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Taking Food Content Very Seriously: Content-Wire Editor Eats Quorn

2002-05-13 admin

Over the last few days I have seen some headlines crop up about Quorn

We like controversy and are very familiar with the substance.

We also read that our icons, the editors of Wired are being pulled in the discussion, so we thought to add 2 nuggets.

I had a been a vegetarian for a about a year in my teens, following the idea that vegetarianism is more appropriate for those who want to perfect their senses, as vegetables are more subtle and carry less karmic weight than animal products.

Fair enough. Of course I want to perfect my senses, I thought, and stopped taking meat, to the great disappointment of my mother and friends who could not understand how something so radical be undertaken other than for a psychological affliction or deep guilt.

Then I travelled extensively in the East, and saw that people in India and other eastern countries where I visited eat chicken and mutton regularly.
So when I came back to Europe I started eating meat again, in particular chicken and fish which I really liked, and watched television regularly while having meals.

At one stage, towards my mid twenties, I had developed a real chicken addiction. I had to eat chicken everyday and the first thing I thought in the morning when I woke up was ‘gotta go and buy some chicken’. I would then never stop thinking about the bird 'til after I had had my daily dose.

I soon realized that it was not the chicken that I was addicted to, but the growth hormones and additives that chickens are fed with that were being accumulated in increasing quantities in my body. I probably started behaving and thinking like a chicken too, and wondered, would anyone notice the subtle change.

Then after years of struggle trying to refine my senses and evolve from my mortal condition into a better being capable of higher attainments (more to follow) I became vegetarian again in 1995, and except for a few morsels of fish – have a shrimp or a bite of smoked salmon once a year when I really crave for it – I have not been eating animal flesh since.

A combination of pulses and carbohydrates was fine for a few years, but then my metabolism changed and I had to reduce the carbohydrate intake – yes, starting putting on weight – and had to look for a high protein, low fat, low carbohydrate alternative to satisfy my appetites with.

I cut down on Soya products, and ‘seitan’, the fleshy high protein gluten extracted from wheat (I love seitan), is not always available where I live and is also rather expensive.

Then I found QUORN, I could not believe how good it was. It was like a manna. When I first started feeding on it, Quorn was very flavourless and bland, mycoprotein is actually rather tasteless. I could have sausages and chicken recipes, without the karmic burden of meat, and guess what, they did not taste like sausages or chicken either, and would simply take the flavour of what I cooked them with. Yum.

I made enquiries as to the content, you never know – What is it? I phoned the company and they explained roughly the process of growing the thing much like a yeast – they reassured me that is not genetically modified and that the recipe is kinda secret. It contains egg white, which is not in my normal diet, as I do not like to eat eggs either. But there you go, it's in minimal quantities and I just have it

I hear that it appears to be high in estrogens, but never found information to support or disprove these rumours, and I also have no information as to what levels of estrogens are acceptable, so just don't worry about it.

After a couple of years of regular use, the producers started putting out ‘REAL SAUSAGE FLAVOUR’ and ‘REAL CHICKEN FLAVOUR’ in all Quorn products.

I got sick. I could not believe that after years of vegetarianism, when the sole smell of meat makes one sick
- yes I cannot bite flesh anymore, and the smell of burning flesh and blood on kitchen stoves disturbs me – I could eat something that was fabulous, not meat, and had to have a false meat flavour with it. I could not believe it. It was so absurd. Didn't make sense.

I phoned the manufacturers expressing my disappointment and demanded that they keep on shipping at least one line of product which is tasteless, because I like my fleshy bits to have the protein, and take the flavour of whatever condiment I cook them with.

That’s what I want and I am the customer, right?

I think now there is one line that is less flavoured than others, and by now I also got used to the fishy fake chicken taste.

Quorn for the world

I am convinced that Quorn, or quorn–like-products, could be a staple food to be fed to all nations, it’s inexpensive to produce and probably if dried can be shipped to hot countries where freezing is constrained.

The company holding the intellectual property should license the recipe with very favourable terms to World Health Organisations for them to distribute to populations that need protein. It should be inexpensive and available globally. It could solve some of the world food and health problems. Quorn with a bit of rice and veg is what I eat everyday to stay healthy.

Lots of people need to make improvements in their diets I guess - especially those who don’t have much to eat either way.

Marketing Tips For the company

I shall exchange some free marketing advice and this good free advertising for my favourite food manufacturers (keep it flavourless please), in exchange for a lifetime supply of the thing (I consume approx 300 grams daily of the stuff, corresponding to 40 grams of protein, 15 grams of carbohydrates and virtually no fat ).

1) Make the research about the nutritional aspect available on the website

I have tried to find info and not found it. I understand you want to keep your IP secret, but now that
the dogs are after you, make sure your product is optimized – even make changes to the recipe if necessary – and publish as much information as possible about it.

2) Drop the ‘mushroom’ versus ’fungal’ origin thing. Don’t say anything on the package, just say that it's Quorn, a product made so and so – I am so very curious about the process – with such and such ingredients.

3) Don’t push the flavours. Real vegetarians may like something fleshy to bite on, but despise, despise totally the smell and taste of pork, beef and 'chickin'.

And it takes several years of vegetarianism before we get to this stage, now you don’t want to disappoint your long-term customers right?

Yes, the meat and meat product suppliers may spread misinformation because they know that they are going to lose out in the long run.

Imagine if Quorn really is better than meat. It's going to be a big deal.

As the majority of us hope for improvement in world health and the economy, the biggest changes start from individual consumption habits.

Long live the chickens.

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