This is not remotely the “greatest news ever.” Two crappy, unhealthy things put together. All the money spent on this promotion after 3G comes in and basically decimates the companies they buy.
That is awesome! Though I think they should call it the Big Whopmac. haha
Here we go again?!
A follow up to the thread of a few days ago about how nutrition/exercise doesn’t matter - if you’re genes say your overweight, you’re overweight… (can’t seem to find the thread at the moment)
McDonalds is doing everything in their power to regain their share of the fast food market. There are so many other options now. We dropped our D off at college last week-end and stopped at various “rest stops” on the highway. Chipotle is now at rest stops. I am not a big fan of fast food in general but if I have a choice between McDonalds or Chipotle I know which I am choosing. You can do a salad bowl there that is under 300 calories and tastes pretty good.
None of the fast food burgers even appeal to me. I keep thinking that considering how inexpensive the burgers are, I must be consuming the lowest possible grade of meat available. I mean McDonald’s basic burgers are about $1. What could I be eating for that price?
@havestmoon1:
Pretty easy, it is a patty of meat, that has been basically force fed corn so it bloats up fast (eating corn that is heavily subsidized by the government), said steer is likely tied into a stall so it doesn’t move around (so it fattens up faster), has been fed both hormones and antibiotics to make it grow faster, is likely the poorest cut of meat from the animal plus probably byproducts they can claim are ‘meat’, and is sitting on a bun that is loaded with high fructose corn syrup as a filler (dirt cheap, see corn subsidies, wheat subsidies) and chemicals, and voila the 1 buck hamburger. McDonald’s food is pretty vile, the last time I had something in desperation from a McD’s I got sick from eating it.
Really want an eye opener? Go to Mcdonald’s website and look at ingredients, might open your eyes. In the UK, McD’s because of law makes French Fries with salt, vegetable oil and potatoes, see what you get in this country, you might be more than a bit surprised. McDonalds is in trouble, they are one of the most hated fast food outlets out there (though ironically, doesn’t stop too many people from eating there), and they are desperately trying to find ways to make themselves appear “real” again. It is kind of ironic with Chipotle, who have basically pledged to have everything be all natural, they are owned by McDonald’s.
McDonalds has a major dilemma, their whole campaign has been about giving you a lot for little, and the only way to do that is basically selling you food that is unhealthy, full of chemicals and sugar and preservatives. When they came up with the supersize culture, at a low price, they cast their lot with something they thought would sell. In some ways they are a mirror image of Walmart, who around 15 years ago switched from being a store that had low prices, but also emphasized customer service, into being all about the cheapest prices, which meant that customer service went out the window and in the process, millions of jobs went to China and such as companies were basically forced by Walmart to go offshore to meet their price goals, and now Walmart is almost universally reviled, and they are trying to figure out how to change that image (re, note their campaign that they are trying to buy more stuff made in the US), but when you cast your lot on the lowest common denominator, hard to break that.
If I were McDonald’s, I would stop emphasizing the cheap crap on the dollar menu (leave that to Taco bell, whose food is probably as edible and nutritious as plastic), and slowly try to build up an image of quality. No chemicals on the fries, hamburger buns that are flour and baking powder and maybe malt extract, hamburger patties that are only beef, no byproducts, and are bought from farmers who don’t use steroids and antibiotics, local produce, maybe try more wide range of salads, chicken that isn’t frankenchicken (chickens whose breasts are so large they can’t stand up), and yes, emphasizing those items under a different line.
"McDonalds is doing everything in their power to regain their share of the fast food market. There are so many other options now. "
McD isn’t behind this. Burger King is.
When looking for fast food while traveling, we’ve gravitated toward Subway when available–you can easily make a sandwich that is somewhat healthy, as compared to the fatty, salty burgers.
You know…for one day…it’s fine. I’d probably try it…and share with a couple of friends.
Subway has tons of preservatives in their breads (and I would bet other products too). I used to like the idea of Subway. Not any more.
As an aside, I had a Burger King whopper in Germany that was delicious. Real, fresh bread, fresh tomato, meat tasted like real meat, etc.
Fast food burgers in the US literally make me gag, even when I’m super hungry.
@southfloridamom:
Yep, there is a big difference in the quality, a lot of that has to do with local regulations,plus in Europe from what I could tell from traveling there, fast food is not the cheap price focus that we have here in the US, so they use higher quality ingredients. It amazes me that a french fry in Europe is likely a non GMO potato, vegetable oil and salt, whereas in the US the potato could be anything, it could be fried in this vile commercial oil that still can contain trans fats and other garbage in it, chemicals to make the fry appear ‘better’, and then salt. Fast food hamburgers in this country are basically factory processed crap for the most part, with some exceptions, some are a little more edible than others, but mostly are pretty crappy.
@musicprnt - it aggravates me to no end that we allow that garbage here in the US. I try to vote with my dollars and will not buy fast food anymore. Would rather go hungry.
Agree that American fast food companies sell very different food in Europe. Very sad. Why do we accept this?
Seems that most other sandwich shops make a better tasting sandwich than Subway (with similar nutritional profiles).
Boston Market makes a decent sandwich.
^^ I agree.
I prefer Quizno’s (who can compete with Subway on price), Jimmy John’s (more $), Firehouse (more $), Jersey Mike’s (more $), and other chains.
But… Subway is everywhere, and if I am in a rush, I’ll grab a sub there.
As for the burger meat at McDonald’s, they maintain that it is 100% beef.
More McDonald’s questions answered… PR-reviewed, of course…
http://www.mcdonalds.com/content/us/en/your_questions/our_food/snacks-and-sides.html
@harvestmoon1:
There are a lot of reasons for what you see with fast food, it is a combination of people seeing something that is both cheap and huge portions as being a ‘good deal’, it is about marketing (think about just how much fast food marketing there is in the US, just how tied into everything McDonald’s and BK and Subway and so forth is tied into sporting events, naming of sports arenas, sponsorship of shows, etc). You travel along major highways, and rest stops are all chains, getting decent food at any of them can be a stretch, the highway authorities basically get bids from the big chains to have outlets in those places, and that is that.
Go to Europe, and many of the rest areas have cafes and such with fantastic food, it isn’t dirt cheap, but it is not that expensive (I can’t speak for all rest areas in Europe, obviously, just basing this on what i have seen and heard from other people). There was something about this in NY a couple of years go, people were objecting to the fact that on the turnpike and other state toll roads, that local people can’t bid to open a restaurant, that it is all done at the state level.
The other answer is both government policy and the relative lack of regulation here in the US with the food business. The whole cheap fast food is based in large part on government subsidized products, while in the EU there are obviously subsidies for farmers and meat producers, they subsidize different things and it doesn’t have quite the impact. For example, US farm subsidies to corn producers and the huge ag businesses (think Cargill, ADM), has resulted in very, very cheap corn. As a result, you have high fructose corn syrup, which whether it is the same as other sugars or not, is made much cheaper by those subsidies, so HFC is heavily used as a filler (that McDonald’s hamburger bun is likely loaded with it). Cheap corn means being able to use that as animal feed, which is almost force fed to the cattle, which causes it to put on large amounts of weight fast, the feed is cheap because it is subsidized. US regulation also allows the use of steroids and antibiotics with meat animals (and despite all the claims about restricting antibiotic use in animal products, the dept of ag and the FDA have not been able to get a ban on the use of antibiotics except in the case of illness in place; routinely giving antibiotics allows the animals to grow faster); in Europe, such practices are banned (besides making for unhealthy, fatty meat, it also is causing things like antibiotic resistant super bugs, and may also be involved with things like the early development of adolescence in young girls, issues with men’s lowered sperm counts and other issues). Europe also bans using additives, like the crap McDonald’s uses in the US to make ‘fluffier’ french fries, that is a major inflammatory agent, and also bans substances like Carageen, that is a thickening agent used in things like shakes, that is a major cause of inflammation, yet in the US it is even allowed in stuff saying it is organic.
So what you end up with is a cheap burger patty that is likely full of fat, lacks Omega 3’s, probably has traces of both steroids and antibiotics, is on a bun that is full of chemical agents, uses cheap wheat flour that is heavily processed, contains significant sugar content, fries made from who knows what kind of potatoes that have been fried in ersatz oil stuff with chemical additives, and has tomatoes likely grown in crushed coral with chemical nutrients designed to be packaged easy and last (with little flavor), and iceberg lettuce that likewise is probably loaded with chemicals from insecticides and herbicides, and has the nutrition value of straw…
Why do people stand for it? For one thing, people simply assume that what they are eating must be okay, because the ads say the meat used on the buns is FDA approved meat (which doesn’t mean much), and of course “we have regulations”. More importantly, with all the media blitz, with all the advertising, some people almost thing that Mickey D’s and the like are somehow “all american” and to criticize them is wrong; and for a lot of people, they see the Big Mac meal as both convenient, and also a great bargain, 5 bucks for all that? I don’t even know how much people pay attention, in NYC fast food outlets have to put up the information on the various things they sell, so when you buy a big mac meal, it will list how many calories in the form of “900-1800 calories”, depending on which one you order,yet people still order them. There also was an article recently talking about the surge in, for example, places like Chipotle or Smash Burger, but what they also found was despite all the grumbling about Mickey D’s, a lot of people, especialy millenials, were still going there in large numbers.
I am not even sure how much healthier places like Smashburger or 5 guys are, I suspect the quality of their meat may be better, but I would bet their buns are loaded with chemicals and hfc, the beef is corn fed and raised with antibiotics and such (They talk about the quality of their meat in ads, but they don’t say it is antibiotic and steroid free, but i have’t looked at their website to see). Chipotle at least has pledged to try and be natural ingredients, I haven’t seen anything like that from the other chains.
Boston Market is owned by McDonald’s, like Chipotle, and I wonder how good the quality of their food is, what kind of chickens are they using and what were they raised on? How good is their bread? They do rotisserie the chickens right there, but what about the rest of their ingredients?
I feel like the FDA is a very political organization and I have no faith in them whatsoever.
I eat very little fast food but the posted calories are of interest to me and do influence my choices when I have no other alternative. The calories were posted on the menu at Boston Market at the rest stop. I opted for a chicken sandwich with a calorie count of about 600 and ate half of it. It was clear to me the majority of those calories were in the roll as the only other ingredients were white chicken meat, lettuce and tomato. Not sure what else was in the chicken but it was good. I could have finished it but I steer clear of carbs and the roll was very thick.
My personal opinion is that 5 Guys is totally overrated - my son wanted to try a burger there when we visited schools in NYC a few weeks ago. I was unimpressed as was he. Smash burger I have only tried in California about 5 years ago. I only remember that I was intrigued by the "fried pickles "that they served as an alternative to fries. I tried them and they were so salty that I was thirsty for days afterwards. That cannot be good of you. Not sure if they are on the menu elsewhere.
Smashburgers and Fuddruckers both claim they use all natural meat that was grass fed…which is much better than the crap you get at McD’s and so forth. That said, it isn’t totally grass fed, the animals spend the last couple of months before processing in feed lots being fed corn and soy, to fatten them up, so it won’t be as healthy as true grass fed beef. Looking at the information on Smashburgers whole grain bun and the other ones, there is relatively little sugar (around 2g)…a Mickey’d D’s bun is 10 g or more, and it is HFC.
One thing to be really careful of is caloric content, many of the burgers at smashburger, fuddruckers and the like are high calorie content, they may be healthier in some ways, but calories do count. My take has always been like Pizza and other foods, if you are eating healthy most of the time, then places like Smashburger and Fuddruckers and the like are a nice treat, which is what they should be. If eating out more regularly, either eat something a bit lower in calories, or go to a diner and order a salad or something you have more control over:)