Nathan Exposed » Veggie Bacon

Veggie Bacon

When it comes to vegetarian substitutes for meat, I’ve had very mixed results in the past. Some of it was okay, some of it was really bad. None of it was good enough to make part of my regular diet [in my opinion].

So yesterday, my friend Cindy told me I had to try Morningstar Farms’ version of bacon strips. I was open to giving them a shot. Afterall, I do love bacon but I always feel bad eating it because it’s really unhealthy for your heart.

Let’s start with how they look. Well, awful. They don’t really look like bacon at all. If you focus on how they look, you will not eat them.

But let’s talk about flavor. OMFG! These things are excellent. They seriously taste just like bacon. There is absolutely no grease and they are 100% vegetarian. I have to give Cindy kudos because I will probably never buy real bacon again.

Let’s also talk about health. Morningstar claims these have 44% less fat than bacon. So I did a side by side comparison with the regular bacon we were buying from Oscar Mayer.

Believe it or not, they actually had about the same amount of calories, fat, and sodium. There was no strong evidence that the veggies were any healthier. However, when it came to cholesterol, there was a HUGE difference! Morning Star has 0mg, while Oscar Mayer has 15mg!

So if you’re eating veggie bacon to be healthier, you’re only cutting back on cholesterol — but that’s still a good thing. When it comes to Fat, I’m sure it varies quite a bit among brands. There probably is a brand out there with 44% more fat.

All in all, I still have to give Morningstar a huge thumbs up. Any time you can substitute fatty, greasy meat with vegetables, it’s a good thing. I’m sure some pig appreciated it. Plus, I just can’t get over the flavor. If all veggie meat tasted this authentic, I would be hooked!

Wed, Mar 14, 2007 @ 1:35 pm | Filed in Life | Permalink

7 Comments

I would tend to suspect that the MF product would have healthier fats than the real bacon since most of the fat would come from soybean oil. And even the total fat thing sounds odd to me, I wonder if there’s some sort of caveat that we’re missing.

Anyway I LOVE the morningstar products. I’ve never had the bacon but I eat their sausage from time to time, and I pretty much live off of their various types of ‘burgers’ (some of which try to taste like hamburgers, others like the ‘black bean burger’ are just their own thing). I’m actually in panic mode now because the morningstar shelf at my Kroger’s seems to be shrinking, in favor of Boca and other brands that I don’t like nearly as much.

I found out recently though that their products do use egg whites, so they aren’t completely vegan.

Posted by Jon on Wed, Mar 14, 2007 @ 2:50 pm

She got me hooked on that evil stuff too. I never even LIKED bacon.

And you’re so right about the look. Dog treats look more appetizing.

Posted by beth_ on Wed, Mar 14, 2007 @ 2:57 pm

Told you so You’re hooked now too. We’ll end up having our own support group….”My name is Cindy and I’m a veggie bacon addict.”

Posted by cindy on Wed, Mar 14, 2007 @ 2:59 pm

I’ve tried a couple of times, but never have been able to make the transition to vegetarian, even though I like the concept. I’ll try this Morningstar farms.

Posted by DEL on Wed, Mar 14, 2007 @ 5:31 pm

I believe you need to look at the saturated fat content comparative to unsaturated fat. The former is very bad for you. Even worse is hydrogenated fat - it is the WORST culprit of all. *walk down from my soapbox*

Posted by enihsnus on Wed, Mar 14, 2007 @ 9:40 pm

they do make some of the best veggie bacon. but im a bad vegetarian and eat the real stuff. bad vegetarian bad!

Posted by aboutaboy on Thu, Mar 15, 2007 @ 12:11 pm

The “sausage” patties from Morningstar are frequently in our freezer……gladly. We love ‘em.

Posted by Lewis on Thu, Mar 15, 2007 @ 5:39 pm