rolling new food laboratory inventions for american chain restaurants thread

xp McDonalds meat has got to be the worst of any fast food chain right? It has that "time to bribe the health inspector to look the other way" grey-brown shade.

I think, at least in the UK, it's probably healthier/safer than a lot of shady burger joints, because it has to be and because they have the size of business that they can afford to use reputable farms for their beef - I know they have brochures explaining the quality of their meat in UK branches, and I can't imagine they're willing to risk a horsemeat/BSE-type scandal. But that doesn't mean it tastes great or is well-cooked, by any means.

[for me, there are few pleasures as guilty as a good/bad kebab shop burger, cooked on the coal griddle, but I'm also pretty sure I'm risking poisoning with every bite, and indeed one ruined the Xmas of 2001 for me, so I know whereof I speak there]

In France McDo burgers taste pretty good! In the USA I got sick off them enough to swear off them, but here they’re a real treat.

I have them pretty rarely now, having regarded them as the pinnacle of quisine when I was a kid, but I like the saltiness of the cheese in a double cheeseburger, though the quarter pounders are often dry and disappointing. If I have one now it's usually in the company of my daughter, on a road trip, and it's a fun experience for that reason. Though back when I was still able to work in offices, I'd often grab a sausage McMuffin on a Friday, which was very much a treat.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/potatoes-are-returning-the-first-in-taco-bells-vegetarian-plans-to-make-this-year-better-than-last-301208212.html

After a brief hiatus from menus due to Taco Bell's menu simplification efforts last year, Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes and the Spicy Potato Soft Taco will be back starting March 11. Taco Bell is also teaming up with Beyond Meat to create an innovative new plant-based protein that will be tested in the next year. Taco Bell chose to team up with Beyond Meat as a category leader with a proven track record of attracting younger customers with its irresistibly delicious plant-based offerings. Although Taco Bell has long been a destination for vegetarians, this will be the brand's first foray into plant-based meat in the U.S.

"The return of our beloved potatoes is just the first step in showing our fans the strong continued commitment to vegetarian we are making this year," said Liz Matthews, Taco Bell's Global Chief Food Innovation Officer. "We have long been a leader in the vegetarian space, but this year, we have more meatless options in store that vegetarians, veggie-curious and even meat-eaters will love."

I've always been curious to try a vegetable one day.

"creating an innovative new plant-based protein" sounds weirdly ominous

plant-based is so 2020

the future is fungus

taco “beef” mostly plant based already hohoho

Taco Bell “beef”

Vegetarian isn't just a trend for Taco Bell. The brand has had meatless menu items like the bean burrito for many years

lol

Was vegetarian for many years and TB was absolutely the best of the big fast food chains because you can sub beans on everything, which tastes better than the beef anyway

I wonder how much of the vegetarian market they actually have already captured, long term?

"Taco Bell Vegetarian" is a lifestyle choice

All the broke punk kids in [your town here] have always subsisted on bean burritos.

i mean i'm not gonna lie, upward of 80% of my intake was taco-bell-based for a year or three
i just dunno how much permadamage that did

the future is fungus

you're saying plant-based is spore substitute, eh?

Quorn is just okay, tho-- I am not a vegetarian currently, but having been a vegan for a few years and worked in a natural foods grocery for a while, the idea of fungus based food is really good...it's just that it isn't being done particularly well at present, partly because so many of the products are centered around making something 'like meat.' Veggie products should quit that imitation meat strategy and just make things that taste good...

As a confirmed lifelong Pizza Hut hater who is also a sucker for a good American chain restaurant food laboratory invention, I have to say the new Detroit-style is....not bad.

i keep getting ads for the digiorno pizza with a croissant crust and goddamn if don't want to try it

we tried it, it was not much to write home about tbh. :( like it just seemed like a regular crust but maybe more buttery. if there's a great version of it, it might be much more sensitive to oven temperature/cook time than the trusty basic frozen pizza crust. anyway it was not worth the price bump over digiorno's basic offering.

I used to eat a ton of Quorn when I was a vegetarian. I tried it again recently and it was much worse than I remembered.

Yeah, most of the veggie or fungus based 'alternative meat' products are only 'good' to vegetarians because they've either never had the real thing or have forgotten what the real thing tastes like.

And I say that as someone who eats vegetarian about 70% of my meals.

Pepperidge Farm used to have a croissant crust pizza that I was absolutely crazy about. Wonder if I will still love it. Gonna have to investigate the Digiorno version.

Didn't know Pepperidge Farm made ethnic food

Poppage Farm make a fish and chocolate pizza

remember when subway was trying to sell those flatbread pizza things? god those looked sad.

everyone had a panini or flatbread

panera, which I receive email messages from (judge me), has created a new food abomination every two weeks in the interest of business this past year

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/22/taco-bell-enters-chicken-sandwich-wars-with-a-taco-version.html

You fought with my father in the Chicken Sandwich Wars?!

kudos

Chicken is growing faster than beef, making it more attractive to fast-food chains.

the phrasing of this sentence makes it sound like something has gone horribly awry

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51BxvgUMWZL._SX337_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

New Taco Bell Concept Coming to Minnesota

https://i.imgur.com/aRS6tHq.jpg

Above the vehicles is the Taco Bell kitchen, and orders would be seemingly dropped down to waiting drivers via a dumbwaiter system...

I mean, won't be the first time I've had to make a deposit after pulling through Taco Bell...

15" Chip Inn Meat Box with Curry Sauce pic.twitter.com/WD0o4ETJPK

— Rate My Takeaway (@RateMyTakeaway) February 28, 2021

Would eat. But I hope not all at once.

is that gyro meat?

There is no question that I would eat some of that

prob the wrong thread but i don't know where we put this stuff but here
https://www.deseret.com/entertainment/2021/3/2/22309367/reeses-all-peanut-butter-cup-no-chocolate

Hey! You put your peanut butter inside my ... peanut butter!

Vegan, plz

I tried Taco Bell for the first time a couple of months ago, and... How have any of you made a second visit?

I tried it for the first time at a young relative's birthday party a few years ago. I went back once more and tried the other menu item, the hard shell. That's enough.

yes, it's fucking awful

my brother-in-law really likes it for some reason. he's quite a good cook and a bit of a foody. i find it perplexing

The only acceptable time to eat Taco Bell is when one is very drunk. In 2015, when we were winter caretakers at the hobo museum, some friends had abandoned an old Volvo wagon on the property, and my partner got it working just enough to tool around in the small nearby town, but it was....scary.

Anyway, he was incredibly drunk, we were both incredibly drunk, and everyone on the property was incredibly drunk because we'd been partying for most of the day. But there was a 24-hr Taco Bell at the end of the .75 mile dirt road that led to the property. So he drove it through the drive-thru and purchased $50 worth of bean and cheese burritos and a few other things. In the meantime, one of the local cops pulled up behind us...

And that was the last evening that the Volvo drove! Taco Bell killed it.

Taco bell is great all the time actually, a national treasure

there was a period of about six years between age 16 and 21 where I ate taco bell multiple times a week but i'm pretty sure it's been a few decades since i last partook.

When I was in high school it was not uncommon for groups of my friends to drive 100 miles just to go to the nearest taco bell.

It's not objectively good but I still have a soft spot for it and would still absolutely choose it over the usual suite of US fast food options.