Some vegans freak out when fake meat tastes too much like the real thing

When 19-year-old Kaysha Clarius bit into KFC’s hugely successful vegan “Imposter burger” in late June, she was disturbed. A vegan for two years, the mother from Bristol felt the fake fried chicken tasted alarmingly real. “I used to eat KFC, and it was very similar to that,” she says. She stopped eating, took a picture of the fillet and posted it on a 46,000-strong Facebook group for British vegans.

The KFC vegan burger is made from Quorn, a British meat substitute made from a fermented fungus bound with potato protein. The chain is just one of a growing number of fast food outlets offering vegan options. Pizza Hut launched a vegan pizza in January 2018, and the McDonald’s vegan Happy Meal was in its restaurants a year later. Yet, while advancements in the fake meat market delight many vegans, others are concerned that they could, in fact, be eating meat.

“I always get paranoid when [fake meat] tastes so much like the real thing, that one day it’s all going to come out on the news that we have been tricked into eating real meat this whole time,” reads one comment on the Facebook group. In February, a commenter posted a picture of Greggs’ vegan sausage roll, seeking reassurance that it wasn’t real meat. “Had to stop eating,” they wrote. “Please tell me it’s safe.”

Vintage wrote:I don't understand why someone who doesn't eat meat for whatever reason chooses a lookalike, tastealike fake meat product. What's the point.

Vintage wrote:I don't understand why someone who doesn't eat meat for whatever reason chooses a lookalike, tastealike fake meat product. What's the point.

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:

That woman in the O/P is an idiot...

And like eddie suggested, she's clearly not a genuine "vegan"  --  as I've pointed out several times, there are a lot of faux vegans out there, claiming to be something they're obviously not..

As for the 'KFC taste' :   is she really so stoopid that she doesn't realise that brand-name "tastes" come from additives and spices ?  I doubt that stupid faux-vegan even knows what genuine plain old chicken meat tastes like..