Via Marvin and Matt Yglesias, a study showing that vegan “sausages” were able to fool a surprisingly large number of people.

I have to say, though I’m a vegetarian and not a vegan, I eat very few ersatz meat products. There’s a kind of paradigm shift that you make when you realize that a meal doesn’t have to consist of meat (or “meat”) + potato + some anemic looking veggies. Most of my meals involve delicious combinations of beans, lentils, grains, etc. which aren’t tricked out to look or taste like meat plus (ideally) fresh produce.

Which isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy the occasional veggie burger or veggie “sausage,” but even there I tend to prefer the ones that aren’t even trying to taste like meat (e.g. a black bean burger). On the other hand, if authentic-tasting meat substitutes help people make the switch to eating less meat, I’m all for ’em.