Taste Testing at McDonald’s
Taste vs. Health
I recently broke a promise to myself and had some frys at McDonalds. The feeling I had afterwards moved to to reprint this blog post from a few years ago.
In 2002 McDonald’s pledged to introduce new zero-trans-fat cooking oil, but with $23 billion dollars at stake, they were very slow to make the switch, citing the taste concerns. After increasing pressure from consumer advocates to make the change, they eventually did, but did so quietly.
Fool Em!
Much like the devilish Chef Ramsay on Hell’s Kitchen they let people taste the healthier product before telling them that it lacked the animal fat. And, like the chefs at Hell’s Kitchen there were no complaints.
I was one of those that belived the 2002 pledge and on occassion (too many occasions) “treated myself” to some fries. However I noticed that without fail I suffered heartbun that evening along with an unpleasant feeling in my stomach. When I learned that the “pledge” was not honored, I stopped eating the fries, but did not forgive McDonald’s for the deception. I’m sure I am better off without them.
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I would love to think that McDonald’s was making this change out of concern for their customer’s health or compassion for the animals, but I think we all know otherwise.
Being pressured into doing what is right is better than not doing it at all, but they miss out on the Karma benefit of doing it out of good conscious. I still won’t eat there!
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Are we supposed to think that this is now a good place to eat?
May 24th, 2008 at 10:30 am
I have always loved the fries at McDonald’s as well as too many other things that they make, however the older I get the more I realize that I should NOT be eating there at all.
May 24th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Has anyone else heard that the reason the Mc Donald’s fries are such an even golden brown is because they are very lightly coated with sugar?
May 24th, 2008 at 11:03 am
I can’t swallow the “sugar thing”. I hate sweets and love those fries.
May 24th, 2008 at 11:17 am
And; what’s with that Mc Veggie Burger? I ate one once and had indigestion for two days. Now it seems to have gone away. What the hell was that cooked in?
May 24th, 2008 at 11:20 am
What went away; the Mc Veggie Burger or the indigestion?
May 24th, 2008 at 11:24 am
I heard that it is no longer on the menu in most if not all of their restaurants. Too bad they didn’t do it right, no one has good fast health food.
May 25th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Okay here is the deal. We are all different, inside and out. Our blood types, ancestry, genotypes,DNA and secretor status, rh status all create completely different digestion enzymes and chemistry. My poison is your medicine as far as food goes. Some bodies love beef, some turkey, some soy, but some won’t. Some oils work for you but not for the next person. Even fruits, vegetables and vitamins and herbs are better for some than others. Everyone has to find what works for them and stick with it, and do without what works against them.
I have been doing the Eat Right for Your Type diet for eleven years and know what my body tolerates and what it can’t. My cholesterol is 160, my sugar normal, my weight good, I look younger than my years, but it wasn’t always that way. I am not a vegetarian, and am pretty normal, I just eat right for my type most of the time. If McD’s served turkey burgers on a whole grain bun or other veggies besides potatoes, (they are a toxin for type A’s), then I would eat there.
I would rather eat sockeye salmon and broccoli or mixed greens with almonds, or eggwhites and chinese peas for lunch. But I will never pass up chocolate. The steak or pork, not for me, Find your flavor, Exercise and be happy. If McD’s works for you, go for it. They are never gonna please everybody, but they are trying to serve us as best they can. They are feeding hungry workers fast as they can.
May 25th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Runaway is running away from an important reality here, and that is that there is absolutely no need in this time and age to kill helpless animals (even sockeye salmon) for taste or health. And, there are definite karmic results for those that do, whether they realize it or not.
May 26th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I appreciate all of the great comments on this Blog. I have been procrastinating becoming a vegetarian for a long time. It seems like the smartest people I know are there already, and the opposite seems to be true of the carnivores. Perhaps its evolutionary.
In any case all of this has me ready to do it and I already feel good about my future positive impact on the environment as well as having a good feeling about the “Karma thing” with the animals. I know that the torture they go through is pure hell and completely unnecessary.
June 6th, 2010 at 4:46 am
Very few vegetarians are complete vegans and still fewer that don’t have leather seats in their cars or other animal product in places throughout their lives. The food chain is a fact of life and some animals are at the top and some are at the bottom. It is exceedingly difficult to get a complete diet for humans naturally without some animal protein. Until recently it would have been impossible in most places without imported non-native foods. I feel sorry for the zebra when it gets mauled by a lion but it would also be sad to see a lion starve to death. I don’t think there is any reason to have bad karma for eating as we were meant to eat.
June 6th, 2010 at 10:45 am
I will never forgive McDonald’s for changing the way they made fries up to about the late 70’s or early 80’s when I was a young kid. Those things were beyond words. I think they must have used lard or something to fry them. We used to argue about who had dibs on the fries that fell into the bottom of the bag. Absolutely terrific. I wish busybody food nazis would just let merchants serve the free market and let us chose what we want accepting any consequences of our free choices.
June 6th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
The sad reality is that MCDonald’s, for all their financial success has had more to do with the fattening of rear ends and hardening of arteries in America than just about any company anywhere.
Hard core carnivores will continue with their cruel justifications in every way that they can. To see what I am talking about sit outside of any MCDonald’s sometime and look at the appearance of those ignoramuses coming and going.
June 13th, 2010 at 9:16 am
you may be at the top of the food chain in a human body today, and your consciousness and actions will determine where you go when you leave your body.
It is your choice. Karma means reaction, reaction to good and bad actions. Looking at animals as ways to titilate our tongues is not good consciousness, it is disrespectful of the person in that animal body who is working his way back up to the human form of life where he can inquire into his essence and leave material existence behind. Too many humans have animal consciousness, focusing on eating mating and defending- all wrapped around their bodily existence. Your consciousness shapes what you become. this human life is very special, dont waste it, and dont be a part of the animal slaughtering by not consuming anything that once had two eyes. it will do you a world of good. life is too short to waste. it also is good to know that mcd’s is responsible for raping rain forests so they can raise cows so we can enjoy the taste of beef on our tongues. dont be a part of that either. its not rocket science, people that advocate being vegetarian are not hating meat eaters, they basically want to help meat eaters to see the truth. it takes a lot of blocking out all that went into the meat when you sit down and eat meat, so it is unconscious activity. when you start to defend eating meat, you get further entrenched into the paectice, your heart gets harder as well. dont argue and yell, reflect on the whole thing in the privacy of your own heart and do whatever you want to do. we leave these bodies alone, we all need to be at peace within our selves, yelling at each other accomplishes nothing. The absolute truth exists, there is no way anyone can manipulate the absolute truth, it is recommended to want to know exactly what that is, without any tinge of speculation. otherwise, we just get what we want, which generally comes from our mind, which is totally connected to our material existence, which is temporary and not eternal.
June 13th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Vidsolve has it nailed and fadbuster is busted. What a load of… well let’s just call it low level ignorance.