Fast Food Issues: Veggie Options

As college students, I know fast food is very important to most of us. I actually prefer to eat at fast food restaurants as little as possible, but when I’m running around all day, it’s really the best option.

Unfortunately, fast food restaurants are all about being, of course, fast – not necessarily healthy, and they definitely aren’t concerned with offering a variety of meatless options. I’ve run into the most trouble here when my friends want to meet up for a quick lunch and are afraid I won’t be able to find something to eat wherever they choose to go.

Fortunately, vegetarians (and even vegans) can always find something to eat at just about any fast food place. The real issue here is figuring out not only what you can eat, but what you’d actually want to eat. Fries and side salads just aren’t worth the $6. I spent way too long ordering fries and salads at fast food places, so I decided to do some research and finally find out what options are really out there.

Some fast food restaurants actually turned out to have some pretty great choices – several of them are pretty disappointing, though. Below is a list of some of the more popular fast food places in Statesboro and all of the veg*an foods they offer.

McDonalds
-If vegetarian: Salads (without the meat), apple pies, ice cream, cookies, any sandwiches (without the meat).
-If vegan: Salads (without the chicken, cheese or eggs – it may have to be made special for you, but it only takes a minute to do so), the vinaigrette or ginger dressings, apple pies.
~McDonalds definitely receives an “F” in my book. Beef in the fries… Only two vegan options on their entire menu… enough said. F.



Burger King
- If vegetarian: Fries, onion rings, salads and desserts. The veggie burger is probably alright since it’s Morningstar brand, although I have heard some interesting rumors about the actual ingredients in it (I’ll explain that in more detail in the blog following this one).
- If vegan: Fries, salads with the Italian or olive oil and vinegar dressings. The French dressing appears to be okay, although it does contain some questionable ingredients.
- I’ll give Burger King a “D” for making an effort with the veggie burger.



Arby’s
- If vegetarian: Milkshakes (most milkshakes contain animal-derived gelatin, but Arby’s shakes use a vegetable source), desserts, regular fries, curly fries and potato cakes, cheese (*Watch out for cheese at other fast food places – it usually contains an ingredient called rennet, which comes from calves’ stomachs. That’s been a debate among vegetarians for some time, though – if you don’t consider cow stomach to be meat, don’t worry about watching out for rennet).
- If vegan: Fries, potato cakes, fruit turnovers.
- Arby’s definitely deserves a “C” for having the best variety of veg*an food, considering it’s a restaurant known specifically for its roast beef.



Moe’s Southwest Grill
- If vegetarian: Can have literally anything on the menu as long as you either leave off the meat or substitute it for tofu or grilled vegetables. Every single thing on Moe’s menu is offered cheaper as a vegetarian dish also, so you won’t have to pay for meat you’re not eating. Their menu includes burritos, tacos, salads, fajitas, quesadillas and nachos. The straight-up vegetarian dishes include the Art Vandalay (burrito), Pinky Tuscadero (salad), I Said Posse (quesadilla), Ruprict (nachos), and the Sherman Clump (quesadilla), among others. But like I said, absolutely everything on the menu can be made vegetarian with a veggie or tofu substitute. The cheese contains no rennet and their guacamole contains no gelatin.
- If vegan: The options are still amazing for vegans. You can order just about everything listed above as long as you leave off the sour cream and cheese.
- Moe’s gets an easy "A" for the area. I don’t know anywhere else in Statesboro where someone on a vegan diet can order anything on the menu they want. The best part about Moe’s is that you “build” your food yourself, so you don’t have to do the usual, “And leave off the cheese and the bacon and the eggs…” Thank you, Moe's! A+.

Visit Moe's Web site for full menu information

Subway
- If vegetarian: The cookies are fine. Any of the bread choices are okay as far as I know. The cheese is probably okay – some of the restaurants offer cheese with rennet in it, but again, if that doesn’t bother you, you’re fine. You’re pretty much stuck with just one sandwich option though… load on the veggies and cheese!
- If vegan: The vegan breads include the Italian, Hearty Italian and Sesame Italian. The wheat bread contains honey (vegans tend to differ on whether honey is okay; that’s up to you to decide).
- Eh, I’ll give them a “C” for all the veggies offered, although there’s really only one available meal for veg*ans.

Visit Subway's Web site for full menu information

Rather than list every single restaurant in Statesboro I can think of, I’ll leave it at five. Of course that doesn’t even begin to cover the fast food choices in Statesboro, so if you’re interested in learning about the others in the area, visit the Online Vegetarian Resource Guide.

This site the best I’ve found so far for fast food ingredient concerns. It includes fast food restaurants as well as some sit-down restaurants like Applebees. The site is especially great because it lists many of the restaurants’ contact information. If you ever have an ingredient question that you can’t find the answer to, most companies are actually very good about responding to questions about their food. I’ve yet to receive an inaccurate or rude response to any of my e-mails about companies’ ingredients.