Thursday, September 13, 2007

You want apples with that?



I foresee problems for the current generation of children. Apart from dealing with the effects of global warming and other man-made disasters, they will grow up being confused about the difference between a french fry and an apple.

The blame will rest with Burger King, which is

"developing what it calls BK Fresh Apple Fries. The red apples are cut to resemble french fries and are served in the same containers as fries, but they are not fried and are served skinless and cold."

This is part of Burger King's plan to create healthier kids' meals. The meals will contain items such as broiled chicken and low-fat milk. It is not clear to me whether the apple fries are destined for kids' meals only or as a regular menu item. In order to prevent the apples from turning brown, BK will treat the apples with a "pre-wash that contains lemon to keep them from turning brown." (I'd like to know what else the pre-wash contains.)

What is wrong with our culture when we can't feed people fruit without disguising it as junk food?

Kudos to Miriam Pappo, a clinical nutrition manager, who says "It's a good trend. The actual ultimate solution is still to eat less fast food."

A related but older article about the fight against fast food can be found here. It details how the head of the Cleveland Clinic attempted to kick fast food chains out of the clinic food court.

2 comments:

Theresa said...

Even if kids are eating apples, they are still associating these happy meals with toys and special occasions (even though they might eat fast food many times a week). Then, when they stop eating the Kids Meals, they will hold on to the notion that it's a special occasion and splurge because they're eating out--again, even though it may happen more than three times a week. That's one of the major problems with fast food being marketed so heavily to children.

Anonymous said...

seems pretty easy to just avoid fast food restaurants all together. i mean, there is nothing pleasant about eating in a McDonald's or Burger King.