This will change your life ::moved from Genral::

[popcornbird]

Oh, I LOVE veggie patties and burgers, but what I meant by soy products was milk vs. soy. I LOVE milk and cheese, and I wouldn't trade if for soy milk and soy cheese. Soy milk is good when its strawberry flavored, but still, milk is milk. This is in reference of me not being able to become a vegan, ever. I need my eggs too, at least once a week.

[allanimalswelcome]

Oh I know I was just saying any "immatation" isn't the same. I like real BBQ pork thanks very much.

There is a girl I know who got me to each a piece of soy cheese and I barfed a half hour later...it was disgusting!

~Rachel

[Soledad]

I really dislike milk and anything that attempts to be like milk. Soy and rice milk are extremely gross to me, and if I have to have something be milky I prefer to use organic regular milk, need be.

A note on farming practices:

You may only see fresh farms with cows grazing, but factory farms don't necessarily mean you will be seeing these animals. Think warehouse. Think hundreds of animals stored in the same barn. You're not exactly going to see that.

Even a lot of the regular old-time farms do things that are sketchy like load their animals up with antibiotics and use feed with pesticides and BONE meal. Yes, that's cows eating feed made out of other cows.

For more wonderful tales of American farming read My Year of Meat which is an excellent novel that includes facts about farming practices.

[allanimalswelcome]

My mom ALWAYS buys organic milk and meat products. They are much healthier for you. No antiboitics or crap like that.

I'm aware not all organic farming practices aren't always created "the best" but it's a step in the right direction.

~Rachel

[Miss Meow]

Originally posted by Soledad
...

Is that the book with the yellow and white cover with a little cow in chopsticks??? I'm having a mental blank over the author's name (Ozeki?) I have that book and have read it at least twice. The stuff on routine antibiotic use in animals was scary to say the least.

Fast Food Nation was also an interesting read.

[Soledad]

Yeah, that's the book, Nicole. I think her name is Ruth Ozeki. It's excellent!

[Miss Meow]

Oh good, my last little brain cell was trying so hard to remember!

[veegan]

"But I've learned that this decision must be made in the heart...you cannot be persuaded to be vegetarian"

I totally agree.

"Ugh I know! And everyone is saying "Oh veggie burgers taste the same as real meat!" and that is just a lie because I bought a veggie burger at my father's work and it tasted like potatoe...yum"

Uh.. well I know Ive never said that to anyone. From my experience there are TONS of imitation meat products, and some are disgusting and some arent. You cant really know from just one kind, that you've eaten one time. And everyone has different opinions on taste. I believe soy is an aquired taste. If you grow up eating meat your whole life and then start eating soy all of a sudden, yeah it's gonna taste weird. I would think itd be the same the other way around (grew up on soy then switched to meat). But eventually you grow to know and like the taste. At least I did. And of course it doesnt taste like meat.. it isnt. It tastes like soy. It took me a while to find what foods I liked and didnt like, and it took a few months to get used to the taste of soy, but even throughout it all, I knew the reasons I was becoming vegan were worth choking down gross soy dogs all my life. Thankfully however, I do enjoy what I eat now. lol Personally I like light life brand the best, and garden burger has good stuff too, unfortunately most of their products arent vegan. Their riblets are though and they are the BEST.

And I hate and always have hated milk. I hate soy milk too. I can handle rice milk, but I only eat it on cereal or in cooking. Cheese makes me want to vomit, both the smell and taste. The best soy ice cream in the world is Soy Delicious. Tofutti is good too. They are the only brands I eat. All the others are disgusting- in my opinion. I havent had soy cheese before, and from my experience most soy dairy imitations are very soy tasting. :P But they are decent. lol

"I like real BBQ pork thanks very much."

Well hey, I like real pig flesh too, as long as its still alive that is. With or without the BBQ sauce- I dont have a preference either way.

[Miss Meow]

Originally posted by veegan
... And of course it doesnt taste like meat.. it isnt. It tastes like soy. It took me a while to find what foods I liked and didnt like, and it took a few months to get used to the taste of soy, but even throughout it all, I knew the reasons I was becoming vegan were worth choking down gross soy dogs all my life.

Excellent point! Soy is soy and meat is meat. Soy will probably never taste like meat, nor should it. It's a food in its own right.

[Soledad]

I might also add, if I stopped eating an entire genre of food based on ONE bad experience there would be very little left for me to choose from.

If anyone is actually interested in seriously trying soy products, I'd start out with the veggie burger type stuff first. Do not start with soy cheese, it's very much an acquired taste. If you're interested in soy/rice milk I suggest you do so by starting with things like smoothies, etc. It's something that you have to ease yourself into, if you care to.

But there are some things that I just don't choose to go near such as soy cheese and soy icecream.

[RubyMutt]

mmm... veggie burgers are GOOD! I would take them over a meat patty ANY DAY! (I don't eat red meat, but I'd prefer veggie burgers over any other kind of burger even if it wasn't beef )

... I'm now craving a Denny's Boco burger.... mmmm *drools*

[babolaypo65]

If you're in the states, start with Morningstar farms products. Very mainstream soy based stuff. YUMMY. Best corn dog you ever had in your freezer.

[RubyMutt]

Originally posted by Soledad

But there are some things that I just don't choose to go near such as soy cheese and soy icecream.

Soy yogurt is quite possibly the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted.

I don't eat much soy... soy "meat" patties I love (like I said earlier), I also LOVE plain soy nuts - they are one of my favorite snacks. I drink soy milk every once and awhile (we always have it around since my dad drinks it), but I still drink cow milk more (I'm obsessive over making sure I get adequate amounts of calcium).

I love chicken corn dogs... I'm going to have to try one of those Morningstar corn dogs. I've never heard of that brand before. I'll definitely keep my eye out for them next time I'm at the grocery store.

[CathyBogart]

Maybe I'm crazy, but I like soy ice cream! Even though I'm not vegetarian, I do like the taste of veggie burgers and such, and eat them on occasion just because they're yummy. They certainly don't taste like meat though!

[allanimalswelcome]

I guess their ok but when I want something like a hotdog I certainly wouldn't turn to them (and yes I know "But hotdogs are made a pig intestines!")