NY Times - Masters of Disguise Among Meatless Burgers

By Jeff Gordinier
March 22, 2011

"They were the four syllables that had the power to make both carnivores and vegetarians cringe: veggie burger. For meat-lovers, the veggie burger was long seen as a sad stand-in that tried to copy the contours and textures of a classic beef patty while falling pathetically short of the pleasure. And for meat-refusers, the veggie burger served as a kind of penitential wafer: You ate this bland, freeze-dried nutrient disc because you had to eat it (your duty as someone who had forsaken the flesh) and because at many a restaurant or backyard barbecue, it was the only option available..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/dining/23meatless.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&emc=eta1