Chicken and Turkey Substitutes

Why Choose Chicken and Turkey Subsitutes?

Bird's flesh, from chickens, turkeys, and ducks, is not a vegetarian food. Record numbers of chickens and turkeys are being raised and killed for meat in the U.S. every year. Nearly ten billion chickens and half a billion turkeys are hatched in the U.S. annually. These birds are typically crowded by the thousands into huge, factory-like warehouses where they can barely move. Each chicken is given less than half a square foot of space, while turkeys are each given less than three square feet. Shortly after hatching, both chickens and turkeys have the ends of their beaks cut off, and turkeys also have the ends of their toes clipped off. These mutilations are performed without anesthesia, ostensibly to reduce injuries that result when stressed birds are driven to fighting.

Today's "broiler" (meat) chickens have been genetically altered to grow twice as fast and twice as large as their ancestors. Pushed beyond their biological limits, hundreds of millions of chickens die every year before reaching slaughter weight at 6 weeks of age. An industry journal explains that "broilers [chickens] now grow so rapidly that the heart and lungs are not developed well enough to support the remainder of the body, resulting in congestive heart failure and tremendous death losses." Modern broiler chickens also experience crippling leg disorders, as their legs are not capable of supporting their abnormally heavy bodies. Confined in unsanitary, disease-ridden factory farms, the birds also frequently succumb to heat prostration, infectious diseases, and cancer. Read more about this at FactoryFarming.com and check out our video library to learn more about these atrocities and more.

Vegan Chicken and Turkey Subsitutes

Note: Every product listed here is not always available at your local grocery store. Publix tends to have a lot more than others, but you can usually find at least one of these brands at other grocery stores as well.

• Boca Chik’n Patties
• Boca Chik’n Nuggets
• Gardenburger Flame Grilled Chik’n
• Gardenburger Buffalo Chik’n Wings
• Chicken-Free Fingers from Health is Wealth
• Buffalo Wings from Health Is Wealth Foods
• Worthington Chic-Ketts
• Chicken Nuggets from Health is Wealth
• Nate’s Chicken Style Nuggets
• Yves Veggie Cuisine—Veggie Chick’n Burgers
• Tofurky Deli Slices
• Yves Veggie Cuisine—Veggie Turkey Slices
• Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Chik’n Strips
• Seitan Wheat Meat or Grain Meat*
• Texturized Vegetable/Soy Protein (TVP or TSP) granules**
• Texturized Vegetable/Soy Protein (TVP or TSP) chunks**

*Grain Meat / Setian / Wheat Meat

According to Barbara and Leonard Jacobs in their excellent book Cooking with Seitan, The Complete Vegetarian "Wheat-Meat" Cookbook, "seitan has been a staple food among vegetarian monks of China, Russian wheat farmers, peasants of Southeast Asia, and Mormons. People who had traditionally eaten wheat had also discovered a method to extract the gluten and create a seitan-like product."

Seitan is derived from the protein portion of wheat. It stands in for meat in many recipes and works so well that a number of vegetarians avoid it because the texture is too "meaty."

Learn how to make your own grain meat at home. It's fun and easy!!

TVP or TSP - Texturized Vegetable/Soy Protein

**TVP is the very, very inexpensive version of the packaged foods. You can find it in the bulk section of your health food store. With some quick recipes and veggie broth, you can do amazing things with TVP: beef style stews, stir fries, casseroles, chili, balls, loaves, and more. Basically, you can use TVP (in chunks or granules) to replace animal flesh in nearly all recipes. You just have to experiement and try the recipes. The best method is to soak your TVP in super hot veggie broth for about 20 min, then use it in your recipes. You can substitue egg, for binding, with ground flax (really sticky). Take two tablespoons of flax powder and add it to your moist recipe, or add a little bit of water and make a sticky paste and then add it to the recipe.

Here's some tastey TVP recipes to get you started:

• vegweb.com
• www.fatfree.com
• www.vegsoc.org
• www.cookingvegetarian.com

Lentils, Nuts, and Blended Veggies (Celery, Carrots, Onions)

Lentils, chick peas, beans in general, carrots, celery, garlic, and other veggies and ground nuts make excellent loaves and neat balls (veggie balls) and they are naturally filled with protein, vitamins, fiber, trace minerals and are totally delicious and free of soy and wheat gluten and meat!

Here's some inspiring recources to explore:

• Design Your Own Adventist-Style Vegan Dinner Loaf!
  This site is awesome! You name your loaf, then you click the ingredients you want to use, it will deliver to your screen a recipe for a nut loaf, lentils, tofu, or whatever protein you want!!!
• Lentil Loaf
• Lentil-Nut Loaf
• Happy Lentil Loaf