A Veggie’s Guide to FastFood

About 3 million people across the U.K. are now vegetarian, with younger people making up the highest percentage. Like most students vegetarians like a drink and they crave the end of the night grease- part of the fundamental quadrivium of any night out.

For most, the need for late-night grease involves agonising over what burger to have- the one with bacon or just the cheese one? But for veggies the question is whether anything can actually be eaten or will it just be a sad, pack of cold chips and a can of flat diet coke?

I’m going to level with you- I’m not a total vegetarian, I eat fish. However, I empathise with the plight of vegetarians because most fast food outlets don’t have a fish option (apart from Mcdonalds which is a bit rogue with its Fillet o’ Fish). Here’s a guide compiled with my words of wisdom when it comes to getting vegetarian food from the standard fast food outlets.

Subway

The underwhelming Veggie Delite

Subway tried to promote a healthy image but they’re vegetarian food is somewhat wanting. You have two options- Veggie Delite and the Veggie Patty. The first is in the cheapest bracket (£2.69 for a 6 inch) but basically it’s just a sub with no filling- a bit of a con -and definitely not a delight- considering that the BLT and Ham sub are the same price. The Veggie Patty tastes good but at 3.59 for a 6 inch it’s not cheap. You could get a salad but that’s like asking for a coke in Starbucks, it’s just not done.

Burger-King

They have a few items which are vegetarian but they don’t have a vegetarian meal or burger option. Normally you have to buy a variety of different snack things separately- like their cheesebitz and onion rings, which can cost a lot more and isn’t quite as satisfying as their burger meals.

KFC

Not today…

Although American KFCs seem to have a vegetarian deal, this has yet to reach U.K. stores- aside from the chips and corn-on-the-cob there’s not much else there.

Your standard Kebab shop

Most of these stores do have a vegetarian option- but it can really vary from place to place. If you ask for a vegetarian option it’ll take the guy behind the counter 10 minutes to route in the deep freezer to find a frozen veggie burger- probably bought in 2005. Kebab food has never been known for gourmet quality and I wouldn’t recommend it sober but when you’re drunk they taste alright when doused in chilli sauce- who has a kebab sober anyway?

Mcdonalds

Say what you want about the morals of international conglomerates but where Mcdonalds excels is the fact it does a really good range of veggie food- some of which actually tastes nicer than some of their meat products. Personally I’ve always been partial to the Veggie Spicy Wrap. The best thing is that they’re relatively cheap and freshly prepared- by far the best place when it comes to a non-meat post-booze meal.