Last week, Burger King announced they will be providing Impossible Whoppers nationwide.
This is the kind of big change that makes a real impact, but it never would have happened if there wasn’t a demand for it. Think about how many little things had to fall into place for this new menu item to be available across the Burger King board. Think of the number of vegans, vegetarians, zero wasters, and meatless-monday enthusiasts that had to purchase, eat, and discuss burger alternatives to incentivize developing a tasty meatless burger. Think of the research involved in developing that meatless burger. Then think how popular that meatless burger had to be at other, less popular restaurants for a major fast food chain to even consider adding it to their menu.
Now for the record, Burger King has had vegetarian options on their menu for a long time, but in my opinion they tasted terrible and to my knowledge they weren’t very popular. You could also argue that there are plenty of reasons you still shouldn’t eat fast food (i.e. the amount of trash and carbon emissions associated with fast food is enormous). I’m certainly not about to start.
But if you take a moment to consider how many people do eat at fast food restaurants, how many people will be given the chance to choose a meatless option, you’ll see the kind of impact this choice may have on our environment. And if it proves lucrative, you better believe other fast food chains will follow suit.
So I’d like to take a second to validate anyone out there with an alternative lifestyle based on maybe saving the world. I know it’s hard. I know other people have made you feel like a huge weirdo, or that your choices don’t make a difference. But the truth is, there’s no one solution to the problem. It takes our combined small efforts to make big changes. Keep it up!
P.S. I’d like to give a shout out to my hometown, which participated in Burger King’s initial roll out of their new meatless menu item. I give St. Louis a lot of flack in these blogs, but I have to admit they were a big part of making the nationwide launch possible.