Posts Tagged ‘fast food’

Mmmm, Plastic!

3 Comments
Posted 11 Apr 2010 — by FV
Category As I see it.

Have I mentioned my least favorite restaurant?

Yep, McCrap, and all the other fast food eateries wrapped in different packages.

The Duchess and I are coming up on our third week of gardening and I must say that I am so impatient waiting fot the first shoot yo break through the Earth’s surface. With the anticipation of an edible yard I am reminded of a eating rule which I love.

If it doesn’t rot, don’t eat it.

This is a very simple eating rule to live by and just this idea alone can help you avoid so many of the additives and preservatives so prevalent in our foods these days. If your cupboards are full of stuff that can stand up to unusually long periods of time without changing or going bad, than it is likely you shouldn’t be eating it. There are, of course, some exceptions like spices, vinegars, and some canned goods.

So many people complain about the space they have available in their freezer, refrigerator and cupboards. We have become obsessed with storing up and buying in bulk. Also, as food storage space becomes bigger, counters become smaller. No need for a lot of counter space if everything goes directly from storage to the oven. Our diets have become full of foods that just don’t go bad. This is good for the grocery stores, they can stock more and more products for longer periods of time and use less manpower to keep the shelves stocked. Look how insanley big grocery stores have gotten!

We are not a business, we are living, breathing animals. Profitability, convenience and stability are great ideas to make money, but lousy ideas to put in our mouths. I came across some interesting ariticles about McCrap’s food that they are shoving down the world’s throats.

Here is the first article, this is too funny (and scary). It is a true indication that we should never eat fast food.

Here is the second article.

The “food” that the fast-eddies provide are ruining a good portion of our population. The fats and sugars in the over preserved, plastic food make the meal less nutrition than the paper in which it’s wrapped.

We spend a good portion of early parenting chasing our young children all around and saving the day time and time again as we thwart little Todd and Sally from stuffing everything under the son in their mouth’s. Then we load them in the car and WILLINGLY and knowingly let them chew on this un-nutritional, highly fattening, plastic food. Yet we stop them from putting the plastic toy from the meal in their mouths. How can you tell the difference between the plastic toy and a plastic burger anyway?

Maybe if hands of bananas or fresh greenbeans came with a toy, we would not be a nation overweight.

Slow down,

FV

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Food Vigilantic Oath

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Posted 11 Mar 2010 — by FV
Category As I see it.

Click to link to The Fry Boys.com

I may be the world’s next revered philosopher. Surprised? Don’t be. It turns out that I have a lot in common with Socrates and Hippocrates. Besides their dashing good looks, they were preaching a message that has been overlooked for countless years. Keep this in mind.

I’ve been reading some older cookbooks, I mean turn of the last century cookbooks. A Chef from the Original Fish Market loaned me such a book. “Encyclopedia of Practical Gastronomy” by Ali-Bab, copyright 1906.

In the beginning of the book there is a forward titled “Gastronomy Through the Ages”. Ali-Bab takes the reader on a journey of culinary history from humans eating charred animal flesh cooked by forest fires to modern day gourmet. Part way through the expose, ancient Greece, around 246B.C. is the time frame at hand. Ali-Bab writes of great decadence and gluttony. The story goes…

Symptoms of decadence had also been evident for some time. The Greeks had learned from the Lybians the deplorable habit of eating lying down, a prime gastronomic error. They subsequently fell into an even more grievous, that of living only to eat. In vain Hippocrates, in the name of health, and Socrates, in the name of morals, battled against encroaching national gluttony. Greece was declining, and one century after Pericles, in 146B.C., she was subjugated by Rome.

Does this sound like me or what? Greece managed to fall without the help of HFCS or hydrogenated oils or preservatives. Imagine how much worse we could fare considering our diets along with our bad 2010A.D habits.

Guess who will still be around? A recent jaunt to the Pittsburgh Zoo gives some examples…

These guys may be OK, and not just because they could eat us.

He too, should be fine.

When my family went to the Zoo when I was a child, you could pretty much heave any sort of food into the animal enclosures. This was a common threat to misbehaved children at the time.  That changed over the years as zoologists began to take great care in the habitat and eating habits of the animals. Signs are posted all over the place these days to not feed the animals, although they make no mention of tossing in aforementioned misbehaved children, huh.

Time to bring it home. With all the great strides in the care of the animals, the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium has become a model for humane zoo-keeping, conservationism and a great family destination.

Yet, here is what they feed the humans…

and this…

OK, first of all, get over it, FV fed his kids this crap, yes. Desperate times, you know the rest. Point is that the animals eat better than the humans. After our lunch at the Safari Grill, we headed for the PPG Aquarium. I had plan. We entered the Aquarium and I posed a challenge to my oldest son. I told him to ask a zoo employee what would happen if he tossed a cheeseburger, chicken fingers, fries and a couple sodas in to the tank. The zoo dude replied very simply, “Well, all the fish would die”. Mission accomplished.

The fish tank would be Greece. The food would be the food. I would be Socrates or Hippocrates. If we don’t change our ways, we will be subjugated. At least the well fed animals will thrive.

sigh,

FV

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Drive-By Nutrition

2 Comments
Posted 09 Mar 2010 — by FV
Category As I see it., Really??

My head’s gonna burst. I drove past my kid’s school this morning and the sign read

“McDonald’s Day – Wednesday, March 3.”

 UUUGGGHH!

I work so hard defining to my kids the evils that exist wrapped in deli paper at the golden arches. I toil and teach in my own kitchen the virtues of fresh, natural and organic food along with the experience of preparing a meal together. Then, as soon as I turn my head for an instant, the evil clown rushes right into my children’s school and pumps them full of catchy jingles, plastic junk and wretchedly unhealthy “food”. Yes, McCrap has been forced to encourage kids to be active and exercise, but what is the true motive here? Two points to consider.

1) Have you ever been to a fruit and vegetable stand, farmers market or even a produce department where the proprietors found it necessary to sponsor an exercise program?

2) Does anyone over the age of thirty recall having to be told to run around and play, aka exercise?

SNACKS FROM NATURE, MORE PREVALANT IN 1970's

I say my head is going to explode because I don’t know who to blame. I want to blame the entire corporate food industry, including the fast food joints. I want to blame the parents. I want to blame the schools. A lot of you reading this are to blame too. We’ll start with you.

SOME COMMON SNACKS OF TODAY

THIS IS NOT FAMILY DINNER!!!

The changes I talk about all of the time are not hard. You’re brainwashed. I have some very successful, intelligent friends and family who not only refuse to consider the dangers in food, but actually mock me at times for my exuberance for the issue. This makes me feel like a conspiracy theorist. If I was writing and preaching about the importance of oil changes every 3,000 miles or proper air pressure in car tires, or how seatbelts and child restraints save lives, nobody would blink an eye. There would only be nodding heads and understanding agreement. What’s wrong with all of you?? This is your body we’re talking about. If you care more for your ’05 Chevy than your body then, as I always say, please read Darwin.

LOOK WHAT'S HAPPENING!

The blame with food industry, in particular the fast food industry, is easy to see, but seemingly impossible to put a stop to. They have only one goal; profit. They have figured out a pretty simple formula. First, produce a product that is cheap. Unfortunately, people think more with their wallets than their heads. Second, devise a way to make the product irresistible. Maybe load it with sugar, fat and preservatives and wrap it in a snappy, feel good package. Bingo! Last directive: longevity. Not of the customer, but of the company. Remember, the dollar rules. This is where my son’s school comes in to play. McDonald’s approaches a school, asks that they send all of their students and their families to eat at the local eatery and McDonald’s promises to donate a percentage of all sales from that evening back to the school. Brilliant! Hook ‘em young,  especially because the long time customers are dying off so fast. Didn’t a certain smoking camel pay a price for this same ploy?

SCARY, BUT TOO FUNNY.

So, on to the schools. Can you blame them for accepting money? I certainly want my child’s school to have as much, if not more money than it needs! But a deal with the food devil is so hard for me to swallow.  On one hand I want my school district to go after every dollar it can get. But if they are going to look at sources that have consequences like fast food, then some education is in order. Isn’t that what they do anyway? I propose a program that teaches or children to make good choices when presented with a sea of bad options. Despite my ramblings I think that there is a possibility, however slim, to eat at almost any restaurant and come away with a clear conscience and healthy body. Wouldn’t it be great if on “McDonalds Wednesday” that after all the families invaded the restaurant,  the place would have to toss all of the extra chicken nuggets, burgers and fries they made in anticipation of the event,  because the school (and parents) had taught our children to  choose only the most healthy items in the McCrappery?! The school gets their money, our children add years to their lives and I wallow in a warm fuzzy feeling of accomplishment.

Listen up Hempfield Area School District. I’ll develop the program. I’ll present it to the school board. I’ll visit schools. C’mon, this could be great! You do care about our children, right?

Show us.

Also, help stop my head from exploding,

FV

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