Yesterday while browsing Facebook, I came across a post that mentioned El Pollo Loco is now offering plant-based chicken burritos and tacos. El Pollo Loco is a restaurant chain with many of their locations being in California. Before going vegan, it was one of my favorite fast food restaurants, and I liked it better than Chipotle and Taco Bell because of how fresh and flavorful the food was. I don’t think I’ve been to an El Pollo Loco in over five years now, but after reading the news on Facebook, I was ready to make a mad dash over to my nearest location. That is, until I did a Google search on these new menu options. I was devastated, and I truly mean devastated, to find out that the plant based chicken offered by El Pollo Loco still contained animal products! What do I mean by this? Well, apparently, the sauce this plant-based chicken is cooked in contains an egg enzyme! Ridiculous if you ask me! Learning this shocking information made me seriously think about the way companies market food.
When most people think of the term plant-based, they think of the word vegan. Although these two words are frequently interchanged in society, there is a subtle difference. Someone who identifies as vegan abstains from animal products in all aspects of their life, including diet, clothing, using only cruelty-free products, not supporting zoos, circuses, etc. Someone who identifies as plant-based just abstains from animal products in their diet, and for example can still use products that are tested on animals or wear leather. People usually go vegan for ethical reasons, which is why they seek to avoid all forms of animal exploitation present in society. In contrast, most people who identify as plant-based usually do so for health or environmental reasons, and are not concerned with animal cruelty. Up until recently, one thing in common between vegan and plant-based individuals is that their diet is one hundred percent free from animal products. I think within the past year or so, the term plant-based has shifted to mean mostly vegan, or being comprised of mostly animal free ingredients. Since there is no concrete definition for what this word means, companies are able to use this to their advantage, which is starting to become more common. For example, while shopping for groceries yesterday, I came across pre packaged blueberry granola that was labelled as plant-based. After examining the ingredients, I was disappointed to discover that the granola contained honey, which is an animal product. Those who identify as plant-based would most likely not bat an eye with honey being in their granola, since there are no health or environmental downsides to honey, but as a vegan, honey poses ethical concerns which is why I do not consume it.
As for El Pollo Loco, I feel like they have hopped on the new plant-based trend, which has its pros and cons. It has been proven that people are more open to trying foods labelled as plant-based rather than vegan, because of people’s preconceived notions about veganism. Additionally, all of these new faux meat options at Burger King, Del Taco, Carl’s Jr., etc. are not targeted towards vegans, rather flexitarians. Vegans make up 1-3% of the population in the United States, while many more people are just trying to cut down on their meat intake. Most people don’t care if there is a little bit of egg in their plant-based offerings, and that is the demographic El Pollo Loco is trying to target. While that sucks for vegans like myself, at the end of the day this is a win for animals and the environment, which is something worth celebrating!
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