When I asked a vegetarian if he liked veggie dogs, the curt reply was: “I’d rather eat a real hot dog.” Contrary to his opinion, there are, however, many products that carnivores and herbivores can both enjoy. Some of them might give pause, like Lick’s Natureburger (grilled and smothered in their Guk sauce). Others are just right to hit the spot when you want something as substantial but don’t want to taste like flesh.

After a stint of being meat-phobic (blame it on watching one grisly episode of the X-Files), I acquired the taste for soy meats. Having been brought up on a tofu and whey protein/gluten steady diet helped, too. My first taste of a smoke-crisped veggie street dog laden in Toronto’s terrific toppings had me hooked.

Having once spent almost $12 on a package of Yves veggie dogs at a specialty store in Asia (not so hard a decision after four years abroad in countries where people don’t believe that chicken is meat), I was excited to rediscover a veggie friendly city. We’re quite spoiled for choice in eating out, as pretty much all restaurants have a vegetarian option, with even most pubs offering a veggie burger. Back in the day, the 24-hour Burger King drive through at Kennedy and Steeles was a weekly pleasure offering the rare veggie junior Whopper. Nowadays, being downtown, a treat may be the great veggie (not soy) patty burger at Epicure (502 Queen Street West) with its hearty texture, cheesy tomato spice, or the big, almost beefy soy burger at Utopia (586 College Street). What, however, are the options for home prepared meals?

At the bigger chain stores, the selection doesn’t vary from anything other than Yves (which, although they’ve come out with a plethora of products, all somehow have the same taste and texture). Loblaw’s PC brand makes a few faux meat products - the Portobello Swiss burger is especially tasty, big, juicy and strong in flavour. Lick’s frozen vegetarian products are also becoming a familiar sight in large supermarkets.

For something a little different, T&T Supermarket (22 Cherry Street) carries a variety of frozen hunks of veggie ham, soy chicken, fish, and other fake squid or shrimp made from yam or seaweed. There is also monk food aka jai/tsai, which is a kind of mock substitute rather than an attempt to simulate the flavour and texture of meat. In the deli section, small foil tins hold a mixture of textured vegetable protein in flavours like barbecue, curry, and sweet and sour. It can, however, be overly oily. And Ying Ying Soy Foods (93 Front Street) in the St. Lawrence Market sells interesting flavour choices of sliced firm tofu in vacuum packs that can be tossed into a dish or wrap.

King’s Cafe (192 Augusta Avenue) in Kensington Market offers a plethora of frozen foods like nuggets of crispy mock chicken, chicken drumsticks and more. Also in the market is Essence of Life Natural Foods (50 Kensington Avenue) where I found Tofurky, not the holiday stuffed roast, but a line of soy and wheat protein blends of slices, franks, and sausages. The turkey slices are thin, more like deli slices, and are nicely chewy, although there is a strangely unattractive soy smell. The best is the beer sausage - highly flavourful with beer as one of the ingredients - and of a softer meaty texture, that when smothered in sauerkraut and mustard on a good crusty roll easily beat out an undercooked street meat sausage.

Yves and Tofurky are available at The Big Carrot (348 Danforth Avenue), as well as a number of different soy and tempeh (fermented soy) burgers, most of them organic. Green Cuisine’s smoked flavour tempeh burger had a luscious melting texture that is a cross between smoked mozzarella and refried beans. It was a pleasingly rich combination of smoky, miso-toned saltiness. Sunfoods’ portobello burger, like the tempeh, is also a mix of mouth-feels.  It has both the smoothness of legume patties and a chewiness similar to soy. It has a slight sweetness from carrot and onion, with 4 grams of fibre per serving/patty. Sol Cuisine “ribz” are thick rectangles of spongy tofu in a very sweet sauce. The sauce is noticeably oily and for the price, better to pick up some thick firm bean curd at T&T and just marinate it in a better barbecue sauce. It’s not bad, but not worth the 7 grams of fat for a 70 gram serving.

It was a pleasant surprise to find that there are so many new meatless options with many more to discover. Shops in Toronto have been a great source of vegetarian friendly foods for which all health seekers can be grateful. As their popularity increases hopefully so too will the availability and range of tasty, good-for-you, plant-based protein products.