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Dutch farmer Jaap Korteweg, is behind Burger King’s meat-free burger – The Rebel Whopper – which goes on sale today in the restaurant chain's outlets across Europe, including Ireland.
Korteweg is described by Burger King as “a ninth-generation farmer and real meat lover” who “decided to become a vegetarian after the outbreak of swine flu”.
“To satisfy his own need for plant-based quality ‘meat’ he founded The Vegetarian Butcher."
Meat-free
The company produces plant-based proteins which it says competes with animal meat in texture, taste and nutritional value.
Its products are already sold in over 4,000 outlets across 17 countries.
Plant-based diets are becoming increasingly popular, especially with younger people.
Burger King stated that this was one of the largest launches of a new product in the history of the fast food chain.
“We are confident that the rebel whopper is the sandwich everyone has been waiting for and provides the ultimate plant-based patty alternative with the iconic whopper build,” David Shear, president of Burger King EMEA said.
“I’m excited to let the rebel whopper do the talking and see whether our guests can tell the difference!”
Concern for meat market
There has been concern that the market for plant-based diets is having a detrimental impact on the sales of meat.
Fresh meat sales have dropped by almost €2m in Ireland and Tom Kirwan, managing director of ABP Beef in the UK, has blamed “serious bad press” levelled at the meat industry as part of the 14% drop in UK summer meat consumption.
“That was basically consumers switching,” Kirwan told a government committee in England.
“We’ve never seen it to the level they switched in 2019. They switched out of beef.”
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