Have my American readers begun planning their Thanksgiving menus? It’s a week from Thursday, and honestly, this Thanksgiving won’t be the same as any we’ve celebrated in recent memory. One thing that’s changing is peoples’ eating habits. And for those who focus on plant-based eating, there was big news this past week.
The Plant-Based Revolution
If I asked you what McDonald’s is known for, the chances are you’d reply, “burgers and fries.” Or perhaps Chicken McNuggets. But since the 1950s, the Golden Arches have been synonymous with fried meat.
McDonald’s wants that to change. As I wrote for Forbes last week, one of its big pushes next year will be into plant-based eating.
It plans to begin testing breakfast, chicken and burger items under the umbrella of McPlant. These items are supposed to be part of a global effort to thrust McDonald’s into plant-based competition.
Before you snicker, keep in mind that McDonald’s is a $21 billion, with a “b", business. It has around 14,000 franchises in the United States and 38,000 world wide.
For McDonald’s to get serious about plant-based eating could be a real turning point for vegetarians and vegans around the world, assuming at least something it offers fits a vegan lifestyle.
But, as anyone who eats fast food knows, McDonald’s is late. The plant-based revolution is already taking place.
Cooking With Faux Meat
Earlier this year, I wrote about the new Impossible Cookbook. I was intrigued that there was a big-name chef behind the project: Traci Des Jardins.
She’s had multiple restaurants in San Francisco, she is a two-time James Beard Award winner, and has worked closely with World Central Kitchen, the philanthropic effort by chef Jose Andres.
Traci told me that she has been involved with Impossible Foods for half a decade.
She was one of the first chefs to put an Impossible burger on her menu, and she’s been involved in many of the company’s new product launches, like the hamburger substitute that’s been a huge hit during the pandemic.
“I was just blown away by the product from day one,” she says. “It’s revolutionary in terms of a base product that was invented as a food category. I’d never seen anything like it.”
She has tried to offer environmentally friendly foods when possible in her restaurants, but has found that to be a challenge.
“The environmental impact of large scale food production is devastating. As a chef and making purchasing decision, I’m always about sustainable producers, but there wasn’t enough grass fed meat in order to satisfy demand,” she says. “All arrows point back to a company like Impossible Foods.”
Traci brought up another aspect about plant-based food that I think about all the time.
Many younger diners, especially those in Generation Z, are worried about climate change and interested in eating less meat, if none at all.
If you spend any time in college towns, you know that there are vegetarian and vegan restaurants and those types of items on almost any menu. That’s true in big cities and other places, as well.
These diners are most likely to try faux meat and other plant-based products. If restaurants and food places want to attract them, they’ll have to have something that shows they are in touch with plant-based food trends.
“I think about this in the context of my son,” says Traci, who is an occasional meat eater. “You kind of have to convince them to eat meat.”
She adds, “Maybe one day we don’t have to kill animals” to offer tasty dishes.
The Challenges McDonald’s Faces
Now, before McDonald’s is viewed as a great proponent of plant-based eating, it still has to prove it can deliver.
As I mentioned in my Forbes story, it faces some significant challenges. One is that it’s late — Burger King and White Castle are already there, and many places in your neighborhood probably offer plant-based burgers.
Another is its reputation. McDonald’s has had a hard time shifting away from meat at all times of the day. I give it credit for its McNuggets and its breakfast chicken offerings, but otherwise, you have to hunt now to find the few remaining salads on its menu.
With such a huge global footprint, McDonald’s will have to make sure that it actually can get enough plant-based meat for all its stores. It won’t help if consumers head out to eat a McPlant burger and are told it’s sold out.
And it has to taste good. I went to Canada last year to try the P.L.T. (back when we could casually cross the border without a second thought. How I miss those days!)
I found that the P.L.T. was more meat-like than the White Castle Impossible slider. The patty is firmer, although it doesn’t have quite the firmness of actual beef. And even though Impossible touts the juiciness of its burgers, I didn’t find it especially moist.
And in the end, taste will be what attracts us to plant-based eating, as strong as our environmental concerns might be. If we don’t like it, we won’t order it again.
So, as you watch McPlant come to life, keep all these considerations in mind.
In Memoriam: Cecilia Chiang, Queen of Chinese Cuisine
I was planning to name Cecilia Chiang as a CulinaryWoman of the Week, in honor of her 100th birthday.
Instead, we lost her last month. She died peacefully in her sleep, of natural causes, according to her family.
Long before the names of celebrity chefs became as familiar as Hollywood stars, Cecilia was helping to change Americans’ perception of Chinese food, from cheap take out to an elegant sit down occasion.
Her original restaurant, The Mandarin, opened in San Francisco in 1961, and as she said in interviews, it confused people. The menu did not include chop suey or chow mein, which are actually Americanized versions of Chinese stir fry.
Instead, it was on a par with San Francisco’s other elegant restaurants. In more recent times, New York diners could enjoy spots like Budakkan, Mr. Chow or Shun Lee Palace.
Cecilia was doing that decades ago. She is credited with raising diners’ awareness of dishes like mu shu pork, tea-smoked duck, beggar's chicken, pan-fried potstickers, kung pao chicken, sizzling rice soup, and hot-and-sour soup.
Everyone in the food world made a pilgrimage to The Mandarin, especially after it moved to a much larger location in Ghirardelli Square. And by the time I was growing up and dining on Chinese food, the variety of choices was much wider than it was when Cecilia came to America.
She bowed out of the restaurant business in 1991, and The Mandarin closed in 2006. But her legacy lives on in the understanding that a cuisine does not have to be dumbed down for people to enjoy it.
RIP, Cecilia, and thank you.
If you have memories of The Mandarin or of Cecilia, I’d love to hear them in comments.
Samin Nosrat
I’m going to bet that you’re familiar with Samin Nosrat, even if you don’t already own her cookbook. She has a terrific series on Netflix and her recipes have been appearing regularly in the New York Times.
I’m recommending Salt Fat Acid Heat specifically for one recipe: her buttermilk chicken. Ever since I read about it, I have been making it regularly, sometimes weekly. It is the best roast chicken recipe I have come across, next to my own.
Samin’s recipe will remind you to keep buttermilk in your fridge. Basically, the recipe is buttermilk, salt and time - not thyme, but time. You should, if you think that far ahead, marinate the chicken in buttermilk for a full 24 hours.
But I’ll give you this tip: the first time I made her chicken, I misread the instructions and marinated it for only two hours. (I blame cloudy contact lenses.)
Guess what? It worked just fine! Granted, 24 hours gives you a juicier chicken, but two hours sufficed, too. So, don’t rule out this chicken if you don’t remember to soak it in advance.
This past week, Samin adapted her recipe for turkey, which is what I’m going to make this holiday season.
The book has darling illustrations. And if you know her effusive voice from TV, radio or podcasting, you can hear it when you read the book.
Autographed copies are available from Omnivore Books, and wouldn’t that make a nice present for the holidays? Seriously, order your gift-giving books now. I suspect delivery is going to take a while this season.
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