For those pursuing a healthier lifestyle, Ivy International, a Salt Lake City-based company, is marketing "Meat of Wheat." Our testers tried the meat-free burgers and chicken flavor. The four "Sun Burger" patties or chicken flavored Meat of Wheat, come fully cooked and frozen in a 14-ounce box that retails for about $4.49. Meat of Wheat can be found at selected Dan's, Smith's and at health-food stores.
Don Russell: "Since we eat a lot of wheat at our house I thought that this product would go over better than it did."Comments ranged from `dry' to `tasteless' to `this isn't good.' Ivy International, the local manufacturer, has the right idea about Meat of Wheat. It just needs to be made more palatable to sell. Plus, it's very expensive."
Nihla Lake: "The nutritional labeling looked `good' - a lot better than the product tasted! Maybe we're used to something that looks like a hamburger tasting like a juicy burger. My husband and teenagers tried the Sun Burgers - yuk! The only way they were the least bit edible was to drown them in ketchup. My 16-year-old said the chicken flavor tasted like bread. Maybe we're too brainwashed."
Judy Slack Wilson: "I tried the Sun Burgers. I heated a hamburger patty in the microwave and maybe, if I were a vegetarian, I would appreciate it. But meat is meat and vegetables are vegetables, and they should not be substituted for each other. I was the only one who was brave enough to even swallow it. Everyone else spit theirs out. It looks very much like a slice of dog food. The price is outrageous as well."
Edyth Jensen: "I have heard so much about gluten for meat substitute. We tried it yesterday and it was awful. My son wouldn't even touch the chicken. I honestly couldn't find a hamburger taste in the hamburger. This isn't a product we'll be buying again."
Linda C. Tingey: "Meat of Wheat sounds like it should be good - it probably is very nutritious. But! . . . I'd have to be very, very hungry to eat this. It doesn't look or smell very good either. No thank you! I didn't even bother preparing it for my four teenage boys."
Rich Firmage: "Of the three different kinds of this vegetarian `meat' we received, I tried the Sun Burgers. You know, there is nothing quite like a good hamburger, and this was nothing at all like a good hamburger. It burned real fast in the frying pan and had no moisture at all. With lots of ketchup and mustard you could pretty much drown out the taste, but what really got me was the texture. It was like mush. It melted in my mouth like Cream of Wheat, which is basically what it was."
Conclusion: Meat of Wheat is a great idea. But unless a better taste is found - this will be just for die-hard veggies.
The Deseret News testing panel independently tests products purchased by the Deseret News. Readers with suggestions for products to be tested should contact the Today Section, Box 1257, Salt Lake City, UT 84110.