Mycoprotein (Quorn)

GG21057

Hi,

I'm toying with vegetarianism and currently go meat free Mon to Sat. I'm not great in the kitchen though and have been mainly eating Quorn curry / stir fry etc, which I like, but it leaves me with 2 questions:
1. Is Quorn 100% good? I know there was FDA debate in the US when launched and the Veg Society included when only free range albumen was used.
2. I train every day, alternating between run, swim and cycle. What other options can I use to bulk up my main meal and provide my RDA of protein, iron etc?

Cheers,

G

raah!

Well both iron and protein are covered by delicious delicious kidney beans, and you can combine them with tasty tasty pasta... which that olympic swimmer multi award winning fellow ate lots of.

Thoushaltnot

What do you mean "not great in the kitchen"? - Just know a couple of dishes? I murder the same one, pretty much, every night :pac:

Anyhoo, v. quickly (midterm is nearly upon us, I shouldn't be here);

Quorn is fine - it's competitors in the 'States seem to have tried a smear campagn and got onto the FDA about it, in an attempt to block it's arrival. To this day, on the American versions of Veg*n boards, you'll get people going "Ew, mould" or "Ew, why would I wanna eat something that tastes and looks like meat?!", whenever the subject arises. As for the Veg Soc. approval, vegetarian societies are against battery farms, so that explains why they pushed for Marlowe foods to use free range eggs in their Quorn products before they could give them their seal. Mycoprotein is produced by putting a special fungal culture into a sterilized vat of carbs/glucose, and voila! cruelty free protein :-)
Minus the hormones, antbiotics, viruses, e coli, etc., etc.


We have many threads here about veggie protein, iron etc. Would love to go into detail but will recommend that for the time being, best to have a read of the stickies or use the "Search this thread" drop down text box. All sorts of beans/peas/lentils (collectively known as "pulses") are your best bet. Also nuts (esp. almonds), seeds (pumkinseed, sesame, sunflower, hemp - taste better when toasted for a minute), soy products (tofu, tempeh, soy beans, edamame, seitan) and some grains - quinoa, especially. Cheese & eggs too.
Tesco recently increased the range of tinned beans/peas on it's shelves. Many places stock whey or soy protein powder but I've also seen pea and hemp (Virginia foods - hard to find but I think its very effective).

It's recommended that you combine, within the same 24 hour period, a cereal based dish (pasta, tabbouleh, rice, noodles, etc.) with a helping from one of the following - pulses, nuts, seeds, cheese/eggs. At the same meal is better to get the full range of aminos to make protein.
Beans on toast, nut roast, cheesy omlette, lentil curry/dhal & rice, stir fry veg with cashews and noodles, etc. There are recipe sites recommended above, in the stickies. I have to plug www.101cookbooks.com cos it's brill!

Lastly, as iron is considerably easier to obtain from meat than from vegetable sources, our workaround is to take a source of vitamin c with an iron rich dish but avoid tea/coffee as they block it's absorbtion, eg, glass of fresh orange juice with hummous on tomato & fennel bread. /drools

Glad to have you on boards - if nothing else but to have 1 more fan to try to get some Quorn products back on the Tesco shelves.... hopefully :-)
(BTW, the "chicken" pieces are €2 a bag, at the mo in Superquinn, till the 23rd)

Hope that helps, for now!

***Emergency edit*** !!! Forgot - add TVP to the soy products mix !!!***
*** Also, I'm not familiar with those fake meats promoted by that Irish model, Rosanna Davison, but possibly extra options for you ***

GG21057

Cheers,

Just feel that Quorn is meat-a-like, I'm somehow cheating. Also as I treat Quorn as I would meat, so my cooking style hasn't changed.
Must try the beans option. No worries from the nuts front - I can't get enough! Pity almonds are out of my price range, though, Lidl do great walnuts which garnish my curries a treat.
Just went to "101 cookbooks" as suggested - curious to see a "denny sausage" banner and mid-text ad extolling the virtue of their sausages etc.
Thanks for the feedback,
G

Thoushaltnot

GG21057 wrote: »

Cheers,

Just feel that Quorn is meat-a-like, I'm somehow cheating. Also as I treat Quorn as I would meat, so my cooking style hasn't changed.

No worries - people are veg*n for all sorts of reasons and a few find that they miss meat so much, so it's a fantastic way to get from A to B for them. I just think it's great to have extra options, especially if a meater offers to cook for you but is used to the meat & 2 veg as a meal way of thinking! Cheaten' meat that's more eco friendly to produce, too. It's all good, honey, it's all good.

Must try the beans option. No worries from the nuts front - I can't get enough! Pity almonds are out of my price range, though, Lidl do great walnuts which garnish my curries a treat.

Tell me about it!
Just keep an eye out for specials - raah! has a thread looking for where to get 'em cheap (and clean!). Holland & Barratt have a BOGOHP (buy one, get one half price) offer, asian markets stock commercial sized bags.

Just went to "101 cookbooks" as suggested - curious to see a "denny sausage" banner and mid-text ad extolling the virtue of their sausages etc.
G

Aha! Cauldron also do soy based sausages - you'll find them in the fridge shelves of Tesco & Superquinn, with Cauldron tofu and falaffel.
So take THAT! internetz advertising!

Thoushaltnot

Right, not sure if this is the best place to post the following but Mods are welcome to flex their post moving thingies, if they see fit.

Anyhoo, got some replies from Quorn peeps during the week;
Firstly - apparently, they have looked for an alternative to eggs/albumen but nothing comes close, so they'll be sticking with that, for the time being anyway.
Also, most quorn products contain some whey as well. So, not yet, vegans, but maybe, one day...

Secondly, as they're in the business of providing a healthy protein foods, they won't be producing any "fake fish" products, as fish is pretty much a healthy protein food.

Thirdly, there's a competition & vouchers on some Quorn products but on closer inspection, are only for UK residents. I pointed this out and asked about competition/vouchers for Ireland, so their customer rep passed on the question to their Marketing Dept.

Worztron

A delicious meal: You can fry some onions and garlic with Quorn mince and add chopped tomatoes. Then add a tin of red kidney beans and a jar of chili sauce. It will make dinner for a few. Serve with long grain rice.

I think it would be a great idea if Quorn was fortified just like breakfast cereals. That way you'd boost your iron intake along with other essential minerals and vitamins.

Thoushaltnot

Thoushaltnot wrote: »

Secondly, as they're in the business of providing a healthy protein foods, they won't be producing any "fake fish" products, as fish is pretty much a healthy protein food.

Well, well, well! Just found this golden oldie - now we have Fishless Fingers and 'Tuna style' fish cakes!