Review: Bringing home the Bacon

Just recently we've been buying veggie bacon and having a few strips in the mornings with our breakfast. I have always preferred veggie breakfast sausage link as the breakfast meal mock meat of choice. On some whim I brought home Morningstar Farms Veggie Breakfast Bacon Strips. These were quite good. The problem is that our local grocery delivery company, Fresh Direct, doesn't carry Morningstar brand products. Since Fresh Direct tends to be cheaper than my local Grocery I like to use them whenever possible so I order their mock bacon from Lightlife called Smart Bacon. All of this lead to a parade of "fakin' bacon" in my house and this dual product review.

Overall, I'd say that Lightlife Smart Bacon is quite good but is not as good as Morningstar Farms Veggie Breakfast Bacon strips. The Veggie Breakfast strips do a better job of visually and tactically replicating the bacon strip. I'd pick the Veggie Strips every time however Smart Bacon is a good second choice.


See full reviews for:

Morningstar Farms Veggie Bacon Strips

Light life Smart bacon

Review: Lightlife Smart Bacon

Lightlife Smart Bacon

Here, the maker of my favorite seitan, offers a mock-bacon. Their product is tasty but comes up short in the bacon simulation. Their strip reminded me more of pastrami than of bacon. They were heavier cut than the Morning star and the texture had a stringy graininess that is more like pastrami (or some other cuts of steak) rather than bacon. I just had the idea to try their mock pastrami to test my theory that their bacon is more of a bacon-pastrami (look for a review ;)

• Overall Rating: 3
• Similarity to meat (but in a good way): 2
• Similarity to actual food described: 2
• "Worth it?" Rating: 3
• "Would I get them again?": 2

Review: Morningstar farms Veggie Bacon Strips

Morning Star Farms Veggie Bacon Strips

In my world bacon goes with eggs. My mock-bacon reviews are currently based solely to bacons a x breakfast meat. In the future I will review based on a mock--BLT or added bacon to a Boca Burger to do a some kind of end to end test. The bacon as breakfast meat is a more grueling test in that the mock meat has to be visually appealing on the plate (not covered with bread, lettuce or Mayo) and is generally enjoyed as a main food and not a garnish.

Given this criteria, the Morning Start Farms Veggie bacon strips are a very fun and tasty addition to your breakfast. They look like bacon strips and have a bacony sort of taste. They cook up nicely in the pan. You can microwave them but I would recommend doing so only to defrost. I recommend cooking these in the pan with some light cooking spray for best results (as opposed to breakfast sausage links which I like microwaved).

• Overall Rating: 4
• Similarity to meat (but in a good way): 2
• Similarity to actual food described: 4
• "Worth it?" Rating: 3
• "Would I get them again?": 4

I had to give this a low score for similarity to meat only because bacon is so unique. This is a quality mock meat but you just cannot fake bacon (which is probably a good thing) . This also got a medium "worth it" rating because I find all small grocery sized boxed of mock-meat to be on the pricey side.

Goooooogled!!!

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http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=dreadlobster

About these ratings

The information below is intended to give readers an understanding of the product review rating system.

Overall Rating:
Name say it all. This is just my high level total opinion of the product.

Similarity to meat (but in a good way):
If a product is a mock meat then this is intended to rate how well it is mocked.
Tofu, for instance, wouldn't get a rating because it is not trying to mock anything.

Similarity to actual food described:
This is a rating about the preparation of the food. If the product is mock buffalo wings, this rating is more about the buffalo sauce than the quality of the mock meat.

"Worth it?" Rating:
Packaged veggie food can be expensive and high calorie. This is an attempt to rate whether you really want this product in your house and if you should spend you dollars elsewhere.

"Would I get them again?":
There is a good chance that I may crave an expensive high calorie item once in a while.
Just because I don;t buy cases of a certain item I may see myself buying once or twice a year
(even if I know I shouldn't)

I'll should hear on June 1st

My NYC Marathon Lottery entry ...still waiting

Review: Favorite Vegetarian Hot Dog

There are all sorts of vegetarian hot dogs on the Market. Some are great, others good, and others downright awful. There are two test for a vegetarian hot dog

1. How do they taste straight out of the fridge?
2. How do they taste on a bun with mustard and sauerkraut?

The best product out there in this category are Lightlife: Smart Dogs


These are quite good. They definitely pass the "out of the fridge taste test" and they also heat well for bun use. I haven't found a vegetarian hot dog that does well on the grill. They don't crisp up like real hot dogs. On the other hand, the number of barbecue grills Ii would cook my food on are fewer than the number of buns in a package minus the number of hot dogs in hot dog package.

• Overall Rating: 4
• Similarity to meat (but in a good way): 4
• Similarity to actual food described: 4
• "Worth it?" Rating: 4
• "Would I get them again?": 4

Lightlife: Smart Dogs
Nutrition Facts Per Single ServingServing Size (1)
Calories 45 Fat 0g Saturated Fat 0g Cholesterol 0mg Sodium 320mg Carbohydrate 2g Fiber 1g Sugar 1g Protein 9g Soy Protein 7g

Ingredients: Made from water, soy protein isolate, wheat gluten, evaporated cane juice, salt, yeast extract, soy sauce (water, soybeans, wheat, salt), granulated garlic, carrageenan, spice extracts, natural flavors (from vegetable sources), vegetable gum, natural liquid smoke flavor, potassium chloride, tomato pulp. No nitrites. No MSG.