Welcome to Debate Club! Please be aware that this is a space for respectful debate, and that your ideas will be challenged here. Please remember to critique the argument, not the author.

The most polarizing food: where do you stand?

Options
18911131439

Replies

  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,602 Member
    Options
    Yes, it's a thing. I can speak with authority, because my restaurant has grilled cheese in the name. :)

    You can actually use mayo instead of butter to brown it.

    I grew up dipping it in ketchup, and my husband thinks that's gross. He grew up using Miracle Whip inside, and just assumed everyone did.

    You do sound very authorative. :disappointed:

    I don't completely hate miracle whip...it has an interesting taste. I'm not big on mayo but I'm ok if it's just thinly spread on a sandwich (if someone else is making the sandwich and I have no say...otherwise it gets kept off).
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited June 2019
    Options
    Okay, grilled cheese with or without mayo or Miracle Whip, and dipped in ketchup or no?

    I have never heard of mayo or Miracle Whip on grilled cheese and cannot even begin to explain how horrified I am by the thought. I am going to work to repress all memories of the idea.

    I don't really like ketchup, but the ketchup thing doesn't seem so weird for those who do. (I love it dipped in tomato soup, that's classic.)
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,999 Member
    Options
    People often make grilled cheese and tomato here - as in slices of actual tomato in the griller with the cheese/bread.

    Ham/cheese/tomato is also a popular toasted sandwich combo.

    Never known anyone to put mayo on a toasted sandwich though - not tempted to try it either :s
  • slimgirljo15
    slimgirljo15 Posts: 269,440 Member
    Options
    People often make grilled cheese and tomato here - as in slices of actual tomato in the griller with the cheese/bread.

    Ham/cheese/tomato is also a popular toasted sandwich combo.

    Never known anyone to put mayo on a toasted sandwich though - not tempted to try it either :s

    I'm with you.. can't imagine mayonnaise on a toasted sandwich. :s
  • MichelleMinn
    MichelleMinn Posts: 90 Member
    Options
    I love tomatoes in or on a sandwich of almost any sort -- not PB&J.
  • DanSanthomes
    DanSanthomes Posts: 134 Member
    Options
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »

    But it seems absurd to me to call a homemade cookie "not food." It's made with the same basic ingredients that you can use to make a bunch of other food items (flour = bread, pasta, etc.). Pretending like dessert items aren't food at all is just an unjustified rhetorical move.

    Now I get you are arguing that there's some distinction between a homemade cookie and cookies sold in grocery stores (or these cookies specifically, dunno), but I don't think that's a supportable claim if we are talking about nutrition (i.e., what is food). And I'm not sure on what basis you can say that these are not "edible" without even trying them and simultaneously complain that too many people are inclined to overeat them (which suggests the issue is that some find them plenty edible).

    Is it that they are colorful? That's hardly unique to store-bought baked goods. I am usually more of a pie person, but a few years ago I made some lemon-lavendar cupcakes (something like this, except mine had some lavendar in the cupcakes themselves: https://thecakeblog.com/2017/02/lemon-lavender-cupcakes.html). They were pretty and colorful like those show (less frosting because I don't like the frosting to cake ratio to be so high). That did not change the fact that they were food. Not food I'd recommend having as too high a proportion of one's diet, because they are high cal and lower in nutrients, but food all the same.

    Sorry Lemurcat,

    Was talking about those shocking manufactured cookies from previous page that set everybody off. Opinion seemed to be that they were gross so I asked the question, in essence, "Why do we make crap like this?". *If you make your own cookies, and therefore know what's in them, all power to you.

    Nothing to do with colour either - I'm not cakeist. (Nothing better than a plate full of foods in different colours).

    To explain my stance a little. I'm from the UK and over here we have an unhealthy Office Cake Culture whereby it seems every day there's a different excuse to bring in even more brightly coloured 'baubles' to tempt our tastebuds. Nowhere more does this seem to be a thing than our glorious NHS (National Health Service) where I worked some years ago. As a noob there I watched as each day a new 'treat' was brought in for us all to try - each one seemingly more outlandish and less food-looking than the last. The sad thing was, I was surrounded by overweight people on constant diets who eventually caved and had a bite then felt pressured to bring something else in the next day. Never in my 30+ years working in offices had I seen such an array of garbage 'food' - and the effects of it. So please pardon me if this item was a particularly 'polarizing' food. :-)

    So, you seem to be drawing a distinction between homemade cookies, and these cookies. Let's dig into that a bit, shall we? (I have no pre-defined agenda here: I don't eat the Lofthouse cookies, think they're gross, but I'm very laissez faire when it comes to others' choices.)

    This started with your initial post being woo-ed, and you asking why. So let's approach this in a fact-based manner, since that would be a science-ish thing to do.

    According to the Food Lion (grocery store) web site, these cookies have the following ingredients:
    Sugar, Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Margarine (Palm Oil, Water, Soybean Oil, Salt, Contains 2% or less of: Mono- & Diglycerides, Calcium Disodium EDTA [Preservative], Artificial Flavor, Annatto [Color], Vitamin A Palmitate), Eggs, Contains 2% or less of: Water, Corn Starch, Vegetable Oil (Palm Kernel Oil and/or Palm Oil and/or Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil [Cottonseed and/or Soybean Oil]), Dextrin, Skim Milk, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Aluminum Sulfate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Soy Lecithin (Emulsifier),Confectioner's Glaze (Lac Resin), Food Starch-Modified, Colors (Carmine [Color], Blue 1, Blue 1 Lake, Blue 2, Blue 2 Lake, Red 3, Red 40, Red 40 Lake, Yellow 5, Yellow 5 Lake, Yellow 6, Yellow 6 Lake), Polysorbate 60, Carnauba Wax, Sodium Propionate (Preservative).

    If I were making cookies at home, most of those ingredients would be in the cookies, especially true for the ingredients at the top (more predominant ones): Sugar, flour, some kind of oil or shortening (probably a simpler one like butter, or coconut oil, because yummier), eggs, milk, leavening. I wouldn't put in artificial flavors (natural vanilla extract is yummier IMO), probably not the artificial colors (I mostly don't want colors - but if I did it would be standard commercial food coloring, which would likely be this same stuff). I certainly wouldn't put in the preservatives (gonna eat 'em or freeze 'em), carnauba wax (?!), or the Confectioners Glaze (Lac Resin) (no idea what that even is).

    So, bottom line: Similar ingredients, differences in the minor items. (This might justify a "woo", in some people's minds.)

    Next up, nutrition: Specifically, do they have nutritional value, or are they "masquerading as food".
    Nutrition Facts
    Serving Size 38 g
    Servings Per Container 10
    Amount Per Serving
    Calories 160.0 Cal
    Calories From Fat 50.0 Cal
    % Daily Value
    Total Fat 6.0g 9.0%
    Saturated Fat 2.5 g 13.0
    Trans Fat 0.0 g
    Cholesterol 5.0 mg 2.0
    Sodium 100.0 mg4.0
    Total Carbohydrate 26.0g 9.0%
    Dietary Fiber 0.0 g 0.0
    Sugars 16.0 g
    Protein 1.0 g
    Vitamin A 4.0
    Vitamin C 0.0
    Calcium 0.0
    Iron 4.0

    So, "food energy" (calories ;) ), tiny (negligible) amount of protein, a little fat, tiny vitamin A and iron. Not great. Probably not that far off home-made, but realistically, very low nutrition for the calories, mostly sugar and carbs. They might be a truly affirmative choice for an endurance athlete who enjoyed them and needed the calories. For anyone else who enjoys them, seems like a "sometimes food".

    Conclusion: Nothing in particular. Just some facts. It's just that I don't mostly enjoy rant-y emotional stuff. Facts are good. ;)

    Thanks for this, AnnPT77 - absolutely spot on! Non emotional, just hard facts.

    Awesome list of ingredients there followed by Nutrition Facts. They just don't lie.

    I can't wait to feed them yummy cookies to my toddler, and pack them into the older kids lunch boxes!

  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
    Options
    I didn't want to get into an argument, but I do feel that everyone should be quiet and accept that I'm right. Repeat after me:

    "The world, nay the Galaxy, would be a far better place to live without those particular cookies".

    In the Debates forum?! :D
  • DanSanthomes
    DanSanthomes Posts: 134 Member
    Options
    kimny72 wrote: »
    I guess I should be impressed that we got through 7 pages of good-natured bantering about the taste of a particular food before it became a lecture about whose definition of food is more virtuous. I think the over/under was 4 pages. <shrug>


    Anyway, it's mayo I'd contend isn't fit for human consumption. There is nothing you put mayo on/in that you couldn't use something else, so it should cease to exist.

    HEATHEN, burn her!!!!! :-)
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,999 Member
    Options
    I didn't want to get into an argument, but I do feel that everyone should be quiet and accept that I'm right. Repeat after me:

    "The world, nay the Galaxy, would be a far better place to live without those particular cookies".


    Except you are not right.

    They are food - not highly nutritious food, but nobody said it was. And maybe not food you like, not food I like either, but that doesn't mean other people can't like them or eat them in moderation.

    Sometimes foods - nobody is suggesting base your whole diet around them - but if you like them, sure, you can eat them in moderation as part of a balanced diet.

    Or you can over eat them - but that is a problem with overconsumption, not with them being non foods.


  • PAPYRUS3
    PAPYRUS3 Posts: 13,259 Member
    Options
    I didn't want to get into an argument, but I do feel that everyone should be quiet and accept that I'm right. Repeat after me:

    "The world, nay the Galaxy, would be a far better place to live without those particular cookies".


    Except you are not right.

    They are food - not highly nutritious food, but nobody said it was. And maybe not food you like, not food I like either, but that doesn't mean other people can't like them or eat them in moderation.

    Sometimes foods - nobody is suggesting base your whole diet around them - but if you like them, sure, you can eat them in moderation as part of a balanced diet.

    Or you can over eat them - but that is a problem with overconsumption, not with them being non foods.


    ...and people sure do like their 'food' items...just check out this thread that has been on going for months and months...https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10064318/new-products-that-caught-your-eyes-recently#latest
  • DanSanthomes
    DanSanthomes Posts: 134 Member
    Options
    PAPYRUS3 wrote: »
    ...and people sure do like their 'food' items...just check out this thread that has been on going for months and months...https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10064318/new-products-that-caught-your-eyes-recently#latest

    I followed the link and the first 3 items literally gave me an embolism :-)
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,602 Member
    Options
    PAPYRUS3 wrote: »
    I didn't want to get into an argument, but I do feel that everyone should be quiet and accept that I'm right. Repeat after me:

    "The world, nay the Galaxy, would be a far better place to live without those particular cookies".


    Except you are not right.

    They are food - not highly nutritious food, but nobody said it was. And maybe not food you like, not food I like either, but that doesn't mean other people can't like them or eat them in moderation.

    Sometimes foods - nobody is suggesting base your whole diet around them - but if you like them, sure, you can eat them in moderation as part of a balanced diet.

    Or you can over eat them - but that is a problem with overconsumption, not with them being non foods.


    ...and people sure do like their 'food' items...just check out this thread that has been on going for months and months...https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10064318/new-products-that-caught-your-eyes-recently#latest

    Please don't point the troll (which I'm hoping he is instead of actually believing the "crap" he spews) to the best thread ever on any message board.

    :)
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,999 Member
    Options
    PAPYRUS3 wrote: »
    I didn't want to get into an argument, but I do feel that everyone should be quiet and accept that I'm right. Repeat after me:

    "The world, nay the Galaxy, would be a far better place to live without those particular cookies".


    Except you are not right.

    They are food - not highly nutritious food, but nobody said it was. And maybe not food you like, not food I like either, but that doesn't mean other people can't like them or eat them in moderation.

    Sometimes foods - nobody is suggesting base your whole diet around them - but if you like them, sure, you can eat them in moderation as part of a balanced diet.

    Or you can over eat them - but that is a problem with overconsumption, not with them being non foods.


    ...and people sure do like their 'food' items...just check out this thread that has been on going for months and months...https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10064318/new-products-that-caught-your-eyes-recently#latest


    Correction - going on for years.

    Since 2015 in fact.

    Just goes to show lots of people can be into weight control and health and fitness and still enjoy sometimes foods.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,999 Member
    Options
    PAPYRUS3 wrote: »
    ...and people sure do like their 'food' items...just check out this thread that has been on going for months and months...https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10064318/new-products-that-caught-your-eyes-recently#latest

    I followed the link and the first 3 items literally gave me an embolism :-)


    You do love hyperbole :D

    No they did not literally give you an embolism. ;) .