I tried Chinese imitation duck from a can
I honestly don’t remember exactly what possessed me. It probably had something to do with the fact that I think it’s important to eat less meat, or that I wanted to prove myself as an adventurous eater. Whatever my reasoning was: I tried Chinese imitation duck from a can, and this is how it went.
A while ago, we came across an article from MUNCHIES in the editorial office about Chinese canned meat substitutes. I personally eat fairly little meat, but the words meat substitutes make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Why not just eat lots of vegetables? Or tofu or tempeh? Why would you eat a product that resembles meat but is always less tasty? I don’t get it.
A full shopping basket
FavorFlav’s Renée told me that years ago she saw someone in the Asian supermarket whose entire shopping basket was filled with tins of fake meat. Chicken, duck, pork, octopus—she thought it was delicious. “I don’t understand why people eat nothing but tofu when this also exists!” were her exact words. Chinese cuisine is by far my favorite cuisine, so why not? Have I been missing out on a fantastic product for thirty years because I turn my nose up at canned fake meat? And before I knew it, I was walking out of the Chinese supermarket with a can of imitation duck.
Throw it away
I posted a photo of the can on Instagram with the question: What should I do with this? Most people’s answer: throw it away! ‘Well, what narrow-minded types,’ I thought. They had no idea about the canned—or otherwise—wonders of Chinese cuisine. Full of anticipation, I opened the can. I saw that the manufacturer had actually tried to imitate the skin of a duck. Brrr. It smelled a little like Peking duck, so I decided to crisp up the ‘duck’ in the oven with some oil.
What happened? The people who suggested I throw it away were right. I’m a huge fan of tofu, so I expected the duck to be somewhat similar. Instead, it’s made from gluten and the texture is spongy, gross and weird. It doesn’t taste like duck at all, and after two bites I threw it in the trash anyway.
There you go, I tried Chinese imitation duck from a can so you don’t have to. You’re welcome.
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