days gone by yet the ingredients do not conflict with their reasons for becoming a vegan then why not indulge?

HeavyG said:

caliking said:

I’ve never understood the desire to eat non-meat items made to taste or look like meat. 

If you’re vegan or vegetarian, wanting to eat meat-like items seems contradictory or even hypocritical to me. In theory, at least. 

All the vegans I've known are converted carnivores so they certainly have some remembrance of a nice juicy beef burger and likely miss that flavor and mouth feel to some degree.

If the marketplace delivers a product that "meats" (heh-heh) their occasional longing for the taste/texture of days gone by yet the ingredients do not conflict with their reasons for becoming a vegan then why not indulge?

It parallels being married, but still wanting to/thinking of having sex with an ex. Many would consider that improper, but not all would.

[My apologies, OP. I didn't mean to detract from your thread, so I won't say anything else here]. 

ColtsFan said:

I've got a new age girl
An environmentalist girl... 

She don't eat meat
But she sure like the bone 

I saw them live on Biloxi beach just before their one famous song. Along with Cowboy Mouth and some group that died out the next day. I could mention their name. Let's see If I can type it in a way that won't be bleeped.
Deadeye d*I&c^K

Vegan chili!

<BUMP!>  
 
Cook's Illustrated did a taste testing of the currently available fake beefs, with some surprising results:
Highly Recommended:  Impossible Foods (!!)  
Recommended:  Beyond Meat
Rec w/Reservations:  Quorn, Dr. Praeger's
Not Recommended:  Morningstar, LightLife, Gardein
 
They were able to get some development details from Impossible Foods that I found really interesting.  It started with the "Heme" protein, which is part of hemoglobin, makes blood red, turns dark with the Maillard reaction, and is present in both beef, and soybean roots.  Impossible snipped the DNA from those soybean roots, planted them in yeast DNA, and were able to produce the same protein.  Yikes.  They've patented the process so for now they're the only folks that can do this.
 
A second trick is the use of coconut oil, which doesn't melt until 76º F, and simulated beef fat.  Another feature that supposedly goes beef one better, is that the burgers didn't dry out when cooked to 125º, 135º, and 165º, the burgers only got darker.  
 
The testers could not tell the difference between Impossible patties and real hamburger, when sampled on buns w/lettuce & ketchup.  I might have to give this stuff a try, although there certainly isn't a cost incentive ($13.85/lb!).  I still think the best veggie burger in the world is a large, grilled portobello mushroom cap, but that's me.