As a vegan or vegetarian there aren’t many places outside London you can get decent plant based food on the go. Why the McPlant burger from McDonalds introduced only as test menu in 8 locations the US back in 2021, then in 600 locations in Feb 2022 and dropped 6 months later was due to poor sales. It is still published as available in the UK, one of my only fast food go toos, the family and I can enjoy together, quick, easy, tasty and on the go.
Except over the last few months it’s been hit and miss whether you can get it at my local McDonalds, and we’ve had to start driving further to other franchises in the hope of tracking one down.
I’ve even been unlucky enough to try three different locations in one day and been unsuccessful in ordering vegan or plant based takeaway.
The reason according to Plant Based News (link below) via the Sun newspaper is poor sales of the veggie vegan menu across the board.
Which I actually find really hard to believe considering all the climate action, extreme weather around the world and education about methane gas emitted by livestock being the number two contributor to planet warming. Do we all secretly just want to die whilst chowing down on a beef burger?
Depending on which study you read livestock methane production contributes between 12% and 17% of greenhouse gas emissions globally so even if compassion for animals and the moral questions that surround consumption of meat, you’d imagine more people are bright enough to not want to contribute to things getting any worse.
No one bought the McPlant burger or anything else on the test veggie vegan menu introduced as this was dropped completely in 2022. The fake news message about the climate put out by the current administration has affected consumers who prefer cow to plant.
Personally I know friends and family members unable to determine the difference when unsuspectingly presented with the McPlant as an alternative and have since converted.
My fear is that very soon even the McPlant won’t be available for veggies and vegans looking for a fast food fix.
So I am motivated to write this to all Big Mac lovers, who too profess to be animal lovers or even just friends of the earth to give the McPlant a try. It’s really great and I challenge anyone to say it actually tastes that different.
My efforts are not completely selfish, I do love animals that’s a given and care deeply about the way they are treated but I also don’t wish to have to drive miles to find a McDonalds that can sell me a McPlant burger.
Qudos to McDonalds for trying to create tasty food for us. Vegans or people who identify as plant based now make up about 3% of the population believe it or not and those working towards being meat free, 10%.
I hope a few more get their butts to McDonalds and try the McPlant because I do fear unless the take up improves, everyone like me who wants a McPlant from time to time is going to have to find their fast food fix elsewhere or we’ll all be reduced to eating just French fries, which are tasty but not quite the same as the McPlant meal now heading for extinction.