Sometimes Pork Fat Does Rule

Awhile ago I posted about preferring my husband's homemade, full-fat, all-natural ice cream to any fat-free or reduced-fat version one could buy in a store. My reasoning was, it's better to enjoy a small amount of the real thing fully than only to be semi-satisfied by a more-healthful but less-tasty facsimile that still leaves you wanting more.

Recently, I had the same revelation about certain types of meat and their substitutes. Now let me be clear: if you are are vegetarian or have a religious or health reason for not eating some types of meat, I'm not aiming this at you. But if you do not have those restrictions, listen up.

We do not serve pork products in our house, and we don't serve meat and dairy together because we keep a kosher home. As a result, I have tried several different forms of meat substitutes over the years. Some of them aren't bad, others are pretty good, and still others are just plain awful. For instance, I love Trader Joe's Meatless Meatballs (great for serving with pasta, tomato sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, or even on meatball sandwiches), think Morningstar Farms' "crumbles" make a fantastic substitute for ground meat in sauces, and I love a good veggie burger (particularly Gardenburger). But I have not found a decent substitute for bacon.

My husband talks about a product he had as a kid called "fry beef," but I haven't found it in San Diego. What I have found simply doesn't measure up. All the vegetarian bacon substitutes, to me, taste like chemicals. All those preformed strips just don't do it for me. So I'd rather opt out on this one than go for a more-healthful, kosher substitute. (If anyone has tried a bacon substitute that tastes and smells like real bacon, I'd like to know about it.)

So while I'm all for choosing more-healthful foods, if they don't measure up I say simply don't buy them. Hopefully, this will encourage the makers of substitute foods to make more delicious (and nutritious) versions that actually taste like what they're mimicking. And if they could do that by using real food, instead of chemicals, hip hip hooray for them! Bon Appetit!