Have been almost completly vegetarian for the last 4 and a half years and was pretty much a carnivore before that, so I feel this is as unbiased of an opinion as is possible.
The Beyond, Gardien, Impossible, etc fake chicken have more flavor, nearly indistinguishable texture, are just as juicy, and aren’t greasy. At this point, I consider them better than regular chicken with the sole exception of fried chicken which was never my favorite but I can see the appeal of it.
I’ll concede that the beef substitutes have a ways to go (I like them and they’re not bad but they’re not fooling anyone, either) but they’re not the subject of this opinion.
This is childish.
It’s literally a product designed to imitate and fill the role of meat.
It would be like saying that synthetic motor oil has nothing to do with motor oil.
Having strong opinions doesn’t always make you look smart.
Synthetic motor oil is chemically quite similar to conventional motor oil. Both are made from hydrocarbons. One is drilled from the ground, the other is made in a lab. Lab-grown meat vs. animal meat would be a much better comparison.
But you’re comparing apples to oranges. Vegan chicken that tastes exactly like chicken is as good as it can get. If it tastes better than actual chicken, then you’ve just created a new meat-like product with a chicken-ish taste.
It’s like a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest where Charlie Chaplin himself ranks sixth. You can say someone looks almost like Charlie Chaplin, but claiming they look more like him than he does himself doesn’t make any sense. At that point you’re just saying you prefer the way one thing looks (or tastes) over the other. So you could equally say cake is better than meatballs.
Having opposing opinions doesn’t mandate insulting the other party.
No, that is not a similar situation, since Charlie Chaplin is, by definition, a single entity with a single definition.
Chicken meat on the other hand, is a range of flavours and textures. Chicken nuggets feel nothing like roast chicken, which feels nothing like pulled chicken. White meat tastes different then dark meat, the and connective tissues add other flavours as well. Different species of chickens tastes different as do chickens on different diets, and the taste of chicken has changed over time. Hell, American chicken tastes notably worse than chicken in most other countries.
You are not dealing with a single defined thing, especially when dealing with the broad category of everything allowed to be called chicken at the grocery store, like chicken nuggets and burgers. It is entirely possible for a synthetic fake chicken product, to slot into this spectrum of options.