Veggie burgers at BK

i believe that the Veggie whopper at BK UK is vegetarian-society (but not vegan society) approved. i also got a list of ingredients from one of the stores one day and the bean burger APPEARS to be vegan (apart from the processed cheese of course but leave that off anyway ugh) but i dunno if they fry it in the same oil as meaty products. BK over McDonald's any day though for these reasons alone (though i eat at neither i hasten to add)

Hopefully BK won't pull this off their menu in a month or so and claim there wasn't enough demand. The local BK is advertising the veggie burger on their marquee, but -- aside from a forwarded email with those links -- I haven't seen anything else about it. And I certainly doubt that most vegetarians frequent BK to begin with, so hopefully the word will get around and open some more doors within the fast food industry. It'd be good knowing that there are more options during road trips -- that's for sure. Perhaps other chains will follow.

I went to BK last night and tried one out. Not as good as a couple of the store-bought brands, but not bad at all!

The two veggie options at Burger King seem to be pretty standard, the one at Charing X now has a dedicated veggie kids meal option as well. It surprises me that there was never one in the US! Are there no YUMMY spicy beanburgers over there either?

Incidentally, processed cheese: NUM NUM!

isn't buying *anything* from evil multinationals (particularly MacDonalds, but i presume Burger King aren't much better on workers' rights, environmental issues etc) morally worse than eating animals?

Killing of animals is a whole different kettle of moral principles and anyway extraordinarily difficult to not buy anything from big evil multinationals (TM).

yes, but you can avoid the particularly bad and unnecessary ones e.g. macdonalds. buying trainers you might not get much choice, but buying lunch you certainly do

michael is your next question going to be "would you eat this chicken burger... to save this chicken's life?" :) but OK good and often made point: that supporting the evil multinationals is often morally indefensible and seems like hypocrisy coming from those who are veggie/vegan/whatever... the answer? i dunno. especially if i stop at a motorway services and there is NOTHING AT ALL to eat except an apple with 4 tonnes of shrinkwrap wrapped around its sorry form. but i still think it's good that these mulitinationals are becoming more aware of what the increasingly socially/morally aware customer wants. and if the customer wants them to be better at animal welfare (AND human welfare ACTUALLY, no i'm not forgetting all the poor underpaid patty-flippers out there) then i think that this can only be a good thing.

it was more the juxtaposition of vegetarianism and fast food that i found amusing - i.e. worrying about animals, but not about human employees or the Earth

i'm pretty sure the BK veggie burger used to be better and bigger, and only like a year or so ago.

it was more the juxtaposition of vegetarianism and fast food that i found amusing - i.e. worrying about animals, but not about human employees or the Earth

Oh shit! *smacks forehead*

I forgot to inform the register-operator with Downs' syndrome -- the one who can't get a job anywhere else -- that he's working for an evil corporation.

And call me lazy or hypocritical or whathaveyou, but my wife and I would be more likely to hit a BK when we're in the middle of Iowa than knock on Farmer Bob's barn door for some of his corn.

'tis true michael but i don't think there's a veggie option in order to attract the militant vegan population such as myself, more to attract the growing number of people who are veggie for quite vague "health" or "environmental" reasons or because it's fashionable - "lazy" vegetarians if you will. if there are meat eaters out there who aren't bothered by all the economic etc implications of eating at McD's, why can't there be veggies as well?

i will reiterate BTW that i don't eat at BK etc...

ps. that was not to call AndyK lazy at all BTW - more a kind of "equal crap food rights for veggies" call. just cos you are vegetarian != you are a political and ecological paragon.

To be honest I'm siding with Michael on this......BUT I have a major reservation with the argument in that it reminds me of discussing Poverty or something with my class in a sociology seminar or something. You get people saying "oh why are we building new roads when there's homeless people begging for food" and in some ways what Michael says is a bit like this, though clearly not as stupid, it's a basic analogy I admit.

I mean, wanting a better world or society isn't about a single aim as such is it?.....it's about a series of goals in harmony with each other or something to that effect. And for that reason I sympathise with Katies position quite alot, I mean it's not so cut and dried, I guess is what I'm saying and it's possible for people to argue that we shouldn't be going full speed in any one direction, but moving in a number of directions at once. And if you believe vegetarianism is one of these directions then I think that's fair enough. Even if, at times there is a little conflict.

Er I say I'm siding with Michael and then proceed to make argument against him but eh.........what I meant was as a non vegetarian I personally don't support vegetarianism.....obviously.

I mean, wanting a better world or society isn't about a single aim as such is it?.....it's about a series of goals in harmony with each other or something to that effect.

if Ronan were any more OTM he'd destabilise the economies of whole countries!

private eye once printed a pic of a label of a packaged sammidge containing "vegetarian cheese and ham" = not a very profound contrib to this thread but it kinda shines a light on corporate thinking somewhere, no?

Important info here: The BK Veggie tastes like crap! I went out of my way to get these for our lunch and it was the worst veggie burger I've ever eaten -- and I do like them.

bah.

On the other hand the BK Spicy Bean Burger (still I believe only in the UK as it was bought offa Wimpy) is a joy to behold and I often have them despite not being a vegetarian. I think Ronan is right too by the way, also on the pretty tacit assumption that we might get closer to a "nice" world but never actually achieve it.

As someone who runs a multimational I too know the deep heartfelt problems in dealing with global issues on both a macro and a micro scale. (Not though, by definition mulitmationals are nicer than multinationals).

yuck. I'm veggie, but won't give my money to the Big Three fast-food co's. gross food, they pay their workers shit, etc. etc. Life isn't so fast that I have to buy BK just because they market to me.

I don't recall in my youth thinking that BK burgers were all that great compared to most non-fast food burgers, so it's no big surprise for me that the veggie burger offered by BK isn't any different in that respect. It's fast food, isn't it? You pretty much know that you'll be getting fast food when you walk into a fast food restaurant, no?

I'll throw a pickle in the ice cream of ethical food banter by pointing out that McD's have large shares in Pret-a-Manger. My att to this is that if the giant McD just amorally follows where the money is at and otherwise sticks (just) within employment law, then giving them money via Pret IS a good thing.

I don't like Pret A Manger. It reminds me of Mickey Hutton kids comedy show Hanger 13.

I've always been pretty ambivalent re McDonalds & Fast Food chains low paid Macjobs. After all in the sector which I work in (Student Unions) over fifty percent of student workers are paid the minimum wage. Not in my shops I hasten to add, but then we make less profit...

Anyway if the manager in the Macdonalds in my home town can kill a rat in front of kids this is the kind of fast food restaurant/Japanese Monster Wrestling I want to see.

I suppose I should try and avoid eating in McDonalds and Burger King or whatever and try and save the world but the more I think about global injustice the more I come up with stupid theories which make me want to stop. I mean like isn't the biggest injustice of all the fact that hey I WAS BORN IN A NICE FAMILY, or I CAN WALK AND SEE or something. er I don't know where I'm going with this, but if you really dissect your life then you have so much to be grateful for you'd never end up doing anything for yourself. And I want to do things for myself, if that makes me a bad person then so be it.

Yes being born into a relatively welthy and powerful family is an injustice but crucially it is an injustice you could and can do nothing about. Life is a mass of contradictions and on the thical front -there is no reason why this should also not be the case. Certainly don't beat yourself to death angsting about all the things you cannot change, but try and change some of the things you can.

Which in your case Ronan is probably arguing with lots of people on your journalism courses who are not looking at a lot of the pat No Logo arguments they are recycling (cheers) without thinking about them themselves. I'm not saying that these arguments are necessarily wrong but a lot bear thinking about on an individual level. Especially as May Day is coming up.

Yeah I don't worry myself about it. But arguing with people is like the inverse of being born into a nice family or the like because generally people argue because they think what they're arguing in favour of is true.

I did think of what you said Pete, but also I wonder about people really being able to affect the world. I mean we can say "oh global injustice can be stopped" but I don't genuinely believe it WILL be. And if it won't be then the fact that it COULD be seems kind of pointless. All this is a bit negative perhaps, but I don't see it that way, it's just how it is as far as I'm concerned. That is to say, I'm not majorly freaking out or worried, I just see these things as kind of constants.

What you say about No Logo and the like is worth saying obv. What's started to get me irritated recently is these same people looking at the right and associating them with religious fundamentalism and then having a good old laugh. But what the hell is all their anti- globalisation talk if it isn't religion without a god. I mean the rhetoric is all based on "informing people", "if only they knew"=>"saw the light"=>"oh we better spread the word" It's uncannily biblical stuff really.

Japanese Monster Wrestling!!

(sorry as you were, i started a thread)

it's uncannily biblical stuff, actually

OTM, Ro. Bible = history of political struggle.

as a non vegetarian I personally don't support vegetarianism.....obviously

What would it mean to "support" someone's vegetarianism? And what does it mean that you won't? That's weird, Ro.

Ronan likes to tackle vegetarians in his spare time and stuff brisket down their throats.

Sorry, that's wrong. If Ronan sees someone else tackling vegetarians and stuff brisket down their throats, he smiles to himself and walks on.

getting tackled + force-fed brisket = heaven, actually. i support Ronan's position, if this is what it is.

Eh......no I thought about support after I posted and realised it was the wrong word perhaps. Eh........I suppose I mean I don't see any problem with people eating meat. Though my choice of words maybe was a bit iffy. Oh very well then, what Dan said.

I wonder how Moby feels about this.

I think it's awesome. I read about it in Newsweek from yesterday. I am not really a vegetarian but it's nice to know that there are meat substitutes out there, I do eat veggie dogs and whatnot. It sounds like something I would want to try and I appreciate them attempting to offer more to the masses. Even though Newsweek said less than 1% of people in America eat veggie burgers for dinner and that the market is small, this'll attract more people. Of course that's what they want - more market.

I wonder how Moby feels about this.

Moby likes to watch Ronan watching others stuff briskets down vegetarian throats. It's a voyeur thing.

i went to a gig at one of those Youth Venues once. a dull converted- warehouse where the local kids yump on each other to identikit punkXhardcoreXemo bands. a small group of teens were loitering around outside between bands. They were all soaped up and pseudo-punk and adorable. I cooed at their Minor Threat and Crass patches [aww! they broke up before you were even eating solids!] and vinyl studded collars, and then had to laugh aloud - these tots were decked out in McShit tees and patches, and sipping from Burger King softdrink cups! it was just such a beautifully juxtaposed moment, i wish i had a camera handy.

They both contribute to animal slaughter [well duh, meat dun' grown on trees]; both offer bland, homogenised food options; both use excessive amounts of packaging; both advertise to children and employ the ethically dubious 'pester power'; both employ cheap, unskilled and most significantly casualised labour; both are owned by American parent companies meaning that profits aren't kept in the community.

None of these are unique to McDonalds and Burger King, nor am i tryna suggest that either corporation is the evil spawn of satan [newsflash: i don't like Starbucks either; that's cause their coffee = swill]. it was just hilarious and yet scary the way these Impressionable Youths had so easily bought anti-McDonalds hype without thinking too hard about the issues it is [was] based upon.

anyway, it was really cute and funny. that was my point. i think.

One thing my friends and I liked to do in high school was walk down the street chanting "MEAT KILLS!" while chowing on Quarter Pounders. Sadly, too many people knew us to well to take the bait; we had a really great "killing animals is good" spiel worked up.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm? newsid=3759557&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=416046&rfi=6 they're FAKE veggie burgers!