I happened to run across this website, and I’m not sure what to think. My random reactions in no particular order:
- That’s disgusting! But I am intrigued…
- If it tastes like bacon but isn’t bacon, it’s not real food.
- How nice that our Jewish friends can now experience the flavor of bacon! I wonder if it can be made halaal as well?
- Anyways, any action taken on the premise that ”everything should taste like bacon” can’t have a completely bad result. Everything should taste like bacon.
- But if I want something to taste like bacon, I’ll include real bacon or bacon fat.
- Their “bacon salt” has NO calories. Bacon has tons of calories. Is it really possible to enjoy the taste of bacon without the calories? Is this a perversion of nature, or a modern miracle?
- But… but… if it’s that good – and contains no meat – it might mean that it’s possible to be happil vegetarian again and not worry about missing, well, bacon. Maybe even NBB could be convinced to start down the vegetable path…
In the end? I don’t think I would buy it if I saw it in the stores – because I’d just buy bacon instead – and this just isn’t real food. And if it IS as delicious as they are claiming it is… there could be trouble. I imagine buying this stuff by the case and pouring cups of it into every recipe… Bad, bad!
This is a question that goes deeper than simply what you put in your mouth – it’s about how you live, how you relate to reality, who you trust, what you rely on. Is it a good idea to become dependent on a food product that you don’t fully understand and over the contents of which you have no control? Of course not! For the sake of your health and your budget, isn’t it better to avoid that, as much as possible?
And is it right to eat one thing because it tastes like something it isn’t? I don’t think so. There’s a fundamental dishonesty in there somehow – dishonesty towards yourself and your food. If they made “celebrity salt” that you could sprinkle on your boyfriend to make him look like Hugh Jackman before letting him kiss you, would that be OK?
Ehhh?
Am I being too old-fashioned here? Maybe this is just part of the new morality of the 21st century. Everything is just more casual than it used to be – relationships, courtrooms, TV decency guidelines, journalistic standards, public education, office attire… food identities? People drive replica cars, hang replica art on their walls, and have no shame in carrying around replica Louis Vuitton or Prada handbags. Replica Bacon Flavor must be a much lesser offense… except that you actually eat it. But then again, the frozen section of any grocer now stocks a number of products that look and taste similar to meat, but aren’t meat - and I’ve tried many and even enjoyed some. And long before fake meat came on the scene, we accepted such contradictions as decaf coffee, dairy-free butter and sugar-free sweetener without a murmur.
So, why not meat-free bacon flavor?
I don’t know.
It still weirds me out.
Still, I think these guys are onto something. Definitely, more things should taste like bacon. Maybe it’s not a bad idea to try making a mayonnaise-like substance using bacon fat rather than oil. Of course, that could never be kosher… but it could be delicious…
