Considering Veggie Bacon

We've been eating veggie bacon a fair amount lately. Partly it's because I'm craving less fat (as T gets older (now 5 months) that happens--when she hits 7 or 8 months I'll be close to my normal eating habits) and partly because I think it's kind of fun.

Way way back (1991) I became a vegetarian. In about 1995/1996 I decided that all things in moderation worked better for me, and then when I got pregnant with N (2001), I began to crave* meat. My meat eating waxes and wanes depending on my need for fat and protein which depends on where I am in terms of pregnancy or nursing. This last pregnancy with T, I craved bacon. Considering I was both pregnant and nursing, it's not surprising that I craved very fatty meat!

I remember being very excited when the cafeteria where I work would have a sandwich with bacon on it for lunch. I remember when I learned I could ask J (the main cook there) if he could add bacon to my sandwiches even on days when it wasn't a special. (Oooooohhh... Bacon!) When I was pregnant with T I would also try to get to work before 10 am (difficult coming from my house) so that I could get eggs and bacon from the cafeteria for breakfast. It was all about bacon for me. Very very weird. It was a great day if I could get bacon for both breakfast and lunch.

Recently, I discovered veggie bacon and it tastes pretty good. It's a nice compromise because real bacon kind of greases my husband out. Veggie bacon gives you that bacony taste with a lot less grease.

Anyway, perhaps the coolest thing, to me, about Veggie Bacon is that if you wanted to, you could eat it raw. I have no desire to eat veggie bacon raw, but if I did want to, I could. It wouldn't hurt me! I also don't have the desire to lick my fingers after putting it in the pan to cook, but once again, if I wanted to, I could. You just can't do that with real bacon.

I remember being told how scary trichinosis was as a child. I always cook my real bacon until it resembles charcoal. The incidence of trichinosis in pork has actually declined and according to the link above, and cases of trichinosis are now only about 50 a year. Even so, raw bacon or undercooked bacon = yuck in my opinion.

What's your favorite thing about "fake meats?"

* Despite my craving of real meat during the pregnancy, I'm pretty sure I still eat it less than many people in the U.S. I think over the last 5 years I've not eaten it more than 2 times a week on average. (On average... Some days it was all meat!)