Cracker Barrel adds Impossible meatless sausage - some customers go apoplectic

[bobbiwoz]

At Cracker Barrel I order the catfish, apples and carrots, and I am happy. We probably go to one only once or twice a year and I do like to look at their assortment of old fashioned candies and merchandise.

 

[HopperFan]

Folks on Google say Campbells did sell Pepper Pot soup with tripe, but they discontinued it in 2010.

https://www.amazon.com/Campbells-Pepper-Soup-10-5-Ounce-Cans/product-reviews/B000H1730M

@bcla

Yes, this was when I was younger when he worked there .. 1960's. Then it just became a family standard to eat Campbells.

I didn't know what it was until I was an adult. I thought it was a weird pasta.

 

[Cadiewampus]

I disagree. It looks and tastes like sausage. The milk industry hasn't gotten very far with that logic and almond, oat milk, etc.

They shouldn't be able to call all that other crap milk either.

 

[Cadiewampus]

I can accept sausage and burger for non-meat things, but for heaven's sake there's no such thing as a vegetarian meatball.

lol or a meatless chicken.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

ya know, I'm not going to order veggie sausage, but nobody is required to order it.

they don't care about whether it's healthy. they get to market as sensitive to the environment, because apparently livestock farming is bad for the environment.

 

[bcla]

ya know, I'm not going to order veggie sausage, but nobody is required to order it.

they don't care about whether it's healthy. they get to market as sensitive to the environment, because apparently livestock farming is bad for the environment.

I think it's more a "culture war" issue. For many Cracker Barrel seems to be seen as perhaps a last bastion of unabashedly old-school dining and "southern values". And frankly some of the backlash over this is political. Not necessarily partisan per se, but still political. Over the years Cracker Barrel has done things that they felt (rightly or wrongly) were in tune with their customer base including firing gay workers or discriminating against black customers.

https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2004/May/04_crt_288.htm​

The Justice Department’s complaint alleges that Cracker Barrel violated Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by engaging in a pattern or practice of discrimination against African-American customers and prospective customers on the basis of their race or color. Specifically, the complaint alleges that Cracker Barrel:​

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- allowed white servers to refuse to wait on African-American customers;​

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- segregated customer seating by race;​

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- seated white customers before African-American customers who arrived earlier;​

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- provided inferior service to African-American customers after they were seated; and​

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- treated African-Americans who complained about the quality of Cracker Barrel's food or service less favorably than white customers who lodged similar complaints.​

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https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/28/us/company-ousts-gay-workers-then-reconsiders.html​

But earlier this year the chain of restaurants, based in Lebanon, Tenn., adopted a hiring policy that belied the meaning of the sign. It said it would no longer employ homosexuals, and at least nine gay employees were dismissed.​

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Dan Evins, chairman of the company, was quoted today in The Tennessean in Nashville as saying the policy had been rescinded. But workers who had been dismissed, like Cheryl Summerville, said they had heard nothing about that.​

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Ms. Summerville, a 32-year-old lesbian who worked here as a cook for more than three years, said sympathetic managers had advised her to be quiet about her sexual preferences, stay in the kitchen and wait for things to blow over.​

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"They said they didn't really want to fire me," she said, "because the policy was really aimed at effeminate men and women who have masculine traits who might be working as waiters or waitresses.​

 

[Mysterian]

When people in our family started eating more vegan meals, this was a stepping stone for them as heavy meat eaters. I've been vegetarian for years now, and don't really eat meat substitutes, but I would if a group of people stopped at this restaurant.
It's nice to have options.

When your family started eating more vegan meals, what was the reason?

 

[Mysterian]

ya know, I'm not going to order veggie sausage, but nobody is required to order it.

they don't care about whether it's healthy. they get to market as sensitive to the environment, because apparently livestock farming is bad for the environment.

Market to whom, the press or the consumer?

Cracker Barrel people are advocating Pro-Meat. Why would they give a hamsteak about the environment, if their preferred diet is worse for the environment vs substitute meat?

 

[tasha99]

Squeezing an almond does not make milk. But it definitely makes California drier.

And they should call the oat stuff "very thin, Oliver Twist-like gruel in carton in your refrigerator section" .

It's milk to me. I can drink lactose free dairy milk, but I far prefer the taste of almond milk.

My Italian grandmother used to love tripe. Eels, too. My French Canadian grandmother loved blood sausage. YUCK! Barfing smilies all around for those foods!

We just got back from a trip to Hawaii. Obviously, we expected fish to be popular, but hadn't realized that raw or barely cooked fish was such a "thing". You actually have to order your ahi (tuna) cooked to a degree, like a steak. Luckily, we were all good sports about it, and my pickier kids were willing to give most things a try. DD27, OTOH, was in heaven--she loves raw ahi, and ate her weight in poke bowls. She wouldn't touch the Spam, though.

I suspect the Cracker Barrel kerfuffle will die down in a few weeks, when they realize that they only sell 4 fake sausage patties a week. Maybe they'll keep a bag in the freezer, just to have them, or quietly take them off the menu. Maybe people are really protesting the disappearance of the turkey sausage?

I love freshwater eel, but the place I buy it has been out of stock for a couple months. They say they'll have more next week, and I am soooo hopeful, because I want it for my birthday dinner next month. I'm like your daughter about tuna though--nothing ruins it more than cooking it.

 

[mrodgers]

We were traveling last weekend and discovered that change for ourselves (turkey sausage replaced with the impossible sausage). For us, it's about the sodium of the impossible products and being left with only red meat choices. The waitress said the change wasn't getting good reviews.

You are stating something totally different than what everyone else is saying. You are saying specifically it replacing said real food, not an added optional product. They replaced one real product with a chemical concoction? Yeah, I do have a problem with that.

 

[Moliphino]

lol or a meatless chicken.

It should be like ice cream or cheese, where you have to meet certain ingredient requirements to be able to use the name (which is why some brands have to call it "frozen dairy dessert" instead of ice cream). If it doesn't contain chicken you shouldn't be able to call it chicken.

 

[dizneegirl]

They're probably the same people offended by the mere presence of EV chargers and who think "rolling coal" is a great way to stick it to those tree-hugging weirdos...

As someone who drives an EV, nothing makes me laugh harder than someone trying to "stick it to me" my rolling coal. Go ahead and waste your gas...

Personally, I chose what I want to drive, and you chose what you want to drive. I don't see why it bothers you. Same goes with fake meat and impossible whatever - I don't care to eat it, but I also don't care if it's on a menu somewhere - doesn't mean I have to order it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My primary reason for opposing the place is their practice of imposing artificially long table-wait times in order to drive sales in the "gift shop" part of the building.

I could see that being individually-based locations.

The one closest to us isn't like that, my in-laws also know the GM (goodness they seem to know everyone at the locations they frequent lol) enough to text every now and then.

The one closest to us while people do peruse around most when the wait is long go outside assuming it's not the dead of winter. There simply isn't enough room inside that area for groups to stand around. If their goal is to make people shop by inflating wait times it doesn't seem to be working here lol as there isn't even enough room to move around.

In recent times it's usually staffing that causes waits although that does depend on how many you have. We went last month and we were able to be immediately sat but if you had looked outside you would have though holy moly that's at least an hour wait given all the groups sitting outside. It was just really that there were enough big groups needing bigger tables.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

I eat some impossible stuff when I want a burger - not because I think it is better for me - but because its better for the environment - uses only 5% of the land and 25% of the water versus real meat. And I think emits like an eighth of the greenhouse gases.

 

[MillauFr]

They shouldn't be able to call all that other crap milk either.

Maybe you would prefer how the French do it. They have an entire government bureaucracy to police how food companies label their products. The US does it to a lesser degree but are not generally over the top in their enforcement like the French are.

 

[Mysterian]

I eat some impossible stuff when I want a burger - not because I think it is better for me - but because its better for the environment - uses only 5% of the land and 25% of the water versus real meat. And I think emits like an eighth of the greenhouse gases.

So you enjoy the taste? Otherwise, if the environment is your main concern, why not have something better for you in the end?

Edit to add: Do you eat at Cracker Barrel?

 

[Mysterian]

What do the people say about plant-meat in general? Here's a Vox article:
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/...p-poll-plant-based-meat-vegan-climate-animals

Why people eat plant-based meat​

What’s driving the interest in plant-based meat? The other slate of Gallup polls, released Monday, might provide some insight. That set of polls asks Americans about their meat consumption, and finds that 23 percent report cutting back on their meat consumption in the past year. Health, the environment, and animal welfare are all cited as major reasons why.

(Further down)

And other surveys have found that questions about our food habits in particular are intensely subject to desirability biases, where people claim they’re cutting back on unhealthy foods and eating more of healthy ones...regardless of whether the facts match.

Ok, naysayers, so nobody's eating the substitute because they believe it's healthy? The article shows how there's a predominant public perception that plant-based meat is "healthier". I would also think that environmentally conscious people would also be conscious of what they feed their bodies. But maybe there'll be a market for edible-Styrofoam.

NBC news did you catch that? Feel free to use any of this for a pull quote. So far a podcaster in Yugoslavia might be covering our story, and we'll get the big ratings!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Maybe you would prefer how the French do it. They have an entire government bureaucracy to police how food companies label their products. The US does it to a lesser degree but are not generally over the top in their enforcement like the French are.

I liked the simpsons episode.
These two guys they made me work night and day cop just listens
They didn't feed me and made me sleep with the donkey cop just listens.
They made me drink wine with anti freeze in it. . GASP, adulterating the wine is a serious offense.
Cops arrest the perps and Bart becomes a national hero.
HAHAHA.

 

[CGB]

You are stating something totally different than what everyone else is saying. You are saying specifically it replacing said real food, not an added optional product. They replaced one real product with a chemical concoction? Yeah, I do have a problem with that.

Yes. Turkey sausage is no longer an option (at least where we ate). I did email feedback to CB about our awesome waitress and mentioned the sausage issue. If they want to keep the impossible option, that's great for those folks who want it. Just bring the turkey sausage back.

 

[T.G.I.Friday]

So you enjoy the taste? Otherwise, if the environment is your main concern, why not have something better for you in the end?

Edit to add: Do you eat at Cracker Barrel?

I’m not the poster you’ve directed the question to, but as a vegetarian, I don’t think it’s always as black and white as you’re trying to portray it.

I choose not to eat meat, but there are times when a meat substitute just works. Impossible ground meat allows me to make my mom’s meatloaf recipe. The fake burgers allow me to participate in a cookout without looking or feeling like a special snowflake. (If we host, you would have no idea that the burger on my bun isn’t the same as what is on your bun). These aren’t things we eat every day, but it is nice to have as an option.

I certainly know that an Apple is healthier for me and better for the environment, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have Ben & Jerry’s on occasion.