from sf bay guardian...mcdonalds and their swipe at healthiness

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http://www.sfbg.com/38/37/x_meatless.html

Meatless

By Miriam Wolf

 

I am happy

IT'S IRONIC THAT McDonald's has finally launched a vegetarian sandwich, the

new McVeggie burger, when, according to its Web site, it's still using

beef-derived flavoring for its french fries – even after paying $10 million to

Hindu

groups for leading the public to believe that, since it doesn't fry the fries

in beef tallow anymore, the fries are vegetarian.

 

Or perhaps it's not ironic. The bus ads for the McVeggie (which has been

available in southern California for a year and in New York City for longer than

that) came a scant two weeks before the opening of Morgan Spurlock's awesome

documentary-indictment Super Size Me and amid the news that McDonald's is

launching a new line of salads and ending the availability of Supersized meals.

Yes,

McDonald's has given us vegetarians/amateur nutritionists lots to be thankful

for! (Just kidding! Actually, all the salads have meat in them, except the

Caesar, which has anchovies only in the dressing).

 

All of that's interesting, sure, but what's really fascinating about the

McVeggie burger is that the patty is produced by Yves. Yes, Yves, the Canadian

company that has saved many a vegetarian from going hungry at barbecues, ball

games, and everywhere else hot dogs are consumed. When I visited Vancouver, I

thought it was the coolest thing that you could buy an Yves-brand vegetarian

frank from a hot dog vendor on the street. Now I've kind of changed my mind.

Because, yes, vegetarian hot dogs do have a lot less saturated fat and beef lips

than conventional hot dogs, but they sure as hell aren't health food – they're

processed food. Vegetarians like me have been fooling ourselves for a long time

into thinking that just because the meat we were eating was fake, it was

healthy. According to the McDonald's Web site, the third ingredient listed for

the

McVeggie patty is partially hydrogenated soybean oil.

 

But what really turned me from being an Yves fan is the fact that Yves now

markets a vegetarian version of the devil's own packaged food, the Lunchable.

Yves's Good Lunch features fake bologna, string cheese, white-flour crackers,

cookies, and a box of apple juice. Great! Now vegetarian kids can eat as

nutritionally bereft a lunch as their carnivorous counterparts.

 

And besides, the McVeggie just tastes bad. It's a greasy yet dry patty on a

fluffy " wheat bun " (mostly white flour) with iceberg lettuce, too-sweet

barbecue sauce, tomato, onion, and pickle. But even while I can't find much nice

to

say about the sandwich, I can't get out of my mind the happiness of that

15-year-old vegetarian who can finally go to McDonald's for a meal with her or

his

friends.

 

If, like Super Size Me 's Spurlock, you have to detox after a month of

McDonald's (or after just reading this article), Café Gratitude is a great

place to

do it. It's the exact antithesis of McDonald's – a small, neighborhood,

friendly, spiritual café that features raw vegan foods made with all-organic

ingredients.

 

The night we went, our gracious server told us the café was invented mostly

as a place to play the spirituality-based board game the Abounding River, which

was also invented by the café's partners.

 

But you don't need to play the game to be well nourished at Café Gratitude.

We started out with a juice and a smoothie. My " I Am Charismatic " featured

carrot, ginger, and lime for a spicy, piquant twist on refreshing carrot juice.

Phil chose the " I Am Treasured " smoothie, with tropical fruits and the gently

sweet taste of young coconut. (Have I mentioned that the names of the menu items

are affirmations?)

 

We shared an " I Am Happy " small plate of savory nut-seed hummus and raw

flax-seed crackers. My " I Am Grateful " salad plate was just what the doctor

ordered

– a delicious mélange of perfect seasonal raw vegetables in a light olive oil

marinade. With the " I Am Generous " embellishment of rich guacamole, it made

for a very pleasing dinner.

 

Phil's " I Am Magical " was the winning dish of the evening. Small, fresh, firm

cremini mushrooms were stuffed with a dense and delicious walnut-sunflower

seed pâté that, while it was also a seed and nut puree, was quite different

from

the earlier hummus. The little mushrooms made it fun to eat.

 

Café Gratitude also has lots of sweets. You can crank your own frozen nut

" crème " or check out the pastry case for treats like the sweet, satisfying

" cheesecake. " And because it's as much of a place to hang out and enjoy a serene

afternoon or evening as it is a place to eat a meal, Café Gratitude also

features

organic beer and wines, along with an extensive tea list and even some coffee

drinks prepared with cold-processed fair-trade organic coffee.

 

Café Gratitude isn't for everyone. The raw-food menu is full of tasty,

well-prepared, and healthy choices, but the " vibe " is strong there, and it may

be a

little too much for the cynical among us – not that there's anything wrong

with cynicism.

 

Café Gratitude. 2400 Harrison (at 20th St.), S.F. (415) 824-4652. Mon.-Fri.,

7 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sat., 9 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sun., 10 a.m.-2 p.m. MasterCard, Visa.

Beer and wine. Wheelchair accessible.

 

E-mail Miriam Wolf at miriam.