I have been flirting with the idea of switching to a plant-based diet for years, but veganism seems unrealistic for me at this stage in my life. The environments I often find myself in do not support a strictly plant-based diet, and I don’t have a compelling enough reason to give up animal products entirely. However, I do want to reduce and eventually eliminate meat from my diet, and I have been exploring different protein alternatives for a few years now. I’ve tried tofu, tempeh, seitan, and a variety of veggie-based substitutes. While I don’t particularly dislike any of these options, none have impressed me enough to replace beef, poultry, or seafood.

Regardless of whatever dietary change I try to incorporate, I always keep my overarching goal in mind, which is to maintain a healthy relationship with food by cultivating a diet that is enjoyable, satisfying, and supportive of my physical, mental, and emotional needs. So, instead of beating myself up for not being able to eliminate meat from my meals, I decided to work on incorporating more plant-based foods into my meals. My aim is to make these the bulk of my diet rather than fixating on restricting my meat consumption altogether, which has proven to be an unsustainable effort.

Although I haven’t succeeded in eliminating meat from my diet, my search for protein-rich meat alternatives continues. In my latest quest, I found textured soy. As soon as I saw it, I thought it would make a good ground meat alternative.

I added it to a pan with some water and chicken stock, and to my surprise, the dry flakes expanded to resemble small chunks of meat. Depending on how they’re seasoned, they could easily pass for chicken, pork, or maybe even beef..or so I thought.

I thought they’d be perfect for tacos. I seasoned them with garlic and onion powder, cumin, oregano, chili powder, sweet paprika, chicken bouillon, salt, black pepper, and a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce. I let most of the liquid cook down and added a bit more olive oil to give it a nice pan sear, making it resemble grilled meat. The result is what you see in the photos above. It looked and smelled good, so my expectations were high. As soon as I tasted it, though, all my excitement came crashing down. There was a deep, funky taste that overpowered all seasonings and lingered in the mouth way longer than any of the pleasant flavors. Now, I’m usually a fan of funky flavors, but this was not a fermented or lactic funk; it was an industrial type of funk, that’s the only way I know to describe it.

Refusing to give up, I thought that maybe adding some fresh minced garlic and assembling the tacos with all the fixings would improve the flavor.

Let me tell you that no amount of fresh garlic, lime juice, diced onion, cilantro, or even my deliciously sweet and spicy roasted tomato salsa was a match to the funk of the textured soy. I ate the four tacos because they were pretty, and I don’t believe in wasting food. But now I know that textured soy will not be on my list of meat alternatives once I make a complete transition into vegetarianism.

Please do not let my opinion keep you from trying textured soy. We all have different palates, and who knows? You might discover something I didn’t and enjoy the flavor. If you do try it, come back and tell me how it went.

Thank you for reading. Until next time!