super real-tasting vegan crab cakes: creepy or awesome?

after making these cakes using match meat, i am gonna have to go with AWESOME. the match meats crab is made from plant protein, but it has a taste and texture just like the real thing…which is at first a bit unsettling, but ultimately delicious.

i followed the recipe for crab cakes listed on match’s website (it’s super-easy to make, BTW), which involved mixing the faux meat with vegenaise, vegetables and herbs before cooking it. i tasted a bit of the mixture as i was going along….and DUDE, i have never had such an authentic fish taste without eating fish. it was so trippy, but kind of cool at the same time. it tasted a bit like tuna, the kind drenched in mayo on a sandwich that i used to eat when i was a kid.

i formed the miracle vegan fish mixture into little balls, breaded it with panko, sauteed it and baked it just like the recipe said…and wow, these things came out perfect. i drizzled them with some homemade tofu sauce and served them up with garlic mashed potatoes and roasted brussels sprouts, delicious!

if you haven’t had match crab yet, i don’t know what you are waiting for. this is the kind of product that is really going to change the way people eat, and might actually get omnivores to consider a vegan diet.

and for those of you are creeped out by this product or all judgmental, like, “we shouldn’t eat vegan stuff that emulates animals…” you are missing the point! match meat is totally vegan, so embrace it! it’s like when some really sexy person in their 20s plays a high schooler in a movie and you feel all weird and pervy for thinking they are hot—don’t! they aren’t really in high school, and this isn’t really meat!

right now you can find match in stores on the east coast, or online from cosmo’s and vegan essentials…but i am really hoping it makes its way to los angeles whole foods markets at some point in the near future.