Usually, each ingredient is added to an enormous mixer, which churns them together into a sort of blush pink, fake-meat putty. From there the process is pretty similar to that of a regular meat factory: those clumps are shaped into nuggets or burger patties or sausages or bricks of ground “beef,” then frozen, packaged, and shipped to a grocery store or fast-food restaurant near you.
What are the health benefits of fake meats?
Many of the new fake meats, the ones made typically with pea or soy, are “rich sources of protein and the amino acid lysine, which most plant foods lack, aside from legumes,” Taylor Wolfram, MS, RDN, LDN, a registered dietician specializing in veganism, says.
And while most plant-based meat alternatives contain protein, Beyond and Impossible are most comparable in quantity to the foods they’re trying to imitate, registered dietician and Intuitive Eating counselor Kara Lydon, RD, LDN, RYT, adds. Most fake meats are also higher in fiber than real meat, she says, and therefore, when combined with protein, tend to keep you fuller for longer. And many “alternatives all contain very little saturated fat, which is often a nutrient of concern for those trying to limit red meat intake.”
Fake meats also could be a gateway to eating more vegetables in general, Zimberoff hopes. About 95% of Americans aren’t eating the recommended amount of daily fiber, and fake meats, she believes, have “brought up the conversation.” A fake meat patty can satisfy omnivores looking for that signature taste and texture. And “this ultimately helps folks stick with veganism long-term, if they’re not feeling deprived of their favorite foods,” says Wolfram, who takes an anti-diet approach with her clients.
For me, avoiding the slaughter of animals, mentally and emotionally, feels like some kind of health benefit too. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never eaten something delicious and immediately thought afterward, Wow, I sure wish this was made out of the flesh of a living being. As New York Times Opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof suspects, growing ethical and environmental concerns, combined with a heap of tasty alternatives, “will lead our descendants to eat less meat, and be baffled at our casual acceptance of an industrial agricultural model built on large-scale cruelty.”
Okay, what about the cons?
One of the biggest ironies here: Many fake meat brands go to town marketing their health benefits while simultaneously trying to replicate the industrialized American diet—which many would agree has not been good to us. I’m talking about burgers, nuggets, sausages, and ground meat, or what Zimberoff calls “the baseball stadium menu” and Michael Pollan has referred to as “edible foodlike substances” in his 2008 book In Defense of Food.
Just because a burger is made from plants instead of animals doesn’t automatically make it “healthier” for you, Lydon says. “Compared to a meat-based burger, Beyond and Impossible contain roughly the same amount of saturated fat and more sodium,” she says, both of which, when over-consumed, can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. “In terms of nutrition labels, most of these seem comparable with the meat foods they are trying to replace,” agrees Coupland, referring primarily to the amount of protein, fat, calories, and sodium in both. It’s important, he says, to remember that “the point of comparison is a sausage, not a carrot!”
