Vegan burgers can’t come soon enough to Aotearoa

Tāmaki Makaurau - The heat is on in the world’s fast food kitchens to roll out full vegan options on their menus.

The world’s No.1 food chain McDonald’s is about to launch its McPlant burger in the UK.

KFC plans to veganise the fast-food chain’s iconic Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The swift moves come as widespread demand for plant-based meat options continues to soar.

Burger King launched its vegan Impossible Whopper in 2019, while KFC unveiled its limited-release vegan Beyond Fried Chicken in February 2020. It sold out in less than five hours.

KFC plans to replicate their chicken as close as we can, obviously without using the animal. It is yet to confirm when customers will be able to taste its new plant based options.

However, it comes at a time where the plant-based meat market is expected to skyrocket – soaring past $162 billion within the next decade, according to a new report.

McDonald’s McPlant burger is the result of three years of development with Beyond Meat, with the patty made from pea and rice protein.

Fully vegan, the burger comprises a vegan sesame bun, vegan sauce, lettuce, onion, tomato, pickles, ketchup and mustard, as well as vegan cheese made from pea protein.

The McPlant was added to menus in both nations in February, after a survey revealed a third of people in Sweden classify themselves as flexitarian.

For the UK launch, the new arrival will be trialled across 10 restaurants in the city of Coventry from September 29, after which it will be rolled out to an additional 250 restaurants from October 13.

To ensure each burger is completely vegan, the fast food giant has said the McPlant will be cooked and prepared separately from non-vegan items, using dedicated utensils.

This is not the first fully vegan burger McDonald's has experimented with. In September 2020, it trialled the PLT, instead of the BLT.