It's Been Done
"...such as gravy-absorbing meat sponges."
It's called Quorn. (I know it's not really meat, but when you get to the molecular level........sort of.)
When it comes to exquisite cuisine, who said you need pots and pans? Maybe soon we'll use computers and printers to fix up meals. A team at New York's Cornell University has been hard at work with 3D food printers, creating strange dishes with ingredients from chocolate and hummus to turkey and celery, CBC News reports. …
I'm sorry but that is just untrue. Quorn has no taste. It tastes of whatever you add to it. I think David Baddiel described it best through the words of a character in one of his novels ("The Secret Purposes" I think).
"I've been a meat eater all my life but never, never have I had anything in my mouth that tasted quite so dead as quorn"
Tofu has little taste or texture. Quorn as packaged as mince / chunks does have a taste and a texture - a mild savoury taste slightly fungus / mushroomy in character which is not surprising considering what it's made of. I've munched enough while frying it up to know this.
Typically however it will be an ingredient in something else like a curry where it's taste would often be overshadowed. I think the stuff is great despite the amount of oil it absorbs. I have no issue with eating meat, but I enjoy quorn so much I'll cook something up with it from time to time.