I think the Rebel Whopper branding is really spot on. It‘s like the opposite of the McLean problem described in another comment: it‘s not the reasonable choice.

The Rebel Whopper is a marvel! It is just "the real thing" and brings me the same joy as eating the meat burger. I usually choose the Rebel since they introduced it. We have a McVegan in Germany, too. I like it, but it is not "like the others".

What on earth? Why would that matter? Does somebody lose their vegan powers if a particle of fat gets into their burger?

Very simply, you can't sell it as vegetarian if it has meat in it. Vegetarians may choose to abstain from meat for many reasons, including religious ones. Burger King's duty is not to question those choices; it's simply not to deceive their customers.

People can be irrational when it comes to their diets, but that doesn’t make them wrong. Some people care and some don’t.

Restaurants tend to take the strictest interpretation of a diet because that minimizes angry customers.

Yeah and I don't like kale in my food. Clearly I'm not wrong, because apparently nobody is. But a busy restaurant is not the place to make a fuss over where a particular dish was cooked. I don't get to insist on a separate pot to make my meal, because it might get polluted by kale.

It is wrong, it a real sense, to have unreasonable personal rules about a restaurant kitchen.

Yes but if you tell the restaurant to not put kale in your food, and they go ahead and cook it in kale juice anyway, you'd be a bit annoyed right? Burger King aren't complaining about it - they are still promoting the plant-based aspects of the burger, but aren't claiming that it's a vegetarian meal. Nobody is making a big deal about it.

> It is wrong, it a real sense, to have unreasonable personal rules about a restaurant kitchen.

It's wrong to eat meat.

Says you. Others (by the billions) say otherwise. Raising a stink in a public restaurant makes you look silly. Witness the widespread cultural backlash against it.

This is all obvious and well-known. I know that righteous indignation is a drug, and it shows mostly on the internet, thank goodness. But we should all strive to break the addiction. The world will be a better place.

According to you, it's wrong "in a real sense" to make a fuss at a restaurant. According to others it's wrong to eat meat. Who are we to say which is worse? Which ultimately causes more harm and suffering in the world? It's great that you're not a fussy eater. Now try to show some respect for people who make different choices than you. And speaking of righteous indignation, you are showing a good deal of it in the face of some imagined restaurant incident; everyone else has simply pointed out that you can't sell non-vegetarian food as vegetarian.

Misbehaving in public, routinely, is just annoying and disrespectful. There (should be) standard for behavior in public. That's a basis for civilization.

And don't be silly - everybody has had to suffer through the lunch-time episode of somebody at the table grilling the waiter about how the food is cooked and what exactly is in it and don't they know they should do it different? While everybody else wishes they'd get on with it because we're hungry. Takes no imagination at all.

sigh so much energy spent but your point was ultimately that Burger King should be able to lie about the contents of its food and no one should care. Just admit you were wrong dude!

Nah no problem. Look silly all you like. I'm just trying to help here. Everybody has their own place they've reached on their journey. Some are still in their early idealistic phase - like a college junior with all the answers and nothing better to do than shoot the bull. Some have seen a bit of water under the bridge, and recognize this.

Your condescension is obnoxious and pathetic -- I've lived and seen more than you ever will. You're the "bull" in this analogy? Haha! I couldn't care less about your boring, pointless "journey".

FWIW I'm "vegan" and I agree that it's silly.

At least for me, the point is that I'll try to make choices that reduce suffering. You can't reduce it to zero, but most animal products can be replaced with a similar alternative with a similar price and less suffering.

Even organizations like PETA recommend against pestering restaurants about small details and trace ingredients, and I couldn't agree more: it makes vegans look nitpicky and rude and makes it harder for most people to want to make baby steps in the direction of reducing animal products.

My advice to new vegans: be easy on yourself and others. I'd rather see ten people who reduce their animal products consumptions by 90% than one extremist who does 99% and alienates everyone else.

No vegan diet, no vegan power. Those are the vegan police rules - https://scottpilgrim.fandom.com/wiki/Vegan_Police

As a vegetarian I just don't like tasting even trace amounts of meat in my food.

Would you care if bits of human carcass were mixed into your food? That's how I feel about the cows that you all are murdering.

>Why would that matter?

It matters because a burger that smells and tastes like real meat because it got into contact with meat is not vegan.