In an effort to appease PETA and other angry vegetarians, KFC recently began selling a vegan, “Unchicken” sandwich in its Canadian locations. Guess what? It’s not vegetarian.
A reader at “green gossip” website Ecorazzi reported that the local KFC says it fries its vegan patties in the same fryers and oil that it uses to cook its chicken. It’s doubtful that they’re the only location that does this, but even if they were, there are several other reasons why this sandwich isn’t vegan, and might not even be vegetarian. The obvious one is the use of mayonnaise as a condiment, which contains egg products unsuitable for vegans. We couldn’t find any nutritional information on this sandwich at KFC or KFC Canada’s website, so we can’t speculate on what secret animal products (like enzymes or “natural flavors”) are in the bun. Having worked at a few fast food restaurants in high school, we know that gloves and utensils aren’t changed between preparing meaty and vegetarian items, so you’re probably getting some chicken fat in your KFC Vegetarian Sandwich one way or another.
It’s nice that KFC made the attempt to offer a non-meat menu item, but vegans and vegetarians shouldn’t be eating at fast food restaurants. Even the highly touted Burger King Morningstar Burger is imperfect: the patty itself contains milk and egg, the mayo contains eggs, and the cheese contains milk (and probably animal rennet). Burger King’s nutrition info brochure contains the following disclaimer: “Burger King Corporation makes no claim that the BK VEGGIE® Burger or any other of its products meets the requirements of a vegan or vegetarian diet.”
If you’d like to learn more about how cheese is made with veal stomach, sugar is bleached with animal bones, and other depressing reasons not to ever eat anything ever again, check out the Vegetarian Resource Group’s Frequently Asked Questions About Food Ingredients
(Photo: Getty)
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To “stevejust”:
You give a valid argument for your cause. More power to you. I don’t worry about my morals; animals are yummy and I have anemia and crave iron.
So, if you’re REALLY going to go for it, grow all your own food. Otherwise, you’re still a murderer.
Just so you know, THOUSANDS of field mice and snakes are killed while big ol’ mean machines mow down your wheat and corn.
Also, lettuce screams when you cut it. Are you saying that just because it doesn’t have eyes or blood it doesn’t have feelings?
Also, for other readers: If you have pets of any sort, DO NOT give your money to those yahoos at PETA. They think ALL animals should be liberated, including puggles and Siamese. Owning a pet means you SUCK.
Give your dollars to the ASPCA or Humane Society…you know, someone who RESCUES animals bred by the mutt of the toothless wonder on the other side of town.
As for the KFC story…duh. I’m deathly allergic to tree nuts, and I still don’t eat peanuts out of a can. Those processing plants are used for more than my legumes.
@stevejust:
I guess it depends on what your definition of “meat” is. I said simply vegetarians eat little to no meat products. To me, meat is animal (any animal) flesh, and perhaps eggs.
Vegans seem to be more strict and militant about their choices.
While my comment above is admittedly little snarky, I really could not care less about the food choices people make – it’s none of my business. Activists telling me what to eat/not eat based on their own beliefs should also mind their own business and learn to live with the consequences of the choices they make.
@rworne: No one’s telling anyone what to do. I don’t want you to think I think it’s my business what you eat. I’m just talking about ideas, and definitions of different philosophies here. No one’s making you read some b.s. post on a blog on the internet. Avert your eyes if it offends you.
@SJActress: It’d be awesome if I could just PM people instead of being “that guy” but I don’t have that option. So…
1) Where do you get the idea that PETA is opposed to pets? I think it might be a requirement to have rescue animals as pets to work at PETA. Everyone I’ve ever known that worked at PETA has pets. Do people just make stuff up and post it on the internet? Yes. But have I known people who worked at PETA? Yes. Do I have any incentive to lie? No. And I’m not PETA’s biggest fan by any means. I find them about as annoying as most people because they tend to make people think veg*ns are insane.
2) Lettuce screams? Really? Let’s assume for a second that all the urban legends about broccoli and other plants “feeling” is true. Does broccoli have a brain? So if it “feels” pain, how does it “process” that pain or “understand” that it’s feeling “pain”? If it can’t process that “pain” with a brain, can it feel anything? Seriously. You have a brain. Use it to think about this point you raise.
3) You have my agreement with large scale ag operations killing animals. But what’s worse, field mice dying as casualties of harvesting… or field mice as casualties of harvesting (because people have to eat veggies too, or they’ll die) + cows, pigs, chickens, etc.,. The reductio ad absurdum argument is… absurd.
The above article is somewhat misleading or perhaps just ill-informed. Burger King customers can obviously choose not to have cheese or mayo on their burger — you can customize any burger. Additionally, Burger King can cook the BK Veggie burger in the microwave so that it doesn’t come in contact with meat cooking surfaces. This was (and I imagine still is) a nationwide policy.
Regarding some of the comments on veganism versus “vegetarianism”:
“Vegetarianism” has evolved to usually mean lacto-ovo vegetarianism (eating milk and eggs). Additionally, “vegetarianism” has seemingly come to include cheese consumption, but I don’t really see how that can be called vegetarianism since cheese often uses animal rennet (and many people can’t or don’t investigate the cheese they consume to avoid it). Strictly speaking, “vegetarianism” — without qualifiers — means a “vegan” diet.
The use of the term veganism attempts to clarify this confusion. Veganism requires a diet free of animal products and byproducts, along with an animal-free lifestyle beyond one’s diet: no leather shoes, no wool suits, etc.
@SJActress:
You say: “I don’t worry about my morals; animals are yummy.”
Then you proceed with what seems to be an ethical criticism of PETA and others. Huh? It seems you must be basing your argument on morality. Why not just end your comment/argument after your second sentence? Am I misunderstanding you?
You say: “So, if you’re REALLY going to go for it, grow all your own food. Otherwise, you’re still a murderer.”
Please define what you mean by murderer. Are you saying that you are a murderer and that your ethical system allows for this? Or are you saying that if someone’s ethical system seeks an ideal and immediately doesn’t meet it, it fails, and should be rejected? Should it meet an ideal merely in your eyes or an objective, numerical figure of some kind? (i.e. “Veganism fails as an ethical system if 1,000 or more snakes are killed this year by tractors.”) Using that example, if only 1 snake is killed, is the ethical system’s usefulness utterly negated at that point?
This seems to be an argument from a sort of immediate helplessness. (I can’t completely fix the problem right now, so I just won’t attempt to begin fixing the problem at all.) That is different from simply disputing that there is a problem.
You say: Also, lettuce screams when you cut it. Are you saying that just because it doesn’t have eyes or blood it doesn’t have feelings?
Please back this up with some sort of evidence. If you have evidence that lettuce screams, present it. If you have evidence of self-reflexive awareness of pain outside of animal nervous systems, present it.
You say: Also, for other readers: If you have pets of any sort, DO NOT give your money to those yahoos at PETA. They think ALL animals should be liberated, including puggles and Siamese. Owning a pet means you SUCK.
Which is why so many PETA “yahoos” have companion animals, their literature often speaks of companion animals and the benefits of adoption, and they sell products specifically for companion animals, right? Please back up what you are saying with something PETA actually printed or said.
You conclude: “Give your dollars to the ASPCA or Humane Society…you know, someone who RESCUES animals bred by the mutt of the toothless wonder on the other side of town.”
Are you familiar with PETA’s numerous animal rescue operations?
I don’t know what KFC is. If you mean Kentucky FRIED Chicken, then I don’t understand why anyone would go to Kentucky Fried Chicken to eat a veggie burger or eat any burger for that matter. Kentucky Fried Chicken is a chicken place not a burger place. Remember, it’s “finger-lickin’ good!”
Not only that, but I don’t understand why they don’t offer wheat or multi-grain buns. I can’t stand eating that white flour garbage.
Let’s just put aside the whole vegan/vegetarian aspect of this issue and realize that there’s a WHOLE ‘NOTHER kettle of worms here…
…what about all the people with poultry allergies who might have wanted to try this sandwich when friends wanted their fix for KFC?
If this veggie pattie is fried in the same fryer, wouldn’t the patties get some of the chicken fat infused into them? That’s just asking for people to go into anaphylactic shock!
@cashmerewhore: Taco Bell doesn’t use lard, in their tortillas or otherwise. Their bean burritos are vegan, if you get them cheese-free. They’ll also make bean crispy tacos, if you ask.
I ate at one of those TacoBellKFCHuts just last week. They didn’t have any kind of veggie burger, though – I didn’t even know KFC offered such an option. Regional thing, maybe?
Lacto-veg, myself, although I’ll eat egg products or even stuff that’s (GASP!) touched a surface that’s touched meat products if I’m out and have no other options. Although I’ve been told that I’m going to hell for being so slack, so yeah, I can understand being moderately annoyed by veganglists. Seriously, though, some of the folks here need to step back – what anyone chooses to eat isn’t anyone else’s business, and rudeness is rudeness, regardless of dietary choices.
If you want to be a vegetarian fine, just don’t try to force it on me or anyone else. Around the world, meat is the very thing that keeps people from starving. I’m not talking about a 2lb porterhouse but 1 chicken could feed a family, 2 fishes could do the same. The West’s (maybe except the frenchies) problem is that everyone has lost touch with the whole food process. Just look at a kids menu? It’s the same at every single restaurant. People have no idea what foods about and thus the more wackier tenets of vegetarianism can seem reasonable. Regardless, it just makes sense that if you’re a vegetarian stay away from KFC. But then again vegetarianism makes no sense anyway.
I’ve been a vegetarian for seven years and I went out last night and had these veggie chicken burgers for dinner.
I’m completely aware that it is cooked in the same fryer as the other chicken items, but I could care less.
Here are the rules my wife and I live by:
1. We don’t eat any meat. Period. Not that we don’t like meat, we just don’t feel it’s necessary for anything else to die just so we can eat.
2. We don’t care what anyone else eats. We aren’t here to tell anyone else how to live.
3. We support businesses that make an effort to cater to vegetarians.
The sandwiches were yummay. Will have them again!
@nforcer: that is very odd….
@BFIrrera: I guess that could happen if pieces of chicken actually fell and stayed in the oil, not really sure how that works.
I know that some people with peanut allergies can still eat things cooked in peanut oil because the protein that causes the allergy isn’t in the oil….
I’m a (-)5 Vegetarian, I’ll EAT anything that casts a shadow. Just last night I ate delicious snails with some aboriginal tribesmen. MMMM
btw, high and mighty vegetarians (and especially Vegans) can eat a dick (hah). We are animals programs to eat animals. Get over it.`
@lihtox: I’d have to agree with you on that
@Cerb:
Actually we are omnivores. We can eat meat, veg, grains, whatever. We don’t have to eat meat to be healthy.
if someone is vegan or vegetarian (i’m mostly talking about your more political, PeTA-oriented veggies), why would they be patronizing a place like KFC?
anyway, if you want to be sure you’re not eating anything with animal products, just buy kosher pareve (neither dairy nor meat) and make sure there’s no eggs involved.
@WinnipegDragon:
they were “yummay” because they had meat products!
No, they were “yummay” since the average veggie chicken burger is not overly spiced. These are spiced the same way as a classic KFC chicken sandwich.
But you know, “LOL VEGETARIANZ” or whatever.
I love the pea sandwich photo.
True “vegan-ism” would be an extremely tough lifestyle given the number of manufactured products that in some way rely on either direct ingredients from animals (i.e. leather) or byproducts (numerous). I seriously doubt there are many vegans who walk the talk for real.
I’m an omnivore personally. I was never much of a vegetarian supporter until I started eating at my friends’ restaurant (Nishta in Dubrovnik if you’re ever there). The chef is a genius. He’s not trying to “fake” meat, he’s just creative. The food is brilliant. I’m still an omnivore but my menu is greatly expanded as a result of the experience.
I could go vegetarian but never vegan. Absolutes of any flavor usually have holes somewhere.
@nforcer: “For example, my girlfriend will taste meat, but will not actually swallow it.”
Thanks – I needed that laugh.
Folks, let’s keep comments on topic. Please restrain yourselves to comment on the article – rabidly pro/con vegetarian/vegan posts are not on topic.
@Cerb: Telling vegetarians to eat a dick is not appropriate. Read the comment code.
Let’s keep the conversation civil, interesting, and related to the original article, please!
The sugar-with-animal-bones thing is pretty much obsolete, and I think actually banned in some places.
@she-ray: See, I disagree with your premise 1. “Veggie” simply means that — that it’s made from veggies. It’s not a guarantee that no meat or animal product whatsoever ever touched it during preparation. Expecting a fast-food place to maintain two separate cooking areas, or to change all the oil in the fryer, scrub down the griddle, etc. just for your special order, is just plain unreasonable, and it’s a major reason that no fast food place will bother to cater to vegans — they simply aren’t willing to put in that degree of effort to accomodate a small, but loud, portion of the population.
What I don’t get is why vegetarians and vegans so consistantly try to duplicate meat using anything but.
Look… if you’re so fascinated by meat then just eat it!
Joking aside, I support any company that tries to diversify their product line to incorporate new customers and to grant greater choice. I don’t think anyone at KFC thinks for a second that they’re offering up a “vegan” choice, or even a “vegetarian” choice, for that matter. But at the very least if you happen to be that one guy in a group of six that can’t/won’t eat meat, then when they stop at KFC for late-night snacks after the night of drinking you have something you can order aside from coleslaw and potato salad.
@cashmerewhore:
where did you see, or when did you make up that Taco bell taco shells are not vegan?
Here is a list of ingredients. i do not pretend to be the vegan police, so if i missed one, please teach me.
[www.yum.com]
@Werrick: probably one of the more frequent responses that i hear. also probably one of the more retarded comments. I ate meat for 19 years. it tastes good. However, it’s bad for you, it’s bad for the environment and you have to kill a living thing to get it. So… let’s think about this. if you can make a product that tastes exactly (or even sort of) like this, but uses less energy to make, takes up less land to make, is better for you and you don’t have to tear it away from it’s family and kill it, wouldnt that be a plus??
@cashoverass: Exactly my thoughts on it. I grew up in a Scot/English meat and potatoes household, and ate the stuff for 25 years. Frankly I missed the taste of KFC, so this was a really nice surprise.
And the sandwiches really are *good*.
@cashoverass:
I was kidding. I even said “all joking aside”. Seriously, at least for my sake, ease off on the dogma… anthropomorphising animal social groups in order to evoke sympathy or guilt isn’t going to help your case.
Eat whatever you like… I don’t care. What I object to is being told that my own eating choices are somehow wrong or immoral when eating meat is no more so than having sex. A lot of the hostility tha tyou’re seeing on this post in the direction of vegetarians is actually backlash, just so you know.
Animals are leather bags full of hotdogs.
@Sasquatch: And that was a succinct joke that a friend of mine wrote when I was in high school. I don’t want anyone getting all Earth Crisis on me.
Go through these comments and tell me who seems to be more militant about what you *should* be eating
Just checked out the KFC in Toronto on Queen st. W, and they told me they fry the veggie burgers in the french fryer, which apparently is animal-product-free, though I’m basing this on the fact that the fries claim to have 0 cholesterol.
Also, I tried it, and it’s basically what I remember KFC tasting like – something I’ve learned to live without anyway.
@Plorry: Ha, “the fries claim to have 0 cholesterol” made me think about talking fries. I trust y’all understand what I meant.
There are many levels to “vegetarian.” Vegan is just the most extreme.
@HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak: @HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak: I agree, but I know I wasn’t clear. My point was that as a consumer with particular needs, you should be aware of standard practices in food preparation, and if you don’t agree with them, you can exert pressure to try and shift the model.
What’s more, vegans may be a ‘small but loud portion of the population’, but so is Gary Coleman, and you don’t see me turning off Diff’rent Strokes.
@T16skyhopp:
Oh no my friend, your user name is epic win, but begs a question:
Would you eat a womprat?
I’m a vegetarian (10 years!) and even I find vegans to be whiney, bitter, mental cases. Being vegan is an excuse to complain about everything on a plate.
If we weren’t meant to eat animals, then how come they are made out of meat?
@sototallycarl: “a vegan wouldn’t eat at KFC, period. why would you financially support something you are against” – so true! even the promise of a quasi-veggie burger couldn’t lure me to KFC.
@navstar: You need to find different vegans to hang out with.
@Werrick:
I don’t think that they are trying to duplicate meat using tofu and other veggie by-products, I rather think those products are for people trying to break the “meat habit”.
The best meat substitute I ever tried (and I don’t usually try – I prefer the real thing) was a portabello mushroom burger. It likely had butter on it, but it was good!
I have a hard time seeing how any vegetarian who cares about their food toughing meat would willingly give money to KFC.
@stevejust: Where do you get the idea that PETA is opposed to pets?
From their website:
“…we believe that it would have been in the animals’ best interests if the institution of “pet keeping”-i.e., breeding animals to be kept and regarded as “pets”-never existed… This selfish desire to possess animals and receive love from them causes immeasurable suffering, which results from manipulating their breeding, selling or giving them away casually, and depriving them of the opportunity to engage in their natural behavior.” [www.peta.org]
From their co-founder and president, Ingrid Newkirk:
“‘ For one thing, we would no longer allow breeding. People could not create different breeds. There would be no pet shops. If people had companion animals in their homes, those animals would have to be refugees from the animal shelters and the streets. You would have a protective relationship with them just as you would with an orphaned child. But as the surplus of cats and dogs (artificially engineered by centuries of forced breeding) declined, eventually companion animals would be phased out” [en.wikiquote.org]
Everyone I’ve ever known that worked at PETA has pets.
Likely because they don’t really know that much about what Peta is all about. Because Everyone I’ve ever known that worked at PETA was utterly ignorant of how how much of Peta’s $30 million+ annual budget goes to local animal shelters ( NONE), how much of their budget goes to animal rescue (less than 1%), ignorant of the fact that despite having a budget in excess of 30 million dollars last year, they only found homes for 17 animals in their care. SEVENTEEN. What did they do with the thousands of others? They killed them.
Peta is not concerned with animal welfare. But they’ll certainly tell you they are to get you to donate.
Three words:
Kentucky
Fried
*******CHICKEN*******
Why would a vegan even set foot in the place?
I remember being vegan (for five years). I remember being vegetarian (for another five years). I’m amazed people put up with me.
I chose to become vegetarian about a month ago, for a variety of reasons. I’m not hardcore about it, but I avoid animal flesh at the very least. The vegetarian diet seems beneficial in many ways, and the only drawback is having special food needs when you’re around other people.
It’s strange to me that no one around me has viewed my decision to become vegetarian as a sacrifice. It’s always looked down upon as some foolish activist pursuit.
I’m surpised they didn’t just “go healthy” like McDonalds and Wendys have with their marketing. Sure, it’s still not going to be truly healthy, but there’s still a lot of money involved and less politics to deal with than when you’re trying to appease wacko fanatics from PETA (which, as others have said, is fruitless when you have “chicken” in your name). Usually big chains like this are trying to choose the easiest path…
I am a manager of a KFC in Canada. We were pretty much blackmailed into carrying these sandwiches. PETA told us that we either carry these sandwiches or they were going to step up their protests at our restaurants. We’ve had PETA protestors show up and block our driveways, so no customers could get in. We’ve filed charges against individuals for doing this, but it’s like PETA is full of zombies. They just keep coming.
Anyways, we have had these sandwiches for about 2 months and I can tell you, that in my store, we have not sold a single one.
And they are deepfried in the same oil as chicken products, but have BBQ sauce instead of mayo. We have special buns for thses too, but they’re frozen, never to see the light of day.
I’m a lacto-ovo-pollo-bovo-pesco-porco-vegetarian.
@AD8BC: seriously.
…actually this makes me want to go eat at KFC now.