McDonalds Restaurants will celebrate 40 years of Loch Ness Monster research with a ‘better than meat’ sea horse flavour Loch Ness Monster Burger suitable for those on vegan diets and approved by the UK Vegan & Vegetarian Society. Burgers are said to be being biked over to Vegan celebrities such as Russell Brand and Sir Paul McCartney today for feedback. The burger chain have launched the new menu idea  in response to a *40% surge in demand for vegan foods. (* Vegfest UK 2013)In 1973, Adrian Shine ( Vegetarian , 60 ) , leader of the Loch Ness & Morar Project , near Inverness in Scotland, constructed the manned underwater observation chamber “Machan”. He subsequently led over 1000 students and lay volunteers on expeditions, training them to observe, sample and record data. In more recent collaborations, projects have involved workers from some 20 universities and academic institutions within the UK and overseas.
It’s thought that a vegan monster burger would be a fitting way to mark Adrian Shines’s 40 year quest  to find The Loch Ness Monster especially as Adrian Shine is a long term vegetarian himself. The Big McMonster has been developed with help from author of the Ultimate Book of Vegan Cooking , Tony Bishop-Weston and leading UK Nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston.  The secret vegan recipe is a closely guarded unique blend of quinoa, amaranth, chlorella, buckwheat, hemp and chia seeds.
Yvonne says “This new recipe beats meat not just on flavour, but also on nutrition as it contains more vitamins B 12, A, K, and D,  more iron, more zinc, more fibre, more calcium, more anti oxidants and much more omega 3 essential fats than a hamburger or a beef burger. Because it is 100% plant based the recipe is also free from saturated animal fat and risk of BSE and E-Coli contamination and environmentally sustainable.”
The burger will be served with a new realistic, Swiss, dairy free cheese, Vegusto being launched at Natural and Organic Products Europe n April and a mayo by Plamil foods made using an algae derived omega 3 EPA /DHA additive.
1p from the sale of every burger will go towards sponsorship of James Cameron’s deep water project to fully explore Loch Ness. James holds the record for diving deeper than any man on the planet had ever done before and believes you can’t call yourself an environmentalist and not be a vegan.
It’s possible that James’s quest may be fruitless as Loch Ness local resident, John McKenzie, claims to have eaten the Loch Ness Monster on his way back to Ullapool one night after a heavy session involving some Bulgarian watch and caviar salesmen and lots of whiskey.
John McKenzie reveals “I was walking back to Ullapool from Drumnadrochit when I came across a beast in the middle of the road that had clearly been hit by a truck. I was quite hungry, having missed my dinner the night before and with breakfast time approaching, I built a fire and I barbecued the thing and ate it. I’m quite fond of venison. It was only when the sun started coming over the hills and I realised that the creature’s head was a bit strange for a hind, the neck was far longer than normal and the legs were more like oars. It suddenly dawned on me that I had eaten the Loch Ness Monster. Fearful that information like this, the death of the Loch Ness monster, could devastate an economy that depends on a buoyant tourist industry I used the fins to paddle out to the centre of Loch Ness on a log and dispose of the evidence”
A local expert said however “The Loch Ness Monster that John Mackenzie reports eating is far smaller than most of the reports of sightings we have recorded at The Loch Ness Project. It’s possible this could have been a youngster in which case it would give hope rather than finality to our quest”
Editors Notes
Embargoed until April 1st
Google, VefestUK, Vegan Society and Vegetarian Society all report 40 % rise in interest in vegan diets in 2013
Vegfest UK is at Bristol on 24th/ 25th / 26th May for National Vegetarian Week and London Olympia on October 5th/ 6th and celebrates it’s 10th Anniversary with the Vegfest Awards
Vegfest London Tickets on sale from http://london.vegfest.co.uk/news/38-tickets-on-sale-for-london
 
* We LOVE Tony Bishop Weston :O)