Mintball wrote:
Really interesting post.
I wouldn't - but then I don't eat at McDonalds or Burger King or even the 'posh' burger joints.
The most I'd do is eat a steak haché in France - very, very occasionally. And that was the case even before I really got into food or had a decent income.
What about you?
Years ago, I was sort-of-vegetarian(*) for more than a decade, not because I had an issue with killing animals for food per se ... but because I didn't agree with many farming, husbandry and slaughter standards or, more accurately, lack of standards, nowadays that has largely changed and I can usually avoid quite well, except in restaurants.
So, my first response would probably be to eat less meat.
It wouldn't be a great hardship as I still don't regard a meatless meal as anything unusual.
My view is that, if meat isn't good quality, tasty and responsibly reared etc, why bother with it?
I don't eat at McD, Burger King, KFC or any of those outlets and it's been decades since I was last in a Pizza Hut ... I just don't see the point of eating such rubbish unless you absolutely have to.
You won't find me in a Greggs or the god-awful mayonnaise(**) purveyors known as Pret-a-Manger either.
Nonetheless, I do enjoy the (very) occasional burger, usually made at home or at my local pub (who I trust).
Posh burger joints are probably more easily found in your neck of the woods than mine, although I did visit one in Soho once, out of curiosity, when they first kicked-off about ten or twelve years ago.
(*) I did get the occasional sneer about not being a "proper" vegetarian (not that I ever claimed to be such) but usually from people who didn't know the first thing about food anyway.
(**) I have an aversion to the inappropriate ubiquity of mayonnaise, why would you put mayonnaise in the same sandwich as cheese and pickle, why is horseradish always reduced to horseradish-flavoured mayonnaise? It's like slimy baby food, not for anyone with functioning taste buds.
Maybe I'm just picky ... but that's the way it is.