[SuperQue]

I needed to source food for an event with 500 people.

Burger meat was 0.80€ person for 125g, not organic/bio. But good quality from a German butcher.

I got Beyond burgers for the veg option. Best price I could get wholesale was 2.00€ per person.

[rhdunn]

You don't need to use a meat replacement for burgers. You can have various style burgers that I've seen for ~£2.25-£2.85 for 4, e.g.:

- Bean (often spicy)

- Halloumi

- Parsnip & Carrot Nut

- Plantlife Crunchy Vegetable Crispbake

If you do want to use a meat substitute, I've found the following have comparable prices to the meat based versions at ~£2.00 for 2:

- Linda McCartney's Burgers

- Richmond Vegan Meat Free

Other meat replacement brands (Beyond Meat, Moving Mountains, Fried Jackfruit, etc.) are dearer at ~£4.00-£4.50 for 2.

I'm not sure how the wholesale prices compare, I just checked the prices on Waitrose's website. I've had several of these.

[sillystuff]

> I got Beyond burgers for the veg option.

As someone who doesn't eat meat, I prefer not to have fake meat. I'll often just pass on eating anything if fake meat is the only non-meat option.

A stir fry with rice or veggie fajitas (could be just peppers and onions) with Mexican tortillas possibly with a side of beans would be much preferable, and cost nearly nothing. Adjust for regional tastes.

Easy to justify when it is something that can be a main dish for the non-meat eaters and a side dish for the meat eaters. But, if people are serving themselves, the non-meat item should be earlier on the table / separated from the meat, so meat eaters do not contaminate it with meat (common).

Fake meat is a nice option for meat eaters who are trying to reduce their consumption of meat for $reason(s), but still crave meat. But, for folks like me who do not eat meat nor have any inclination to do so, it is kinda weird.

[tomcam]

I was a vegetarian for 40 years. I could never understand why people go vegetarian and then... eat fake meat? WTF? There are zillions of awesome vegetarian dishes in this beautiful culinary world.

[sseagull]

Speaking from experience, one reason is that people grew up cooking meat, and therefore know intuitively how to cook it.

When I cook vegetarian, it can be a lot more work. How long do I do so-and-so, how much whatever goes in the what not, stuff like that.

There’s a lot of intuition in cooking, and switching paradigms can be challenging.

[tomcam]

Never considered that perspective. Thanks!

[astura]

Because they enjoy the taste and/or it's something very familiar and comforting to them; it's not at all difficult to understand.

Especially if someone is new to vegetarian food and don't know what those "zillions of awesome vegetarian dishes" even are, let alone how to prepare them.

[adaml_623]

I feel the very fact that we need to refer to a brand name for the meat replacement is a clear indicator of how immature the market is.

[lm28469]

It's like trying to replace Champagne with alcohol free champagne when you can get any of the other hundreds of cheaper non alcoholic drinks and complaining it's expensive

The problem isn't bing vegetarian/vegan, the problem is that people have absolutely no education when it comes to nutrition