McDonald’s has announced the next stage of its ‘Big Vegan’ burger expansion with the plant-based option set to hit venues in Israel.

And the fast food giant has indicated it will further roll out the burger if the trial is successful.

The Big Vegan burger is McDonald’s’ answer to the growing trend for high street fast vegan food, and follows in the footsteps of Burger King’s Impossible Whopper, KFC’s Imposter Burger and the Greggs vegan sausage roll.

The Big Vegan features Nestlé’s plant-based Incredible Burger, and was initially launched in Germany in April.

With the raging success of its competitors – KFC’s vegan chicken burger sold out within four days, and Burger King’s plant-based Whopper will be rolled out across the US and Europe – it seems likely that the Big Vegan trial will be a huge met with huge demand and lead to expansion.

A petition started by Kathy Freston demanding vegan options at McDonald’s in the US has now attracted 220,000 signatures.

“This is fantastic news. I am so glad that McDonald’s is expanding plant-based options around the world,” she said.

“The entire plant-based trend is just taking off in 2019. So far we’ve seen the astronomical climb of the Beyond Meat stock, Whole Foods signing a deal with The Meatless Farm, and Burger King rolling out the Impossible Whopper nationwide.”

Last month McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook said the huge interest in plant-based meat alternatives is ‘not faddish’ and told customers to ‘watch this space’.

The fast food boss said bringing out a vegan burger was particularly complex as the company would need to consider grilling a plant-based patty on a separate surface to the meat version, unlike Burger King.

Meat alternatives have hit the headlines recently, with Beyond Meat’s value more than doubling to $3.8 billion on its debut on the stock market last month.

And rival Impossible Foods raised $300 million in its latest round of funding, driven by a star-studded list of investors.

Will you try the Big Vegan? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Oli Gross

Oli’s career and personal ethical values both help shape his reporting of the diverse world of veganism. His background is in local newspaper and magazine journalism, and his work has included reporting court cases, celebrity interviews, business analysis, food and drink features and government legislation.

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