How Can Anyone Eat This Stuff?
Answers
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For me, in this area, this niche is filled some of the locally-owned Mediterranean/Middle Eastern places that have take out. Yeah, it might be over $7 for a full meal, but it's affordable, fresh, tasty, and nutritious. Some of the food trucks are pretty good, too.
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I have always hated fast food and ate it maybe once every 3 years. But when I was pregnant with one of my kids I craved McDonald's specifically, after years of not being within 100s of miles of one. I couldn't eat fish, couldn't eat fruit, couldn't eat meat or beans. But I wanted that ammonia flavor. No clue why.
The first time that very child went to McD's with my mom, she fell in love. She has to be mindful and avoid eating at McDonald's because she loves it.
So, I don't know how people like it BUT when I had one of them inside of me I got to experience that weird world and all I can say is that such people exist. Tastes are very strange!
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Fresh, hot, McDonald’s fries, salted just right, are awesome.
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I recently just changed my way of eating. I literally would have fast food 4-5 days a week. Rarely took my own lunch to work so I would order McDonald’s, Burger King or go to the local gas station and get a Philly cheesesteak.
Come home from work and would order pizza, get Popeyes etc. Glad to say I have not eaten nasty McDonald’s in well over a month. Thought it was going to be tough but was really an easy process for me. Now I’m preparing food from home to take for breakfast and lunch to work and I am doing intermittent fasting. So my last meal is at 2 or 2:30 in the afternoon and that will be all until the next morning at 9am.
Has really helped me not to eat beyond 7pm to where as before, I would sometimes eat at 8pm or 9pm. The harm I was doing to my body by consistently eating McDonald’s on a regular basis is extremely hard to fathom. Fast food has no place in my life anymore. Although I will occasionally enjoy my favorite foods like pizza, Italian.
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^^ I'm sure most of us would agree fast food on such a regular basis is not a good idea - would be very hard to fit all that into your calorie allowance.
For me, fast food still has a place in my life - not in unlimited quantities or frequencies (it never had that for me anyway) but in sensible amounts and frequencies.
we usually do a take out night once a week - I am mindful of what I pick and how much - but a 6 in Subway or a KFC wrap or a small indian curry - I can fit them into my weekly allowance.
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Wouldn't know. Didn't know McDonald's makes them fresh.
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they do where I live, you can see them being cooked
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The one near me is pretty good with everything usually being fresh tasting. I'd get a plain cheeseburger kids meal.I stopped going long ago, though,because the beef was so inconsistant..one day it would be good and the next it tasted like boiled cardboard(waste of money). I would rather them throw on a grilled slice of tofu!
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Re the McDonald’s fries 🍟- they are all frozen. FYI per McDonald’s website.
Everyone’s way of eating is different. If someone likes them and wants to eat them - go for it.
I’m more interested in --the agricultural aspect
- health & sourcing of the food involved.
Culturally, I think a lot of people eat for taste and to some McDonald’s and such taste good. If it didn’t taste good, people wouldn’t eat it.-I do think about the impact on public health. How did we get to a place where low quality food and questionable additives have become normalized?
Yes, All things in moderation.. but - fast food places are not in high income neighborhoods - they are in low and middle income neighborhoods, why?
Why do we tolerate all the additives in the US when McDonald’s doesn’t use them in Europe?McDonald’s fries - the US ingredients:
Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [wheat And Milk Derivatives]*), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. *natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients.
In EU - Locally sourced Potatoes, oil, and salt.
They also have trans fat in the US- if it’s under 1 gram - they can label it as 0 trans fat.Agriculturally - have the majority of Americans become out of touch with the impact of their food sourcing in local communities?
For over a decade, there has been a movement to bring awareness to the pesticide run off in farming communities that bring mass potatoes (French fries to McDonalds)
Though a huge petition has gotten McDonald’s to find more health conscious farming methods, these communities in the mid west are still feeling the blight of producing produce l fast and easy for our fast food enthusiasts. This affects all of us.
The agriculture debate regarding pesticides and pesticide run off / as McDonalds is the largest potato buyer in the US - with over 3.4 billion lbs purchased continues.This is a larger conversation, but seems to be one that affects us all.. over a simple French fry.
Not here to yuck anyone’s yum - just some questions about our food supply as it relates to our health.6 -
The potatoes we serve are from mostly local growers and usually burbanks which is a russet and use only beef tallow for frying. 😊
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Re the McDonald’s fries 🍟- they are all frozen. FYI per McDonald’s website.
Well, yes - I didnt mean they actually peel the potatoes and make them in the store from scratch. . I meant they cook them in the store as yo u order them - ie freshly cooked.
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Yes, All things in moderation.. but - fast food places are not in high income neighborhoods - they are in low and middle income neighborhoods, why?
Because people in low income areas also like to eat out and do so at a price they can afford
obviously gourmet lobster black tie restarants arent going to be located in areas people can't afford to go to them -and vice versa
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One reason why higher income folks have longer life span in general...food deserts still exist in the U.S for sure.
https://foodispower.org/access-health/food-deserts/
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McDonald’s fries - the US ingredients:
Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [wheat And Milk Derivatives]*), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. *natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients.
Hydrolyzed, Hydrogenated ...maybe this is why they don't go bad and rot ever, like twinkies. I'll never eating McD fries again! 😵💫
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Those oils do have health implications but it's not responsible for preserving food.
They basically coat their fries in preservatives, flavorings and additives for mostly shelf life, minimal decision making and handling by employee's and of course that represents more profit, can't blame them really, without shareholder profit thing go sideways and you can bet they're going to do within the legal structure that exists anything that preserves those profit and it's the preservatives and not health that rates more important on that pecking order.
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I must live in middle or lower class. One established restaurant, one health food pick up, 3 to 5 pizza places, 3 good bakeries, a couple of sandwich places, pubs, etc. And about 10 fast food places in walking distance of my house. But I have to drive to the grocery store—too far to walk. Add distance and/or convenience to your list of reasons to opt for fast food.
Plus some of them I can get to without crossing the street. The grocery store, I would have to cross 2 busy streets— an important consideration with multiple small children.
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Interesting. Really... cultural, social and financial things surely influence many people.
Think chicken breast and head of lettuce fall under... now what do I do with those (cooking skills.)
Know so many people raised on convenience, junk and fast food... If a person grows up on those foods, it is natural to develop a taste preference for those foods.
Re healthier foods - Afterall, what do they say when encouraging people to try healthier foods - it can take several attempts, 11 or more times trying a healthier food before a person might come to like it, so keep trying....
Know people who really haven't cooked much beyond heat & eat... and takeout…
How can they be encouraged to leave off the junk food they actually enjoy, and shift to healthier foods - beyond restaurants to cooking at home?
I would suggest practical life skills classes, including traditional health and home ec courses in schools, cooking shows that showcase cooking skills beyond the rapid beat the clock, make it pretty off the top of the head competitions…they're fun to watch, but rarely teach… gets interesting when they show the demonstrations like how to do the various meat butcher type cuts... but that is just an illustration.
Culturally, we have a society that indulges in feasts and celebrations. Media and advertising that pushes fast and seasonal junk and desserts and all holiday foods. For real - how many people struggle with profane desire for the advertised current holiday candy version wrapped in pretty packaging and heavily advertised?
Takes tremendous desire to change and then start breaking it down in bits to release the feasting and to find and prepare healthier foods to eat.
It is not as simple as wondering how other people can eat and even enjoy what is proffered at seemingly cheap/subsidized prices.
Last few weeks, I continue to be shocked at grocery prices. We have shifted what we buy, cook and eat, but I would suggest that is a skill set acquired over time by doing... not to be taken for granted, and I suspect, MFP is full of people with these skills and an appreciation for healthy foods…
Now, if we could get the world to join us!!!
Bahawahaaaa... ;)
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It's frustrating for some people when nuance gets in the way of being right. Nuance is so complicated and bewildering. LOL. I love this place. 😁
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For me, not in a fast food or takeaway (though I got it occasionally when I worked at Burger King in the 90s), but a cafe, especially if it's lunch, I pretty much always just have tap water.
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I read this thread a little over a week ago and got craving McDonalds and ending up ordering it for supper when I got home. 🤢 Won't be doing that again. I only ate half of it, including the fries.
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@yakkystuff I stopped being shocked at grocery store prices a long time ago. I just roll my eyes and get what I need when I see the price. The thing that surprised me on the weekend was that the large sized eggs was cheaper then the medium sized. I haven't seen that before. (I would note I am Canadian and we do not have issues with prices of eggs)
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That is odd for eggs @angf0679 -
Our prices remain 2x+ on West Coast US - down from $10+ to $7+ a doz. Utterly absurd.
Normal sale price previously ran $1 to $1.50/doz. I don't know when we will see that again.
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Maybe a bit off track. I know there are areas with poor access to food, but I also question the food desert methodology. I live in a college town. The campus area is considered a food desert based on the government definition. High poverty, based on the students taxable income (never mind most are at least helped by parents. No "full service" grocery service within .5 mile. Again never mind there are 5 large grocery stores/supercenters within 1.5 miles. Many of the students have vehicles and the university's mandatory tuition and fees include a pass for free public transpiration that can get residents from the food desert to the 5 stores mentioned above.
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I'd not consider that a food desert, myself, either. An extra organic grocery store like Earthfare couldn't hurt, but I wouldn't worry for the frat guys!:D
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All frat guys need is a keg of beer and a pizza to survive, right?
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Hopefully they have a cafeteria meal plan, at least!:D
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To be honest maybe 25% of the 20,000 students live in the dorms. The rest are apartments, eating on their own.
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A lot of students aren't helped by parents and are legitimately in poverty, but in my opinion, i don't think it's a food desert because free transportation is available to the grocery stores.
With all that money made by college tuition, they should definitely make sure the students have access to healthy food on campus, though!
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When we're talking about government or national media stats/reports, "food desert" is a bureaucratic term for a cluster of data that can be assessed by fairly simple automated algorithms. One USDA definition is summarized as "low-income census tracts where urban residents live more than 1 mile or where rural residents live more than 10 miles from a supermarket."
For these kinds of definitions, they're not looking at whether there are dining halls, whether there's free transportation for some of the people, or other refinements that are being brought into whether one specific area near a college ought to be called a "food desert". Those things aren't realistic to assess accurately and consistently nationwide with simple algorithms.
It's a very generic term, in most uses, a statistical abstraction that can only be sensibly applied in the context it was designed to serve - very generalized.
In that sense, it's analogous to the arguments here over BMI. BMI is also a generic statistical definition, not designed to be applied as the ultimate definitive answer in a particular individual case. But we see posts here semi-regularly saying that BMI as a whole is BS because it says a minority percentage of guys who are muscular are defined as overweight, or some similar exception.
It seems like what's going on in this part of the thread is the same kind of argument: That "food desert" is BS because there are some places with dining halls, free bus service, and possibly a larger than normal number of misleadingly poverty-criteria-meeting students. No, I think it's that the point of the definition is being misunderstood and misapplied.
To the extent that any consequences flow from a place being defined as a "food desert", that stage is highly likely to involve the kind of detailed assessment that does consider the very specific individual circumstances in the area.
Grocery stores might be more likely to locate in a "food desert" but only if they think they can make a profit. Nonprofits or the government might be more likely to accept or offer grant programs or contracts to help improve a food desert in various ways, but only if the specific project is assessed as appropriate for that specific area. Local/regional governments might try to improve transportation options, but only if they think that's an actual problem in that specific area. And so forth.
BTW: I live near a very large state university, formerly worked there. It's absolutely a minority of the students, but I think average people without that experience would be surprised at how many students truly are in poverty, first-generation college students, single parents with small children, and more factors that make their education not just more difficult, but also more important and definitely more brave.
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I love a quarter pounder with cheese, but just the single. The double or triple does not taste the same. And don't get me started on the sausage, egg, and cheese mcGriddle. I think that is the breakfast food they must serve in Heaven.
I was fixing to cook breakfast, but now I am going to saddle up my horse, ride him to the city, and get me some Mickey Deeeezzzz.
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