Mcdonald's ditches DEI strategy, I skip Golden Arches altogether
The search for a delicious vegan seafood alternative as good as Filet o' Fish
A few years ago, I made a New Year's resolution to chill out on buying takeout. It had gotten completely out of hand. I opened a credit card for emergency purposes but spent the entire balance on Grubhub and local fast food, simply because I did not want to cook. It’s not like I can’t cook. Somebody else making the meal was just easier, especially for vegetarian meals I had not perfected.
11 goals for the new year
No matter what your New Year's resolution is, it takes time, patience and discipline to make it happen. One way I was able to do so was to create an annual goal list. Every day, I had to check off a list of 11 things before I went to sleep. If I failed to do all 11, I had to double up the next day.
One of those goals was related to my weakness for McDonald's Filet o’ Fish — for over a decade. I do not know what is in it, but I feel the same way about them as Desus Nice does. Unlike him though, all other seafood makes me nauseous besides that one sandwich. He chooses to eat this along with other seafood. I can only eat this 20 years into vegetarianism. That was one of the reasons “watch a vegan cooking video” was in my list of 11 goals for 2024. It was a useful distraction to ignore at least two nearby McDonald's when I walked my dog.
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McDonald’s DEI decision that made me uninstall the app
I do not recall when the resolution worked. I just stopped craving that fish sandwich and would opt out of takeout even if someone else offered to pay. Every blue moon (less than a handful in a year), I would grab one but nowhere near as much as I used to buy them on a monthly (and sometimes weekly) basis. But recent news of McDonald's decreasing their DEI strategy would have come in handy before my credit card swiping craze. According to Newsweek, McDonald's will retire specific diversity benchmarks for senior leadership and halt a supplier-focused initiative aimed at increasing minority representation and training.
Recommended Read: “Blaming 'people of color' is a scapegoat for Donald Trump winning 2024 election ~ Majority of minority groups voted for Vice President Kamala Harris”
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Last night, I saw an app deal for a fish and free fries, decided to extend my dog’s walk, ordered it, got ready to check out, happened to see this McDonald's DEI article, emptied my app cart and uninstalled the app altogether. I definitely preferred to not have Trump enter the White House again, but if the Supreme Court's racist decision was all it took for them to ignore a sizable portion of their customer (and employee) base, say less. Never again. And I could’ve used this horrendous business decision six years ago to make my no-fish resolution happen faster!
I cannot do much about the money spent on past orders other than paying it off, but avoiding leveling the playing field was enough ammunition for me to finally call it quits with the Golden Arches. It is not like I will be missing out on any nutrient-rich and fiber-rich diet from the five things (iced coffee without sugar, strawberry banana smoothie, fries, M&M McFlurry) I still ate there anyway.
Their DEI decision just made my high blood pressure diagnosis and sodium intake a little easier to combat. I hope kissing up to Trump is worth it for their business. I have seen their stocks plummet on Stash, Robinhood and Fidelity. I used to wonder why, considering the franchise's popularity. At this rate, I expect it to worsen.
In the meantime in between time, I found a couple of vegan and vegetarian seafood alternatives that hit the spot. Check them out here.
The vegan fish challenge: Finding an alternative to McDonald’s Filet o’ Fish
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My take on Gardein F’sh Filets: Like their vegan mandarin orange chick’n, the batter became greasier. It used to be amazing, and I’d make both in my wok. Something changed, and I started feeling like I was just tasting batter and way less of the contents. As much as I like the Ultimate version (Make It Dairy Free tested both), once my doctor pointed out the massive amount of sodium, I stopped buying them in the fall of 2023.
My take on Sophie’s Kitchen: The vegan shrimp is too slithery. I think people who still eat traditional seafood would get into Sophie’s Kitchen. The whole reason I can eat Filet o’ Fish is because it tastes more like a patty and less like raw seafood. I tried Sophie’s vegan shrimp, and I may as well have asked for a plate at Red Lobster. Thanks but no thanks.
My take on Gardein Crabless Cakes: This got dangerous. I was annihilating these things to the point where I got tired of eating them. They’re still delicious, but I had to force myself to stop eating them all the time because I was ruining my love for them.
My take on hearts of palm for vegan lobster: After basically keeping the lights on at Native Foods Cafe from the number of times I ate their vegan lobster sandwich, I tried making hearts of palm on my own. I failed four times. I have decided to stay in my lane and let the pros do it. This is the one recipe that I solely rely on for credit card swipes. Yeung Man Cooking made it look easy though.
Final answer was chickpeas for vegan tuna salad: I never thought garbanzo beans could sufficiently handle my craving for seafood. Boiling these, putting them in a food processor and preparing them the same way I would a tuna salad sandwich was exactly what I needed. So whenever I’m in a filet mood, I just grab the garbanzo beans to soak and then get to work.
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