# Are Mc Fries vegetarian/vegan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417 "2013-12-15T22:45:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/21 "2013-12-16T01:53:36Z")
Eating healthfully is the “right” reason (one of several) for anyone to choose being vegetarian or vegan. In which case, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated anything should count, for all practical purposes, as “toxic poison”. In which case, one needn’t worry about about how many dead cows are in the mix as well. And, for health purposes, trace amounts of “beef extract” or animal contaminants shouldn’t matter much. If one chooses to be vegetarian or vegan for ethical reasons (about not wanting to kill animals, or over concerns how they are tormented at the factory farms), then the logic is different. You might or might not care if your food has “trace amouts” of animal in it. Unless, as suggested by a few posts above, you want to NOT patronize a restaurant that serves dead animals. You might, or might not, choose to eat dairy products, or eggs, or fish or other “lower” animals. If one chooses to be vegetarian or vegan just because one’s heartthrob boyband teen idol does it, but he eats McFries so she’s gotta eat McFries too, then one might hope it’s just a temporary affliction. If she survives to adulthood, she will likely grow out of it. Anyway, are vegetarian (or vegan?) heartthrob teen idols allowed to have oral sex? ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/22 "2013-12-16T02:14:27Z")
so you don’t like her, and the best you could do is bitch and nitpick her food choices on the internet? how about you post your own picture and tell us about your own hobbies and lifestyle decisions? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/23 "2013-12-16T02:19:52Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Anyway, are vegetarian (or vegan?) heartthrob teen idols allowed to have oral sex? Depends on your dietary motivations. The target has to at least be a consenting donor. ---
**Author:** ![Artemis\_Tardis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Artemis\_Tardis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Artemis_Tardis)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/24 "2013-12-16T02:33:30Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Anyway, are vegetarian (or vegan?) heartthrob teen idols allowed to have oral sex? I think they are. If they don’t swallow. ---
**Author:** ![Cerealbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Cerealbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerealbox)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/25 "2013-12-16T02:45:33Z")
> [@demian\_travis](#): > > I think they are. If they don’t swallow. That… is brilliantly consistent reasoning. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/26 "2013-12-16T03:20:09Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > so you don’t like her, and the best you could do is bitch and nitpick her food choices on the internet? how about you post your own picture and tell us about your own hobbies and lifestyle decisions? You are making erroneous assumptions. None of what you say is remotely in the OP. All that is mentioned is a disagreement about a factual matter between friends. This happens all the time. There is not even a hint of the idea that the OP doesn’t like said friend. I hope whatever is causing you to feel bad gets better. I definitely understand misinterpreting things because you are in a bad mood. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/27 "2013-12-16T03:35:01Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > Easy enough to ignore MacDonalds; I just don’t ever go to any establishment with non-vegan food, just as I stopped going to pubs when they brought in a smoking ban. Huh? So you insist on eating only in restaurants that do not use animals products of any kind in the food, but you object to pubs that prevent you from being exposed to tobacco smoke. That’s interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/28 "2013-12-16T03:55:15Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Huh? So you insist on eating only in restaurants that do not use animals products of any kind in the food, but you object to pubs that prevent you from being exposed to tobacco smoke. That’s interesting. If the reason for veganism is for animal cruelty reasons, there is no contradiction. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/29 "2013-12-16T03:55:52Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > Easy enough to ignore MacDonalds; I just don’t ever go to any establishment with non-vegan food, just as I stopped going to pubs when they brought in a smoking ban. Given that all pubs serve non-vegan food, how come you were were going into them in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/30 "2013-12-16T09:46:05Z")
**Moderator Action** Since this concerns food and restaurants, it is better suited to Cafe Society. Moving thread from General Questions to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/31 "2013-12-16T11:33:27Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Huh? So you insist on eating only in restaurants that do not use animals products of any kind in the food, but you object to pubs that prevent you from being exposed to tobacco smoke. That’s interesting. Not quite. I insist that the food I consume does not use animal products; what others consume around me has no interest. Pubs, and other places, traditionally allowed — actually, encouraged — moderate smoking; the smoking ban ( amongst other reasons ) has been knocking pubs down in Ireland and the UK at an amazing rate since it came in: if one goes somewhere to drink and smoke, then removing one option means one may as well drink at home where one can do as one likes. > [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > If the reason for veganism is for animal cruelty reasons, there is no contradiction. Exactly. > [@UDS](#): > > Given that all pubs serve non-vegan food, how come you were were going into them in the first place? Well, although I escaped, through absolutely no merit of my own, a family tendency to alcoholism, one went to pubs to socially drink with others. There was a time, far back in the past, before my time, when they didn’t actually serve meals in British pubs other than small doleful packets of potato crisps ( American = chips ) and maybe some fly-blown meat-pies captive in a glass display case on the counter. Also children were not allowed. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/32 "2013-12-16T21:14:28Z")
> [@demian\_travis](#): > > I don’t know how they fry food at McDonalds - I don’t like their food anyway - but I think that the oil used to fry fries also fries McNuggets. (I made a pun! yay!). This was not correct for the McD’s I worked at for 4 years. The french fries and hash browns used one set of fryers and the chicken nuggets, crispy chicken fillets, and fish fillets were done in their own fryer. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/33 "2013-12-17T07:51:59Z")
I wish they still cooked them in beef tallow. They were so much better then. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/34 "2013-12-17T09:07:47Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > You are making erroneous assumptions. None of what you say is remotely in the OP. All that is mentioned is a disagreement about a factual matter between friends. This happens all the time. There is not even a hint of the idea that the OP doesn’t like said friend. > > I hope whatever is causing you to feel bad gets better. I definitely understand misinterpreting things because you are in a bad mood. 🙂 am i being whooshed here? would your friends criticise and ridicule your faults behind your back on the internet, calling you out as a liar and posting your picture as a helpful frame of reference? or do you do that to them? do you speak ill of your friends behind their back? what might be ok between friends is not once you put it online. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/35 "2013-12-17T15:05:55Z")
Is there any fast food restaurant that doesn’t use “beef extract” ingredient in their fries? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/36 "2013-12-17T15:14:52Z")
Burger King, for one. Nutritional info/ingredient PDF available on their website. (And they have a veggie burger too!) ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Bragg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@Stealth\_Bragg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Bragg)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/37 "2013-12-17T15:50:41Z")
McD’s UK site seems to confirm they are veggie in the UK at least: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Sunflower, Rapeseed), Dextrose (only added at beginning of season). Prepared in the restaurants using a non-hydrogenated vegetable oil. Salt is added after cooking. Please note our Fries can be cooked in the same oil as the Spicy Veggie Patty which contains: Chickpeas (30%), Batter (Rice Flour, Maize Flour, Maize Starch, Potato Starch, (Stabiliser (Xanthan Gum)), Breadcrumb (Rice Flour, Gram Flour, Maize Starch, Dextrose), Onion (10%), Yellow Split Peas (7%), Potatoes (7%), Vegetable Oil (Sunflower, Rapeseed), Water, Dehydrated Potato, Herbs & Spices (Cumin, Coriander, Garlic, Garlic Powder), Sugar, Salt. ---
**Author:** ![Artemis\_Tardis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Artemis\_Tardis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Artemis_Tardis)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/38 "2013-12-17T22:02:40Z")
I am OP. I must say, sometimes I want to break my friend’s neck when she is blabbering about her boyband or about the iPhone and blackberry she made her dad buy or about all the 68 (yes, she counts!) guys she kissed (notice that she is 18), but… yes, I like her, and I think it would be better to point out to her that the fries are not vegetarian before she finds out by herself. ---
**Author:** ![jrsone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jrsone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrsone)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/39 "2013-12-17T22:31:35Z")
I’ve never heard them called McFries. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417/40 "2013-12-21T02:31:50Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Burger King, for one. Nutritional info/ingredient PDF available on their website. (And they have a veggie burger too!) And alas, the veggie burger is vegetarian, not vegan. BK uses the Morningstar brand of veggie burgers, which contain milk or whey ingredients. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-mc-fries-vegetarian-vegan/676417.md?page=3)