I understand why some vegans are put off by the idea of eating something cooked on the same grill as actual meat but I think we need pragmatism more than anything right now.
I genuinely have never met a vegan who would be bothered by this, and I know quite a few. If there were still bits of meat on the grill it could still be kind of gross if they came off on the burger I guess, but most would have no problem with it. This strikes me as an extremely rare case, and I don't see any obvious grounds for a lawsuit.
But like I said I think getting some meat alternatives in front of the general public is important enough that I'll live with it.
I think the Impossible Whopper will stick around, but the sacrosanct vegan preparation was just a promotional gimmick to stimulate sales, with no intention of adherence to strict practices. My suspicion was always that the vegan options would be promoted for the initial release, but then it would be quietly walked back to typical preparation steps after the hype died down, and the rate of sandwich sales peaked and leveled off.
With that, you get shift managers of individual locations, hamfistedly claiming whatever they think passes for customer service, whether that be keeping the customer lines and drive through windows moving at a brisk pace during lunch and evening rushes, or bending over backwards for the squeakiest wheels in search of grease.
Meanwhile, dog meat analogies aside, the cult of the complainiest customers will only win so many victories. The patty might be vegan, and the last mile falls upon the 16 year-old kid behind the counter. Disgust, revulsion, and so on, at the thought of giving any money to a meat selling business that moves titanic quantities of animal carcass should give a vegan pause, before even stepping through the front door, if they're that serious about their belief system.
It's fine to level the argument that the tiniest drop of raw sewage is unacceptable in any glass of water, but the reality is that the consumer's physiological fragility remains unharmed and unthreatened in a scenario such as this. The comingled vegan and animal byproducts are a reality, evident by virtue of the very nature establishment itself.
You get what you pay for. It's fast food. They won't stop selling the burger, but they might annotate Vegan* with an asterisk.
* at participating locationsSurely anyone who thinks meat is that bad would never step foot in a restaurant that cooks meat in the first place, regardless of grills?
I am quite bothered by it, to the (IMO reasonable) point of not eating what I'm served and not coming back if I suspect that's the case.
I'm not personally bothered by using the same tools to handle both meat and vegan options, as long as I can't taste it, if we're talking about backyard barbecuing with friends. But I expect more from a company.
I had an unpleasant experience a couple of years ago at Subway. I ordered a vegan sub, and the person behind the counter asked if I wanted them to switch their plastic gloves. "No need," I said, because I thought it was a moral question. But when I started eating the sub I could smell meat along the whole bread as I ate it. It was not pleasant when it was two decades since I last had meat, but I was drunk and hungry and finished it anyway.
Isn't the whole point of this burger to taste like real meat ?
Why? What’s the emergency? BK raising their profits? They laughed at us not so long ago now they just realize there’s an opportunity here, i’d rather support local vegan eateries. It was as simple as putting a disclaimer in the ad “vegan burgers are cooked on shared equipment and can contain traces of meat”.
I agree with Burger King is doing it for profit, but that's the point of capitalism: we if want change, we vote with our dollar. I have no huge love for impossible burger. It's too much like the real thing now that I'm years out from eating beef; however, I'm going to be buy some now and then because I want to see the product being sold.