the mysteries of vegetarian meat

Well, I guess there's really no mystery. Its soy stuff that's supposed to taste like meat. Except it doesn't.

But I find veggie "meat" to be equally as good, just in a different way - especially pork and duck. They're both WAY too fatty to eat on a regular basis, but the veggie/soy versions are pretty tasty. Not to mention that they are far healthier.

Case(s) in point: Vegetarian smoked tea duck at the Love 'n Haight Deli, the vegetal sweet and sour pork at Shangrila Restaurant, and Gardenburger's frozen BBQ "riblets". All much better than their real meat versions - I had real smoked tea duck the other day, and almost gagged because of all the fat. Yuck.

And I don't care how much you people and/or various waitstaff laugh at me - a veggie burger with bacon is probably one of the best things in the world.