AIBU to think that McDonalds need to up their vegan game

[Hiphopopotamus]

As a vegan the start of veganuary is always really exciting when all the new companies bring out their vegan stuff - this year seems to be particularly great - Greggs have brought the vegan steak bake, kfc have their vegan burger and McDonald’s....well they’ve taken the horrible goujon things they have in their veggie burger, sold them separately and marketed them as a new vegan meal! AIBU to think that they need to seriously up their game?

I agree! New pizzas from Chicago town and Pizza Hut, 35 piece range at the Co-op (including Katsu and Hoisin D'uk), Subway meatless meatball marinara... vs, some red pepper and corn fingers? Lame

They should team up with Quorn and make quorn McNuggets. McDonalds chips are the best so I think vegans have every right to push for another option when clearly everyone else is doing so well to adapt.

@Pinkflipflop85 not everyone who eats a vegan diet, aka plant based people, is wholly into the vegan lifestyle - they're not as militant.

@edwinbear have you never heard of a veggie burger? Bean burger? No Beef burger? There are hundreds of varieties of veggie burger in the world

The old veggie deluxe burger was ok. The new goujons are not good. Just about edible but that's all. Burger King got rid of the halloumi burger before I had chance to try it 😭

Veganuary
Good God. I thought it was a one off, not sure if I can stand having this rammed down my throat annually

Seriously, why does it bother you so much? Nobody's forcing you to do it.
I genuinely don't understand why people get so up in arms about what other people eat - people who go vegan, or sneer at people trying to cut down their meat consumption, its baffling to me!

Perhaps we should have extra meaty March!!
Go for it, knock yourself out.
Maybe it'll catch on.

I hear where you're coming from OP, you were going for lighthearted and people just heard the V word and got triggered instead
I'm not vegan, but surely it's a good thing that there 's more options available out there for people who are?
It's not like they're banning meat - you're still allowed to eat meat if you want to yanno.

I don’t think many foods classed as ‘Vegan’ are actually vegan my son in a milk allergy sufferer and many vegan foods state ‘not suitable for milk allergy sufferers’ which means it must contain milk or milk products?

I find it fascinating that these threads always generate a lot of hostility and scorn. I have always wondered why

It's very strange. A vegan sausage roll is bothering no-one, unless it makes you feel uncomfortable about your own choices.

Oh, and forgot to add I\m one of those doing Veganuary - for health reasons, trying to kick start my healthy eating (yes I know I can do that without going vegan but when I did it a few years ago I felt much better so I'm doing it again)

I am vegetarian and really don’t like the goujons either. They are an odd mix of spicy and tasteless.

many vegan foods state ‘not suitable for milk allergy sufferers’ which means it must contain milk or milk products?

Most vegans view this as a legal disclaimer where something can not be guaranteed milk or dairy free to a standard that would make it safe for an allergy sufferer. It’s the same as “May contain traces of nuts”.

Some interesting points made. My question was a bit naive and wasnt meant in any way to be snarky.

Has given me some things to think about.

‘not suitable for milk allergy sufferers’ which means it must contain milk or milk products?

No, it's because of possible cross contamination issues and fear of being sued because they can't guarantee that the product hasn't came into contact into with other products produced in the factory that may contain milk.

Bloody hell @Hiphopopotamus I bet you didn’t realise when you posted that you’d get 100 replies from people who can’t actually read! 🤣

I agree; those goujons are bloody horrible and I don’t understand why McDs have decided they need to be their sole veggie/vegan offering. Putting them in a “burger” is bloody daft as it just falls apart; they used to have a veggie patty for the veggie burger but they got rid of that for some reason. At least being veggie I get to eat the cheese bites.

It’s ridiculous really; can you imagine the omnis screeching if there was only one thing on the menu for them? Burger in a bun with lettuce, burger in a wrap with lettuce, burger chopped into strips with dip. Yeah that would go down well!

@GameSetMatch
I don’t think many foods classed as ‘Vegan’ are actually vegan my son in a milk allergy sufferer and many vegan foods state ‘not suitable for milk allergy sufferers’ which means it must contain milk or milk products?

I think with a lot of the products, the products themselves are vegan as in there's no milk in them, but because they've been produced in an environment that has handled and produced milk items they can't class them as such.
So not worth risking if there is a bad allergy

I agree they need to up their game. Basically their entire veggie offering is the goujons in different format.

And I wish they did decaf coffee!

Burger King got rid of the halloumi burger before I had chance to try it 😭
@DrCoconut do they still do their spicy bean burger? It used to be delicious but suspect it will have gone the same way as the McDonald's offering.

Eat elsewhere. McDonald's (and others) should stick to what they are good at, not everyone needs to pander to food fads. My vegetarian dd is getting so annoyed that everywhere seems to be taking the tasty ingredients (cheese and eggs) out of the dishes she used to buy and now they are tasteless. I don't care what people eat but it's up to restaurants to decide if there's sufficient market. Btw dd says Greggs vegan sausage rolls aren't good in her opinion

@springly - I'm 25, I have seen over 20 of my omnivorous friends trying either the vegan steak bake or the KFC quorn burger on Facebook today.

Even my beef-loving boyfriend and his best mate now eat vegan 2 days a week. My very very stubborn, carnivorous step father has agreed to 2 vegetarian days a week.

There is huge demand for vegan options in my age group. Absolutely huge. In fact, in the last five years, out of my close friends, six have become vegan and another 2 vegetarian.

Just because something is not for you and most people aren't 100 per cent vegan doesn't mean they don't want these options

@SirChing well, if a lactose intolerant persons friends all wanted to go to the milkshake bar wouldn't it be nice if they could go along too and enjoy a strawberry almond-milkshake?

Inclusivity. A wonderful thing

not everyone needs to pander to food fads.

It’s not a fad.

Btw dd says Greggs vegan sausage rolls aren't good in her opinion

Thousands of people clearly disagree.

They as a business can choose what products they offer.

As consumers, we all have the choice to buy those products or not.

They’re under no obligation to cater to dietary choices. They may lose some business as a result. As a business they may decide they’d rather lose a small amount of business than spend a lot of money inventing, testing, marketing and producing a vegan option which may end up with poor sales. If the Greggs vegan sausage roll had flopped they wouldn’t be introducing a vegan steak bake.

@ daydreambeleiver ‘where’s my cheese? Where’s my mayo? I want my cheeeeeeeese! The vegans have stolen my cheese!’ (That’s me these days)

And I wish they did decaf coffee!

Hear hear!

Hooray for your generation Lemon.

😂 @gingersausage this is absolutely not the response I expected.

I think we can all agree a consensus though, whatever our other views, vegans and carnivores alike, that the McDonald’s goujons are utter shite!

@GameSetMatch I'm guessing because they may be made in factories which have some interaction with milk products?

Why don't McDs etc. have a decent Vegetarian or Vegan menu? Because it doesn't make them money.

Why are they starting to sell such stuff? Because they think it'll make them money.

Yabu. Its a burger place!