Composition of Chicken: Exploring the Science Behind Meatless Alternatives

  • Thread starter Monique
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In summary, the organizer asked if the vegetarian would eat chicken, to which the responder replied that he wasn't sure what chicken was composed of. He then goes on to say that there are lots of people who call themselves vegetarians who eat poultry, and that vegetarians don't eat animals. He also says that he is a vegetarian.
  • #1
Monique
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There must be some new kind of development, I e-mailed a meeting organizer in reply to her inquiry about dietary requests. I replied that I'm a vegetarian and thus don't eat meat/fish. I get the reply "Do you eat chicken?" :rolleyes:

Makes me wonder what chicken is composed of..
 
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  • #2
There are lots of people that claim to be vegetarian, yet still eat poultry.

I'm not saying I agree with claiming to be vegetarian in that case, but It's not surprising she asked that.
 
  • #3
Depends on the part. :bugeye:

309px-Chicken_feet_packaged.jpg


Chicken feet: These contain relatively little meat, and are eaten mainly for the skin and cartilage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_meat
 
  • #5
dlgoff said:
Depends on the part. :bugeye:
That explains a lot :biggrin:
 
  • #6
Have you tried Quorn. I think it is derived from a fungus extract but iy does really taste like chicken. When cooked in a sauce you could be fooled into believing it was chicken.
Makes a pretty good meat substitute (from a taste point of view)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn

Me.
 
  • #8
There's people who claim to be vegetarians who eat fish. Didn't know there were people who claim to be vegetarians who eat poultry. Vegetarians don't eat animals. If you eat fish or poultry, you're not a vegetarian. That's like someone who claims to be an atheist, and says they only believe in one god.
 
  • #9
I am a vegetarian.

I just eat meat, including (but not limited to) fish, poultry, pork and beef.
 
  • #10
Perhaps the organizer meant to say 'unborn' chicken.
 
  • #11
Borek said:
I am a vegetarian.

I just eat meat, including (but not limited to) fish, poultry, pork and beef.

Wikipedia says,

The results of a 2009 International survey suggest the standard definition of vegetarianism is different in different nations. Vegetarians in some nations consume more animal products than those in others.

If I were a vegetarian, I'd have to move to Poland.
 
  • #12
I'm a pacifist. I only start one war a year.
 
  • #13
I am a humantarian.
 
  • #14
turbo said:
I am a humantarian.
:eek: You eats humans?
 
  • #15
maybe if you consider egg to be chicken, then US defined vegetarians eat chicken. Drinking milk = drinking cow :biggrin:
 
  • #16
It seems to me that meatless chicken would be, um, crunchy.

(that is, the opposite of "boneless chicken".)
 
  • #17
Pythagorean said:
maybe if you consider egg to be chicken, then US defined vegetarians eat chicken. Drinking milk = drinking cow :biggrin:

I'm an ovolacto vegetarian. So I drink milk and eat eggs. I may eventually stop eating those foods, since I only eat eggs in cake and pie, and I don't really need that stuff anyway, and the only milk I drink is with cereal, but I'm starting to use almond milk instead.
It seems to me that meatless chicken would be, um, crunchy.

(that is, the opposite of "boneless chicken".)
MMMmm chickenless bones.
 
  • #18
If you don't eat animal products, you have to supplement your B12 since it doesn't come from anything else. I do legumes and grains every other meal (to save money... but we also have lactose intolerance/allergies in the family). The only B12 food I've found is yeast, but you have to make sure that the yeast are themselves supplemented with real B12. Some yeast companies and companies like Spirulina claim to have B12 only actually have the so-called "pseudovitamin" B12.
 
  • #19
Evo said:
:eek: You eats humans?
Got to get the protein somewhere. :devil:
 
  • #20
they taste similar to pork
 
  • #21
Pythagorean said:
they taste similar to pork

Porkatarian.
 
  • #22
I thing they should start creating meaty vegetables . Vegetables made of meat for people like me who find the concept of broccoli obscene.
 
  • #23
but... when you bite into the little tree, you destroy a family of birds... maybe some get away, but crunching their little bones is delightful.
 
  • #24
bp_psy said:
I thing they should start creating meaty vegetables . Vegetables made of meat for people like me who find the concept of broccoli obscene.
I think if they could find a way to splice beef genes into broccoli it would reduce farming costs.
 
  • #25
I had posted several years ago about a "meatless chicken" frozen dinner my friend bought. I think it might have been a tofu dinner.

Sounds like that woman just has no idea what a vegetarian eats.
 
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  • #26
Why wouldn't you eat chicken? It is one of the most lean and second healthiest meat to salmon.
 
  • #27
Being a vegetarian is a lot easier when you can have a nice steak once in a while.
 
  • #28
Aero51 said:
Why wouldn't you eat chicken? It is one of the most lean and second healthiest meat to salmon.
I don't eat animals grown by the thousands. Under normal circumstances the chickens wouldn't be able to survive, they are fed antibiotics and drugs to combat the illnesses they get. The large amounts of antibiotics make the drugs less effective for us, driving the evolution of drug-resistant bacteria. Also, the chicken are made to grow so fast they often (50%) get crippled by their own weight, with associated harm to their health. I don't support that industry.
 
  • #29
I eat everything (meat, tofu etc)
I am on a diet on 1 weekday only, usually Sunday. If I must join a party on Sunday, then I'll be a vegetarian on one of the other 6 days in the week.

I have eaten Tofu cooked as meat many times, ohh it is delicious!
 
  • #30
The fact of the matter is that if we did not modify these chickens/turkeys/cows/grain/corn etc the human race would have starved to death by now.

Natural farming simply cannot sustain the human race.

Many people forget that little fact.


So dig in!
 
  • #31
Starved to death or just never become so populated?
 
  • #32
Aero51 said:
The fact of the matter is that if we did not modify these chickens/turkeys/cows/grain/corn etc the human race would have starved to death by now.

Natural farming simply cannot sustain the human race.

Many people forget that little fact.


So dig in!

That is not a fact of the matter, far from it.
 
  • #33
Monique said:
Do meatless chickens exist?

Yes, but the seeds are very expensive and, once grown, are actually seedless.

Damn you Monsanto!

Pythagorean said:
Starved to death or just never become so populated?

I don't think lack of food supply has ever caused a stagnation in reproduction. Look at the birthrates in the third world.
 
  • #34
FlexGunship said:
I don't think lack of food supply has ever caused a stagnation in reproduction. Look at the birthrates in the third world.

It depends on the context.

"The first dramatic effect of food shortage is on fertility"

Nutr Health. 1993;9(1):43-52.
The effects of food shortage on human reproduction.
Wynn A, Wynn M.

http://nah.sagepub.com/content/9/1/43.extract


It's not been established yet what long-term steady-state would be for a low-food situation though, compared to a high-food one. Obviously there will also be higher mortality rates, making younger populations more transient (which can have the affect of a lower population overall) so it's not just about reproduction.

other resources (including a skeptical one):
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1353/dem.2005.0010
http://www.jstor.org/stable/203626?seq=2
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1126699
 
  • #35
In some languages the word "meat" is used interchangeably with the word "beef." So it's possible that when you clarified by saying you didn't eat "meat or fish" what she understood was that you don't eat "beef or fish" which does sort of imply that for some reason you eat poultry...
 
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