Deep fat fryer.. fries that are not fully Vegan

[VeganDawn]

Chipotle is vegan friendly. At most you may find some accidental cheese has fallen into the Guac via the fast paced assembly line. If you ask they will scoop you some fresh guac from an unused deep (pan). As for filtering oil. Half the restaurants I work at had a separate fryer for fries, and others fries and frozen meat items such as Church's Chicken, Royal Chicken, Chicken Express, or non-fried chicken places like Runza which still used the fry fryer for onion rings, corndogs, frozen fish filets and frozen chicken strips.

Usually fresh "fried" Chicken has it's own fryers, fish it's own. But these establishments had no vegan options at all. Most use soy or canola. I wouldn't eat fried anything via fast food. Onion rings which contain dairy and egg as well as fried mushrooms in restaurants share same fryers as fries Clover Food Lab comes to mind. They are vegetarian with some vegan items but it's all shared equipment.

A lot of restaurants and fast food don't even have separate prep sinks (a few do as do some grocery store "prepared foods" sections but they don't have separate fryers"). They could thaw chicken under water in the sink then rinse it out and then spray sanitizer in afterwards then rinse it out then immediately throw chopped lettuce in to rinse it before they put it though the spinner. Better hope they clean it well especially without soap. ABRH owned restaurants such as the Ninety Nine (99), Charley's, Village Inn come to mind there. Keep that in mind when you go anywhere.

Now to better your chances, assuming all are the same and nothing has changed The Yard House (not Fast Food) has a vegan menu full of Gardein and last I checked they have separate equipment for all their stuff. I'm not sure if you would classify these as fast food but I figure these restaurants are worth mentioning.

Pita Pit doesn't or didn't back in my day clean the grill between meat and falafels.

If you want truly vegan fries, I'd stay away from fast food unless you know the corporate wide practices of a chain. If cross contamination is a concern all the mainstream fast food chains are iffy.

 

[Veganite]

Personally, I'm just not interested in that sort of fast food. Pizza is the exception, if you can call that fast food? And that's only because there are several exceptional pizza places where I live. Amazingly, some are exclusively vegan now.

I think it's great that more places are getting on board, offering vegan options. However, many of them have much to learn about the dos and don'ts of preparation, regarding cross-contamination, etc. If I know they cook their fries in the same oil as animals, I would not order them, personally. Also, I can name a couple major fast food chains in Canada that have tried vegan products and have now since ditched them completely. Sadly, I'm guessing due to lack of popularity among vegans.

If I'm going on the road or out of town, my go-to is always either the local grocery store, or if I can find a sushi bar, I will accept the risk of cross contamination there, and order a veggie roll of some kind, and/or maybe some gomae, miso soup, etc. It really depends what town and what their options are.

The over all difference is that most sushi chefs I've watched take extreme care of their makisu mats, where a deep fat fryer will leech the flavour of the foods cooked in them onto other items cooked in the fryer, regardless of care or filtering. Also, in my personal experience, Japanese chefs are very polite and willing to please. If you mention your concerns, I am sure they would take even more care in your vegan food preparation.

One big problem I've experienced with places like A&W in ordering a Beyond burger for example, is they always manage to screw it up, and put something I don't want on it...like mayo, cheese, or their Uncle sauce. Sometimes after driving off with your order, trusting that the 18 year old behind the counter got it right. Well, that is your first mistake. I just don't trust places that don't focus on vegan food in some way, regardless of the staff. You are never going to be their priority, which is why I make the choices I do.

My two cents


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[chickenmammalove]

Vegan? Yes. Disgusting? Absolutely. I don't think it's anti-vegan to eat fries from a non-vegan restaurant, but there is a strong likelihood of cross contamination. At that point, it's more an ick factor. If I eat out, it's almost always at a vegan restaurant. The only times I've gone to a non-vegan place are when with a group of non-vegans and when I don't have much of a say on where we eat.