Vegetarian Liver

Yesterday, I had Chinese vegetarian food for lunch. And I ordered vegetarian liver, cooked in the classic Chinese style with ginger and spring onions.

Upon my first bite, I thought "What the heck are you doing???". I know that there are people that actually like the taste of liver (not pate, actual pig's liver), but I am not one of them.
Here's my deal with liver. When I had problems with anaemia, eating it became de rigeur. It was good for me and so I ate it in great quantities. The only point of eating it was to get the iron boost. I don't hate it exactly, but if it was not for the iron boost, it is not something that I would go out of my way to eat.

Here's the deal with vegetarian liver. There is no iron be had. It's made of soy and while soy is wonderfully rich in protein and vitamins, it's not a source of iron. And here's the thing with the particular dish of vegetarian liver I had: the cook had gone to GREAT means to approximate the texture AND taste of real liver. This was basically soy with a bitter after-taste.

So, there I was, eating something that tasted like liver and not getting the benefit of an iron boost. What the heck was I thinking??

And, why is there such a thing as vegetarian liver in the first place? Are there vegetarians that actually crave the taste of liver? If ever I became a vegetarian, I would miss lots of things - chicken, fish, prawns, pork and beef. The last thing on earth I can ever imagine missing is liver.