Why are we laughing at chicken?: Chinese Buddhist Mock Meat
Chinese mock meat is an intriguing ingredient, almost artistic in its conception. How does one turn seitan (wheat gluten), tofu, and general plant-based proteins into something that resembles, tastes, feels, and looks like…meat?
Now, despite the fact that there are numerous cultures and Western versions of the ‘fake alternative meat’ variation, the Chinese or Buddhist mock meats are some of the most interesting. Historically, Buddhist monks in China are credited for the creation of mock meats by, well, mocking meat! While the monks subscribed to the traditional vegetarian lifestyle, following the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism to not consume meat or fish and to not take life, during events or when guests visited the monastery, the monks would copy classically meat-centered dishes and replaced the protein with a plant-based one, to ensure that the dishes would be to the taste of guests, without serving them ‘just vegetables’.
A prominent chef and writer in the world of Chinese Sichuan cooking and cuisine, Fuschia Dunlop, had stated in a Conversations with Tyler podcast, that during the Tang dynasty, documentation of “imitation pork and mutton dishes made [out] of vegetables”.
Through an interesting conversation with a prominent owner of a Buddhist vegetarian restaurant who wished to not be named, they stated that all of their ‘meat’ dishes, surprise surprise, were in fact, not meat.
Their fish dishes were brinjal, their minced meat was mushroom, their char siew (honey barbequeued pork) was seitan, and their goose skin was fried foo chuk (bean curd or dried tofu skin). Whatever that could not be made using those, would be fashioned out of flour.
Some Chinese vegetarians would state that, oftentimes, mock meat dishes are commonly ordered by non-vegetarians at vegetarian restaurants, and that we meat eaters of the secular world, just “don’t get it” when it comes to Chinese vegetarian food. Of course, after hearing that, you just have to order all the ‘meat’ dishes, whether it be morbid curiosity or otherwise.
Frankly, you could fool most meat eaters with the dishes. Perhaps if you were to walk into a Chinese vegetarian restaurant, ordering their “minced meat tofu” off the menu, you wouldn’t even have known it was mock meat. You’d have a filling, delicious meal, and you would go on with your day.
So back to the main conversation, why are we laughing at chicken? Maybe we should change the title of the article to ‘why are we laughing with chicken’, because if there is a chance that we could easily replicate the texture of meat, or replace 2 out of 5 dishes we’d normally eat with mock meat. It could very well change the way we view meat consumption.
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