McDonalds, murdered my plant based burger.

[Mr Gus]

Yeah, I know.

& Maybe a move (to cafe) ..but in my early morning brain For defence, sadly Mc-corp has its foot in the door culturally as a global brand that dominates, this the post placement, ..apologies!

For decades I avoided them after a had a life changing career destroying food poisoning incident via their staff,as well as rainforest burning for cattle ranching, "toucan-burgers" (as we called them) & a variety of other ethical questionables, plastic straws junk food, faux "milk" shakes etc.., using them only a couple of times per year if things with my gut (that food poisoning) meant my stomach was going to eat itself ..& Then only a sliver of meat that was a cheeseburger typically.

However, on friday, my gut was doing me over, after a severe bout of internal bleeding so I needed something to make the journey home easier & soak up some of the pain, ..so I thought to try the "beyond burger" branded me d's collab which is called the "mc plant" @ £3.59 ..as we use beyond burgers at home & they are juicy , plump, meat feel, with a 1/3 bag of pea sprout salad (aldi) ..I thought it time for a comparison.

Jesus, ..it was bad! ..I'd have been better off getting a basic cheeseburger (also a chance buy, not n fresh / cold soggy) at around £1.15.
So whilst we sous vide (getting the best outcome with ease) ..I was expecting something that the company "cooks" separately to be fresh & better than the grill offerings they churn out.

I'm guessing it's a tiny super speedy commercial "pocket air fryer" oven to bake it in a mere couple of minutes I waited (because I couldn't order it AND adjust it like a regular burger, via an app from the car)..of which I nowadays observe drive thru is the majority of sales since covid (& incoming covid this autumn onwards) ..what I received was not a standard "beyond burger" more a split in two thin sliver that was burnt to help on the outer edges & greasy grey sunk in the middle elsewhere,

TO double up on a point,this is NOT representative of a bloody good meat alt mince, so please avoid it via I'd donalds, (they sometimes do a special of it for 99p) ..don't confuse this detritus as "how a beyond burger is" ..because it is not.
This is a 2of 2 strike for outlets promoting beyond burger as a meat alternative, the other "ruiner" was Wetherspoons ..so for the price of a lack of 10 home cooked from frozen I've suffered 2x veggie burgers "screwed up, ..The perception of the paying public doubtless edging towards "won't eat that again"

& That's where the wife & I wondered if this is a useless line "cook" or McDonald's corp intent to push out a product they don't wholly control, ..The beyond burger "mcplant" is licensed, & technically may even be simply shipped around the world from the states (unconfirmed) ..rather than made in numerous factories, ..upping its carbon footprint potential hmm!? ..not so good an alternative if so (awaiting info from mc-corp) & whilst the uptake has been better in the uk, it is being dropped in the states to a large degree due to hostility from the meat industry & the stupid alike, but it made me think that making it badly was a potentially soft approach to dropping it & saying "we tried, people want traditional burgers" !? (what are your thoughts)!?I

Consider that for the past few decades, mc-corp has flogged badly cooked whitefish (still does) slabs under its own control, same with the "mush" of crumbled potatoes mash & a few colourful veg chunks of the "veggie de-luxe" ..both of which I've also tried then avoided since they came out precisely because they are totally crap afterthoughts on the menu, whereas they have less control on the beyond burger collab me-plant as it is under license from beyond meat.

I put my Wetherspoons catastrophe down to the clam shell cooking of an individual in a small market town who likely had burger all experience with a clam shell cooker let alone a veggie burger, ..but as it came as a meal, if I'd commented to the hard working, nice spoons staff the whole meal would have been swept away & binned / redone (more waste in my eyes)

I'm loathe to try "Byron burger" to eat yet another ..the ridiculous cost associated with a properly cooked *as it should be* burger (meat or otherwise) is likely to be £15+ ..something I'm not keen to do.

So is it bad training at each place? (not rocket science) "sales not service & support" of boxes of frozen product attitude from distributors or something else?
Everything I've seen online from people trying a proper beyond burger has been positive, inferring there is a place for plant products that mimic meat well & more acceptance of it as the norm down the line.

NB: If I could stash a bento box of steamed rice in the tesla without fear of inflicting more food poisoning then I would & forgo mc-shites a further "twice a year desperation buy" ..with a sprinkling of kikkoman "poke" sauce (mix of soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, citrus & just a hint of chili) I'd be sorted, but I can't cover all the bases.

Yes that is also a recommendation to try the kikkoman poke sauce 250ml for £0.39p via home bargains at the moment ..it turns plain rice around (I had 3 portions of rice that way last night, ..would have been four if I'd not run out of cooked rice, ..get some for your student nephews & nieces about to embark on a university wok+ rice n ' pasta lifestyle ..they will thank you for your care package intervention.
(Good on surimi, ..this morning for breakfast I'll try it on some, pickled herring for breakfast)

[Bugtownboy]

What is worrying, is that McD (other similar food chains are available) becomes the basis of food experience, particularly eating out, for so many people.

A burger (meat) can be a wonderful meal if prepared, cooked and presented well - ok, way more expensive than McD/BK etc but something that can be truly enjoyable, sort of healthy and less damaging to the environment.

I honestly don’t understand why we don’t ban fast food chains (well I do) when you look at the potential damage to health, society and the environment.

What is so insidious is litter - we live in a semi-rural area, miles from any McD. Part of one of our regular walks has to use part of a fairly busy B road. The main litter seen - McD packaging.

[Oldgreybeard]

Never eaten anything from McDonalds, or any other fast food chain, TBH. I watched a TV programme many years ago showing how what amounted to a pressure washer was used to de-flesh carcasses of all the scraps after butchering, producing a pale pink sludge that was then used to make burgers and sausages etc. They call this stuff, rather euphemistically, "mechanically extracted meat", I believe, although in reality there isn't much true meat (i.e. muscle tissue) in it, it's mostly everything except skin and bone left on a carcass.

The programme was one of the most sickening things I've ever seen on TV (and I'm a farmer's son), and I honestly doubt that it would ever get shown today, the woke brigade would ban it in an instant as being too graphic and harmful to mental health, as it followed the whole process from the farm, through the abattoir, to the various meat processing methods used in food factories. The graphic scenes in the abattoir would never get shown today, let alone some of the other scenes from the programme. I can understand that, the graphic scenes from that programme have never left my memory, and they changed the way I viewed food.

We go out of our way to try and avoid processed food, simply because I'm of the view that there are almost certainly health risks associated with some of it. The food industry plays fast and loose with the way it describes its methods and ingredients. They don't often lie, they just work very hard to obscure the truth and be as disingenuous as possible about the way they process foods. They use obscure language to hide what they are really doing, by using vague or technical terms to describe ingredients or processes that they would rather people didn't really know about.

[Mr Gus]

Yup, ditto, the avoidable litter that the takeaway encourages amongst the "I'll eat that sh1te in my car, but I don't want the stink of takeaway in my car" brain deficient a-hole was another reason for not eating there with any frequency since I was a lad, we used to frequent a baked spud cafe in Bedford whilst those who wanted a mc-corp burger on a weekend drove to the other side & endured a scrum of inevitably diabolical-ish youth (this was before they were lifesaver 5 miles of so & it took 45 mins driving each way, ..youth eh) !?

Luckily my kid is a very infrequent mc d's user (based on early food upbringing, ban on it whilst abroad & understanding new taste experiences & decent coffee were not available in mc-corp & was a wasted opportunity within a travel opportunity.
When visiting Cambridge she'll go to a decent local famous face takeaway round the corner for a decent proper kebab & chips or for a box of sushi, ..her new dilemma being the "black plastic" potential of a small platter (luckily she tends to visit a place that does cardboard boxes) or now uses a timely offering from a local participating restaurant via the "Too good to go" app whilst her mates pile into mc-corp.

Incidentally, they've all but scuppered the Mc-d's customer service phone line in favour of AI ..which is anything but intelligent, I had to look up via ceo finder a humans telephone number & spent 36 mins on a call stating the brands shortcomings beyond my Beyond burger, & whilst they are changing they wouldn't be doing much of it voluntarily if they didn't have to, ..pr pays & keeps the ball rolling.

If you want to read up on off-site site they have put out a lot of "by 2030" plans that some are overdue & some are minimal effort greenwash, how far they will go during economic crisis is yet to be seen.

[Mr Gus]

Yes OGB, good on you for you regarding high standards (really)
If I don't eat, the next maybe 3 weeks of pain heavily compromise life, so a burger (whether I eat the bun & cheese only) & save the overly processed boney sliver for hounds to share is questionable, which is why I want to support & be able to eat alternatives of acceptable quality & moreover encourage others down that route

I'm also of farming stock, but am of the persuasion of know your enemy by knowing their product / poison.

If you get the chance watch the Hollywood film "the founder" which will light more fire under your mc-corp disdain (understandably)

My point though is that a proper beyond burger done well will be gobbled down, enjoyed & praised by the majority care to try it, unless treated like a badly raised animal bred for slaughter, as this has been formulated & compromised by DNGAF attitudes & fast food "delivery" like nigh on every other product in their global quiver.

Oh for a Leon nearby.

[Oldgreybeard]

We tend to choose to buy food and meals from places that we know have high standards. Current favourite is James May's pub, just across the county border from us, and with truly excellent food, almost all locally grown. Hard to find places that don't use processed and pre-prepared food now, though. Most pubs seem to buy in heavily processed foods and then serve them up as if they were somehow connected to the pub, or the creation of the pub's cook.

[Mr Gus]

Sounds like you would enjoy trying a Leon's then OGB.
(After years of standing on kings cross station platforms gut rumbling but refusing to partake in burger king, mc donalds & kfc it was a pleasure to finally eat at leon's when passing by in 2019) they are mainly Londoncentric with river cafe origins.


https://leon.co

[richbee]

I've had a few of their mcplant burgers and mostly really like them, but I think it is location dependant, I've had 1 poor one at a different McDonald.

[Mr Gus]

If you can borrow a sous vide wand & a suitable bag, the home cooked variety will knock your socks off Rich,..whole new "as it should be" level of appreciation whether it's meat or plant, (precisely how the daughter came to ask for it from a sceptics seat beforehand.