
Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good - rms
http://www.rense.com/general7/whyy.htm
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johnyzee
Very interesting. Seemed to be pretty balanced too, contrary to the popular
'food additives == evil' meme. I was actually surprised at the extent of
natural ingredients this industry relies on.

I liked this piece:

"A typical artificial strawberry flavor, like the kind found in a Burger King
strawberry milk shake, contains the following ingredients:

amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl
acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl
valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl acetate,
ethyl amyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl
heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl
propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hydroxyphenyl-2-butanone (10 percent
solution in alcohol), a-ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butyrate,
lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl
benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptine carbonate, methyl naphthyl ketone,
methyl salicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl
isobutyrate, orris butter, phenethyl alcohol, rose, rum ether,
g-undecalactone, vanillin, and solvent."

~~~
mtts
Yeah, but natural strawberry flavor, you know, the flavor of strawberries
contains a lot of these chemicals as well.

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yummyfajitas
Why are we posting articles from Rense? It's a known nutjob conspiracy site:

"Fort Stockton, Texas - A Football Field Sized Boomerang Shaped UFO"

<http://www.rense.com/general76/footufo.htm>

"War On Iran: The Perfect Storm From Hell"

<http://www.rense.com/general82/perf.htm>

"Need A Cooker? Use Your Cell Phone" (Describes using a cell phone to cook an
egg.)

<http://www.rense.com/general72/cellcook.htm>

"Rense UFO DataPage"

<http://www.rense.com/ufo/ufo.htm>

~~~
jcl
Would you feel better if the article was posted on the Atlantic Monthly site
instead? Or printed in a best-selling book?

<http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/01/index.htm>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Food_Nation>

~~~
narag
Some years ago, I saw a tv documental that was almost identical to this text:
McDonalds' fries, natural vs. artificial aromas, the New Jersey hub of
fragance companies... I thought that this was a transcript of the show, except
the tv version included interviews. Anyway, it doesn't seem conspiratory at
all.

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ars
Something I read in there makes me want to buy a bottle and visit local
swimming pools..... :)

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sfk
What a waste of words in that article. I've rarely encountered fries that
taste worse than McDonald's Fries.

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pmjordan
As the article says, "taste" (mostly smell, really) is highly subjective and
influenced by experience and the tastes of people around you, especially as a
child. Many people seem to be trained such that they perceive McDonald's as
tasting good. Personally, I agree with you on its taste though.

~~~
electromagnetic
I don't find McDonald's fries particularly smell of anything. I don't really
dislike the taste, but for me the texture is poor. I was born and raised in
England, so I had Fish & Chips and the invariable logic where I lived was the
bigger the better so you could literally find a 'fry' that was half an inch
thick and instead of being deep fried they're only fried until they're cooked
and crisp on the outside.

My wife thinks McDonalds fries have the perfect texture, me personally I think
they're sticks of fried vegetable fat with the potato extracted.

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Prrometheus
The problem with thick fries (sometimes called "steak fries") is that they
radiate heat very slowly. You can pick up a thin, crunchy fry, blow on it, and
it will be ready to eat in seconds. The thick fries, while delicious, have
burnt me many times.

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tjpick
food staying hot is a feature not a bug

~~~
pchristensen
_"burnt me many times"_ \- sounds like a bug to me

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tjpick
may I suggest you use an alternative product - a packet of potato chips. They
are tasty, salty, delicious, cooked in oil and bad for your heart - all the
properties of fries but without the objectionable burning sensation that is an
intrinsic property of hot foods.

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rufo
Two words: Five Guys.

~~~
ryanb
Five Guys is really blowing up right now. I'd like to see the figures on
exactly how fast they're growing, but I see new Five Guys chains popping up
everywhere and they seem to be extremely popular.

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fallentimes
I used to live in DC and miss it so much. It's a family owned business (last
time I checked) and when the founders' kids were about to graduate from high
school he gave them the choice: start Five Guys or go to college.

From the looks of it, they made the right decision.

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josefresco
Formatted for an iPhone or just a throw back to when 640x480 was the common
res? Either way, widen your content table!

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nihilocrat
_< TABLE WIDTH="415" etc etc_

Looks like it's a throwback, considering the 90s styling of the site.

~~~
ks
Last-Modified: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 04:50:03 GMT

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netcan
Good article. Makes me want Jelly Bellies.

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weegee
I hate the way McDonalds consistently undercooks their fries. They come in the
bag limp and chewy instead of crunchy. I too prefer fries elsewhere, Dicks
Drive-In in Seattle has delicious fries, for example.

