Articles in front of food nouns

After eighteen months of study I still can't really understand this. 'Les Français mangeaient les escargots' seems to be ok as an alternative to 'des escargots'. But 'Tout ce qui ressemble à la viande rouge' as an alternative to 'de la viande rouge' is not. To me it's the same kind of statement; and to have to say 'ressemble à de la viande rouge' sounds like 'resembles some red meat'...