Most of us love a good burger, but there are many issues from animal welfare to rainforest beef and soy, along with palm oil, fast food litter and health. Whichever burger you choose, served in toasted buns with lettuce, sliced tomatoes and red onions, and garnish with gherkins and vegan mayonnaise or ketchup, with an optional slice of vegan cheese. You can vary things up by using alternative plant proteins to make no-chicken burgers.
This Black Bean Burger (ElaVegan) is simple to make, high in protein and does not fall apart. Sunflower seeds add crunch, and you can sub black beans with tinned kidney beans, if preferred. High in fibre due to oats, this is extra-tasty due to tomato paste, soy sauce, garlic, onion and spices.
Faux meats taste, look and smell like real meat. So don’t feed leftovers to pets, as most contain onion, garlic and salt (likewise don’t feed to garden birds or wildfowl – fat can also smear on feathers, affecting waterproofing and insulation). Read more keeping people & pets safe in the kitchen.
Buy burger buns from independent bakers, to avoid ones with palm oil in plastic packaging. For homemade buns, keep fresh dough away from pets, as it can expand in the stomach. Try this recipe for dough balls (just swap herb butter for sesame seeds). Made with flour, dried yeast, salt, oil and Flora Plant B+tter, you can part-bake for 10 minutes, leave to cool and freeze in an airtight container, then bake for 5 minutes straight from the freezer.
Plant-based burgers are not just kinder but also cholesterol-free (better for your heart and waistline) and taste exactly the same if done well. Purists may prefer burgers made with lentils and sweet potatoes, but hard-line carnivores are never going to be swayed, so it pays to look at ethical ways to make alternatives, without resorting to rainforest soy or yukky-tasting TVP (textured vegetable protein). There are better choices like seitan (wheat-meat) and tempeh (the staple food of Indonesia).
Before farmers start beating their fists, know that in a country of 60 million people, there is not enough land for everyone to eat free-range. So if you disagree with factory farming (and most people do), most people are going to have to eat vegan burgers all or some of the time.
where to buy good vegan burgers
Instead, look for alternative plant-based burgers like Moving Mountains (above), Vivera, Oumph! (made with European soy) and Sgaia (made from wheat-meat).
plant-based burgers at fast food restaurants
It’s nice to support vegan fast food joints (for animals, and also as most serve in compostable packaging). London’s Unity Diner uses profits to fund Surge Sanctuary (which gives homes to abused/neglected barnyard friends). Other good choices are Neat Burger (London), Oowee (London, Bristol, Brighton) which offers a Big Bacon Double Smashburger and Vegan Shack (Manchester, Croydon).
plant-based alternatives to a Big Mac
You can make a ‘vegan Big Mac’ yourself: serve burgers in seeded buns with lettuce, onions, pickles and sliced vegan cheese, with ‘Big Mac’ sauce (vegan mayo, relish, onion powder, ketchup and a little maple syrup). Vegan Kevin has a super recipe.
Although McDonald’s now offers McPlant burgers, many people prefer not to support a chain that sells 900 million Big Macs yearly, along with other products that kill millions of animals. It does cook its vegan patties on separate equipment (something it doesn’t do abroad for its fries – Burger King and KFC don’t use separate equipment to cook plant-based foods, which rather defeats the point).
Created for steelworkers over 50 years ago as a ‘hearty meal’ after a day at the mills, one Big Mac accounts for around 25% of recommended daily calories, almost half the fat intake and most of your day’s salt recommendation (and that’s without the fries and cola). Such meals are defended as an ‘occasional treat’. But fast food is addictive, and it’s unlikely that fans who buy one, will stop at one a month.
In February 2023, an almost intact polystyrene wrapper was found dumped in a Worcestershire bush, close to a branch of McDonald’s. Dated to 1996, this shows some councils don’t do a good job of cleaning up litter (which they have a legal duty to clear if on public land). Report litter to Fix My Street (if on private land, councils can serve litter abatement orders (which end up at the magistrate’s court) or remove it themselves, and reclaim the costs.
