I have no problem with fake meats, and I eat them quite a bit. Their texture and smell don't in any way remind me of meat, nor does their taste.
I find the texture, smell, and taste of meat to be highly unique and unreplicatable. I don't eat "faux meats" to "pretend to eat meat" or because I am hungry for meat but want to avoid eating it. I eat them because they are yummy, protein-packed, and time-saving. I never ever get hungry for meat after nearly 13 years of being vegan and 2 of being veggie before that. My palette and mouth don't ever think that anything I eat is 'like meat' cause it's such a foreign concept to me anymore (that doesn't mean I don't recognize the taste of the real thing- I do).
When I think, "Mmmm, I could sure eat a Celebration Roast or veggie burger right now," I am getting hungry for the specific yumminess of that food, not any sort of meat at ALL. In my mind and spirit, there is no connection between 'fake meats' and the real thing . There is no way any kind of veggie food could "fake" the blood, flesh, suffering, and terror of the real thing. And in fact meat "substitutes" are meant to save other beings from ever becoming that in the first place. I don't even consider them "fake meats" unless I use the term to explain to someone with no familiarity what such a food is.
To me, they are just a protein source and way of changing things up a bit. Bring on the BBQ Veggie Riblets! ;)
