Dear Kerby,
I do not know if you have ever heard about MorningStar Farms, Boca, or Gardein before. These are all companies that produce vegetarian food. The first company I got hooked on was Boca. The Boca company makes two veggie burgers and a chicken patty that I was introduced to. These were the basic of my existence when cooking on my own while living at the dorms. I later found MorningStar Farms products. The MorningStar Farms company sells more than burgers. They make meat crumble for tacos, chili and much more. They also make meatballs, breakfast sausages (links and patties), veggie dogs, bacon, and other varieties of meatless style meat. Some of the MorningStar Farms products can be stand alone like the ribs with sauce or in a recipe like the meatballs. Gardein is very Similar to MorningStar Farms except that is has beef tips, veggie fish, turkey cutlets, and fancy main dishes.
I eat these products more than anything else because I find it easier than making a vegetarian recipe. From time to time I make things from scratch when I have extra money. It can add up when you need to buy individual ingredients for every meal. Sad. I like making a veggie meatloaf from scratch. Not many other things do I make from scratch unless it is a special day. I have used the recipes on the websites from Gardein before but that is different than than from scratch.
When I got my new issue of the vegetarian magazine I saw an ad for Lightlife. The ad features a ground beef/meat crumble option. This made me think of the other meat crumbles by the previous mentioned companies. For some reason I had to research Lightlife and find out if they are just a copy of a vegetarian company that already exists. The more satisfying thing that they do different is a veggie style lunch meat. Part of me thinks that this will not be the best thing ever but I am still curious to have a taste. Luckily, sites like these show you where you can buy their products.
The vegetarian isle seems to be growing after I found out which local store (Kroger) sells products from this newly featured company (that had been around a while). Most stores near me that have a vegetarian section do not feature vegetarian items like they would with other products. It might have to do with not many people in my area being vegetarian. At times if I do not take time to look for vegetarian products I will miss them (that is how small the vegetarian section is). When I was living in the dorms I had stopped into an unfamiliar grocery store and it took forever to find the vegetarian section, but I eventually did.
Not sure what new vegetarian company will emerge next. When they do I hope that they make a product different than what is already in stores. Some times I guess it is the Pepsi vs Coke debate all over again.
Talk to you later,
Bluelaugh