Imitation Ribs - Ribs are Like Hope
Are you kidding me! Those are two words that I NEVER thought that I’d put together. But there they are, and they are real. I didn’t say they were good, but they are definitely real.
The most popular, and I use that word carefully, are made from either jackfruit, seitan, or tofu. There’s even one made from vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, and (wait for it) peanut butter.
These imitations all place their hopes on three facts.
No one is looking.
No one has any nerve endings in their mouth.
No one has functioning taste buds.
They place their bets on the hope that simply by dumping lots of barbecue sauce on "something" that people will ignore the facts. The facts that:
It doesn’t smell the same.
It doesn’t look the same.
It doesn’t feel the same.
It doesn’t taste the same.
And all are true because they are NOT the same!
There’s also no need for a basket to hold the bones. Guess why. Because there are none!
Now, there are some people that genuinely can’t eat pork for one reason or the other. And that’s fine. I hold no grudge against them. I hope they find happiness and contentment in their rib-less life.
But, let’s be honest, these are NOT ribs. Period. They don’t have a rib in them because they aren’t made from meat. As the title tells us, they are an imitation.
And there are people who are trying to sell us imitation hope. Some groups are pushing something that they say is hope, but it isn’t. They slather it in hopeful words and images, but underneath there is nothing. Nothing but emptiness, an imitation. It sort of might look like hope, but it’s not genuine.
Now, I’m not any better than anyone else. I’m not smarter, more insightful, more gifted, or talented either. If you met me, you’d figure that out as fast as greased lightning.
But I’ve found hope, and I’m just a guy who’s sharing what he’s found. And my greatest joy is to share what I’ve found. Or, should I say, who I’ve found.