The One Ingredient Stopping Your Favorite Fast Food Fries From Being Vegetarian

Fast food restaurants can sometimes be a safe haven when we find ourselves in a pinch for a quick bite or simply if we can't resist indulging in the best soft ice cream. However, in these instances it can sometimes be tricky for vegetarians or vegans to navigate fast food menus for options that comply with their dietary restrictions since most fast food restaurants don't have vegetarian or vegan-safe mains by default. 

Potatoes obviously do not contain any animal or dairy products unless added during their preparation, so of course vegan or vegetarian fast food orders are going to likely include fries — because fries, duh. Unfortunately though, the tragic truth that goes unknown to many plant-based eaters is that not all fast food fries are made without animal products. This is due to what the fries are being fried in — beef tallow or beef byproducts.

The other disappointing part about with this fries fiasco for vegans and vegetarians is that fast foods chains that do choose to incorporate beef within their frying processes don't disclose their fries on their menus in same way as not vegan or vegetarian-safe. Therefore, in order to know what is compatible with a meat-free diet, one would have to locate the nutritional information on a fast food restaurant's website and then read the ingredient list for their fries to see beef or beef-by products were used. However, for vegans, vegetarians or anyone curious, within this article the hard work has been done for you in investigating which fast food restaurants' fries contain animal byproducts.

For vegans, McDonald's French fries should be avoided as their French fries ingredient list states "natural beef flavoring," which oddly enough is not actually derived from beef but rather milk derivatives, according to the ingredient list. McDonald's fries however, are still vegetarian-friendly. For both vegans and vegetarians, fries sold by Popeye's should be avoided. Popeyes, known for their fried chicken, also offers "Cajun fries" on their menu, but this fast food chain uses beef tallow exclusively for all of their frying making their Cajun fries an automatic incompatible. Lastly, the Checkers & Rally's LLC franchise fries are also not vegan or vegetarian safe. Known as Checkers in the southeast and Rally's in northwest, these fast food chains serve traditional all-American menu items and their fries come with a coating of milk powder before being fried in animal lard.

While learning about these hidden meat and dairy derivatives in some of the most beloved fries from certain fast food joints may have been heartbreaking to some reading this, there are however fifteen other fast food chains offering fries that are both vegan and vegetarian-friendly. Animal-free fries can be confidently be added to a modified vegan or vegetarian order at the following popular fast food chains: Arby's, Burger King, Carl's Jr.,Chick-Fil-A, Dairy Queen, Five Guys, Hardees, In-N-Out Burger, Jack In The-Box, KFC, Shake Shack, Sonic Drive-In, Steak n' Shake, Taco Bell, Wendy's and Whataburger. 

Hopefully in the near future McDonald's, Popeye's and the Checkers and Rally's establishments will find alternative ingredients used for frying their fries, that way one day we all can have our fast food fries (from anywhere) and eat them too!