Can you taste the difference?

This article was found on about.com. Maybe this might encourage you to try a vegetarian meat substitute one day a week.

Can you taste the difference between real meat and a vegetarian mock meat substitute? Apparently, according to a new study published in the Journal for Consumer Research, most people can't! In the study, performed by social anthropologists from three different universities, participants rated food items, including vegetarian mock meat substitutes, better when they thought they were eating the real thing.

The researchers report that although many people claim that they eat meat rather than a vegetarian substitute because they prefer the taste:

Our results challenge that claim. Participants who ate the vegetarian alternative did not rate the taste and aroma less favorably than those who ate the beef product. Instead, what influenced taste evaluation was what they thought they had eaten.

It seems that when it comes to taste, our perceptions and expectations shape our experience more than the actual food we eat. I'm not quite sure that this is a major scientific breakthrough, but at least the next time someone tells you they eat meat for the taste, you can confidently tell them that it really is all in their head!