Taste

You can make the same flavors without the animal

2,000+Years of tofu standing in for meat

Meat is mostly bland without vegan seasonings and ingredients — salt, herbs, spices, sauces. Nearly all of the taste and flavor people love comes from plant foods, and you can recreate the same meals vegan without being able to tell the difference. In modern blind tests, the best plant-based meats score as well as or better than the animal versions. Tofu and other meat substitutes have been used as meat alternatives for more than 2,000 years. We do not have to harm or eat animals at all to keep the flavors.

What the evidence says

The main points first. Every claim is tied to a source below.

Meat is mostly bland without vegan seasonings

Meat without salt, herbs, spices, sauces, smoke, or garlic is mostly bland. Nearly all the taste and flavor people call “meat flavor” comes from plant ingredients. Those same seasonings work on tofu, seitan, and plant meats. You can recreate the same meals vegan without being able to tell the difference. You can make the same taste without the animal.

IOM, salt and flavor Hossain et al., umami Wang et al., 2019

Tofu is over 2,000 years old — not a new “fake meat”

Han-dynasty China developed tofu as a meat alternative more than 2,000 years ago. Legend credits Prince Liu An. Buddhist kitchens then spent centuries making mock duck, mock pork, and mock fish from tofu and wheat gluten. This is not a new lab product. It is an old kitchen practice.

Ishaq et al., 2022 He et al., Sustainability CNN, temple mock meats

Tempeh, seitan, and tofu came first

Reviews of traditional meat alternatives name three main pillars: tofu in China, tempeh (fermented whole soy) in Java, and seitan from wheat gluten in Chinese Buddhist cuisine. The freezer aisle is a later sequel.

He et al., Sustainability FoodUnfolded

In blind tests, the best plant meats match or beat animal versions

Nectar’s 2025 restaurant blind tests ran 122 plant-based meats past omnivores. Winners had to score the same as or better than the animal version for at least half the tasters. Impossible and Beyond led. Several products were nearly indistinguishable from the original. The ones built to pass, pass.

Nectar, 2025 Sentient Media

Knowing it is plant-based changes the score

When people know a burger is plant-based, ratings often drop. When they do not know, the tongue is less loyal to meat. A 2022 study of beef, plant, and hybrid burgers found the label itself changed the rating. Prejudice can taste like beef even when the patty does not have to.

Grasso et al., 2022

The whole plate, not just the burger

There is a vegan version of the sandwich, the pizza, the sushi, the ice cream, and the scrambled egg. Appearance, smell, taste, and texture can all be matched. You do not have to give up a flavor. You have to stop tying that flavor to an animal.

Appiani et al., 2023

Sources

Papers and datasets. Caveats stay on the card — small samples and single animals included on purpose.

IOM, Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake, 2010 · Review

Salt is what makes most food taste like food

Institute of Medicine: added salt improves the sensory properties of virtually every food people eat. It enhances flavor even in foods that would otherwise taste bad. Without it, food often tastes off. Salt is the usual minimum seasoning on meat.

Food Science of Animal Resources, 2024 · Review

Umami in meat — and in tomatoes, mushrooms, soy

Review of meat umami: salt-curing and spices raise the savory compounds people associate with meat. The same review notes tomatoes and mushrooms as some of the best plant sources of glutamate, the main umami molecule.

Journal of Food Science, 2019 · Observational

Mushroom, tomato, and yeast extracts add “meaty” flavor

Wang and colleagues added mushroom, tomato, and yeast extracts to chicken soup. All of them boosted overall flavor, meaty flavor, saltiness, and umami — the same job salt and MSG do. Those extracts are plants and yeast, not muscle.

Food Science of Animal Resources / PMC, 2022 · Review

Plant-based meat analogs — tofu as a Han-dynasty analogue

Review of Asian meat analogues: during the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) China developed tofu as a standard meat analog, then ate it widely through the Tang dynasty. Using plant protein in place of meat is an ancient practice, not a modern invention.

Sustainability, 2021 · Review

Traditional plant-based meat alternatives — tofu, tempeh, seitan

First-generation analogues — tofu, tempeh, and wheat gluten (seitan / miànjīn, literally 'wheat meat') — were developed in East and Southeast Asia, including as Buddhist vegetarian mock meats, centuries to millennia before modern supermarket products.

FoodUnfolded · Review

The origin of meat alternatives

Accessible history: Han-dynasty tomb art is read as tofu-making; Buddhism in China created demand for substitutes that mimicked meat’s flavours and textures. Tempeh followed in Indonesia; wheat gluten in Chinese monastery kitchens.

CNN Travel · Review

China’s vegetarian fake meat is 1,000 years old

Buddhist temple cuisine in China has served mock duck, mock pork, and mock fish from tofu and gluten for centuries.

Nectar, 2025 · Observational

Nectar Taste of the Industry 2025 — blind tests of 122 plant meats

Blind restaurant tests with omnivores: 122 plant-based meats across 14 categories. Products that scored as the same or better than the animal version for at least half of tasters won. Impossible and Beyond dominated winners. Several products were nearly indistinguishable from the animal original. Not every product matched meat; the ones designed to match often did.

Sentient Media · Review