In the past these were mainly made from things like flour gluten, bean curd skin, mushroom heads, and konjak. Though they looked real enough, they were a far cry from the real thing in terms of texture. Though vegetarian restaurants had colorful meat substitutes labeled as chicken, duck, fish, and pork, in fact these often tasted all the same.
值得一提的是，早年這類素食品的原料主要是麵筋、豆包、香菇頭、蒟蒻，外觀雖然逼真，但是口感卻差得甚遠，常覺得老素食菜館菜色雖分雞、鴨、魚、肉，味道卻都差不多。