“The meat is still real...but it is not necessarily beef.”
Don’t dine out in Canadian diners beyond the American border where our standards apparently influence theirs.
Seriously, we bought a hamburger way up north with yellow meat that tasted nothing like beef, or chicken, or turkey. Coulda been dog, road kill, something from the mortuary, horse - we do not know what. One bite and it was in the trash. We’ve had more than one experience like that.
Dang! I was joking, but to hear that it may actually be like that-—Dang! Thanks for the warning. Scary.
Can confirm a similar experience from a missionary friend of the family, though it was half a decade ago. They thought they’d try a local diner instead of McDonald’s and literally thought they’d been served a ratburger. Tossed it and prayed, they had no way to tell and the staff acted insulted for them asking.
I’ve been repeatedly warned about eating any kind of meat overseas that doesn’t very obviously come from an American-run or supplied store. Western but non-American sources treat with caution, anything else visually verify the meat source, or buy it yourself at the market/bodega/whatever and have it cooked. Otherwise just don’t eat it period. There’s a reason many non-Westerners don’t eat meat much and it’s not because it’s expensive...it’s because a frightening amount of questionable sources of ‘meat’ end up in the pot or on the grill. Rats, various bushmeat, etc.