Claire and I were finally able to order the new Burger King Rebel Whopper and have it delivered, to consume in the privacy of our own home.

I have been excited about eating one of these for over a year, after reading about a plant-based burger, which tastes identical to meat.

Since turning veggie for ethical reasons 18 months ago, there have been few meats that I have missed. However, burgers have been my weakness, trying to tempt me back into eating flesh.

So, was the Rebel meaty enough? Did it taste like the beefy Whopper, I so fondly remember from my meat-munching days? Yes and yes.

I have never been a big consumer of meat, so even before deciding to change to an out-and-out vegetarian, I had over 30 years experience of eating veggie burgers, Quorn and Linda McCartney products.

This is partly thanks to my Mum, who is also a vegetarian, or at least she claims to be. She eats fish – a food which I have always found repulsive.

If I’m feeling mischievous, I will ask my Mother why she believes that a pig should have its life spared, but is happy for an innocent mackerel to be murdered, just so she can get her fix of flesh.

In her defense, she is very strict when it comes to avoiding the consumption of animals which lack the ability to swim. Don’t ask me for her stance on eating duck.

I have never known my Mum to eat red meat. In fact, I was rarely fed any during my childhood. I suspect that this could be due to her having health concerns, relating to its consumption. It took her until 2018 to trust beef again, following the Mad Cow Disease scandal of the 1980s.

While many meat imitations came close to the taste of beef, pork and chicken, I could always tell that they were fake – until yesterday. The Rebel looks, smells and tastes like meat. I just hope that I wasn’t given some of poor Daisy’s rump by mistake.

Finally, I am aware that the Rebel is cooked on the same grill as its fleshy counterparts. This has understandably bothered many vegetarians and vegans – although offending the latter is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Even that phrase would no doubt cause offence – “Fish are people, too!”.

I am not troubled by the cooking technique. Whenever you eat out or order a takeaway, you don’t know what goes on behind the closed doors of the kitchen.

When ordering your vegetarian pizza, how do you know that it has been cooked in a separate location to the meat pizzas?

Can you be sure the chef preparing your margherita has changed his gloves since handling the pepperoni? You can’t.

The only way to be certain that your food doesn’t come into contact with meat, is to just eat in vegetarian establishments, or better still, only consume what you cook at home.

If this attitude makes me a bad vegetarian, call me Desperate Dan and bake me a cow pie!

SO MEATY, THE BURGER EVEN WENT “MOO!”.

The fact that I am a vegetarian for ethical reasons and not because I dislike the taste of meat, means that I am VERY excited about this…