Vegetarians have more diet options now with mock meats slowly becoming popular in the Indian market  Gone are the days when vegetarians would have to stick to their restricted food items comprising dal, paneer and sabji. Breaking away from the monotonous dietary habit, vegetarians can now get the taste of meat without consuming it literally. Adding variety to the vegetarian platters are mock meats or substitutes of meat, a concept that has found entry in the Indian market. Even though at a nascent stage, mock meats have already made its presence felt in a number of eateries and supermarkets in the country.
What is mock meat?
Mock meats are essentially substitutes of non-vegetarian food items such as fish, chicken, mutton, pork and others. It is made up of ingredients such as wheat gluten, tofu and soya. These ingredients try to imitate the taste, flavour, texture and appearance of real meats. As a result, mock meats when consumed taste like meat but are actually not meat.
Nutritionally, like chicken, mutton and others, mock meat is rich in protein content. But unlike the former, the latter is a cholesterol-free food item with high calcium and fibre content.
“Tests have proven that mock meats have as much protein as chicken and fish and more protein than mutton. In calcium and fibre content, mock meats are considered far better an option as compared to real meat,” said Yasmin A Jadwani, proprietor ofAhimsa Food, a small-sized company in New Delhi dealing in vegetarian food products, in an interview with a FoodProcessing360 correspondent. .
History of mock meat
The concept of mock meat, which has now become popular as a healthy alternative in most of the Western countries, initially originated in China and with time gained popularity there. In fact, the concept travelled to India with the help of the Chinese people. In India, serving of mock meat was introduced in a Chinese restaurant. However, it did not appeal the vegetarians who strictly stayed away from ordering mock meat delicacies.
Nevertheless, the present market scenario of mock meats has somewhat changed. Mock meat is slowly gaining popularity in India.
Mock meat, an option for non-vegetarians too
Mock meats not only please the taste buds of the vegetarians, but also act as viable, healthy and nutritive options for non-vegetarians as well, who can easily give up eating meat without compromising on the intake of the required nutrients.
Elaborating further, leading food technologist, consultant and advisor from Lucknow Satish Srivastava said, “Mock meats are actually healthier diet options as against real meat even for non-vegetarians because the former contains all the essential amino acids required by the human body. Mock meats are a mixture of two or more vegetable proteins, which ensures presence of all the essential nutrients required by the human body.”
Known mock meats
Some of the known mock meat options available in the Indian market are soya meat, tofu, tempeh, wheat gluten and others. Made from soya beans, soya meats have high protein content of more than 50%. Tofu has all the essential amino acids required by the human body and forms the main source for meat substitutes made from soya. A conventional Indonesian food item, tempeh is sourced from fermented soya and is high in protein content and also containsvitamin B, while wheat gluten is prepared from protein elements such as glutenin and gliadin. Vegetarian burgers, nuggets, sausages and minced meat, among others are made from wheat gluten.
Shalmoli Kundu |
