My grandmother was a Buddhist and I remember hiking up to the temples in the mountains in Korea, before dawn, to pay respect to our elders who have passed, on their birthdays, memorials and holidays. And in those early mornings, after the ceremonies, the monks would cook us our breakfasts. All they gave us was vegetables and rice. And let me tell you, I still remember how delicious those meals were. Why? because they were WHOLE foods….vegetables they picked from their garden, and rice they recently bartered with the local rice farmers. They were not processed, fake anything….just pure, whole, unadulterated, and fresh vegetables.

Becoming vegetarians seem like a good idea. But if you substitute your meat cravings with fake meats, I don’t see how that’s good for your body, nutritionally. Go with whole foods. You can’t go wrong.

Haven’t read Eating Animals yet, but I did place a hold for a copy at my local library (hasn’t come in yet, though — evidently a lot of other people placed holds, too!).

But as someone whose best friend for 12 years was of the feline persuasion, I have a visceral reaction to the thought of eating anything I could have been friends with — or, for that matter, anything that looks like what I look like inside. I don’t consider myself a PETA-type activist; these are simply my personal convictions. I have to admit, I do feel a bit dismayed to hear that Katzen has gone off vegetarianism!

Incidentally, have you read Jonathan Safron Foer’s Eating Animals? I think it’s an engaging and surprisingly non-confrontational look at the issues involved in eating meat.

You bring up an important point about the tradition of Chinese Buddhists making soy-based meat substitutes. I would point out, however, that there’s a difference between occasionally supplementing your vegetarian diet with Buddhist ‘vegetarian chicken’ and eating Morningstar Farms bacon for breakfast, a Quorn turk’y burger for lunch, and a Boca chick’n stir fry for dinner every day of the week. Processed food in large quantities — even if it’s veggie-based — isn’t good for your health. Maybe that’s why even vegetarian icon Mollie Katzen is experimenting with meat again:

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/why-vegetarians-are-eating-meat

My vegetarianism was motivated primarily by the close friendships I’ve had with animals, not because I hated the taste of meat. On the occasions I do miss the taste, meat substitutes (I heart Quorn!) fill in a gap without the accompanying guilt. It’s a compromise. I can see why people who are vegetarian for environmental reasons wouldn’t have the same hang up about occasionally eating grass-fed or organic meat when they really crave it.

I wonder if anyone’s done a comparison of the health and environmental impacts of fake meat products vs. real meat?