A newbie vegan asks: Should you fake your steak?

Original article by Elizabeth Kwak-Hefferan

This article talks about one woman's attempt at becoming a vegan for a full month. Vegan eating is a dairy-free, meat-free, and egg-free diet that is based around plants and grains. As someone considering a vegan lifestyle, this article caught my attention and answered a few of my own personal questions about soy-products. Are they good for us? Should we substitute meat products for the fake ones?

Tofurkey!

Kwak-Hefferan discusses fake meat and how it is processed for consumption. She visited the Field Roast Grain Meats headquarters in Seattle, Washington to find out more information. According to her, the facility was clean and the ingredients were vegan-friendly, mainly consisting of grains, soy, and a variety of mashed up vegetables to give the products some, let's say, "meat".

The final products sounded appetizing, such as the hazelnut cranberry roast. Although she did not go into detail about the healthiness of these products, they did not seem like a poor alternative for nights where a salad just will not do. I now feel that these alternative products are less of a mystery and might be more willing to try them. However, I feel that if you are wishing to be vegan, fresh produce is the best source of nutrients, but a little mix of alternatives probably cannot hurt!