As a vegetarian my entire life. I don't think I am the right audience for this. McDonald's in India gets the right mix of potatoes and veggies to make a delicious veggie burger. Trader Joe's has some Spicy Masala Patties that are very good too. Needless to say these are mostly carbs and no protein but the taste is awesome :)
I traveled to India last year for a business trip. Indian McD has apparently had vegetarian burger options for decades, including the McVeggie (vegetable patty), McSpicy Paneer (cottage cheese patty) and McAloo Tikki (potato-based patty).
The Indian population is about 40% vegetarian, so this makes sense. Personally, I think the vegetarian burgers tasted incredible, and I wish we had them here.
In McD India menu they already have a couple of types of veggie burgers to cater to the local population. However their patties have potato as one of the main ingredients and it is doubtful whether it will appeal to an average western buyer who needs that meaty feel alongwith protein.
the best veggie burgers are the ones that don't try to imitate meat. my local burger place does a falafel burger that i'd honestly take over beef pretty much any day of the week.
I went to India last year and found the vegetarian burgers awful. I think the American palate requires a little bit of a different taste than the Indian.
India has had vegetarian burgers for years, in fact, most people order these veg burgers because they don't eat meat ( culture / religion ). Ive never eaten meat, but I really love burgers.
Here in India, we do get veg burgers. Those who prefer chicken burgers always goes for that even though it is priced higher(like 10-20% diff) than veg based burgers.
Also, we don't have pork or beef on the menu. Only chicken
I really hope McDonalds adds a veggie burger to their menu soon, too. I try to avoid meat, but often end up eating it in fast food for the convenience and due to a lack of alternatives.
In India, which has the world's largest vegetarian population, there seems to still be a rapid expansion of fast-food burger restaurants taking place (e.g. https://www.burgersinghonline.com/menu). They cater to this large demographic with low-cost burgers where the meat patty is replaced with a range of existing Indian foods (deep fried cottage cheese, potatoes with mixed vegetables and spices, etc).
A single Beyond Meat patty at the U.S. supermarket price is equivalent to the Indian rupee price of ~4 full vegetarian burgers at Burger Singh (the Indian BK).
I don't know about the ones that are meat-like - that is never my goal (and impossible burgers seem too fatty for my tastes). But I can make something good tasting at home - one of the better ones has brown rice and chickpeas as the main ingredients.
I'm going to guess McDonald's veggie burgers will have a decent amount of processing: I don't know how that compares to processing hamburger patties. We are, after all, comparing hamburger patties to pucks of veggie material instead of veggie burgers vs steak.
I lived in England for a bit and remember fast food places commonly having veggie burgers. This was both in Burger King and McDonald's. It was super convenient for that occasional quick bite.
In the US, Burger King has been supplying veggie patties for some time, but I wonder why it took American fast food places so long to expand. For instance, why is there still an absence of veggie burgers in a typical US McDonald's? Is this a business decision or something else?
Same here. McDonalds has long had veggie burgers available outside the US, most notably in India, but also in many of the (Arabian|Persian) Gulf countries.
For a vegetarian burger option, nothing beats a potato patty burger done to perfection. It's incredibly simple, essentially just mashed potatoes formed into a patty, breaded and fried. It can be seasoned to your liking with herbs, garlic, salt, etc. and the traditional burger toppings nicely compliment it. You can somewhat emulate it by replacing a burger patty with the fries that often come with an order but it's not the same as a purpose made one.
I honestly think that meat eaters are missing out when they eat these fake meat burgers (or beef burgers for that matter). You can put so many things between these buns some of these are really delicious. The variety of the veggie patties is amazing. When I order a veggie burger at a new restaurant, experiencing a new kind of patty is part of what makes burgers such a great food.
Yes, I bet meat eaters say the same about beef burgers, there is difference in texture and flavor of each patty. Difference in quality of the meat, the coarseness of the ground, etc. But knowing that, makes me thing that meat eaters don’t actually like the meat part in their diet, and trying to replicate the meat part of a beef burger when making veggie patties just seems like a lack of imagination and an unnecessary limitation.
A burger doesn't have enough veg for a healthy diet, I'd be amazed if its better than the average western diet.
I'm thinking a generic McDonalds burger here with a wilted piece of lettuce, a slice of tomato and some gherkins. You could probably construct a healthy veg burger, I have no idea where you'd buy one. Something like subway seems like a better bet.
reply