Vegan as the default. Specifically slightly annoyed with the McPlant

[streamee]

I'm not vegan, I'm vegetarian.

I want a McPlant with proper (if American cheese slices can be called proper) cheese.

I would like to order a Big Mac, and sub out the burgers for the plant burgers!

Surely there are more people like me?

Vegan options being the default for vegans and vegetarians is very annoying. AIBU?

(No this isn't all I have to worry about in life before someone says it.)

@FeedMeSantiago

I'm a veggie and not a fan of vegan cheese but I did enjoy the McPlant burger.

I'm generally very happy to eat vegan food - but I prefer vegan options without fake dairy products, like a 5 bean chilli or a chickpea and spinach curry. DH and I cook a lot of vegan meals at home along those lines.

We do eat some fake meat but generally prefer meals based on vegetables and pulses.

I miss the bean burgers which were everywhere when we first went veggie 11 years ago. Pretty much every pub did once, then falafel burgers took over and now fake meat burgers have taken over.

Yes, it's a bit annoying, I'm not vegetarian but I quite liked a lot of the bean burgers as well, and also one local place had grilled mushroom burgers which were very nice. And they were actual, real food.

Now they all have this fake meat which is basically processed food made in a lab type setting.

Do you vegetarians know what's more annoying? Going out to eat and having NO vegan options at all as was fairly typical not that long ago. Boo boo my heart bleeds for you.

Can you tell I've not had enough sleep/caffeine

My husband has exactly the same complaint! He wants cheese in his McPlant, and would love a bigmac version! Why you can't sub in cheese like you can in other burgers is beyond me!

@SartresSoul

YABU. I’m vegetarian and I can’t tell the difference with the cheese at all. Fantastic burger.

Maybe you've had covid and your taste buds have gone. It's the only reasonable answer.

@LynetteScavo

Just ask them to swap the vegan cheese for regular cheese.

yourself

Funnily enough I was chatting to the guy who runs the cafe in our office building and he was telling me they are getting a new chef.

Oh he says - every day a meat, a vegan and gluten-free option for lunch. I suggested he thinks about having a veggie ‘add on’ option to their vegan food…

Having worked in McDonalds, there would be no issue with swapping out vegan cheese for real cheese (well, as close to real as McD cheese gets...). Just ask at the till, they'll be happy to oblige.

People asked for customisations all the time (extra bacon, no sauce, extra onions, no gherkins etc.) We had one regular who like his bacon and egg McMuffin with his muffin well done, so it went twice through the toaster just for him, no problem!

I really, REALLY want a McPlant now!

@rbe78

Having worked in McDonalds, there would be no issue with swapping out vegan cheese for real cheese (well, as close to real as McD cheese gets...). Just ask at the till, they'll be happy to oblige.

People asked for customisations all the time (extra bacon, no sauce, extra onions, no gherkins etc.) We had one regular who like his bacon and egg McMuffin with his muffin well done, so it went twice through the toaster just for him, no problem!

Except they won’t. Lots of us have reported here that when we’ve asked to swap the vegan cheese for cheese, McDonald’s have refused.

Do you vegetarians know what's more annoying? Going out to eat and having NO vegan options at all as was fairly typical not that long ago. Boo boo my heart bleeds for you

Agree, there'd be literally nothing suitable for vegans - still like that in some places.
Vegan options are suitable for vegetarians too, but they're belly aching but what about my cheeeeeeese 😭😂
also not had enough caffeine lol

No - I literally bellyache because there is something used in vegan cooking (I’m assuming it’s a coagulant or thickener) than makes me feel sick.

It’s lazy catering (but I know they have a business to run, can’t keep everyone happy etc) to produce one dish that they assume covers all vegans , veggies, halal, kosher (ish) etc etc etc.

I don’t mind a vegan option as the veggie option as long as it’s something decent and not just fake meat, fake dairy.

I don’t mind a vegan option as the veggie option as long as it’s something decent and not just fake meat, fake dairy.

In my experience it rarely is though & I think here is the veggie capital of Europe you'd expect most places would get it right by now, but they don't. My vegan roast dinner last week was a prime example, no vegetarian option & a very sad looking pile of flavourless ratatouille with a bit of soggy flaky pastry on top

@MyGhastIsFlabbered

Do you vegetarians know what's more annoying? Going out to eat and having NO vegan options at all as was fairly typical not that long ago. Boo boo my heart bleeds for you.

Can you tell I've not had enough sleep/caffeine

No one's saying get rid of the vegan option. Why can't they have both? A vegan & veggie option. It would be quite simple to have one dish that can be adapted to fit both diets. Doesn't have to be a completely separate meal.

Yanbu. I hate the taste of vegan fake cheese

Why are you vegetarian? Obviously it's not about animal welfare or you would be vegan.

I've been vegetarian for more than 40 years now and my family are too. The main reason by far is for animal welfare although environment and health also come into it. I do eat vegan as much as possible as I don't like the dairy and egg industries but I have found on a practical level that it is hard to feed a family totally on vegan food so I have to compromise. I do choose organic milk always, and organic cheese whenever available, and we have our own happy rescue hens for eggs. No-one is perfect !

I hate all these fake-meat, highly-processed, packed -in-plastic vegan options now available and would rather do without vegan cheese. Vegan choices in restaurants that were actually based on real vegetables would be fine but those are not that easy to find.

Me too - plus there were some horrible practices in the food processing at the time (this was back on the 80s - and probably still is) with meat being coloured, coagulated, contaminated (although there was the recent horse meat scandal wasn’t there - so I suspect things haven’t got any better), plus rainforest being chopped down/burned to make way for McCattle.

Why are you vegetarian? Obviously it's not about animal welfare or you would be vegan.

Urgh🙄 this is the sort of ignorant holier than though shit that makes me hate nouveau vegans 🥴

Ofc it's about animal welfare. I chose at 6 years old not to eat another warm blooded animal because they deserve to live & I couldn't bring myself to kill & prep meat myself, so AFAIC I shouldn't eat it. Its perfectly possible to eat a vegetarian diet & consider animal welfare too, you just have to think about what & where you buy from diary & egg wise

& natural whole vegan food is NOT a healthy diet, quite the opposite, it could make you very, very sick

* Vegan choices in restaurants that were actually based on real vegetables would be fine but those are not that easy to find.*

You can’t swing a tampon in london without hitting a phenomenal vegetarian restaurant or cafe

With a sensational vegan menu too

All American cheese is vile - vegan or otherwise. You should order the McPlant without any of it. I wish they did a hamburger with a McPlant patty - with its token chopped onion and squirt of mustard and ketchup.

I’m a vegetarian and find this a bummer too. However, I still think YABU. Truth is we should all be vegans really. Maybe this will be the push I need..

You can’t swing a tampon in london without hitting a phenomenal vegetarian restaurant or cafe

Very nice for you. Unfortunately I don't live anywhere near London!

All American cheese is vile - vegan or otherwise. You should order the McPlant without any of it

Nooooo I love cheese but can't eat it - the vegan cheese on the McPlant is amazing, and vegan cheese is usually rank 😁
Love that I can have a burger with cheese and mayo on it now, proper Maccies experience!