Quick ‘n’ dirty

I think that you and I can agree on one thing by now; fast food isn’t your greatest option of available food.

Yet both of us (I do it too), grab it when we’re short on time (and cash) and need something to eat. What we don’t think of (or don’t know. Or care.) in that exact instance is just how bad fast food really is. What does Burger & co actually contain? And where does it come from?

First off, and I’m going to sound harsh here, fast food is not fit for human consumption. At all. Nor is it fit for animal consumption. Here, I’m not even thinking about the trans-fats and sodium levels, but the fact that the animals used for the meat are usually sick in countless ways and forms themselves.

The animal cruelty involved in the processing of fast food can be very dangerous to humans. Setting the diseases aside, it’s clear to most of us that they won’t use grass-fed cattle to produce your burgers. (Some places do, but I’m not talking about them here) Instead sick, underfed cows pumped up on drugs and steroids are used, which means the meat doesn’t have any health benefits at all and, if unlucky, can even make you sick.

Instead of using the wonderful taste that real meat has, to get taste, fast food companies almost exclusively use chemicals and science to flavor your food. That’s right, you know I looooove those chemical additions to food. Wait, what?

I’ve got three examples for you: sexy sounding ethyl-2-methyl (hey at least it rhymes!) gives something a taste of apple. For popcorn, please add some methyl-2-peridylketone. And last but not least, ethyl-3- hydroxybutanoate reminds you of marshmallows. Sounds super yummy and delicious, right?? Whats worse, they’re allowed to be called “natural flavors”, at least in the US. There must be something wrong with that, don’t you think?

With taste comes color. It’s long been studied how people react to colors when it comes to marketing, for example. The same goes for food. The bun, the meat, milkshake, cheese and even the fires in a normal fast food meal all have added color to them. Not even the grill marks you find on certain burgers are real, they were put there by the factory. Add to that, a lot of restaurants (if you can call them that anymore) re-heat left over food the following day, or throw huge amounts away each night. Eww.

There have been huge disputes between authors trying to bring this to light and the fast food companies before. And while fast food companies weren’t able to deny anything that books such as Fast Food Nation (Eric Schlosser, 2002) brought up, the companies are still allowed to roam freely among us.

What do you think of fast food? How often do you eat fast food? Would you pay a little extra for better quality food? (If you like, I’ll happily recommend two burger places here in Zürich that are definitely in the green zone!)

(Source: naturalnews.com, rd.com)