So my nephew has decided he wants to go vegetarian and unfortunately isn't getting any help from his parents. This is a kid who has lived on fast food, hot dogs, burgers, sugar, basically the SAD his whole life. I did buy him some Morningstar veggie sausage and don't think he was all that impressed, though he made it in the microwave when in my opinion many fake meats are better in the oven or skillet. Anyway, now he's asking me if there are any veggie burgers that taste like real burgers. It's been so long since I've tried any of the fake meats and there are so many new ones. I'm not a fan of stuff that tastes too realistic but I think the more "real" the better for him. Any suggestions? It doesn't need to be vegan, just vegetarian. I'm not sure he could *ever* go vegan because he's just too darn picky. So what are the most realistic tasting burgers, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, typical kid foods available?

For burger and nuggets, try Gardein.

In Holland we have products from the "Vegetarische Slager" = vegetarian butcher. I never tasted it, but it seems rather real.

https://www.vegetarianbutcher.com/

I agree with Gardein being good, the Big Burger I think it's called. Gardein also has good sliders, both chikken and beaf.
Beyond Meat has chikken that tasted too real to me, lol. If they make burgers, I would try that.

He needs yummy hamburger buns and good toppings, too, and maybe some fries and catsup on the side. Also, the sooner he learns to really cook, the easier it will be (and males cooking even the simplest thing impresses the heck out of people, for some reason.)

My son went vegetarian on his own when he was very young, too. My husband and I ended up following him and we all went vegan a couple of years later.

I've found Quorn to be pretty good for taste and texture.

It has the right 'bite' for processed meat and lacks the mooshy texture and soya flavour that a lot of meat subs can have.

It's been the leading vegetarian brand for decades here in the UK, and is now available in the US (there's a store locator here):

http://www.quorn.us/food/

They do a quarter pounder that should be good in a sesame bun with pickles and processed cheese.

Beyond Meat crumbles are amazing. I haven't tried their other products yet. You can find it at Whole Foods, and their line-up is expanding.

I love the Morningstar grillers for burgers and the nuggets are good too. . I am a fan of the value 365 brand chickn nuggets at wholefoods. I like the gardein mandarin chikn.

TheGardein fishless fillets taste very much as I remember McDonald's/BK fish sandwiches tasting. (But then, I haven't had one of those since the later half of the 1980's.

I would probably go with the Beyond Meat brand although I haven't found the burger yet and I'm not a fan of the chicken.

Then there's this, but I don't think it's on the market yet.

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-15861...it-bleeds.html


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It's too hard to say what's "realistic". More what do you like best.
My son was raised with Boca chik'n patties, and didn't like the fast food burgers. When he was little we were at a fast food place and ordered a chicken patty. He wouldn't eat it because he didn't like it, it wasn't a chik'n patty.
Now my son loves Beyond Meat grilled chicken and is amazed how real it is, I get the heebie-jeebies just being around it, I made a stir fry with it once and had to pick it out. It wasn't that it tasted 'bad' I guess, but it was all around just like real chicken.
On the other hand Beyond Meat feisty crumbles I've used on a Mexican style pizza and taco salad and loved it. It was that missing link of what I remember those foods being foods I liked. Somehow didn't give me the "real" feeling

He just needs to find what he likes without regard to "real"

I love Gardein fishless fillets--I hated fish

I haven't tried too many fake meats, but I've always been impressed with Gardein. Everything they make tastes pretty real and the textures are always on point in my opinion.

I haven't had meat since 1998 so keep that in mind but I think boca burger is pretty good.

Where are you located? If your in Canada PC has an awesome brand of meatless substitutes. There nuggets, and scallopini are some of the best! My husband still eats meat so we split the hot sauce that comes with his wings and man its good on those nuggets.

I also second (third fourth?) Gardien. Just tried their fishless fillets for the first time last week absolutely awesome. They taste better then most fish sticks.

Boca and Morning star also make awesome burgers, Morning star also makes these wicked little frozen breakfast sandwiches that make all my meat eating coworkers jealous.

Also I am amazed by how much awesome vegetarian fast food there is! Burger king has a super meaty tasting burger, A&W has a really good one too, Taco Time and Taco bell can both be easily made vegetarian by requesting no meat. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. That is also why I am now on a diet lol

Gardein is tops for me their food is a close match. Field Roast sausages are pretty good as well. Yves makes ham and pepperoni that I like, but I haven't tried their bacon, turkey, or bologna. I also accidentally bought Yves Frozen Chicken way back when. From what I remember, it tasted pretty close. Too bad I can't buy it anymore (vegetarian not vegan).