McVegan is a veggie burger sold by the fast-food restaurant chain McDonald's. In 2017, McDonald partnered with the 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] In Germany, the chain's vegan burger is sold as the Big Vegan TS.[2]

Product description

The burger is made of a soy patty, bun, tomatoes, lettuce, pickle, onion, ketchup, mustard, oil and an egg-less sandwich sauce.[3]

History

In 2017, due to a petition which was signed by 220,000 people asking McDonald's for a plant-based food[4] and an increase in US flexitarian foods which are vegan, McDonald's decided to introduce a plant-based food on the menu.[5] It was also introduced to compete with Burger King's Impossible Whopper,[6][7] and also depicted the competition as Burger wars[8] as the demand of plant-based protein is increasing, and has become a trend.[9] The company also made the food a permanent product on the menu in Sweden and Finland.[10] 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”.[11] The product was also made to decrease the slaughter of animals such as chickens.[12] The product was first tested in Finland and eventually spread to more countries, after being successful there.[3] For instance, was released in Germany in April 2019.[13]

Reception

The burger was well received by vegan customers in Sweden and Finland,[14] and PETA praised McDonald's for accepting "how massively popular animal-friendly foods are".[11] 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.[15] A Finnish reviewer for the British Metro wrote that the McVegan burger "looked and tasted like a classic McDonald's burger".[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ "What's driving the rise of the McVegan burger?". www.bbc.com. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  2. ^ "McDonald's Germany has started selling a vegan burger". The Independent. April 26, 2019. Archived from the original on May 12, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  3. ^ a b Petroff, Alanna (December 19, 2017). "McDonald's to sell a McVegan burger in Europe". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on August 6, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  4. ^ "Thousands sign petition for McDonald's to launch meatless burger". The Independent. April 11, 2019. Archived from the original on May 12, 2022.
  5. ^ Kateman, Brian (June 20, 2019). "It's Time for McDonald's to Offer a Veggie Burger Nationwide". Entrepreneur. Archived from the original on September 30, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  6. ^ Samuel, Sigal (April 29, 2019). "Every Burger King in the country will have meatless Whoppers by the end of the year". Vox. Archived from the original on May 31, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  7. ^ "Burger King is rolling out a meatless Whopper. Can McDonald's be far behind?". Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 24, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  8. ^ Cooley, Brian. "Burger King's meat-free Impossible Whopper tastes like beef and goes nationwide". CNET. Archived from the original on September 26, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  9. ^ Wiener-Bronner, Danielle (May 7, 2019). "McDonald's joins the meatless burger trend in one of its biggest markets". CNN. Archived from the original on November 12, 2023. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  10. ^ Thompson, Rachel (2017). "McDonald's makes the McVegan burger a permanent fixture on 2 countries' menus". Mashable. Archived from the original on December 13, 2018. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  11. ^ a b "McDonald's Gives the People What They Want: Vegan Burgers". PETA. December 18, 2018. Archived from the original on September 13, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  12. ^ "McDonald's changes slaughter guidelines, launches 'McVegan'". October 30, 2017. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  13. ^ "McDonald's Germany debuts vegan burger amid increased calls for meat-free protein". foodingredientsfirst.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2023. Retrieved September 9, 2021.
  14. ^ "People share their thoughts on the newly launched McVegan burger". The Independent. December 28, 2017. Archived from the original on May 12, 2022.
  15. ^ Pechter, Oliver. "We tried McDonald's first vegan burger — here's the verdict". Business Insider. Archived from the original on December 8, 2018. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  16. ^ "Is the McDonald's McVegan burger actually any good?". October 11, 2017. Archived from the original on August 11, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.