Quorn goes vegan (What the hell is mycoprotein?)

Sounds WAY too processed for me!

Whoa… I had no idea!  It may not totally scare me off, but I do try to make an effort to eat homemade good more often so I can be sure of the ingredients.  Thank you for sharing this – I love learning more about where my food really comes from. 

I’m pretty familiar with Quorn being from the UK and although I don’t eat it right now (of course as most products are not vegan) I give it to my husband all the time! I feel like I’m in a catch 22, my husband is a total carnivore but he will eat this. Do I feed him animals which may be the ‘cleaner’ choice (depending on your stand point of course) or Quorn, which although is processed is not an animal and is much cheaper and more convenient to cook with than quality meat? Its a tough one. I tend to eat processed foods on occasion, and I would be happy to indulge in this from time to time I guess its all about balance. But for my husband I’m never sure if I’m doing the right thing because he eats it so regularly. At least no animals are suffering though. 

I don’t know that this would necessarily scare me off, but I really don’t buy processed foods anyway so I don’t have to worry! Some Daiya so the boyfriend and I can have calzones is about as far as I go.

If it’s a mud fungus, does that mean it has a higher B12 content? Seriously, while I think it’s great when people completely avoid all processed food and look for how every ingredient might impact everything else, I just can’t go there. I want to make the right big picture choices and not get bogged down in the minute details, which can take the fun out of food (and living). This sounds like a yummy product to me – but then again, I made donuts with Earth Balance and Bac’Uns (vegan) this morning.

When I first became vegetarian I ate Quorn products because it was the easy way to substitute meat for someone like myself who had a small soy allergy (which I no longer have, thankfully). However, once I realized I didn’t have to have meat or anything really resembling meat I was completely turned off by the amount of processing involved in making their products and the number of words in the ingredients list I couldn’t even begin to pronounce.

That being said, I think you hit it on the head when you said, ‘and my omnivore husband ate a Quorn burger on Wednesday night, instead of eating an animal’. The point is that Quorn is a great way to transition into vegetarianism and veganism, even if it’s not really something you’d want to eat often or even long-term.

A great post with insight into both sides of the story – thank you for presenting all of the info so honestly!

Reports of “some” people vomiting after eating the product aren’t very helpful. What percentage of people have this reaction, and how do we know there is a causal relationship? People vomit all the time, and it’s always after they ate *something*. The last time I vomited, it was after I ate some hummus. Does that mean hummus is bad for all of us? Of course not. I would need more information about this point before I could evaluate if there was a risk to eating Quorn.

And no, the fact that it is a single-celled member of the fungi kingdom does not scare me off. I inoculate soymilk with bacteria, ferment it for half a day, and then eat that (soy yogurt!), so why would “mold” put me off?

I guess this is more of reason to just stick to fresh veggies   Thank you for such an eye opening post I need it as I am trying to convert myself to vegan.

i saw this product at expo west but didnt try it because i looked at the ingreds list first…im not saying im an “awesome vegan” by any means, i just know my body’s (many) sensitivities…so i have to be a label reader.  having no clue what mycoprotein was i chose to skip it.  kyle tried it (and liked it) though.  he said it tasted falafel-y with a hush puppy/hash brown consistency.  

Interesting. I always thought the name Quorn was a nod to huitlacoche, which I assumed was somehow processed into the prime ingredient of Quorn products. I see now that the two appear to be totally unrelated. Good info to think about on all of this. I’m not sure whether I’d be up for trying these burgers or not. The prospect of being a rare person who has a particularly nasty allergic reaction to that product is a little off-putting, and I’d definitely want to know more about my odds on that score.

That said, I’m not scared off by the very notion of “processed foods”–and agree with you and many commenters here that strict abstinence from anything but “whole foods” (and I dare anyone to clearly define that term) is not a sustainable way for many people to live. The only real benefit I can see to that level of purism is that for some people, seeking as much consistency as possible with their values system is an important part of feeling right with the world. I know it was much easier for me psychologically to “go vegan” all at once versus gradually reducing the amount of eggs and dairy I consumed (I was already vegetarian); for some people, the opposite is true.

I think the two pitfalls that can easily befall “purists” are believing that perfection is possible, in diets or anything else, and believing that everyone should do what works for them (enter the self-righteous vegan that everyone seems to have met, and many get permanently turned off from veg*nism because of that person’s bad energy and bad manners). Fortunately, those are not nearly as common as legend would have it, and the more positive, non-judgmental types there are out there, the more the negative people get diluted and brushed off.

It’s not an animal, so it sounds great to me! I’m like you, I like my oil and sugar and vegan junk food. Thanks for the review, I’m your newest follower!
Audrey at vegincowcountry.wordpress.com

WARNING! DO NOT EAT QUORN!!!

I would really like to share my story and the negative impact that Quorn has had on my life.

I began eating Quorn in 2005 as a teenager. I maintained a vegan diet with the exception of Quorn products. I began to notice a red patch of skin on my chin – my mom assumed it was acne because I was around that age. However, it did not respond to any acne treatments and by 2012 my entire face was bright red – like a bad sunburn, dry, flaky, and very sore. I had other symptoms that became debilitating: fatigue, back pain, joint pain, painful twisting sensations in my legs, allergy fog, etc. I was sick often and would very easily get infections. I had inflamed tonsils for 5 years! I went to my doctor repeatedly through the years but we couldn’t find a solution. Eventually I had to leave school because I was so sick. I had to give up sports and even something simple like a day trip was incredibly difficult.

This past summer I randomly lost my appetite for Quorn. I went Quorn free for 3 weeks and my skin started to clear up, I felt better, even my eyesight was sharper! I ate a Quorn chicken cutlet at a barbecue and the next day my face had reverted back to its usual redness and I felt pretty sick! I returned to my doctor and she confirmed that Quorn had been the culprit to all of these symptoms. I am now detoxing from Quorn and slowly improving everyday.

Quorn’s packaging is so misleading. “Myco” is latin for MOLD! Mycoprotein is made from Fusarium Venenatum – Venenatum is latin for VENOMOUS! To make matters worse their story about discovering Quorn in the British countryside may be true but Mycoprotein was actually developed by a pharmaceutical company and then sold under the Quorn brand name. If I had know these things I never would have tried Quorn!
My problems started so small and very slowly increased in severity over 7 years. If you look up “Quorn Problems” you will find many instances of people becoming violently ill after consuming Quorn – some even going into anaphylactic shock. I am so worried that there are people out there suffering from Quorn who have no idea.
Of course it is up to you to decide if you want to eat Quorn. I strongly advise against it. Make sure if any of you do eat it and start noticing unexplainable symptoms that you consider Quorn to be the source before it gets as bad as it did for me!