Junk Food - A Question of Snobbery?

ecdce

So, I cannot remember the name of the documentary, but I'm sure someone somewhere knows what I'm talking about. Anyway, it has a brief segment about a professor or research team that are devoted to studying the perception of food. They have a little restaurant set up that can altered to be anything from fine dining and upscale to greasy diner (to study how settings affect how people perceive food, presumably). In one study, they took ingredients from KFC, I believe, and made a soup out of it solely from those ingredients. Then they had subjects rate how the soup tasted, particularly in comparison to fast food, like KFC. In another, they served Taco Bell's fresh tacos, or whatever they're called (when I eat taco bell it's frankly not to eat anything fresh -- I want those weird potatoes with cheese wiz, thanks), and told subjects they were from an upscale restaurant that focused on fresh ingredients. Then they served the same food to another group and told them it was Taco Bell. Unsurprisingly, the first group perceived the food as being fresher, healthier, and tastier. In the last study, they had subjects guess the calorie count of a fast food meal (burger and fries, if I recall correctly) and something 'healthier', like a burrito or wrap from a more upscale restaurant. People were generally able to guess the calorie content of the burger accurately, but were WAY off with the healthy meal, underestimating the meal by hundreds of calories.

So yeah, I definitely think there's something to your theory.

ecdce

I shouldn't even be posting in this thread as a vegetarian, but most of the food joints that I stay away from have to do with horrifying stories I've heard from employees about mishandling food (picking it up off the floor and serving it, spitting, putting a moldy pizza in the oven and scraping off the mold) or because the place showed up in the newspaper for having rat feces present in the kitchen.

Those gross kitchens happen to be in places like McDonalds, Pizza Hut, etc.

I've also never had a french fry or pizza that made me close my eyes and sigh with contentment, although I have had that experience at some nicer restaurants. If I'm going to eat a thousand calories and a hundred grams of fat, 1) fancy cheese is involved and 2) I should be giddy with food joy.

Just from experience, I worked in food service in college and the McDonalds and Taco Bell were clean enough to eat off the floor. There are people cleaning all the time. Some other restaurants? Yeah, not so much.

So next?

I also worked at a McDonalds in college and my experience was the opposite. We had cockroaches and mice that no one did anything about. When I pointed them out, they just said wipe down the surfaces and try not to drop food. I was reprimanded for naming one of the mice. Don't name vermin. It's unsanitary. The mice I could handle more than cockroaches. We pulled the soda machine apart to clean it one day (one day in the two or three months I worked there) and there were 10-15 cockroaches inside. Ick. Still have a hard time with fountain drinks.

justicer68

I also worked at a McDonalds in college and my experience was the opposite. We had cockroaches and mice that no one did anything about. When I pointed them out, they just said wipe down the surfaces and try not to drop food. I was reprimanded for naming one of the mice. Don't name vermin. It's unsanitary. The mice I could handle more than cockroaches. We pulled the soda machine apart to clean it one day (one day in the two or three months I worked there) and there were 10-15 cockroaches inside. Ick. Still have a hard time with fountain drinks.

I worked at a McDonalds umpteen years ago and we never had any kind of issues with finding bugs or vermin in the building luckily. Well.....now I really won't have a hard time giving up fountain drinks or fast food. thank you.

WendyTerry420

Is it ok to rag on junk food perhaps because there is a perception that it is what less affluent people eat and is therefore an easier target?

Ding ding ding we have a winner here!

Wrong. McDonald's is frankenfood. Period.

Yeah because just calling something "frankenfood" is not a logical fallacy or circular reasoning or anything.

Yeah! Not to mention being disrespectful to Mary Shelley's novel!

chloeobe

On a Friday i "treat" myself to lunch from the nearby McDonalds, KFC or BK. All of my colleagues laugh, pretend to be sick and even one "who has to leave the room because of the stench", when im chowing down on my burger and fries which i know has 625 calories and 28 grams of fat in it...

Ok yeah thats alot of fat and carbs. However the same colleagues all b*gger off to the local posh Indian on Friday lunch time. Last week the one that gives me the hardest time for my "junk food addiction" had a mixed started of pakoras, chicken satay and samosas, then a chicken korma with coconut rice, naan bread and all washed down with a pint of the best Indian beer...for LUNCH.

And they think I have a problem.....

luckynky

If I'm going to eat a thousand calories and a hundred grams of fat, 1) fancy cheese is involved and 2) I should be giddy with food joy.

This. McDonald's does not make me feel giddy with joy. If I'm going to over-indulge, I want it to be like sex with my dream date, not with a $2 *kitten*.

misssiri

I shouldn't even be posting in this thread as a vegetarian, but most of the food joints that I stay away from have to do with horrifying stories I've heard from employees about mishandling food (picking it up off the floor and serving it, spitting, putting a moldy pizza in the oven and scraping off the mold) or because the place showed up in the newspaper for having rat feces present in the kitchen.

Those gross kitchens happen to be in places like McDonalds, Pizza Hut, etc.

Anyone that has ever worked in food service knows that most are gross. It's not just McDonalds and Pizza Hut.

pluckabee

So, I cannot remember the name of the documentary, but I'm sure someone somewhere knows what I'm talking about. Anyway, it has a brief segment about a professor or research team that are devoted to studying the perception of food. They have a little restaurant set up that can altered to be anything from fine dining and upscale to greasy diner (to study how settings affect how people perceive food, presumably). In one study, they took ingredients from KFC, I believe, and made a soup out of it solely from those ingredients. Then they had subjects rate how the soup tasted, particularly in comparison to fast food, like KFC. In another, they served Taco Bell's fresh tacos, or whatever they're called (when I eat taco bell it's frankly not to eat anything fresh -- I want those weird potatoes with cheese wiz, thanks), and told subjects they were from an upscale restaurant that focused on fresh ingredients. Then they served the same food to another group and told them it was Taco Bell. Unsurprisingly, the first group perceived the food as being fresher, healthier, and tastier. In the last study, they had subjects guess the calorie count of a fast food meal (burger and fries, if I recall correctly) and something 'healthier', like a burrito or wrap from a more upscale restaurant. People were generally able to guess the calorie content of the burger accurately, but were WAY off with the healthy meal, underestimating the meal by hundreds of calories.

So yeah, I definitely think there's something to your theory.

This was the fast food episode of Penn & Tellers Bull****

missmuse1

My point is, ALL of the options are debatably an epic fail.

Are you saying my diet is crap? How rude!

Haha, no, I wasn't. I was just saying that I personally think it's unfair for someone to be arrogant over the fact that they chose 2-5 when those choices are not THAT much better than choice 1.

shadus

1) Big Mac with fries followed by a Cadburys Caramel McFlurry
2) Har kau (steamed prawn dumplings) followed by nasi goreng (Indonesian fried rice) served with chicken skewers and satay sauce
3)Steak au poivre with brandy and cream reduction, frites (fries) and aparagus spears tossed in garlic butter followed by salted caramel chocolate torte
4)Poulet Breton (chicken) served with wild mushroom sauce, truffle mash and salade verte followed by crepe with fresh strawberries and Chantilly cream
5)Breaded calamari rings (squid) with tartare sauce and lemon wedges followed by seafood linguine

To get much idea you'd need to do a nutrient breakdown of the foods and actually either have the nutritional information provided to you or calculate it yourself based off the base ingredients.

Be aware of exactly what you put in your body.

Some of those are better from a nutritional stand point than the mcdonalds, not because mcdonalds is satan or anything, but because they have a wider degree of nutrients.

#1) Ground Beef, Bread, Potato, Yogurt, Chocolate, Caramel
#2) Dumpling Wrapper, Prawn, Rice, Veggies, Chicken, Peanut
#3) Steak, Olive Oil, Brandy, Cognac, Heavy Cream, Potato, Asparagus, Garlic, Butter, Caramel, Chocolate
#4) Chicken, Veggies, Wild Mushrooms, Potato, Truffles, Various herbs, Flour, Strawberries, Heavy Cream
#5) Calimari, Breading, Tarter sauce, lemon, pasta, "seafood", cream, cheese

From a caloric perspective some of those are probably worse, but from a broad range of nutrient perspective alone, likely #2-#4 are likely better from you.

A 5000 calorie meal of McDonalds down the street, Burger King in the mall, or Taco Bell coming back from an independent theatrical production is just as bad as 5000 calories from Eleven Madison Park or Noma from a weight gain perspective. That said, the later probably tastes significantly better and has a much broader nutrient profile. Fast food thrives on being simple and made from preprocessed preprepped ingredients. Gourmet food generally includes many fairly fresh ingredients.

A lot of the perceptive difference though is simple classism.

LAW_714

Also, Big Macs are abominations. It's basically everything I don't want in a burger. Thin little patties, 3 buns of meh bread, nasty sauce, meh cheese, bad lettuce/tomato, all squished up. Open the wrapper and wtf bleh. Big Macs are, I believe, the worst flagship burger of any fast food restaurant. They're amazingly half-assed. But that's a personal preference issue.

Totally agree. When I get a craving for hamburgers, I want one that I like better than Big Macs. Heck, even if sticking with 'fast food hamburgers' there are ones that I like better than Big Macs.

etoiles_argentees

You all should read Glassner's 'The Gospel of Food'. I think it's chapter 6. Jennifer Talwar's research or Elspeth Probyn's, just read.