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The Fabulous Fakes

© Jackie Hensler

Buffalo wings ... chicken nuggets ... corn dogs. No longer do these foods exist for the meat-eating world. There has been a wonderful shift from traditional American cuisine toward vegetarian-friendly soy products.

Sometimes it is hard for beginning vegetarians to change their eating habits. While you weep for cattle in the stockyards, you may be guiltily dreaming of Grandma's turkey roast. Even though you are convinced animal fat will kill you, every once in a while you crave those barbecued ribs from Harry's Restaurant down the road.

Well, crave no longer because we have a stocked aisle in your grocery store dedicated to offering you the best and finest vegetarian products so similar to the real thing, you'll hardly taste the difference.

While a taste for meat substitutes may offend some vegetarian activists who pride themselves on the "natural" and "pure" products nature offers, even a purist would agree these meat-free meals are pretty good. Creating fabulous fakes has been a time-honored practice in China and Japan for centuries. Now creative chefs and food manufacturers in the West have produced a wealth of delectable meat alternatives.

As stated above, you can find products in the freezer section of your grocery store, with even more products available at local health stores. Soy milk now replaces milk. Veggie burgers, vegetarian hotdogs and sausages, vegetarian chicken and buffalo wings, meatless deli slices, and other soy products like cheese, butter, and eggs have been created to provide many options for the growing vegetarian population.

They may not all taste like the real thing or in fact be as fabulous a fake as you were hoping for. But for the struggling vegetarian who often reminisces about what that buffalo wing tastes like, these products provide alternatives in taste, and more complimentary, healthful substitutes.

A Morningstar Farm official (one of the most recognized brands in the meat-alternative industry) says the overall veggie food category, defined as anything taking the place of traditional meat products, grew more than 37 percent annually in the last five years. The largest growth is in veggie burgers. These "burgers" can also complement meals with non-vegetarian friends quite nicely at cookouts or dinners.

And here are some interesting statistics on the growing soy trend:

o Soybean use is projected to grow annually at 7.6 percent through 2005 for food products such as veggie burgers, tofu, and soymilk (LLMC International).

o The specialty market, which includes the rapidly expanding nutritional beverages, food bars, health supplements, and sports supplements is projected to grow annually by 16.1 percent until 2005.