What the duck: The rise of mock meat in India

Looks like duck, tastes like duck, it must be duck...errr, no, not if it’s mock duck. This deceptive duck meat is crafted from processed wheat gluten and covered in a layer of textured mock skin. Think honey-glazed mock duck or stir-fried mock duck. The media says mock duck is even a hot favourite dish of the Indian cricket team. However, is it all it is quacked up to be?

Mock meat has been available in India for over a decade. Initially a dismal failure, it has become impossible to ignore now that it’s going all mainstream and trendy. Earlier this year, Vogue magazine did a story on vegetarian meat. A Bollywood couple also recently launched a hip and quirky plant-based meat company. “Meat dreams with zero guilt,” they promise. Products on offer include “happy meat” chicken sheekh kebabs and mutton keema.

Although mock meat is tasty fodder for puns, it certainly shouldn’t be taken lightly. It’s a multibillion-dollar industry in the West. In India, mock egg, derived from moong dal, literally was the golden egg for an IIT-Delhi science professor who invented it. The lab-produced liquid snared the first prize of $5,000 in a United Nations Development Programme innovation contest. These days, faux flesh has been tweaked in labs to the extent that it’s realistic enough to fool dedicated carnivores. Concerns that buyers may be misled prompted the French government to make manufacturers mince their words and remove any mention of meat from the packaging.

But who would devour plant dressed as lamb? Apparently, the increasing number of health conscious and/or ethically minded people who are opting to be vegetarian or vegan are driving the mock meat mania. Some converts consume it to satisfy their lingering meat cravings. Others believe it to be a healthier, cleaner source of protein, without cholesterol and animal fat. Personally, I’m too chicken to try it.

I do consume meat. Not a lot but a few times per week, and only certain types. When a vegetarian friend came to live with me for a while in Australia, it posed a dietary dilemma. Meat was banished from the house. The thought of replacing it with something masquerading as meat was rather repulsive though. If I’m going to eat plant-based food, I want it to be recognisable as such, not manipulated into having a new identity as a fish fillet.

Just because these meat alternatives are touted as plant-based doesn’t mean they’re wholesome. Most are ultra-processed concoctions of soy or pea protein isolates, wheat gluten, refined oils, dextrose (sugar from corn starch), salt, flavouring, thickeners and stabilisers. It’s worth checking the ingredients, because not all mock meats are created equal.

Ultimately, anything that’s heavily manufactured can never be as good as what’s grown naturally and not deconstructed. While the West has latched on to Ayurveda and Yoga and is eagerly adding exotic “super food” turmeric to lattes, it’s unfortunate that the cultural exchange continues to contribute processed foods to India.

Several studies have raised issues over how processed foods and the modern Western diet are replacing traditional Indian fare. Last year, a study comparing Indian eating habits with the benchmark EAT-Lancet reference diet found that urban Indian households in the highest income group get almost 30 per cent of their total daily calories from processed food.

Instead of mimicking meat, India has immense opportunity to explore the preparation of plant foods in different and nourishing ways. This includes revitalising heirloom recipes and incorporating heritage grains into dishes. I’ll be lining up to sample them!

(The travel writer from Down Under who has made Mumbai her home is trying to make sense of India one ‘Like That Only’ at a time)