Monthly Archives: September 2011

Burger Links Of Interest

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Below are links of burger interest that have found me along my burger journey.  no affiliation with any of these… should you come across intriguing burger factoids, share them and I’ll add them to the list!!

Article About The Flavor Industry 

Resource For Fast Food Ingredients 

Fast Food Ingredients many not clearly defined

Ever Hear Of Pink Slime – that ammonia treated ground beef sludge from the floor of the packing house?

Burger Biotech – science making buns, meat and lettuce better??

The Carbon Footprint Of A Cheeseburger 

A Few Fast Food  Facts From Fast Food Nation 

  • This year Americans will spend over $110 billion on fast food more than they’ll spend on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music combined.
  • Every day about one quarter of the U.S. population eats fast food.
  • Roughly 12% of all American workers have worked at McDonald’s.
  • The golden arches are now more widely recognized than the Christian cross.
  • Children often recognize the McDonald’s logo before they recognize their own name.
  • American children now get about one quarter of their total vegetable servings in the form of potato chips and French fries.
  • The typical teenage boy in the United States now gets about 10% of his daily calories from soda.
  • The rate of obesity among American children has doubled since the late 1970s.
  • A fast food soda that sells for $1.29 costs the restaurant about ten cents, a markup of more than 1200 percent.
  • McDonald’s is now the nation’s largest purchaser of beef, pork, and potatoes. It is the second-largest purchaser of chicken in the U.S.
  • Hundreds of local slaughterhouses used to supply the United States with beef; today thirteen large slaughterhouses supply most of the nation’s beef.
  • A typical fast food hamburger contains meat from dozens or even hundreds of cattle.
  • Because fast food is so highly processed, much of its flavor is destroyed, so the tastes of most fast food are manufactured at a series of special chemical plants in New Jersey.
  • Chicken McNuggets contain beef additives, while McDonalds French fries derive some of their flavor from “animal products.”


McDonald’s Perpetual Potato

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An article that I read in the paper inspired this commentary.

This post is simply an opinion piece.

A few thoughts and ideas about foods that are fast/mass produced.

My sharing of the 1996 McDonalds hamburger a few years ago was also that – a sharing of a prop that prompted discussion in my classes.

The newspaper article made me realize what a business monopoly McDonald’s really is.

It’s mind boggling.

An institute was established in 2005 to handle newly discovered  varieties of potato species. It’s sole purpose while unwritten …is to have their potato considered by McDonald’s.  This is ALL they do.  From what I can tell the biggest selling feature of the perfect Mcdonald’s FF is the ability of a potato to store well.

The Perpetual Potato.

Do we want to be eating french fries that last forever?

I mean do these things even digest?

McDonald’s shifted it’s perpetual potato choice last in 1999. The new search is a big deal apparently.

Potatoes have fancy names like the Premier Russet, Shepody or the Buffskinned Penobscot of Maine. ( say that fast three times )

Along with their upper crust names they apparently have pedigree lists or a lineage that resembles a fine thoroughbred!!  To me, and I may be simple minded …isn’t a potato a potato?  I get and appreciate variety. I adore a red potato versus a russet.  I love the tender spring potato or the odd blue.  When it has paperwork on it that resembles who knows what, doesn’t it become a chemistry project?  Or in this instance, perhaps it’s an agricultural project/science experiment?

I know genetically modifying agriculture has been around in farming for some time.  When I think about it from a manufacturing perspective, like producing corn strictly for the purpose of producing high fructose corn syrup, it really grosses me out

I naively thought we farmed to produce food to eat.  Nature. Sustenance. Food.  Not to make chemicals.  By the time a perfect potato is created, one for example that has a smaller starch cell, is it food anymore?

I can’t claim to understand all of the mechanics of big business.  Big Business makes money.  In many instances big business, like fast food and pharmaceuticals, in my opinion, brings harm to our society.  The greed of selling more, more more with no regard for quality or consequences has its societal havoc.

Drugs in many cases cause irreversible side affects.  Irreversible.  We as consumers assume that risk by swallowing our birth control pills or our Viagra.  We take the drug interferon to prolong our life and then suffer tremendously from the drug later. Chemo therapy can actually kill you. We decide to do this?  While companies make money by our consumption?  I struggle with this.

Fast food contributes to obesity.  There is no denying this. Obesity and the illnesses related to it will someday bankrupt our health care system.  Think about this. How is it that big business in the end? What’s the point of making money if there’s noone around to enjoy it?

The article states that McDonald’s buys more than 3.4 million pounds of US potatoes annually.  Wow – that’s one heck of a lot of spuds.  What if the perfect potato could be organic instead??  In my mind McDonald’s and organic is a bit of an oxymoron. I remember when the kids meal added apples. I thought to myself. If the apples were organic it would completely alter the organic market.

The apples used by McDonald’s are not organic. As a matter of fact they are the #1 dirty dozen fruit to avoid according to EWG’s Shoppers Guide for pesticides in produce. 

Yup McDonald’s has the power to dictate which potatoes or which apples are the cream of the crop. The supply demand principle.

I just wonder what would happen if the fast food industry shifted it’s paradigm to slow food, local and farm raised ingredients  gosh even organics — would it have the same appeal?

I can’t even imagine it.  Can you?

Researchers and industry reps have discussed new more sustainable varieties or potato— these varieties would help “McDonald’s to advertise that they serve potatoes that are produced with less chemicals and water input”  says a Chuck Brown from the Department of Agriculture.  Does that not imply that the potato currently being used is chemical ridden??

One thing I secretly ponder is shutting the fast food industry down.   The unthinkable really.  Empty abandoned haunted McDonald’s restaurants around the world.

A remember when.

Remember drive through, dash and dine, mass high calorie closet consumption?

The thing is a mere mention of an Egg McMuffin, Big Mac or McDonald’s french fries and you still experience the entire taste sensation in your mouth. Brainwashing. That’s some serious branding.  We all are a victim of it.

Would you like to biggie size that?

article source – john miller ( assoc press – sept 24th, 2009 )

in the spirit of foods lasting forever I’d like to thank fellow green mom and Farmers Daughter blogger Abbie Watson for her image sharing and classroom science project:

To the perpetual spud!!

Activist By Accident Thanks To A Burger.

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I thought I would share this essay I wrote as we celebrate the 1996 McDonalds Hamburger’s 15th Birthday!!

Goodness — 15 years old — where has all the time gone!!

I am a seasoned single mom with two in college. While many might be wondering what to make their child for lunch tomorrow  I am curious when I might see my kids again. It’s definitely a different mindset.

Back in my in the trenches days I was a very particular and inquisitive mom. I strived to match my parenting to my sensibilities. Often those ideas were not like the moms around me. Was I a mom on a mission ? Perhaps I was! When I saved a McDonalds hamburger in a cupboard for a year. I had no idea that an image of it would become an internet sensation. For me, I just thought it would be a perfect prop for the discussions I wanted to have with other parents.

When I think of myself as an activist I could let the burger do the talking. Sure, it sits in it’s oh McDonalds hamburger glory. Yes, it looks exactly like the day I bought it. My mission surrounding the burger was really to get a conversation going. I’d ask my parents what are we actually eating? Why are these being sold around the world? What do we call food? When did food become entertainment or a treat? Are we addicted? Where is the nutrition? I wondered if we need a hotline to sway us from the convenience of drive thru. I asked what if we could get back to cooking, eating seasonally, shopping for food locally, sharing the evening meal as a family?

I started my own inquiry surrounding these very issues when mine were little. I nursed, used cloth diapers, made my own baby food and cooked scratch. Folks thought I was weird. In my community I decided to teach these concepts to others. This was my determination. What I was learning had to be useful to others. I started a workshop. We got uncomfortable together. Some parents were shocked and angry when they realized mainstream food sources were not all they seemed to be. When my parents made changes they noticed remarkable differences in their children’s behavior and attention at school and home. The kids were sick less when they ate well. Many parents weaned from diet soda addictions after learning about methanol poisoning. They began to plan weekly menu’s, grocery shop in the produce department, make homemade soups and eat vegetables! They believed they had a choice in the matter. I so loved this about my role as a community educator.

When the image of my 1996 McDonalds Hamburger went viral on the internet in 2008, it hit 196 countries. The post got a remarkable volume of hits!! I got phone calls from around the world. I got yelled at. I was applauded. I admit that I was not prepared for the devotion to the iconic golden arch mentality. I found it horrifying. I also was not prepared to be criticized for being me or for a simple sharing. Folks – it’s a picture of a burger for gosh sakes. The experience truly opened my eyes to popular culture and the larger issue surrounding fast food. I was invited at one point to tour and speak to this topic. I thought my goodness what would it be like to shut this thing known as fast food down? I admit I found that remarkably exciting. While that opportunity didn’t realize I did re-engage myself into community education. I feel at a grass roots level somehow I have had impact.

Since the above essay was written I am happy to say I am very honored to be part of a terrific group of woman speakers in the In Woman We Trust Speakers Bureau. Consider my activism and my story for your next event.


Keegan Says Ewwwww McDonald’s!!

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Meet my new little friend Keegan

and the wisdom of his youth.

three years ago

while in second grade

Keegan’s parents shared with him my burger story and image.

Since,  he’s been the biggest advocate of saying NO to McDonalds’s his school has ever seen!

I asked them to share with me an image of McDonald’s ewwwwww.

photos shared with permission from his mom

Along with this additional “about  Keegan”

Keegan is 9 years old and in Grade 4. He has a pretty wicked sense of humour – everyone he meets finds him hilarious- he loves to read and play video games (when I let him) and his favorite colour is red.

His favorite subject is Gym, although he does really well in all his subjects -thank goodness!

He loves to read the “Seekers” novels, anything to do with Star Wars and Geronimo Stilton.  Also, anything to do with farting is pretty funny to him.
Keegan is a typical boy! We love him to bits and find him endlessly amusing

If it matters, Scabbers is a ’Hairless Chinese Crested’ dog. He was named after the rat from Harry Potter (HUGE hugehugehuge fans in this house!) because of his resemblance to a rat. And because of the whole ‘big fans’ thing
They actually call his breed a ‘hairy hairless’ (unofficially) because he is suppose to not have hair, but he has some! He has a full head of hair, a mohawk all down his back and hairy legs. It is really thin and silky too. Don’t worry tho! He has a jacket, boots and a few sweaters to keep him warm in the Canadian winters!

Unfortunately, I suspect that if he were to have the chance, he would definitely eat McDonald’s. But hey, most dogs eat poo anyway!

15 Year Old McDonalds Hamburger!

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1996 McDonalds Hamburger! Yes, that’s right – the burger is now 15 YEARS old!!

Below is a re-posting of the 1996 McDonalds burger image and post I shared that rocked and STILL rocks the interweb:

For those who want to follow what has happened since visit the Burger Page

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I teach a workshop titled Healthy Choices for Children.  It’s a class for parents seeking solutions to how to improve the way they eat. It’s about the alternative food market, organics, and the top ten food additives to avoid and why, menu planning and more.  It’s a 3 session fabulously informative interactive class.

Below is my absolutely favorite prop.

People are always astounded when I share this.

I have used this as show and tell for a very long time.

This is a hamburger from McDonalds that I purchased in 1996.

That was 12 years ago.

Note that it looks exactly like it did the very day I bought it.

The flecks on the burger are crumbs from the bun.

The burger is starting to crumble a bit.

It has the oddest smell.

The paper and bag in the backround is circa 2008 – to add decor to the photo. My friend Robyn’s idea.

This is the retro welch’s grape juice plastic container I have always kept it in. People always ask me -what did you do to preserve it ?

Nothing – it preserved itself.

Ladies, Gentleman, and children alike – this is a chemical food. There is absolutely no nutrition here.

Not one ounce of food value.  Or at least value for why we are eating in the first place.

The burger on the right, off the paper is a 2008 burger.  I had to buy it to get the groovy paper and bag.

The meat is a tad darker, the bun a little less golden but in 12 years it will look exactly like that too.

Do you find this horrifying?

McDonalds fills an empty space in your belly. It does nothing to nourish the cell, it is not a nutritious food.

It is not a treat.

I marvel at how McDonalds has infiltrated our entire world. A hamburger here tastes exactly the same in China or some around the world place.

It’s cloned.

Makes you wonder doesn’t it?

Do me a favor and share this.