Hey, I like vegan food a lot, but it's not like "extremely processed imitation meat" foods haven't been part of vegan culture for a long time. Go to a tofu restaurant in Japan and take a look at what they do to yuba. As for the frozen part, vegans have traditionally had to cook virtually everything they ate in the first world. There has not historically been a lot of convenience food. The last 20 years or so, it's grown a lot, but it is still dwarfed by the more traditional convenience food. Especially in big cities in the west, if I want a prepared vegan take-away, then it is usually a million times better to get one from one of the tiny restaurants that are the advantage of having nice multi-cultural societies.
But there is one last reason for the "I can't believe it's not a dead animal!"-burger/dog: Culturually, people invite you to barbeques. If you show up with your Shoujin ryouri bentou, people look down on you and tell you that you're stuck up. If you show up with an eggplant and a hot dog bun, they won't call you stuck up, but they will reasonably say, "You're really going to grill an eggplant and stick it in a hotdog bun? That's why vegan food is so sad". (BTW, that actually sounds good to me :-) ).
Yes, vegans want to go to barbeques and fit in and not have to explain why they decided not to eat meat. Sometimes they just want a normal western cultural experience without having to compromise on their principles. Sometimes they grew up with this kind of food and they are feeling nostalgic. There are huge numbers of reasons why people do these kinds of things and why it is a big deal to them.
And yes, they should learn about cuisines that are culturally vegetarian for many, many reasons as well. Most do even if they also eat processed vegetable protein in a package.
Appreciate how you illustrate the different aspects. I can take being the odd one out every now and then as a vegan. I'm aware that my choice places me in an odd spot from time to time. But it can be so good to not stick out sometimes. Whether it is that you have nice convenience food that can be handled just like the original or a taste that you thought you had given up or a social event where your food doesn't even register as weird.
And I believe these imitations really do help a lot of people make the transition either away from meat or towards less meat. Which I see as a good thing.
But there is one last reason for the "I can't believe it's not a dead animal!"-burger/dog: Culturually, people invite you to barbeques. If you show up with your Shoujin ryouri bentou, people look down on you and tell you that you're stuck up. If you show up with an eggplant and a hot dog bun, they won't call you stuck up, but they will reasonably say, "You're really going to grill an eggplant and stick it in a hotdog bun? That's why vegan food is so sad". (BTW, that actually sounds good to me :-) ).
Yes, vegans want to go to barbeques and fit in and not have to explain why they decided not to eat meat. Sometimes they just want a normal western cultural experience without having to compromise on their principles. Sometimes they grew up with this kind of food and they are feeling nostalgic. There are huge numbers of reasons why people do these kinds of things and why it is a big deal to them.
And yes, they should learn about cuisines that are culturally vegetarian for many, many reasons as well. Most do even if they also eat processed vegetable protein in a package.