Thursday, April 7, 2016

Proud of My Town

I'm not in love, but I like Minneapolis pretty much, for sure. 
We've got lakes right in the city with parkland and walking paths, and the Mississippi River, and Prince, and a legacy of Scandinavian-style social justice that survives in stuff like affordable health insurance plans for low-income folks like me (thankyou socialists!).

And now we've got the country's first vegan, meatless butcher shop, the Herbivorous Butcher, where bink just took me. It's even getting international coverage, such as in my favorite easy-but-smart newspaper, the Guardian:
theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jan/29/the-herbivorous-butcher-minneapolis-minnesota-vegan-meats

 As you can see from the article's photo^, it looks just like an old-fashioned butcher shop, but all the meats are plant-based.
Lots of spiced options--like Italian sausages--- which makes sense
because the plant ingredients don't have much flavor on their own.

I sampled the sliced "Cuban pork" deli meat, and it was really good, so I bought 1/3rd pound.
 It's expensive, but in line with organic meat:

$16/pound, and just one thin slice will make a great sandwich, with
cheese and tomato and lettuce---sort of like a BLT--so it's good value that way.

The Cuban pork ingredients are:
wheat gluten, water, apple juice, soy sauce, sunflower oil, liquid smoke, nutritional yeast, spice, lime juice, garlic, salt, red wine vinegar, agar agar, chili powder, and cumin.

I'm not strictly vegetarian, much less vegan (I'm sorry, there's no non-milk ice cream that's worth the name), 

but if there are good non-animal options available, I'm very happy to take them.

4 comments:

Frex said...

Someone asked about protein in vegan diets--good overview in the NYT's "Well" interview with sports doctors, here:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/20/can-athletes-perform-well-on-a-vegan-diet/?_r=0

Quick answer: Mix grains (corn, wheat, rice) with beans and legumes.
Like: peanut butter on whole wheat bread,
hummus (chickpeas) with pita
rice + beans
oatmeal with soy milk

bink said...

I tried the "Korean BBQ rib" I got there for lunch today. Tasty, though probably not something I would get again (mostly because of the price). BBQ sauce can make cardboard taste good, but I was impressed with the "meaty" texture the "rib" had. If you weren't looking at it (it grain of the "meat" looks more like mock duck than actual animal) you might actually be fooled into thinking you were eating meat.

Also, I have a feeling that, nutritionally, that rib was more like eating a savory muffin: due to all the sugar in the BBQ sauce.

marz said...

I think the whole idea is very dear. I hope it does well.

Fresca said...

BINK: I liked the deli "meat" I got but, honestly, not for the price.
Fun to try though!

MARZ: It is such a great idea, yeah---and a good example of how to reframe ideas.