Anyone else tried the BK Veggie Burger??

[mamachiquita]

We tried the new veggie burger that Burger King now offers while we were on vacation, and we thought it was pretty good. It's a little pricy for what you get (we paid $2.19 per burger), but I think it's a step in the right direction for Burger King to offer a vegetarian option. Just wondering what the rest of you thought about it, if you tried it, and if you think it'll stick around...

[veggiewolf]

I've heard about it, but won't try it for several reasons:

(1) It's not truly vegetarian, as they cook it on the same grill as they do their meat burgers. To make it truly vegetarian, you need to ask them to microwave it.

(2) I don't support fast food restaurants anymore. I am very much against the way they aim marketing at children (even going so far as to put ads in schools) and low-income families, the way they treat the animals they use in their products, and the way those corporations are run.

Give me a homemade burger any day!

April

[member]

I don't support fast food restaurants anymore. I am very much against the way they aim marketing at children (even going so far as to put ads in schools) and low-income families, the way they treat the animals they use in their products, and the way those corporations are run.

Ditto. I am not veggie, but I do not support fast food.

[Elphaba]

i was wondering about the grill issue. not that i would go there anyway. i like my morningstar farms blackbean burgers.

[AmandasMom]

I don't support fast food either, HOWEVER, I want the veggie burger to become a success and become mainstream! I want to see all the fast food places have veggie burgers! If I'm ever near a BK again, I'll go through the drive thru and order one that is nuked, I can't stand the smell inside or around fast food places. I want it to become a success! Fast food will never go away, but hopefully they can add and keep something healthy on the menu.

[FreeRangeMama]

It seems most restaurants are kinda dense about the grill issue. Even our favorite little falafel place cooks veggie stuff on the same grill as meat causing us to get sick
I'm glad BK has a vegetarian option, but I steer clear of fast food places too because of how they treat the animals (even though they are better now due to pressure from PETA, they are still mass producing animals).
It will make it easier for young veggies though, I know I ran into problems with my meat eating friends when I was 15 and they wanted to go for burgers. For reasons like that I hope it sticks around.

[bebe luna]

It still isn't organic... and is probably made from GMO foods, and full of preservatives, chemicals, etc..
Burger King also is responsible for mass clearcutting of rainforests to raise cows and food for cows...
Best to stick w/ storebought or homemade vegiburgers!

[Clarity]

The Nutrition Action Health Letter liked it nutritionally. (they are only about nutrition and not about natural/organic/gmo etc.) It has lowfat mayo on it...not vegan either. However, now they have it for one product you could ask for it as a substitute on meat items if you want them. It's a babystep, but they're finally listening to market demand. Heard the major fast food chains are finally demainding suppliers stop using antibiotics in the chicken. 20 years late, but still....

[Erin Pavlina]

I like the fact that they are offering a veggie burger. It's too bad the bun contains butter or it would be vegan if you asked for it without the mayo and had it microwaved.

Still, it's a huge step in the right direction. I like to see it as a prototype and am hoping that other fast food companies jump on the bandwagon and make better (vegan) veggie burgers.

[oceanbaby]

I haven't tried it but am glad it's available for the reasons other posters mentioned. Once in a rare while I find myself starving and facing fast food as the only option (late at night on a road trip or something) so am glad to know there is something I would be able to eat if need be!

[DebraBaker]

I had one about three weeks ago.

It was....well....greasy.

Why am I not suprised.

Then the greasy fries (ordered onion rings but got fries but that's another issue) and the yukky soda (since I never order fast food (vegetarian) I never drink soda) The entire experience put my tummy into rebellion.

It wasn't nearly as good as my bocca burgers (any variety)

DB

[serenetabbie]

I tried it. It was yucky. The roll had an overwhelming margerine taste I could not get past. Not to mention the service was AWFUL and I didn't even get the onion rings ( I took both the kids out of the car and went in and yelled at the manager : ...not a finer moment) after waiting in the drive thru line for over 10 minutes! Argh! But, I am glad that they are making an effort to serve everyone, and not just the carnivores. Like Clarity said...baby steps. Better than no steps.

[bebe luna]

I just think fast food resteraunts are a big flaw in our society... they encourage eating on the go, not taking time for family meals, and not taking time to care enough to cook healthy... not to mention pollution! Pollution caused by big trucks traveling long distances to deliver frozen, non-organic, gmo foods...
We need to steer clear of them! I don't think offering a vegi burger is a big step at all... it's just encouraging more varieties of people to eat poorly, eat away from home, eat in the car... to keep us all going fast...

[mamachiquita]

Just for the record, we never eat at Burger King and the only reason that we even tried the Veggie Burger is because we were in the airport and there were no other even remotely healthy options. I used my own bread that I had packed along with us so that I wouldn't have to eat their roll, and I didn't order fries or onion rings. I agree that fast food restaurants are not the place to get a healthy, home-cooked meal and I do not support the values that they convey, but if I am hungry in an airport with only 6 pieces of bread and a half-rotten apple to eat, I will order the BK Veggie Burger again.

[auld reekie]

It's good to read that i am not the only one who doesn't go to MacDonalds or BK.We stay clear of them not just because we don't eat meat,but because of all they involve(pushing people off their land in the rain forests,gm products,fat loaded "meals"etc)
Couple of points to ponder!t takes 2,500 gallons of water to "make" one pound of beef.
One of the biggest contributors to the hole in the Ozone is flatulance from cattle!!
Amount of land cleared in the US for livestock production is 220 million acres.
When many of the kids nowadays get older they will have no idea how to cook a meal from scratch.
Anyway kind of got sidetracked there.To give comment on the veggie burger,i think it may just be another market that the fast food chains are zeroing in on to make even more profit.

[AutumnWind]

I tried it. It was alright. I ordered it without mayo, to lower the fat. I am glad they're at least offering one. It's hard to find a good veggy burger, though, anyway. Hopefully it'll catch on and one of the chains will offer a good quality one eventually.

[nernie]

I liked the veggie BK - I feel like I'm up to my neck in mud now, though, from everyone berating fast food. I know, I know, I know, but my family does an awful lot of driving on weekends and children get hungry in the backseats of cars and if I can feed them reletively nutritious food (which I consider the veggieBK to be) at a reasonable price I will. We get no fries/o-rings/soda, only milk with meals. Eating at fastfoodjoints also gives us a chance to get out of the car and kids can play on the little playground. It would be nice to be totally vegan and never exploit anything and be able to look down on everyone that does, but some of us do the best we can with what we have.
(Sorry, that sounded rude, I just think some people aren't very realistic - we can't all lead the same lifestyle. I am veggie, and I also hate the way children are being marketed to these days but like I said, I'm also in the real world day to day and can't always afford to do everything perfect.)

[Girl Named Sandoz]

I do not purchase anything from fast food chains such as BK, McDonald's etc etc because they are not the type of business I wish to give any financial support to.

I am concerned that vegetarians will frequent these "restaurants" more frequently now that they have been targeted. Even the so-called veggie burgers are far from vegetarian (as has been pointed out in this thread) and buying them still directly finances the "meat trade".

Apart from that, these burgers are far from healthy and nutritious, but that's another story...:

[merpk]

This isn't my issue, since BK isn't kosher & I don't eat there anyway, but this is a relevant story:

Wendy's fast-food chain was sued by a vegetarian because their salad dressing was not truly vegetarian, containing an ingredient which was processed/derived from meat (I don't know what animal, but it was an animal).

If Wendy's salad dressing isn't really meat-free, what can you expect from BK's veggie-burger?

Just asking.

- Amy

[EnviroBecca]

The salad dressing ingredient was gelatin, made from cow hooves. McDonald's also has been sued by a vegetarian, for using beef extract to flavor their fries.

It is true that the "vegetarian" options in most food chains actually do contain trace amounts of animal products. It is true that they're not organic and may be GMO. If you are a real purist, then yes, you must not even step in there.

But if you are someone who tries to eat less meat out of concern for the earth and your health, and you find that difficult when you're on a turnpike or in a strange city and don't have a wide choice of restaurants or the option of eating homemade food, then a veggie burger or a salad does contain LESS meat than a hamburger and is therefore a BETTER, if imperfect, choice.

Also, if BK has a veggie burger, then people who might not otherwise try veggie burgers will try it. Then, even if they are not being 100% saintly vegans, they are eating LESS meat and doing at least a LITTLE bit to help the earth. And it might even happen that they'll like veggie burgers so much that they'll start wondering if they really need meat in their tacos and on their pizza and in their omelets and so on, and maybe they'll change the way they cook at home and start demanding more veggie choices from their favorite restaurants. Change begins slowly. I think this is progress.