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News & ArtsWednesday, March 24, 2010
Chow Year-Old Happy Meal Just as Delicious as the Day It Was Made
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 2:48 PM
My Happy Meal is one year old today and it looks pretty good. It NEVER smelled bad. The food did NOT decompose. It did NOT get moldy, at all.This morning, I took it off my shelf to take a birthday photo.
Part of the photo of the year-old food is at left. If you ask me, this is a grosser (and more effective) experiment than Morgan Spurlock's Super-Size Me.
2
in eighth grade we did a similar experiment with a twinkie. teacher put it in a ventilated glass case in the first day of school - on the last day of school he took it out and it looked the same but when he dropped it on the floor it shattered to pieces. pretty cool. definitely not food.
3
Wow.
I haven't eaten anything from McDonalds since I was a small child and this still makes me want to go puke everything out, just in case any of it is still lingering invincibly in my stomach.
I haven't eaten anything from McDonalds since I was a small child and this still makes me want to go puke everything out, just in case any of it is still lingering invincibly in my stomach.
4
I haven't eaten at a McDonald's since about 1972, and I've certainly never had a Happy Meal. Nevertheless, this does not surprise me in the slightest.
5
Actually, if you watch Super Size Me on DVD, there is a special feature where they did pretty much this exact same thing with various McDonald's items and a genuine hamburger and fries as a control group. Disgusting.
6
While it's indisputable that McDonalds food is gross -- the mere fact that the food didn't rot doesn't is not really due to the quality of the ingredients so much as the additives -- additives that come in cheap and expensive forms.
Fat and salt are both curing agents. You put enough fat and salt on anything and it will probably last for a while.
For example - you could make a french fry out of the most organic potato and expensive oil and designer salt and it would still probably last for a year without molding because of the oil and salt.
Bread left out in the open often doesn't mold - it just goes stale. Especially if coated with oil and salt.
The meat - well, that's a little iffier. But even there, you could probably take the highest quality meat you could find, grind it, add a ton of super expensive oil and designer salt to it, make it into a really thin patty and cook the shit out of it and get it to last a year without it doing anything exciting.
Will the food be edible? Not really. But the fact that this stuff didn't decompose just means that it was CURED by fat and salt. You can cure ANYTHING with fat and salt.
Fat and salt are both curing agents. You put enough fat and salt on anything and it will probably last for a while.
For example - you could make a french fry out of the most organic potato and expensive oil and designer salt and it would still probably last for a year without molding because of the oil and salt.
Bread left out in the open often doesn't mold - it just goes stale. Especially if coated with oil and salt.
The meat - well, that's a little iffier. But even there, you could probably take the highest quality meat you could find, grind it, add a ton of super expensive oil and designer salt to it, make it into a really thin patty and cook the shit out of it and get it to last a year without it doing anything exciting.
Will the food be edible? Not really. But the fact that this stuff didn't decompose just means that it was CURED by fat and salt. You can cure ANYTHING with fat and salt.
8
Hells yeah.
When I was in college, we drunkenly stole a bag of sesame-seed buns early one morning from the back of our local McD's. Being poor college kids, we were ecstatic - we didn't have to buy bread for a while! But a couple of weeks later we began to notice that the remaining buns in the giant bag were just as soft and 'fresh' as they were the night we pilfered them. So we stopped eating them then and did our own experiment. The buns remained on top of the refrigerator in their original bag for the remainder of that semester, about another three months.
And yep, our results were the same as this lady's: the buns did not decompose, they didn't mold, they didn't even grow stale. Still soft and 'fresh'. Frickin' spooky - and NOT food, at all.
When I was in college, we drunkenly stole a bag of sesame-seed buns early one morning from the back of our local McD's. Being poor college kids, we were ecstatic - we didn't have to buy bread for a while! But a couple of weeks later we began to notice that the remaining buns in the giant bag were just as soft and 'fresh' as they were the night we pilfered them. So we stopped eating them then and did our own experiment. The buns remained on top of the refrigerator in their original bag for the remainder of that semester, about another three months.
And yep, our results were the same as this lady's: the buns did not decompose, they didn't mold, they didn't even grow stale. Still soft and 'fresh'. Frickin' spooky - and NOT food, at all.
9
I dunno. I found the test results of Spurlock's liver functions to be profoundly disturbing. If I were gonna fuck up my body that much, I'd definitely choose to go on a bender instead.
10
Not that unusual. Cook up some salty meat and potatoes and you could probably do the same thing in your house. The bun not molding actual sounds like a testament to their cleanliness (or just more preservatives).
11
i wish someone would keep that bastard Grimace locked up for at least a year, a zippered leather mask a-la "The Gimp" would do him some good too.
http://sbiefeld.com/Stuff/grimace.jpg
http://sbiefeld.com/Stuff/grimace.jpg
12
@6
How very stupid not to have thought of that. Your science shames me.
McD's is still disgusting, though.
How very stupid not to have thought of that. Your science shames me.
McD's is still disgusting, though.
13
People who think that oiled-and-salted-and-overcooked food is 'NOT FOOD' because of tests like this are kind of silly. It really is just completely meaningless. If you don't want to eat artificial preservatives, don't (I'm not a big fan), but don't make up artificial reasons to dislike them.
Native Americans used to make pemmican out of just dried powdered lean meat and rendered fat mixed together (no berries, that was mostly later for selling to the white explorers) and it would keep and be totally edible for, according to some accounts, TWENTY YEARS. No preservatives, nothing unnatural.
And speaking of meaningless, Morgan Spurlock has to have eaten way more than what he said he was going to - "three meals a day, only super-sizing when asked" - to gain that much weight that quickly, and he's continually refused to release his food logs to anyone, to this day. If he'd gone to a vegan restaurant with his girlfriend and pigged out to the degree he must have that month, he'd have put on weight too. And there's no reason a previously fairly fit guy going back to his old lifestyle should take, what was it, 14 months to lose the weight he gained in a month? Fishy all over.
Native Americans used to make pemmican out of just dried powdered lean meat and rendered fat mixed together (no berries, that was mostly later for selling to the white explorers) and it would keep and be totally edible for, according to some accounts, TWENTY YEARS. No preservatives, nothing unnatural.
And speaking of meaningless, Morgan Spurlock has to have eaten way more than what he said he was going to - "three meals a day, only super-sizing when asked" - to gain that much weight that quickly, and he's continually refused to release his food logs to anyone, to this day. If he'd gone to a vegan restaurant with his girlfriend and pigged out to the degree he must have that month, he'd have put on weight too. And there's no reason a previously fairly fit guy going back to his old lifestyle should take, what was it, 14 months to lose the weight he gained in a month? Fishy all over.
16
10, 13 - Those buns we stole were DEFINITELY unusual when compared to regular store-bought bread (with preservatives). There was most definitely some weird shit going on with those MackyDee buns. It was not a matter of them being clean, or whatever. It was a matter of them being infused with (literally) industrial-strength preservatives, and you'd never notice it if you just scarfed down your Big Mac within 10 minutes of ordering, like you're 'supposed to' do.
Having those things around for months was an eye-opener, I assure you.
Having those things around for months was an eye-opener, I assure you.
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@16, my point is that you don't KNOW what was going on there...you're just assuming it's something nefarious because it's fast food and it just feels right to think that fast food is nefarious. But that doesn't make it so. It may be that the moisture content is much lower...it may be that they're coated with oil on the browned side and that the burger side is pretty dry and that combo makes them not decompose. I don't know. But just assuming that tests like this prove something because oooooooo, scary Mickey D's, isn't really thinking critically.
18
The picture you have shown is dramatically different than one shown in the actual article. I would guess that is because it is the "before" picture. The one that appears to be the "after" is shriveled and disgusting and probably not delicious. See here:
http://www.babybites.info/2010/03/03/1-y…
http://www.babybites.info/2010/03/03/1-y…
19
I'd hate to sound like a garbage food apologist twice in one day, but #6 and #13 are making the most sense here. Too much fat, sugar, and sodium is terrible for you, but there's nothing particularly magically destructive about these ingredients if you buy them from McDonald's or Safeway. Bet most of our grandmothers could'a told us why the food didn't mold or rot.
It's a funny article anyhow. Apparently, she drank the soda.
It's a funny article anyhow. Apparently, she drank the soda.
22
@13: A quarter pounder, large fries and Big Mac is 1410 calories -- that's one meal, not even supersized. Three times that is over 4000 calories, about twice what Spurlock needed per day. He would have no problem gaining the weight he did on an all-McDonald's diet.
And weight is hard to lose. I put on ten pounds almost instantly during a stressful month last year, and still haven't been able to take it off. I can easily believe it took him over a year to get back in shape.
And weight is hard to lose. I put on ten pounds almost instantly during a stressful month last year, and still haven't been able to take it off. I can easily believe it took him over a year to get back in shape.
23
@22, a Quarter Pounder AND a Big Mac in one meal, with a large fries? How is two large sandwiches one meal? You're suggesting that eating SIX LARGE HAMBURGERS AND THREE LARGE FRIES EVERY DAY in the course of three meals is eating "three meals a day, supersizing only when asked"? He's supersizing all by himself if he's doing that.
Also, in the film he's told more than once on camera that he's consuming more than 5000 calories a day...you just can't do that without self-supersizing. He'd have to add sodas to all three double-sandwich meals, or some more hamburgers.
Also, in the film he's told more than once on camera that he's consuming more than 5000 calories a day...you just can't do that without self-supersizing. He'd have to add sodas to all three double-sandwich meals, or some more hamburgers.
27
@23: I meant to write: a quarter pounder, large fries, and large coke. But the calorie count is the same: 1410. That's without supersizing.
Oh, and if he's sedentary, which Spurlock was, he needs a lot less than 2600 c/day. Those recommendations are notoriously high. For my sex, age, and height, they recommend 2000 c/day (if sedentary), and I need less than 1500. I know this, because I counted calories for years (using a heart-rate monitor to measure calories burned), and if I ate 2000 c/day without working out, I got fat. My partner, a guy, monitors his intake to the calorie (he's a cyclist), and he found the recommended calorie charts to be way off, too. When he's resting, he needs less than 2000 c/day to maintain his weight, and he's 5'10.
As far as my knowledge of weight loss goes, and it's all experience based, Spurlock could easily have gained that weight. More importantly, NOBODY needs a meal worth 1400 calories. Eating McDonald's regularly will make you fat, end of story.
Oh, and if he's sedentary, which Spurlock was, he needs a lot less than 2600 c/day. Those recommendations are notoriously high. For my sex, age, and height, they recommend 2000 c/day (if sedentary), and I need less than 1500. I know this, because I counted calories for years (using a heart-rate monitor to measure calories burned), and if I ate 2000 c/day without working out, I got fat. My partner, a guy, monitors his intake to the calorie (he's a cyclist), and he found the recommended calorie charts to be way off, too. When he's resting, he needs less than 2000 c/day to maintain his weight, and he's 5'10.
As far as my knowledge of weight loss goes, and it's all experience based, Spurlock could easily have gained that weight. More importantly, NOBODY needs a meal worth 1400 calories. Eating McDonald's regularly will make you fat, end of story.
28
@ 17 - And my point is that it was clearly unnatural for that big bag o'buns to stay 'fresh' looking and feeling (and tasting, until we stopped eating them) for weeks and weeks.
There was no 'browned side', these were un-used sesame seed buns. And they Did Not Rot. For MONTHS.
I'll bet even a loaf of Wonder bread would look pretty sad after sitting on top of the refrigerator in its closed bag for 3+ months. These things Did Not - they were exactly the same as the night we'd swiped them, 3 months - MONTHS - previously.
There was no 'browned side', these were un-used sesame seed buns. And they Did Not Rot. For MONTHS.
I'll bet even a loaf of Wonder bread would look pretty sad after sitting on top of the refrigerator in its closed bag for 3+ months. These things Did Not - they were exactly the same as the night we'd swiped them, 3 months - MONTHS - previously.
30
@27, it's not "end of story", though...you could eat at McDonald's every day and not gain as much weight as Spurlock. And he had to have eaten the big combo breakfast thing every day to maintain those kinds of calorie counts, rather than the sandwich/hashbrowns/coffee most people realistically eat. And even then he's nowhere near the 5000 calories his nutritionist said he ate. Eating three 1400 meals a day at McDonald's will obviously make one fat, but you can get that many calories at any restaurant, grocery store, etc. And again, few people would eat that much food.
@28, by "browned" I meant that the outside of a bun is browned and smooth (or sesame-encrusted), not porous and moist/open like a sliced piece of bread. A better test would be McDonald's buns vs supermarket white bread hamburger buns. But again, I don't think the end results mean much of anything as far as food value (and I don't think either one is much good for you).
@28, by "browned" I meant that the outside of a bun is browned and smooth (or sesame-encrusted), not porous and moist/open like a sliced piece of bread. A better test would be McDonald's buns vs supermarket white bread hamburger buns. But again, I don't think the end results mean much of anything as far as food value (and I don't think either one is much good for you).
31
@30: Sure, Spurlock's was an extreme experience, but the value of it is that he woke a lot of people up to how calorie-laden and unhealthy McDonald's food is, and how there is a hidden price paid for the "supersize" deal. Sure, you could eat at McDonald's every day and not gain as much weight as Spurlock... but if you're eating even just one 1400 calorie meal there a day -- and there is nothing unusual about people having their quarter-pounder and fries every day when McDonald's is on every corner and the food costs almost nothing -- then you're going to gain weight. You might not gain 25 lbs in a month, but over the course of a year or a couple of years (or a lifetime), you are going to get fat. And yes, of course you can get that many calories at a restaurant or grocery store, and people do that, too. Your claim that "few people would eat that much food" is pretty weak considering the obesity epidemic you may have noticed occurring in your country and increasingly throughout westernized nations. People do eat that much food, and they eat a lot of it at fast-food joints like McDonald's. They think they're getting a great deal, but they're paying for it with their health while the fast-food corporations clean up.
32
Incidentally, I couldn't help but notice on the McDonald's website that they now have "double" Big Macs and "double" quarter pounders. So again, people think they're getting more for their money -- and are eager to buy this crap -- when there is no benefit at all to having an extra quarter- or half-pound of hamburger added to an already big meal. Meanwhile, the drawbacks are an increased risk of cancer, heart disease, and the many drawbacks that come with being overweight or obese (high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, etc.)
33
I was referring to Spurlock's 5000 calories a day when I talked about the fact that few people eat like that even if they go to McDonald's. In which case my claim isn't weak, you misinterpreted it.
Yes, eating big McDonald's meals - or frequent big meals from any source - makes a person fat, and that is an unhealthy state. Agreed. But do you suggest that we outlaw personal choice in what we eat? People like to blame McDonald's, but do we also get rid of all the Pepsi and Doritos at the grocery store too? You can buy pasta for pennies at any grocery store and certainly get fat on it pretty easily.
My issue is that Spurlock presented his film as a depiction of what happens if you eat three meals a day at McDonald's and only Supersize when they ask you. That's what he said his experiment was. And, sorry, very few people would gain 25 pounds in a month doing that unless they went hog-wild and ate even more, which from his nutritionist's estimations of what his secret food logs showed, seems to be the case. Furthermore, there's an assumption from people that his results speak to EVER eating fast food, which I just find ridiculous. And yes, there's a benefit to getting a double burger - they provide more meat. I don't think it's healthier to eat a single burger and large fries and soda than it would be to eat a double burger and medium fries and iced tea, for example. And for someone who doesn't eat there every day, what's the crime in being able to order a double burger? We don't need to be protected from ourselves, and I don't think McDonald's has any more obligation to do so than any company selling any other food.
Yes, eating big McDonald's meals - or frequent big meals from any source - makes a person fat, and that is an unhealthy state. Agreed. But do you suggest that we outlaw personal choice in what we eat? People like to blame McDonald's, but do we also get rid of all the Pepsi and Doritos at the grocery store too? You can buy pasta for pennies at any grocery store and certainly get fat on it pretty easily.
My issue is that Spurlock presented his film as a depiction of what happens if you eat three meals a day at McDonald's and only Supersize when they ask you. That's what he said his experiment was. And, sorry, very few people would gain 25 pounds in a month doing that unless they went hog-wild and ate even more, which from his nutritionist's estimations of what his secret food logs showed, seems to be the case. Furthermore, there's an assumption from people that his results speak to EVER eating fast food, which I just find ridiculous. And yes, there's a benefit to getting a double burger - they provide more meat. I don't think it's healthier to eat a single burger and large fries and soda than it would be to eat a double burger and medium fries and iced tea, for example. And for someone who doesn't eat there every day, what's the crime in being able to order a double burger? We don't need to be protected from ourselves, and I don't think McDonald's has any more obligation to do so than any company selling any other food.
34
Also, double burgers have been around forever. Burger King had the jingle that started "Two All-Beef Patties Special Sauce" etc. back in the '70s or earlier.
35
I take it you budding food scientists have never seen a bowl of dried fruit.
Fat (especially polyunsaturated fat) exposed to air will quickly oxidize and turn rancid. Those fries may look edible, but I assure you that they wouldn't taste very good.
Unless you are asserting that McDonald's operates in perpetual violation of food-safety laws, this is not possible.
Honestly, this whole thread sounds more like a religious debate than a conversation about food. "Eating at McDonald's will make you fat, Amen."
Fat and salt are both curing agents.
Fat (especially polyunsaturated fat) exposed to air will quickly oxidize and turn rancid. Those fries may look edible, but I assure you that they wouldn't taste very good.
It was a matter of them being infused with (literally) industrial-strength preservatives
Unless you are asserting that McDonald's operates in perpetual violation of food-safety laws, this is not possible.
Honestly, this whole thread sounds more like a religious debate than a conversation about food. "Eating at McDonald's will make you fat, Amen."
36
And I know many local hipsters who look down on fast food and then go to some brewpub and order a burger and fries and chase it with a beer instead of a soda. It's much tastier, and the beer's probably better for you than the soda, but otherwise as far as macronutrients it's not really much different.
37
@35, There's nothing religious about it. Eat more calories than you use (with the aid of supersized fries and double Big Macs) and you will gain weight. It's a fact -- no leap of faith required.
@33, I never said that we should outlaw personal choice, or that overeating was a crime, and I'm pretty sure Spurlock didn't say that either. And to be honest, I really couldn't care less about the content of his food log. I think people deserve to be more aware and better informed about the food choices they make, and if that means looking more closely at the calorie content of supersized fries, to the point where McDonald's gets some bad publicity, so be it. McDonald's is not going out of business any time soon, and if their profit growth slowed a bit because of this movie, well, too bad. The appalling health of so many people in the world's richest countries is inexcusable. Fast food shouldn't be outlawed, but it should definitely be discouraged, and if that movie made people think twice about what they were putting in their bodies, then it achieved something worthwhile.
@33, I never said that we should outlaw personal choice, or that overeating was a crime, and I'm pretty sure Spurlock didn't say that either. And to be honest, I really couldn't care less about the content of his food log. I think people deserve to be more aware and better informed about the food choices they make, and if that means looking more closely at the calorie content of supersized fries, to the point where McDonald's gets some bad publicity, so be it. McDonald's is not going out of business any time soon, and if their profit growth slowed a bit because of this movie, well, too bad. The appalling health of so many people in the world's richest countries is inexcusable. Fast food shouldn't be outlawed, but it should definitely be discouraged, and if that movie made people think twice about what they were putting in their bodies, then it achieved something worthwhile.
38
@34: That jingle was for the original Big Mac, which was called BIG Mac because it was made with two patties. The double Big Mac has four patties, and the double quarter pounder has two quarter-pound patties. These things are huge. People are getting so big they can hardly walk, childhood obesity has tripled in the past 30 years, and McDonald's comes out with this?
39
You "couldn't care less" about his food logs? I find it strange that people are willing to give Spurlock the leeway to completely misrepresent his "experiment" and lie about how much he ate and hide his food logs when challenged simply because the film demonizes McDonald's and therefore it's worthy. His supposed experiment was that eating the normal combo meals McDonald's offers will make people dramatically gain weight, and to prove this he obviously stuffed himself silly on way more than the normal combo meals. How can this not matter? And what possible legit reason could he have to not release his food logs for something like this kind of "experiment"? If I agree with someone's point of view I'm *disturbed* if they cheat to make their point, not empowered.
40
And yes, McDonald's comes out with some big burgers. So what? You can order an extra large pizza online. People go to Starbucks every day and order incredibly calorie-dense dessert-drinks. People go to the grocery store and purchase boxes of ice cream bars and huge bags of pretzels and chips and cookies. Why is McDonald's the problem and these other things are fine? Why should they be expected to offer health food and arrange their menu to accommodate insane people who think they should be eating there every day instead of once in awhile?
41
Is no one more shocked that this hamburgler kept her happy meal in her office for a year than by how it held up? Where the fuck does she work?
42
I have to agree with g that it's pretty unlikely that Spurlock gained that much weight so fast.
Back when the website "okcupid" used to be "thespark" they did an experiment to see if two people could gain 30 lbs in 30 days. One managed to do it, the other didn't, but they ate a shitload of food and it was barely enough:
http://www.okcupid.com/humor/fat-project…
McDonald's might not make you fat, and might not be terrible for your health, but it certainly isn't GOOD for you. My issues with fast food have more to do with their business and slaughtering practices rather than the healthiness/unhealthiness of their food.
Back when the website "okcupid" used to be "thespark" they did an experiment to see if two people could gain 30 lbs in 30 days. One managed to do it, the other didn't, but they ate a shitload of food and it was barely enough:
http://www.okcupid.com/humor/fat-project…
McDonald's might not make you fat, and might not be terrible for your health, but it certainly isn't GOOD for you. My issues with fast food have more to do with their business and slaughtering practices rather than the healthiness/unhealthiness of their food.
43
@35 said:
No doubt. As I said "Will the food be edible? Not really."
Considering how easy it is to find something wrong with McDonalds food and operations it's sad that this blogger had to make implications that don't even pass the common sense test let alone any scientific analysis. And it's sad that so many people here seem to lack the basic scientific education or rigor of thought to look beyond a sensational headline ("Look, this food doesn't rot!! Therefore - it's horrible!"). A lot of great foods don't rot. Especially in an arid climate like Colorado (did anyone actually read the original post?).
But whatever - if it's on SLOG then it's something I must agree with. McDonalds bad! Must not question the party line.
Fat (especially polyunsaturated fat) exposed to air will quickly oxidize and turn rancid. Those fries may look edible, but I assure you that they wouldn't taste very good.
No doubt. As I said "Will the food be edible? Not really."
Considering how easy it is to find something wrong with McDonalds food and operations it's sad that this blogger had to make implications that don't even pass the common sense test let alone any scientific analysis. And it's sad that so many people here seem to lack the basic scientific education or rigor of thought to look beyond a sensational headline ("Look, this food doesn't rot!! Therefore - it's horrible!"). A lot of great foods don't rot. Especially in an arid climate like Colorado (did anyone actually read the original post?).
But whatever - if it's on SLOG then it's something I must agree with. McDonalds bad! Must not question the party line.
44
@ 43 - Of course a lot of 'great foods' don't rot. We're not talking about 'great foods', we're talking about McDonald's.
Specifically, I was talking about their hamburger buns. That's a bread product, right? Is bread supposed to rot? Is it supposed to stay springy-fresh for week after week after month after month - in an open bag, on top of a fridge (where it's kinda hot)? I think actual bread would have first gone stale, maybe molded a bit, then crumbled into bread-dust. These things did none of that.
I don't get where all this defense of McDonald's crap food is coming from - is the clown paying you people? I tole ya once, I tells ya again: the goddamn buns DID NOT ROT. They DID NOT GROW STALE. They evinced NO CHANGE AT ALL due to the passage of time. And to me, and to everyone else in that house, and to everyone else who came over and witnessed the creepy miracle of the non-rotting buns, that was WEIRD and did not speak well of what we are actually putting into our bodies when we eat McDonald's (or any corporate fast meta-)food.
Clear as mud?
Specifically, I was talking about their hamburger buns. That's a bread product, right? Is bread supposed to rot? Is it supposed to stay springy-fresh for week after week after month after month - in an open bag, on top of a fridge (where it's kinda hot)? I think actual bread would have first gone stale, maybe molded a bit, then crumbled into bread-dust. These things did none of that.
I don't get where all this defense of McDonald's crap food is coming from - is the clown paying you people? I tole ya once, I tells ya again: the goddamn buns DID NOT ROT. They DID NOT GROW STALE. They evinced NO CHANGE AT ALL due to the passage of time. And to me, and to everyone else in that house, and to everyone else who came over and witnessed the creepy miracle of the non-rotting buns, that was WEIRD and did not speak well of what we are actually putting into our bodies when we eat McDonald's (or any corporate fast meta-)food.
Clear as mud?
45
@44, me being alarmed at people not using their critical thinking skills and thinking the story linked here about dried-out McDonald's food actually MEANS anything specific in no way equals advocacy for folks eating their meals there. What I and the few others object to is this unscientific reaction to food not turning to liquid, or buns staying fresh-appearing. It DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING specific and you're not proving anything to post about non-putrified food or fresh-seeming buns, as much as you seem to think you are. It's this same kind of lazy thinking that fuels the tea bagger rallies. No, I'm not joking.
46
You're telling me that the actual true experience that I and my friends had... the real-life science experiment we stumbled into... the one where the bread neither grew stale nor rotted... means nothing? That it's not evidence of (at the VERY LEAST) a great, great lot of preservatives put into a food that would otherwise crumble into bread-dust as a course of nature?
And you have the balls to compare this to tea-bagger thinking? The people who are TOLD things and uncritically believe them, to the point of idiocy?
All I "think" that I am proving by sharing my story is just that, sharing my story - i.e., whoa, lookit this weird stuff from McD's that NEVER FUCKING ROTTED!! You know, like actual food would do?
Did I claim to be a food scientist? No, I did not. Did I claim to be a scientist at all? No, I did not.
But, have it your way (pun intended) - the fact that the buns sat in a plastic bag in a hot place for almost FOUR MONTHS and showed NO SIGNS AT ALL of decomposition.. MEANS NOTHING.
Okey-dokey then.
And you have the balls to compare this to tea-bagger thinking? The people who are TOLD things and uncritically believe them, to the point of idiocy?
All I "think" that I am proving by sharing my story is just that, sharing my story - i.e., whoa, lookit this weird stuff from McD's that NEVER FUCKING ROTTED!! You know, like actual food would do?
Did I claim to be a food scientist? No, I did not. Did I claim to be a scientist at all? No, I did not.
But, have it your way (pun intended) - the fact that the buns sat in a plastic bag in a hot place for almost FOUR MONTHS and showed NO SIGNS AT ALL of decomposition.. MEANS NOTHING.
Okey-dokey then.
47
I said it doesn't mean anything SPECIFIC. You're deciding that a bag of white bread McDonald's buns not rotting in a bag means that they're filled with incredible amounts of preservatives and are unfit for consumption compared to other forms of white bread not from McDonald's. What I'm saying is that there are any number of other explanations for your bread or the meal featured in the story above (some here have even suggested some possibilities) and for you and others to settle on EVIL CHEMICALS FROM EVIL CORPORATION is not using critical thinking - you're landing on the explanation that's most satisfying, based on nothing but uninformed speculation.
And I'm sorry, but for you to accuse me of being paid off by 'the clown' and supporting McDonald's because I don't agree that the story posted here and your bread anecdote mean anything specific about their food, well, I do think you're jumping to conclusions based on your world view rather than on carefully considered evidence. And same with people who defend Morgan Spurlock - it's okay that he fudged his numbers and conducted a different experiment than he will admit (what happens if you stuff yourself absolutely silly at McDonald's for a month?), because EVIL CORPORATIONS. How is that different than believing stupid stuff about Obama? It's less offensive to most of us, but I think it comes from the same lack of critical thinking, from believing something simply because it reinforces your previous opinions.
And I'm sorry, but for you to accuse me of being paid off by 'the clown' and supporting McDonald's because I don't agree that the story posted here and your bread anecdote mean anything specific about their food, well, I do think you're jumping to conclusions based on your world view rather than on carefully considered evidence. And same with people who defend Morgan Spurlock - it's okay that he fudged his numbers and conducted a different experiment than he will admit (what happens if you stuff yourself absolutely silly at McDonald's for a month?), because EVIL CORPORATIONS. How is that different than believing stupid stuff about Obama? It's less offensive to most of us, but I think it comes from the same lack of critical thinking, from believing something simply because it reinforces your previous opinions.
48
...and by "stupid stuff" I mean that he's Muslim, not born in the USA, eats babies, yadda yadda, not just disagreeing with his policies. Of course.
49
Whoa, dude, that was a JOKE! I think somebody's Sarcasm Meter is switched to "Off".
I know it's the innernetz and we can't pick up on facial expressions and whatnot, but did you seriously think I was 'accusing you' of being in the pay of McDonald's?? I'm not in this whole Spurlock discussion, I'm simply telling a story of my own personal experience -- and, if you'll notice, I never once said that that non-rotting bun thing keeps me out of McDonald's! I just don't pretend that I'm eating healthy on the two or three days in a year when I might go get a cheeseburger or something.
I never claimed that my non-rotting bun experience was PROOF POSITIVE of the EVILNESS of McDonald's or any other corporation.. I never claimed that my non-rotting bun experience was PROOF POSITIVE that everything McDonald's sells is nothing but a chemical feast -- but it seems reasonable to me to ASSUME that there's an assload of preservatives in most of their stuff.
Analogy: If I bought an ice cube from a store, and sat that ice cube on my kitchen counter, and that ice cube did not melt, not for days and days, I think it would be REASONABLE to ASSUME that there's something in that ice cube that prevents it from melting, something that I certainly would not put in my own ice cubes at home. That's really all I'm saying.
I know it's the innernetz and we can't pick up on facial expressions and whatnot, but did you seriously think I was 'accusing you' of being in the pay of McDonald's?? I'm not in this whole Spurlock discussion, I'm simply telling a story of my own personal experience -- and, if you'll notice, I never once said that that non-rotting bun thing keeps me out of McDonald's! I just don't pretend that I'm eating healthy on the two or three days in a year when I might go get a cheeseburger or something.
I never claimed that my non-rotting bun experience was PROOF POSITIVE of the EVILNESS of McDonald's or any other corporation.. I never claimed that my non-rotting bun experience was PROOF POSITIVE that everything McDonald's sells is nothing but a chemical feast -- but it seems reasonable to me to ASSUME that there's an assload of preservatives in most of their stuff.
Analogy: If I bought an ice cube from a store, and sat that ice cube on my kitchen counter, and that ice cube did not melt, not for days and days, I think it would be REASONABLE to ASSUME that there's something in that ice cube that prevents it from melting, something that I certainly would not put in my own ice cubes at home. That's really all I'm saying.
50
I get what you're saying, but it's reasonable to assume that ice melts because *ice always melts at room temperature*. Always. Food does not always rot. Sometimes it dries out, sometimes it stays scarily similar to its original state. It's certainly not as predictable as an ice cube on the counter.
Of course you don't really think Ronald McDonald is paying me. But the implication that disagreeing with you and with some of these other posts = defending McDonald's is clearly there. Emoticon or not.
Of course you don't really think Ronald McDonald is paying me. But the implication that disagreeing with you and with some of these other posts = defending McDonald's is clearly there. Emoticon or not.
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