Quitting meat cold-turkey (sorry, bad pun) isn’t going to work for John. But what about slipping in some fake meat products to try to fool him? Well, I figure he’d probably notice, but I thought that perhaps he might actually like some 0f these faux meat products. Personally, I don’t like meat and don’t miss it at all, but since I love my husband and want Operation Carnivore Conversion to work, off I went to the grocery store – a few of them – to hunt down some free-roaming veggies-masquerading-as-flesh and try it out on him…and on me too. Here’s what we found:

Vegetarian Ginger Chicken in Ginger Basil Sauce by Vegetarian Plus

Purchased at Whole Food
Verdict: Edible!
Review: John liked it and said he’d eat it again! I also liked it – good flavor, decent texture. Worked very well in stir-fry. I nuked it first, then tossed it in the stir fry once everything was cooked and ready to serve.

Beefless Beef Tips by Gardein
Purchased at Whole Foods
Verdict: Blehkk. Avoid like a flesh-eating bacteria.
Review: It was just all-around wrong. The texture was kinda squishy and the flavor was weird, even though I marinated it in fajita sauce for a couple of hours. I tried it in fajitas and John, our friends and I all picked around the ‘beef’ tips since the vegetables were way better.

Soyrizo
Purchased at Whole Foods
Verdict: Edible!
Review: I used this in a vegan white bean quesadilla and John really liked it! I even liked it, which is saying something since I had never tried chorizo before and the thought of a vegan version scared me. One note though: if you want a chunkier consistency, don’t add it until the dish is damn near done. I added it while I was simmering and blending the other ingredients and it just broke apart and blended with everything else. Is real chorizo supposed to do that? Who knows. But I have a feeling that this will maintain a chunkier texture if you add it only at the end.

Coconut Curry Tempeh
Purchased at Whole Foods
Verdict: Should be used only as building material
Review: This cardboard-textured ‘food’ (how can it honestly call itself food?) damn near permanently derailed Operation Carnivore Conversion. I tried it in a super flavorful Thai red curry but both John and I nearly gagged when we tried it.

Morningstar Farms fake sausage links
Purchased at Safeway
Verdict: Edible!
Review: John really liked it and said he’d eat it again, but he says that it needs to be on his fork with some other form of breakfast food. I tried it and, well, I suppose I’m not a good judge since I hated ‘the real thing’ when my parents forced me to eat it during my childhood. I didn’t like this fake sausage very much since it had too much of a meat-like texture for me and the flavor was sorta meaty too – yuck.