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How Can Anyone Eat This Stuff?

Theoldguy1
Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,520 Member

I've never eaten fast food on a regular basis in my life. I really cut back the last 10 years or so and haven't had McDonald's for probably 5 years. Yesterday I was with a family member who needed to eat something to take some medication. Nothing else around and we went to McDonalds. I would have skipped but I hadn't eaten in 7-8 hours and needed something. I got a Quarter Pounder with Cheese Value Meal.

The thing about made me gag. I ate a few of the fries and threw them away.

NEVER AGAIN.

Answers

  • SafariGalNYC
    SafariGalNYC Posts: 1,834 Member
    edited March 11

    Was it the factory farmed meat or the processed cheese that got you? Maybe the additional helping of soybean oil and high fructose corn syrup? Or the extra helping of Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate on your fries?

    All lovingly sourced from the lowest bidder.

  • Corina1143
    Corina1143 Posts: 4,297 Member

    Prepared Monday to serve reheated Thursday, with enough sauce to try to disguise it all.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 35,538 Member

    How can anyone eat this stuff? Because tastes differ.

    I don't eat that stuff, don't think it's tasty, let alone "hyperpalatable". Some people don't agree with me. Meh.

    Companies give the public the kinds of food that many people vote with their dollars to say that they want. If en masse we wanted shelf-stable single-serve organic roasted brussels sprouts in ecologically responsible packaging, and would pay for it, those packages would be on every spinner rack and at every fast food joint.

    Collectively, we don't want that, we want cheap burgers, fries, pop and/or a so-called milkshake that never melts even after it gets warm.

    Popular isn't the same as good, let alone good for a body. I'd say the same about popular music, popular books, popular anything: Not necessarily the best of the best, but popular anyway.

    Sure, part of it is that the ads tell us that all the happy, pretty people eat that food, use that perfume or deodorant, dance to that music, whatever. But that's not the whole story.

  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,557 Member

    I might get something from a Macs about once a year while on the road in a pinch for time. Usually, I get a classic cheeseburger and small fry. I recall enjoying it about 6 months ago!

  • claireychn074
    claireychn074 Posts: 1,765 Member

    I’m just going to say - at least US fast food is fast. In the UK “fast food” arrives slowly, is therefore cold and is… kind of pointless? I am also not a fan of most junk food (never had it as a kid - lived too rural and didn’t have the money) so my palate has never adjusted. But when I’ve needed food and I’m out, there seems no point at all trying to get a burger or KFC. Tesco ready meal is much quicker 🤣🤣

  • yakkystuff
    yakkystuff Posts: 139 Member
    edited March 11

    I remember a trainer on a show once taking a few bites of some fast food and spitting them out with such a face expression of disdain, followed by a rant about the taste, ingredient/nutrition quality and whatnot.

    If everyone felt that way, the fast food places would be out of business or change what they serve.

    Clearly many people are buying... and with rising obesity rates, wonder if and when people will shift away from junk/fast food. (Or excess eating.)

  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 1,905 Member
    edited 12:55AM

    Given that the fast food industry earned 800 billion... yes... billion… dollars in 2021, your opinion must be in the minority🤷‍♀️

  • yakkystuff
    yakkystuff Posts: 139 Member

    800 billion. Nearing a trillion, yeesh.

  • AdahPotatah2024
    AdahPotatah2024 Posts: 2,877 Member

    It's an acquired taste😁

    My mom worked full time in the 80s and was a terrible cook, so I grew up eating stuff like that all the time. I pretty much lived on fast food and Stouffers. It seems, for me, like it was so tasty back then and then very slowly over the 45 years started tasting worse and worse, so that I haven't noticed.

    Anyway, join me on the 🚫 fast food 2025 challenge!😋

  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,387 Member
    edited 11:09AM

    I like some fast food.

    I know that isnt a popular opinion on here where there is a bit of holier than thou disdain to people who eat it.

    I'm not a fan of burgers but I don't mind the fries or KFC wraps or salad bowls, i like Subway

    of course I don't eat unlimited amounts in unlimited frequency but once in a while I do and I enjoy it.

  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 1,905 Member

    Totally agree. McDonald's fries, when done right, are really good (to me, amyway).

  • age_is_just_a_number
    age_is_just_a_number Posts: 720 Member

    Are you in the USA?

    The USA has some of the weakest food regulations in the world.

    I'm Canadian. We are RVers and have travelled across Canada and some parts of the USA. Sometimes, when you are pulling a trailer and have four hungry kids in the back of the vehicle, sometimes you do not have any other choice but to make a fast food stop. We have definitely noticed that the exact same meal in Canada vs USA, is definitely not the same and that the Canadian version is better (not good, but better).

    In 2012, we were travelling in the USA and needed to stop, we drove past three McDonalds and no other restaurants at all. After 90 minutes, we finally stopped at the fourth McDonalds. There were literally no other choices along the highway. Our kids kept saying "No" to USA McDonalds. After we ate, the kids said, "No more McDonalds for the rest of the trip". Our kids were 16, 14, 12 and 9.

    So, sometimes, it is out of desperation.

    There are 'better' fast food options than McDonalds. We actually quite like A&W in Canada and in April last year we had our very first Chick-fil-A in the USA. We were pleasantly surprised by the Chick-fil-A. I also like a good burrito.

    I always like to say "anything in moderation is good for you". I think that even applies to fast food. On the occasion when we have fast food, it reminds of how lucky we are to have so many healthy food choices available to us.

  • lisakatz2
    lisakatz2 Posts: 646 Member

    I despise McDonald's food and nearly all fast food in general. I haven't eaten any in years. My Hubs, who ate Mcdonalds since he was a young child and worked in a McDonald's in the early 1980's, says the quality of the food has gone way downhill: no fresh peeled potatoes for French fries, no real ice cream in the shakes, no real cod fillet in the McFish (now it's some kind of minced pollack), no whole chicken pieces for the McNuggets (again, minced chicken and mostly not breast meat). And the prices have gone way up…..no wonder McDonald's is losing customers. For a couple of dollars more you can buy (or make) much fresher, much healthier, much better tasting food.

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 10,196 Member

    I never liked fastfood, also not as a child actually. It was just overly fatty, salty and had no other taste. Mind you, my mom was a super miserable cook, and mostly her cooking was just sustenance and not something overly enjoyable. I do like fake-aways every now and then. Basically I make my own, adding stuff I do enjoy. And it's super tasty. McDonalds and similar though? Ugh!