Not necessarily. I was a localvore before I went vegetarian, and the place where I got my chickens, pork, lamb and beef was ~10 miles from my house. (I live in a hipster city.) I did this because I liked meeting my animals and watching them be butchered. (Industrial meat production is wildly, horrifically cruel by comparison.)
Now I'm vegetarian because meat is just too effing expensive when purchased ethically. I can't justify $40 steaks and $20/lb chicken, and to be honest, steak just really isn't that tasty... and bacon is awful for you. I'm also tired of chicken for the most part. Now that I've found soy curls I make way more fake-meat dishes than ever before.
I'm not vegan because trying to get protein from vegan sources is too difficult. I still eat fish and eggs (but not milk, cuz cow milk is nasty) and I'll never give up cheese even though milk is taken from baby cows/sheep waaay to soon (they are switched to milk substitutes).
But I get it, I like to cook, and if you don't like to cook, nothing is easier than throwing a steak on a grill.
Soy curls are a product from Butler Foods. Not sure if there's a generic equivalent, I haven't found one. Not vegan, but I do try and limit my meat consumption and really love them.
Yeah the generic version is TVP, textured vegetable protein (made from processed soy). It comes in all kinds too: like those curls, slices that are more like beef slices for stir-fry, and mince-like granules for making "mince"!
Its cheap as, and at tonnes of asian supermarkets or vegan stores.
Rehydrate with beef-style or chicken-style stock and you're off to the races. Some of my friends have started using it to save money on meat despite not being vegan :)
I'm in the process of writing some up as of the last few weeks -- but the core of it is "just replace any beef in your stir-frys or pasta minces with TVP cooked with a particular technique"
Send me an email (its in my profile) and I'll make sure to send the link to you when I chuck them up on my site in the next week or so?
But in short: rehydrate the TVP with boiling water with a cube or two of beef-style stock. Let it sit for about 5 minutes or so, it should become soft.
Drain it, and really squeeze the stock out of it if you're doing a nice stir-fry or similar; it'll fry better the less water is in it.
In a wok or fry-pan, add half a tablespoon of oil, add the TVP. Crack salt, black and white pepper over them. Don't stir too much to begin with, you want it to brown, almost char in places. Then stir, fry as normal.
Now you can use it to replace most beef protein sources in stir-frys, pasta sauces (if you use the "mince" versions) and so on.
My partner and I have come up with some from-scratch(ish) sauces that go best with it, but it's great even without those. My particular favourite recipes are: "beef" and black bean, Thai basil and chili, bolognaise (which is more like a pomodoro with TVP mince added), soy and garlic stir frys, and some others I'm likely forgetting.
I have to stop myself from eating this every week because the sugar and frying probably isn't very healthy, but damn it's great with sticky short-grained rice:
Rice and beans, or corn and beans, are classic recipes for protein combination in poorer demographics. I make those all the time in an instant pot and they are very convenient and satisfying. I stir in stuff like pasta sauce or Indian vegetable packets to add flavor.
Soy curls! I'm not even vegetarian and I love those things. (caveat: my wife is vegan and I don't cook so I'm mostly vegetarian by association.) They are so freaking versatile. We've used them replace almost everything meat like that I want to eat that can't be don't by using a beefless ground.
You got any sources? I get the feeling we got some stuff in common, so would you mind laying some wisdom down with regard to soy curls or other economic meat substitutes?
Now I'm vegetarian because meat is just too effing expensive when purchased ethically. I can't justify $40 steaks and $20/lb chicken, and to be honest, steak just really isn't that tasty... and bacon is awful for you. I'm also tired of chicken for the most part. Now that I've found soy curls I make way more fake-meat dishes than ever before.
I'm not vegan because trying to get protein from vegan sources is too difficult. I still eat fish and eggs (but not milk, cuz cow milk is nasty) and I'll never give up cheese even though milk is taken from baby cows/sheep waaay to soon (they are switched to milk substitutes).
But I get it, I like to cook, and if you don't like to cook, nothing is easier than throwing a steak on a grill.