McVegan
McVegan is a veggie burger sold by the fast-food restaurant chain McDonald's. In 2017, McDonald partnered a Swedish food company Orkla to create a plant-based patty inside a small steel kitchen in Malmö, where they began the creation of the product.[1]
Product Description
The burger is made of a soy patty, bun, tomatoes, lettuce, pickle, onion, ketchup, mustard, oil and the egg-less sandwich sauce.[2]
History
In 2017, due to a petition which was signed by 220,000 people asking McDonald's for a plant-based food[3] and an increase in US flexitarian foods which are vegan, McDonald's decided to introduce a plant-based food on the menu.[4] It was also introduced to compete with Burger King's Impossible Whopper,[5][6] and also depicted the competition as Burger wars[7] as the demand of plant-based protein is increasing, and has become a trend.[8] The company also made the food a permanent product on the menu in two countries.[9] Since the release of the McVegan, McDonald's owner and operator said that “Customers have expressed interest in items from McDonald’s restaurants located in India and we’re excited to offer them the opportunity to try the long time vegetarian favorite”.[10] The product was also made to decrease the slaughter of animals such as chickens.[11] The product was first tested in Finland and eventually became international, after being successful there.[2]
Reception
The burger was well-received by vegan customers in Sweden and Finland,[12] and PETA praised McDonalds for accepting "how massively popular animal-friendly foods are".[10] In a taste test review of the product's launch in Finland, Business Insider found the burger "quite neutral, with a good texture" and described it as "a very decent burger", while noting that it was late in competing with similar vegan products from other companies in Nordic countries.[13] A Finnish reviewer for the British Metro wrote that the McVegan burger "looked and tasted like a classic McDonald's burger".[14]
References
- "What's driving the rise of the McVegan burger?". www.bbc.com.
- Petroff, Alanna (December 19, 2017). "McDonald's to sell a McVegan burger in Europe". CNNMoney.
- "Thousands sign petition for McDonald's to launch meatless burger". The Independent. April 11, 2019.
- Kateman, Brian (June 20, 2019). "It's Time for McDonald's to Offer a Veggie Burger Nationwide". Entrepreneur.
- Samuel, Sigal (April 29, 2019). "Every Burger King in the country will have meatless Whoppers by the end of the year". Vox.
- "Burger King is rolling out a meatless Whopper. Can McDonald's be far behind?". Washington Post.
- Cooley, Brian. "Burger King's meat-free Impossible Whopper tastes like beef and goes nationwide". CNET.
- Business, Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN. "McDonald's joins the meatless burger trend in one of its biggest markets". CNN.
- Thompson, Rachel. "McDonald's makes the McVegan burger a permanent fixture on 2 countries' menus". Mashable.
- "McDonald's Gives the People What They Want: Vegan Burgers". PETA. December 18, 2018.
- "McDonald's changes slaughter guidelines, launches 'McVegan'". October 30, 2017.
- "People share their thoughts on the newly launched McVegan burger". The Independent. December 28, 2017.
- Pechter, Oliver. "We tried McDonald's first vegan burger — here's the verdict". Business Insider.
- "Is the McDonald's McVegan burger actually any good?". October 11, 2017.