Written by PETA
The following is a guest post by Amy from the VegCooking blog:
You may remember that back in June I asked for your help finding the best faux chicken sandwiches in North America. We read through your suggestions and set out to find the pick of the flock, and we've finally tallied the results in our quest to name some of the best mock meats on restaurant menus around the country.
And the Top 10 Faux-Chicken Sandwiches in the U.S. are ...
1. Green New American Vegetarian, Tempe, Arizona: The Secret BBQ Chicken Sandwich features mock chicken topped with caramelized onions and peppers slathered in espresso BBQ sauce. The sandwich is also served with vegan mayo and your choice of thyme fries, curry pasta salad, tahini coleslaw, or fresh fruit.
2. Govinda's Gourmet Vegetarian, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Philly's most famous sandwich, but with a twist! The Vegan Philly Chicken Cheese Steak has soy chicken and rainbow peppers grilled in olive oil and topped with soy cheese. The sandwich is served on a sesame seed roll, a whole wheat roll, or a wrap.
3. Veggie Grill, Orange County, California: This SoCal location offers a Bayou Chickin' Sandwich, featuring veggie chicken that is lightly blackened with Cajun spices, dressed with lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado, and spicy vegan mayo on a wheat bun, and served with a side of red cabbage slaw.
4. Native Foods, Southern California: Native Foods is known for its interestingly named menu items, and the Chicken Run Ranch Burger is no exception. The sandwich features crispy battered "save the chicken," vegan ranch dressing, lettuce, carrots, and onion served on an organic wheat and sprouted brown rice ciabatta roll.
5. Red Bamboo, New York City: The Chicken Parmesan Hero at one of NYC's many vegetarian eateries takes fifth place with a sandwich made from breaded soy chicken with vegan mozzarella cheese, smothered in sweet basil marinara sauce and served on Italian bread.
6. Pizza Lucé, Minneapolis: Pizza Lucé's Mock Chicken Dijon—a mock-chicken patty seasoned with Dijon mustard and topped with lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and banana peppers served on a toasted bun—puts Minneapolis on the list in sixth place.
7. VegiTerranean, Akron, Ohio: Chrissie Hynde's restaurant comes in at number seven for the Grilled Gardein Bruschetta Pomodoro Panini. The sandwich comes with balsamic basil marinated tomatoes and soy mozzarella and is accompanied by a grilled vegetable orzo salad.
8. Foodswings, Brooklyn, New York: Foodswings' No Chicken Caesar Club is made with grilled mock chicken, crisp romaine lettuce, tomato, black olives, and vegan Caesar dressing and is served on warm Italian bread.
9. Vertical Diner, Salt Lake City, Utah: The Breaded Chicken Sandwich is served on French bread, 7-grain bread, or a tortilla wrap and comes with lettuce, tomato, onion, and Vertical Sauce, with a choice of tortilla chips or carrot sticks.
10. Red Dog Saloon, Norfolk, Virginia: Red Dog serves a sandwich made with fried Chickette served on a roll with lettuce, tomato, and chips.
Quick—what reason do people usually give for continuing to eat meat even after you've told them about all the awesome health, environmental, and animal welfare benefits of going vegetarian? If you said taste (as in, people don't want to give up meat because they like the taste), you win $1 million! Not really (sorry!), but it does mean that you've been doing a great job trying to get your friends and family members to take the cool vegetarian plunge—go, you!
Now, people who've explored veggie cuisine know that you don't have to give up anything in the way of taste or texture to go vegetarian, but guess what massive corporation is going to help spread that message to new audiences? If you said most KFCs in Canada, you don't win $1 million, but you are right (go, you, again!).
Most KFCs in Canada have just added a vegetarian chicken sandwich to the menu, and by all reports, the faux chicken is crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and delectably flavorful inside and out. YUM! (YUM! is actually the name of the company that owns KFC in the U.S., but they aren't serving it, dammit).
The company that coordinates the purchase of all chickens for Canadian KFCs has also entered into an agreement with PETA, which includes landmark animal welfare reforms that will substantially improve the lives and deaths of chickens killed for Canadian KFCs. And we at PETA have been so happy about this that we sent our Lettuce Ladies on a Canadian tour to pass out KFC's faux-chicken sandwiches to anyone eager for a taste. How's that for winningly fabulous, eh?
Here are some photographs from Montréal!
Posted by Grace Friedan
It’s a new dawn, people. A fresh, vibrant world full of hope. The storm clouds have dispersed and the sun is shining on a happier future, where anything is possible…
On a trial basis, in the fine city of Philadelphia, 7-Eleven is offering vegan sandwiches.
To celebrate this glorious news, and to help make sure this trial is a big success, PETA dispatched our lovely lettuce ladies to the city last week to offer samples of the tasty meatless sandwiches (varieties include "chicken," "steak," and mock egg salad) to passersby. ‘Cuz that’s just how we roll. Check out the pics, and if you live in Philadelphia, be sure to give the sandwiches a try. Word on the street is that they’re pretty damn good.
Oh, brave new world that hath such people in it.
A little bit of star-spotting for you today, this one courtesy of People magazine. The lovely Sienna Miller was photographed this week wearing a stylin’ sweater with an animal rights message. Three of my favorite things in one picture: Seals, Sandwiches, and Sienna. Amazing.
I know, I know. But this comic strip made me laugh out loud. Enjoy!
Thanks to Snaggy and Nitrozac for letting me post the strip!
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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