Burger King stupidity over its meat-free whopper

[Lycidas]

Why go to the effort of creating a meat-free burger only to cook it on the same grill as the others? Why limit your market to ‘people who are choosing a meatless option but don’t mind if it’s covered in meat juices?’ Seems incredibly shortsighted to me to overlook a large segment of the vegetarian/vegan markets.

www.burgerking.co.uk/menu-item/rebel-whopper

I’m a vegetarian and no I wouldn’t buy this.

@T0tallyFuckedUpFamily liars hahaha. So people probably trying their best, cutting down on animal products, are liars to you vegans. This is why people find vegans annoying. Such a bad attitude to have to people just who are trying 😂

So people probably trying their best, cutting down on animal products, are liars to you vegans.

I absolutely applaud people cutting down on animal products. You still shouldn’t call yourself a vegan if you’re eating animal products. Why would you want to anyway? It’s bizarre.

@Boombastic so you're telling me that you really believe that tomatoes are "grown in blood" and that it's morally wrong to eat them but cheese and eggs fine despite the fact that the male calves that are a result of the dairy industry are ripped from their mothers and slaughtered and boy chicks as a by-product of the egg industry are all killed (often thrown alive into masserators).

And you're telling me that all of that is fine in your book and that vegans are morally worse because TOMATOES are "grown in blood".

Fuck off.

Your argument is so basic obviously not basic enough for your understanding.

But I don’t preach to others irony. 🤣

Don’t assume other people’s feelings it’s a bit psychopathic

I haven’t said anything about feelings. You're the one that seems concerned with those. I’m just interested in the truth. You also seem to lack understanding of what psychopathic actually means, but that shouldn’t surprise me. 🤷‍♀️

They aren't going to put in a special grill just for veggie burgers when it's only a gimmick for one month a year.

Whyever not?

All they actually need to do is have a special metal wire frame just for the veggie burgers. And if they want this to be a long term menu option as demand theoretically increases, then absolutely they have to ensure those foodstuffs are segregated from meat.

I wouldn't even step into a burger place for precisely this reason. They don't do enough to give me confidence they support veggie and vegan choices, in a meaningful way. And the food is poor quality heavily processed mass produced crap anyway!

Only guessing from working there as a teen. The broilers are expensive, big bits of kit, they need a silly big extractor like chimney fan above them that I remember standing on a ladder practically inside to clean. They also use a degreasing machine where all the parts are stripped out n left for a certain length of time.

So to avoid absolutely any mix ups or cross over of trays etc they’d need two broilers and degreasers for one month... thousands of pounds of kit and possibly closing for an installation for one burger that’s not aimed at their target market for one month.

If you’re an ethical vegan you’d avoid bk/maccies/kfc in principle surely. Same oven/fryer/microwave stuff is rampant in small cafes too but rarely spoken about unless you ask on an allergy basis.

@PurpleDaisies but isn’t it Just practical though. If you want to eat and order food in a restaurant and try your best, isn’t it just easy and practical to call yourself vegan? This is the thing about lots of ethical vegans. They have a hierarchy 😂 it’s ridiculous.

@T0tallyFuckedUpFamily sorry for being a dirty cheese eater. Obviously not up to your standards, therefore stupid like those nasty meat eaters 😂😂😂

I can’t be bothered feeding the troll any longer.

@daisychain01 it’s not like a standard grill, you slide a set number in one slot and they come out into a pan at the other end.. so you couldn’t guarantee they didn’t touch anything/a wire rack wouldn’t go through it.

And there’s also the risk of one of the very bright hungover staff members putting meat on a vegan tray of it was workable. Seriously some of them can’t comprehend no mayo, so no touchy tray is probably up there.

@SaaauuusierGrrr I know about the calves, I know about the chicks. (I eat eggs from my own rescue chickens, I avoid commercial eggs). Most people know about farming practises but most people don’t care so much and that doesn’t make them bad. I don’t think it’s good or moral By the way - I just don’t think it’s any worse that eating tomatoes grown using bonemeal (which is actually bones and waste from slaughter houses. And yes this IS how tomatoes are grown.

@T0tallyFuckedUpFamily just because I disagree with you doesn’t make me a troll, grow up.

@QuestionableMouse

I was being slightly sarcastic, not suggesting they really got a George Foreman grill

well whatever you do don’t eat tomatoes, they’re grown using blood and bonemeal

Not mine.

I only use soil from the garden or from the compost heap

@Boombastic, I grow my own tomatoes, shitloads of them, and I can them for winter. I have never used bonemeal and they grow beautifully.

If enough people went vegan, there wouldn't be slaughterhouses and bonemeal wouldn't be a thing.

I also home rescue chickens but I somehow manage to control myself from eating their periods because a) it's disgusting and b) their menstrual cycle isn't mine to exploit.

Seriously, you can stop now, you're grasping at straws.

It's also not just a gimmick for Veganuary. In November in Florida someone took BK to court for cooking the impossible burger and vegan whopper on the same grill as the meat burgers. The below from a guardian article on the case

"On the Burger King website, underneath the advert boasting “100% WHOPPER®, 0% Beef,” there is a notice that reads:

"*For guests looking for a meat-free option, a non-broiler method of preparation is available upon request.”

It just seems like a prime example of the maxim 'don't let perfection get in the way of progress'.

but isn’t it Just practical though. If you want to eat and order food in a restaurant and try your best, isn’t it just easy and practical to call yourself vegan?

If you’re eating things that are advertised as not suitable for vegetarians/vegans, you shouldn’t call yourself one. That’s not to say that trying isn’t commendable. What’s wrong with “I mainly eat a vegan diet”? In burger king you just have to order a veggie burger with no cheese or mayo.

I'm vegan and ethically I can't see a problem with cross contamination. It isn't increasing the demand for animal products and is increasing demand for plant based products. The more profitable vegan products are then the more plant based alternatives there will be this reducing demand for animals. It makes no difference to the animals or the environment if a vegan burger is cooked on the same grill as a meat burger, but it does make a difference to the animal if someone chooses the vegan burger in the first place.

Well thank you for educating me totallyfuckedup.
Something being cooked on the same grill is hardly "cooked in animal juice" I will continue to call myself vegan. Because I am.
Maybe it depends on your reasons for being vegan? I am vegan as I can't justify animals being killed or suffering for my benefit/pleasure. My vegan burger has not harmed any animals, regardless of what was cooked beforehand. If you were vegan because you despised the taste of meat/dairy, I can imagine you would feel differently.

Have just seen your response Boshmama, exactly my point.

Boshmama is right.

How do you know they are cooked on the same grill? When I worked in the food industry we had separate grills. Not far apart but they were separate.

Burger King say so...
*The Rebel Whopper® is plant-based; however, it is cooked on the same broiler as our original WHOPPER® to deliver the same unique flame-grilled taste. Due to shared cooking equipment it may not be suitable for vegetarians.

@Lunafortheloveogod you are way more knowledgeable than me. Thank you for the education. It really doesn't fill me with confidence! I'm all for increasing vegetarian selection, but I would hate the thought of eating something that wasn't cooked on non-meat equipment, so couldn't see myself enjoying food there.