20 Comments
User's avatar
Writer Pilgrim by So Elite's avatar

To your point on McDonalds, I went to a vegan food festival and they had a letter promoting Beyond Burgers saying who the people behind the project were... Bill Gates and the former McDonalds CEO. So they were behind the development, so you do have some McDonalds involvement. When you look at that an ex fast food chainer going to vegan burger I feel that there's an issue with the authenticity of the product.

Expand full comment
BrianAlfred1983's avatar

When my sales rep was pushing beyond burgers pretty hard her best selling point was that Bill Gates eats them, HAHAHAHA! I couldn't care less about what Bill Gates eats, it was almost like an "everyone is doing it " kind of mentality and I need to make my sales quota so.... Bill Gates, sure. There's an authenticity issue for sure, you can just feel the greed.

Expand full comment
Writer Pilgrim by So Elite's avatar

Omg... I pointed this out once at a restaurant, all vegan and they looked at me wondering how come they'd not read the brief. It is a pushed product for sure and that's made me think twice... I have tried it a couple of times, but I get this lump in my stomach. We better care what that man eats to verify if he actually does as he preaches. If you get what I mean. I've had a mushroom bean burger that this restaurant above made, but they replaced it with beyond... customers wanted their home made brand. Am amazed that you'd try these fake meats out even though you're not vegan! Kudos!

Expand full comment
Writer Pilgrim by So Elite's avatar

As a vegan I stay away from these fake meats. I prefer to make my own. I use beetroot, mix of beans, grains, spices and herbs to get some texture, colour and as you say with the condiments and sauces and gherkin you get the burger experience. I've never made my own seitan, would love to learn how to make seitan without soya. If out I only eat burgers the chefs make, not the processed/factory made fake meats. Not my cup of tea. Loved this vegan burger report chef! Thank you!

Expand full comment
BrianAlfred1983's avatar

I've never tried making my own vegan burgers but would love to give it a shot, what you've got going on there sounds pretty good to me, real ingredients = better food. Thank you!

Expand full comment
Writer Pilgrim by So Elite's avatar

Thank you too! Am inspired by chefs who go out of their way and comfort zone!

Expand full comment
Andrew Smith's avatar

Nice, man. I'm listening now and taking notes. I've played with a bunch of the fake chicken products, too, in case you want to do a follow up at some point.

I could not agree more about Indian food. I pretty much always order vegetarian Indian food, and I'm almost never disappointed. They're tops in my view for vegan food.

Expand full comment
Andrew Smith's avatar

Oh hey, did you mention seitan while you were going through fake meat stuff? I've had that a couple of times.

Expand full comment
BrianAlfred1983's avatar

I had a small part in there about seitan but took it out because I've never actually eaten it, and couldn't accurately speak on it. A former employee of mine swore by it as a meat alternative though and I should give it a try just for the hell of it.

Expand full comment
Andrew Smith's avatar

I think the big upside (from what I recall- must have been at least 15 years) is texture. It's really firm compared to most other fake meat products, and so it made pretty good sandwiches.

Liquid smoke, now... oh man. We used to put that into a mixture that we would then dump on people "in celebration of" their last day at work. It was... vile.

Expand full comment
BrianAlfred1983's avatar

Nice, now I'm wondering what else was in that mixture! I can only imagine.

Expand full comment
Andrew Smith's avatar

Oh, you can probably guess. We served Hollandaise (for eggs benny on Sundays) and we made our own caesar dressing, so....

Expand full comment
BrianAlfred1983's avatar

Oh yeah, I'm sure it was, as you said, Vile.

Expand full comment
David Sheley's avatar

Thanks, now I’m starving and it’s only 10:30! Though I’ve only had a few vegan burgers, I’m with you, I wouldn’t touch a vegan hotdog with a 10-foot pole.

Expand full comment