Have you ever noticed that the old becomes new again? A few days ago I saw a commercial bringing back that famous jingle "two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles on a sesame seed BUN". Back when I was considerably younger than what I am now this was a favourite schoolyard chant. I grew up in a very small community. We got exactly 4 channels on our small black and white television! I can remember the excitement when our small mom & pop grocery store brought in PopTarts® and freezer pizza. That was the extent of our fast food!
A couple of times a year we would ride the bus to the closest city to spend the afternoon shopping as my Mom never learned to drive. On those trips we always ate at the Metropolitan lunch counter. They made the best BLT's around and not only could you watch yourself eat but watch other shoppers thanks to the mirrored lunch counter wall. I was probably about 9 when the McDonald's restaurant was built in that small city. The bus drove right past it making it way to the downtown core where we shopped but we never went there because we would have had to take a cab and my Mom was always scared of missing the bus home. I was so excited when we finally rode to the city with friends and they stopped at the restaurant. I ordered my very first Big Mac®. I learned a valuable lesson that day. Sure the burger was good but it wasn't as good as the Met's BLT and the restaurant wasn't as interesting as the Met's lunch counter!
While I really enjoy eating out, to this day I am still not a huge fan of fast food restaurants. At 590 calories for a Big Mac®, 34 g of fat and 1070 mg sodium I'm glad I did not acquire a taste for fast food restaurants1. The sad thing is that cutesy little jingle will dupe another generation into thinking this is good food. Some children actually eat one of these burgers every school day and then again on the weekends. No wonder we are seeing such a spike in morbid obesity in children, increases in diabetes and health problems due to excessive sodium. Isn't it amazing what an seeming benign little jingle can archive?
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Great, now I have that tune playing in my head:) Where I grew up, we had a McDonalds right across the street from us and every Saturday, my friend and I would catch a movie and then walk over and have dinner there. I would order the famous Big Mac, large fries, and a coke. I love that burger, but I must confess that my all-time favorite is the Double-Western Bacon Cheeseburger from Carl's Jr. Unfortunately, since I am on a diet, I haven't been able to have one for over a year. Do I miss it? Yes! Can I live without it? Sure can!
ReplyDeleteEverything you mentioned in your article is the reason why I had to go on my diet. I was diagnosed as being on the cusp of getting type-2 diabetes and I weighed-in at a whopping 296. All thanks to my fast food diet. I now weigh 216 and no longer at risk for type-2.