Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

usatoday.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 577 posts

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#191

Post by ogre_codes »

klenwell wrote: post #38
belltaco wrote: post #2

>somewhat unsurprisingly, will be called "McPlant." Is it just me that didn't find the name obvious, and perhaps not a good one? Many people have an aversion to something if it's called plant, healthy or natural. I think Impossible Foods was right in marketing their products for meateaters rather than vegans.

What's interesting is that McDonald's has tried something like this this before and, it has been argued, effed it up due to naming. For an interesting account of their first failed attempt, 30 years ago, I highly recommend this New Yorker article, The Trouble with Fries (2001): https://web.archive.org/web/20081218211703/http://www.gladwe... It's Malcolm Gladwell so take it with a packet of salt I suppose. I think it'…

Impossible Burger and Beyond Burger have managed to get around this by focusing on the apparent paradox of healthy versus tasty. Burger King leveraging that branding and calling it the Impossible Whopper was a good call.

Communicating that it's a plant based food isn't good enough, they need to communicate that it tastes good first and foremost.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#192

Post by sjy »

fullshark wrote: post #33
belltaco wrote: post #2

>somewhat unsurprisingly, will be called "McPlant." Is it just me that didn't find the name obvious, and perhaps not a good one? Many people have an aversion to something if it's called plant, healthy or natural. I think Impossible Foods was right in marketing their products for meateaters rather than vegans.

Mc something it had to be. The question is what is the something. McVeggie doesn't work, because veggie burgers became synonymous with the last generation of plant based burgers. McPlant does sound awkward right now but with the full backing of mcdonalds marketing / their resturant footprint it will roll of the tongue within a few months of launch.

McDonald’s have been selling a new plant-based burger called the McVeggie in Australia all year. https://mcdonalds.com.au/menu/mcveggie%E2%84%A2

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#193

Post by hnick »

alistairSH wrote: post #61
reaperducer wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starbucks' cute-isms for cup sizes (Venti, etc.) Most people misunderstand Starbucks size names. They think they're all smart assuming that Starbucks calls a small drink "tall" because of marketing or whatever. But it's actually the too-cool-for-school crowd that is wrong. "Short" is in the shortest cup. It's the small size. "Tall" is the taller cup. It's the regular size. "Grande" is the large size. "Grande" means "…

All true, but the names are still "cute". Small, regular, large, XL work just fine. That said, I'm already order what amount to a liquid dessert with a silly name, so IDGAF. Venti Frappathingamajig with extra whip and a side of the 'beetus please.

Around here I'll often go somewhere and ask for "your smallest size of chips" or something, and they'll tell me they don't have small, only regular. OK thanks for that unnecessary interaction.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#194

Post by JoeAltmaier »

senkora wrote: post #74
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What on earth? Why would that matter? Does somebody lose their vegan powers if a particle of fat gets into their burger?

People can be irrational when it comes to their diets, but that doesn’t make them wrong. Some people care and some don’t. Restaurants tend to take the strictest interpretation of a diet because that minimizes angry customers.

Yeah and I don't like kale in my food. Clearly I'm not wrong, because apparently nobody is. But a busy restaurant is not the place to make a fuss over where a particular dish was cooked. I don't get to insist on a separate pot to make my meal, because it might get polluted by kale.

It is wrong, it a real sense, to have unreasonable personal rules about a restaurant kitchen.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#195

Post by redisman »

bkanber wrote: post #161
ChrisArchitect wrote: post #155

purely driven by curiosity, not vegan or health-concerned or anything, it still took me a very long time (years) to one time take a chance and try an Impossble burger somewhere (think it was A&W). One night I just decided to take the plunge. It was 'fine'. But nothing is really incentivizing me to have it regularly. I kind of want to be mislead -- don't tell me it's a plant-based burger. If the studies are consistent…

I would say one in three of the burgers I consume is plant- based, I do it to reduce meat consumption. If I find myself at BK, for instance, I always get the impossible whopper. Same at home--1 lb beyond beef for every 2 lb ground beef. Eventually the veggie stuff will get even better (and cheaper), and the ratio will flip.

Same - I’m not too ideological and want to take a pragmatic approach to it while still recognizing that I want to eat junk food every now and then. My main pet peeve is that in my usual spot they slap $4 extra to sub impossible instead of real meat. The burgers are great so I take it but it just shouldn’t be more expensive than an animal that’s been fed the veggie patty ingredients times a hundred to make that patty.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#196

Post by bilalq »

Like others have mentioned, I don't see this being successful. Unlike Burger King and Wendy's, McDonald's uses beef tallow in their fries, making vegetarians avoid them.

If the only appeal here is a subpar burger that you can't even get fries with, people are just gonna go elsewhere.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#197

Post by LegitShady »

yesenadam wrote: post #154
KitDuncan wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I make cashew "mozzarella" for my vegan pizza. Everybody I know absolutely loves it.

Recipe please?

you can google cashew mozzarella. They're all basically cashew, tapioca starch (makes it stretchy), flavorings (miso/nutritional yeast/etc), garlic, and a liquid (water/non-dairy yogurt/etc). The ingredients are blended, then cooked until it thickens.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#198

Post by tartoran »

zo7 wrote: post #164
tartoran wrote: post #138

I persobally will continue to avoid McDonalds but think this is not a bad initiative. I’ve been eating a whole lot less meat lately and don’t miss it at all. I sometimes have veggie burgers from Trader Joe’s and they are, surprisingly, very good. I also tried veggie salamy and bologna and they are quite good as well though the heavy processing is a big turn off for me.

What about the processing in the veggie salami/bologna turns you off? Their meat counterparts are also heavily processed and are known to be carcinogenic.

You answered this question yourself. I am not sure how unhealthy the processig is so I prefer to stick with less processed veggies, I eat fresh as much as I possibly can

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#199

Post by teej »

bilalq wrote: post #196

Like others have mentioned, I don't see this being successful. Unlike Burger King and Wendy's, McDonald's uses beef tallow in their fries, making vegetarians avoid them. If the only appeal here is a subpar burger that you can't even get fries with, people are just gonna go elsewhere.

McDonalds hasn’t used beef tallow in their fries for 20+ years.

[edit] this seems disputed. The ingredients list includes “natural beef flavor” which it says is wheat and milk derivatives.

To clarify: old school McD fries were fried in beef tallow at the restaurant. Now it’s vegetable oil at the restaurant, but are par-fried at the processing plant in vegetable oil with some “natural beef flavoring”

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#200

Post by s5300 »

teej wrote: post #199
bilalq wrote: post #196

Like others have mentioned, I don't see this being successful. Unlike Burger King and Wendy's, McDonald's uses beef tallow in their fries, making vegetarians avoid them. If the only appeal here is a subpar burger that you can't even get fries with, people are just gonna go elsewhere.

McDonalds hasn’t used beef tallow in their fries for 20+ years. [edit] this seems disputed. The ingredients list includes “natural beef flavor” which it says is wheat and milk derivatives. To clarify: old school McD fries were fried in beef tallow at the restaurant. Now it’s vegetable oil at the restaurant, but are par-fried at the processing plant in vegetable oil with some “natural beef flavoring”

Yeah, the tallow and subsequently good fries of McDonalds ship sailed literal decades ago now.

On a lighter note, if you've yet to hear this news, I think you can officially say you're old now.

Post reply on HN