Veganuary Crazes and Fast Food Recipes

Hey guys!

Veganuary - What an amazing time we’re living in!

SO! Where do I begin. This is probably the first time in my life I’ve been excited to go out and try vegan fast food, there’s been so many missed opportunities as a kid to try these places that my friends talk about when they’re hungover, that I’ve just been unable to even try. Pizza Hut, Burger King. None of this stuff has been open to me, partly because they share ovens etc. So when I found out that they were going to be using Quorn in Gregs and KFC I was like the hell is going on? I have to finally be involved!

So I put out a status on my social about wanting to try KFC for the first time and yes, it was something that was really more of a want than a need. I understand that they are responsible for killing animals and if I buy food there it just adds to that demand in some format. But guess what, so does going to any fucking super market or cafe and I still need to eat. So against recommendation, I placed an order of Just Eat and I eagerly awaited the arrival of my first, ever KFC.

So the meal came with chips, they were majorly underwhelming and sort of floppy? Both fried and soggy? Not too much salt? Okay… first thing I wasn’t into. Then comes the burger, now as you can see the burger casing was literally half coated and falling apart. We’re getting fast food so let’s not expect an origami swan serving a hand sculpted avocado rose. But I pull apart the bun and the lettuce is there, there’s loads of mayo, okay this doesn’t actually appear to be vegan? Questionable.

I check out the batter, again I’m not sure if this is actually a vegan batter. Does the oil it was cooked in smell the same to my sister? It smelled different from vegetable fat so I was a bit nervous, so I gingerly took a bite into the quorn burger and there it was. The distinct texture of an old wellington boot, encased in bark.

I’m not quite sure if this is what people are ranting about when they’ve previously warbled on about KFC, or what. But this thing was absolutely on all accounts a sloppy attempt at a burger, let alone a good vegan burger. It was beyond dry, it had the texture as if they had boiled the quorn patty before frying it, it was like literally chewy, dry and fibrous. Quorn do southern fried bites that are completely vegan and not horrible, so I’m really confused why they haven’t just gone with a good product and put a Quorn burger as is up for offer. Check out The Wimpy who actually do this, if you want a vegan burger that’s similar to this I would recommend their one. So there we have it. It was not at all what I was expecting. And I asked for a refund.

So Veganuary is massive and a huge force when it comes to moving into the direction of a plant based culture, and I am really eager to get on board with more of what they do and encourage more restaurants to stop using meat products. For our own health first and foremost. But I have to say, if you want to try a plant based meal I would say that an amazing batter can be made using chia seeds soaked in oat milk, it’s an egg replacement. Then using a mix of toasted breadcrumbs that you can literally make from toasted stale bread, bashed up, mixed with flour and panco crumbs. Dip some properly cooked out cauliflower or meat replacement into flour, that egg alternative, some of that crumb mix and bake it in the oven. If you want to check out some of my KFC vegan recipes the Food section is waiting, but I kid you not.

These fast food chains are not the one.