Is there any fruit in this world that people state tastes like meat, feels like meat and has the texture or consistency of a meat like say beef or chicken.
If it also has the protein content of meat so much the better.
It’s a fairly easy question to Google. I’m getting a lot of hits for Jackfruit, which I’d never heard of before. Apparently it tastes like pork.
Not fruits, but if you’re looking for a vegetarian option, several mushrooms have a meaty flavor. Though, you might need to experiment. I’ve heard “meaty” applied to a few mushrooms that to me tasted like raw dough (e.g., shiitake), but I have tasted a few that did have a meat-like flavor. Different textures can be achieved through different preparations.
Jackfruit tastes like a cross between a banana, apple, pineapple, and mango. It’s frequently used to sweeten desserts in SE Asian dishes and they make candy from juice concentrate.
It seems a stretch to say it tastes like pork… I’ve also seen it used on TV in cooking shows for its sweetness. I haven’t had it myself though.
ETA: Visiting those links, the fruit “tastes like pork” when the fruit is preserved in brine then cooked in barbecue sauce.
Under those conditions anything will taste like pork.
I find that vegetables like broccoli and asparagus take on a “meaty” if you cook them by roasting.
Not a fruit, but Quorn makes various meat substitute products made using Mycoprotein from Fusarium venenatum fungus. I’ve eaten most of their products and I can assure you they can be extremely tasty if prepared and cooked correctly, especially if served with garlic / onions and sauce to enhance the flavour. While most people could still tell the difference it’s definitely meaty.
Mostly european but apparently also available in the US and Australia.
I have heard that roasting watermelon makes it chewy and meaty.
I have never tried this, nor shall I ever.
Your loss, it’s pretty good, not exactly meaty but savory for sure. Plenty of recipes, images if you google for it.
Ripe ackee has been compared to scrambled eggs, but I don’t know what its protein content actually is. It’s often eaten with saltfish, so I suspect it’s not really a meat substitute itself.
Seitan, which is gluten with the flour starch washed out, is also a popular meat substitute for people who like that kind of thing. It tastes a lot like chicken and has a vaguely comparable texture.
I’ve had Seitan and the Quorn stuff is much much better. Quorn has sausages, burger patties, “chicken” breasts, and faux “bacon” plus more. None of them taste exactly like the real thing but they all taste different and are tasty in their own right. But yes the Quorn stuff is not exactly cheap, often costing more than real meat.
While not a fruit, Morel mushrooms have a complex flavor that some have compared to steak. Many people don’t realize that because they are often served with steak. They really are a delicacy, the last batch I had had all that and a little bit of maple syrup flavor, I suppose maybe picked up by nearby trees. Anyway they are delicious. They are mostly wild, not found in stores.
From your link:
Beefsteak fungus looks uncannily like steak both raw and cooked. I’ve heard people say it tastes meaty too, but I’ve tried it twice and didn’t find it meaty, or particularly enjoyable.
Chicken-of-the-woods is one that most people do seem to agree on its meatiness. I’ve yet to be lucky enough to find one of these. My search continues…
Morels certainly have a very complex flavor, probably more complex than steak, but it’s not at all like steak. Personally, I found the flavor quite unpleasant.
And when you say that something is “sought after by vegetarians because it tastes like meat”, then you’re introducing a huge selection effect: It tastes like meat to those people who have the least idea what meat actually tastes like. Now, when something is sought after by meat-eaters because it tastes like meat, give me a call then.
there are people who have *stopped *eating meat for various reasons.
You can get fruit that tastes like meat if you’re lucky enough to have the Little People genetically manipulate some trees for your, and if you happen to be a character in Robert Heinlein’s novel Methuselah’s Children. You have to take the risk of the occasional Marion Schmidt, though.
Actually, the idea of a Filet Mignon tree has always troubled me. You’d have to heat the fruit, or else be content with room temperature steaks. And you’d have to satisfy the people who wanted Well Done as well as the Medium Rare people. Maybe the “doneness” of the steak would depend on how ripe it was. “Don’t eat that one – It’s not ripe. it’s still bloody and red.”
As a meat-eater I quite often select Quorn as my “meat”. I know it’s made from fungus, but it tastes like meat to me.
I’ve never found a meat substitute that actually tastes like meat (other than in dishes like chili or spaghetti sauce where it’s not really the meat you’re tasting in the first place), but I have found some that taste very good.
One of those reasons being that they don’t like the taste of meat. Plus, even if a given vegetarian used to eat meat, that might have been many years in the past before they tried some particular substitute.
I had durian for the first time last weekend, and one of the tastes was definitely meat-like.
If you enjoy the complex flavours of meat marinaded in gasoline and bile, this might be the meat substitute for you.