or mayonnaise, apparently.
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hm… guess I should have specified I meant US McDonalds…
I’m a bit surprised no one has said poutine yet…
(i haven’t had it though so i can’t say much about it)
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Uh, no.
None of this shit is fries… most of it anyway.
A McD fry is a croquette.
Mashed spud that is then shaped to look like a… well, like a spud.
Next ya’ll are going to tell me that a nugget is a chicken.
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dang, those look good!
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It sounds like something that could quickly make make me grossly obese if a) it were readily available in my part of the world, and b) I failed to maintain eating discipline (which is hard enough to do in the first place).
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Maybe you should do some research when you work at a company where you’ll need to be able to answer customer’s questions.
In 1997, the Vegetarian Resource Group exposed the fact that McDonald’s was secretly spraying their uncooked fries with a beef-based spray so that when they were cooked in “100% vegetable oil” they would still taste like they’d been fried in lard.
This information was then quoted in Eric Schlosser’s “Fast Food Nation”, making the general public more aware of this issue. Also, there was a lawsuit brought by two Hindus and one non-Hindu vegetarian about it (emphasizing the religious issue as well as the lack of truth in advertising, etc).
Because they got caught, they stopped doing it in the last few years (as far as anyone has been able to tell).
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Wait, it’s back on? I haven’t been keeping up, because it’s not like anyone in my family eats at McD’s anyway. Interesting. Guess they decided it was better to admit (for legal reasons) but keep using.
ETA: And by better, I mean ‘more profitable’.
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I read up on it yesterday out of curiosity and while its labeled “natural beef flavor” it doesn’t contain actual meat derived compounds. What it contains are milk and plant based products that very closely mimic some flavors seen in meat… it’s very convoluted but it has to do with how ingredient/food labeling works in the US.
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Ah, yes, that makes sense. A hydrolyzed yeast extract, or some such. Still, the years of publicly lying about their fries has made it hard to trust them now.
Thanks for the info!
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In an odd mood. I’ve grown addicted to Hoisin and Mayo as my go to sauce.
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They’re freshly-made!!!?
In one of my university philosophy classes the professor was talking about someone who espoused the theory that we have a limited amount of willpower we can really exercise before we get too tired to stop ourselves from making impulsive decisions (this sounds silly since it’s obviously true, but philosophy is all about people spending years figuring out things that everyone else already knows). Anyway, he said that you should try to take actions that limit the temptation you face.
An example he gave was that if you get a sandwich with a bunch of fries and you think you probably shouldn’t eat them all, realize that if you just sit there you will probably eventually eat them all, because the work of not eating one more fry is going to overwhelm you. So instead, immediately smear mayo on half the fries.
A friend of mine put his hand up:
Friend: “You know that some people put mayo on fries intentionally as a condiment, right?”
Prof: [stunned for a moment] “Well I think he was assuming we’d all descended from the trees!”
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… but the article you linked to specifically states that McDonalds’ fries are not vegetarian.
Depends on what kind of vegetarian diet, if someone is looking to avoid milk derived products then yeah its not for them. However i didn’t look super close at the other ingredients, could be possible there’s other animal derived products but i couldn’t be bothered to parse it all out.
That would be vegan. I am pretty sure Natural Beef Flavoring doesn’t necessarily exclude meat.
All this being said, the article stated that McDonalds stated their fries were not Vegan or Vegetarian on their site… I can no longer find that claim on the page for the fries. So, I am not really sure if they made a change to their flavoring or not… either way, I see no real reason to go to McDonald’s, personally…
I mentioned a few posts ago that their natural beef flavor has no beef, its plant and milk derived. Which makes them not vegan of course, but my point is that it may or may not make them vegetarian depending on the type of vegetarian they are. Its possible other compounds that go on the fries outside of the “natural beef flavor” comes from animals though, but its also possible McD’s is just outright saying their fries aren’t vegetarian friendly to avoid any issues which seems likely to me.
Edit:
As far as eating at McD’s i think i do so maybe once or twice a year. I don’t mind it, i think it’s “ok” but in general i’ve been trying to eat less junk food 
Gotcha. I usually don’t associate Vegan as a type of Vegetarian, but a separate beast all together, that’s why I was confused.
I’ve been unable to find anywhere that states that McDonald’s beef flavor specifically is only plant and milk-derived (do you have a source?). The fact that they state on their site “We do not promote any of our US menu items as vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free.” makes me a little suspicious… especially after all the flack, one would think they’d be highlighting it if there was no actual beef (beef extract?) in the flavoring.
Edit: I am not trying to be difficult, I am just genuinely curious to know whether it is okay to try them once again (I remember them being more tasty than BK’s fries)
Not a problem i don’t mind you asking, i had linked previously to an erticle that described that “natural beef flavor” was and based on the list of ingredients that McD’s supplies i think it matches that my link describes
How about the official McD’s list of ingredients?
US fries
|Ingredients: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Canola Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor** [Wheat and Milk Derivatives]*, Citric Acid [Preservative]), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (Maintain Color), Salt.
Prepared in Vegetable Oil: Canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil with TBHQ and Citric Acid added to preserve freshness. Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.
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