McDonald's adding a veggie burger to their menu

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

How does this sound for a McDonald's jingle: two all-soy patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese...?

 

Well, that could be the newest sandwich at your local Golden Arches. The heavyweight of American hamburgers--the icon of Americana--may be going vegetarian, at least partly.

 

The fast-food giant is trying out a new McVeggie sandwich at some of its restaurants, and so far the response has been good.

 

In Canada, it has been offered for more than a year--a long time for a test sandwich--and earlier this month, the sandwich was introduced to (where else?) Southern California. If the sandwich does well, McDonald's would expand the offering to all of its restaurants, including those in Chicago.

 

The new McVeggie is a meatless, soy-based patty with tangy barbecue sauce, tomatoes, onions and pickles on a toasted whole-wheat bun. It has 8 grams of fat and 350 calories and is cholesterol free. It sells for about $2.20.

 

The patty is made at a Canadian plant for specialty food company Hain Celestial Group.

 

"One of our company goals is the creation of appealing new products that meet the needs of today's consumers, who are increasingly interested in balancing health, taste and convenience," said Irwin D. Simon, CEO of Hain Celestial Group. "The burger created with McDonald's is a realization of that goal."

 

But getting vegetarians to go to McDonald's could be tough. Many vegetarians are still mad at McDonald's because of a scandal in 2001 involving its french fries.

 

Vegetarians sued the Oak Brook-based fast-food company after they complained they were misled to believe that the fries were cooked in vegetable oil. In reality, they were cooked with beef extract. Last year, McDonald's agreed to pay $10 million to settle the suit.

 

So far, the reviews of the soyburger have been mixed.

 

Some say it tastes like a meat patty and is not mushy, like many mass-produced veggie burgers.

 

But many vegetarians are staying away. They say they are upset that the veggie burger is being cooked on the same grill as a beef burger.

 

"It's really not targeted for a vegetarian, but for those people in society who want a healthier diet," said Reuben Allen, who runs the California-based Web site Vegetarians in Paradise.

 

The McVeggie Burger is part of the new "Salads & More" menu at McDonald's, which introduced salads with Newman's Own dressings in March as part of a plan to expand the menu and improve food quality.

 

The move helped U.S. sales rise 1.3 percent in April, the first gain in 14 months.

 

"I'm not sure that vegetarians will be breaking down their doors, but they will definitely give it a try," said Kay Stepkin, president of the Chicago group Go-Veggie!

 

"The main thrill for me is that they see us as a strong enough market and want to cater to us," she said.

 

I like veggie burgers, especially those made by Gardenburger or the Bocca Burgers. Last year I was even brave enough to try BK's veggie burger. I thought it was not that good, as it had a ton of mayo on it (I like mayo, so I didn't ask for no mayo, but mayo is usually the most fattening thing on any fast food sandwich). It was also obviously cooked where the regular hamburgers are cooked and therefore smelle like a regular hamburger and even had a faint taste. I'll probably try the new veggie burger, but I seriously doubt its going to be a lasting staple on their menu...

 

I think the whole salad thing is probably the best way to go if you want to eat healthy at a fast food restaurant, but they can actually be worse fat content wise unless they have fat free dressings (which I know Wendy's doesn't have with their salads, not sure about McDonald's). Youd be amazed at the fact that 1 little packet of salad dressing can have as much fat as a Big Mac (like 60 grams of fat in a packet of dressing..)

[Guest ElectricRaccoon]

They already have it in Canada, and it's really not very good. It's allegedly made by Yves, makers of damn good veggie burgers and related products, but seeing as the burgers are two for four dollars, plus tax, in the grocery store, McDonalds obviously isn't selling the same ones for like $2.49 prepped (Canadian price). You can tell - they barely even taste similar. It's really dry, and the texture is lacking. I found Burger King's BK Big Veggie or whatever to also be extremely dry. Harveys has an excellent veggie burger, but I don't know if they have any US locations.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

"I think the whole salad thing is probably the best way to go if you want to eat healthy at a fast food restaurant, but they can actually be worse fat content wise unless they have fat free dressings (which I know Wendy's doesn't have with their salads, not sure about McDonald's). Youd be amazed at the fact that 1 little packet of salad dressing can have as much fat as a Big Mac (like 60 grams of fat in a packet of dressing..)"

 

I love pointing this tidbit out to the obese cows at my job that constantly order them then talk to other people about how their diet is going so well...

[Guest Youth N Asia]

I don't see how people can eat at McDonalds anyway. The food's awful, the service is the shits, and they'll put cheese on everything even if you ask them not to.

 

I ain't had anything there in over a year.