Lord of the Fries

[mindseye]

Originally posted by Spiffor

Not even in a Frenchie way. But I mean, these people who went three weeks in Italy... and didn't have one bite of Italian food? The heresy!

It is heresy! The popular Chinese opinion of Italian food is that it's "just noodles".

[Arrian]

The notion the poor should be making their own food at home and not paying for the "luxury" of fast food seems to come only from people who don;t have a freaking clue about the urban poor.

I admit ignorance in that I've never been, nor will ever be, the urban poor. Nor will I work extensively with them, which IIRC you do. So clearly you know more about it.

I've been in NYC quite a bit, and at least in Manahattan, there seems to be a grocery store (small, probably a tad pricey) on every corner in the upper west side. Is that no longer true when one goes up to Harlem or the Bronx?

Anyway, I guess I can see how it would be easy to fall into a pattern of eating the fast food crap a lot. But IMO, it's still ultimately the responsibility of the people eating that crap. Nowadays you can't possibly be under the impression that McDonalds is healthy. The nutrition info is on the stuff, and it's horrific. You don't need much knowledge on nutrition to know it's terrible for you.

-Arrian

[Arrian]

Originally posted by mindseye

It is heresy! The popular Chinese opinion of Italian food is that it's "just noodles".

Doh. Their loss, I guess. Mmm, Italian food.

-Arrian

[Dis]

Originally posted by Jac de Molay


This is all assuming, of course, that the grocery stores are actually WHERE the poor people are. Is there transportation for car-less poor people to get to these places? Do they even accept food stamps or other vouchers?

Poor people, in general, have much less access to grocery stores that offer healthy nutrional staples, so they do rely on junk-peddlers like party stores and McD's for food.

And the movie does make a valid point- There ARE a lot of Americans who eat fast food on a daily basis, for years on end. The fact that he did what he did is meant to underscore that very point.

In my city the grocery stores are closer to MCdonald's. In my example above, we have a shuttle bus to run people who live downtown to the supermarket. We don't even have a Mcdonald's downtown! (although I think there is one in Fitzgerald's casino).

[Dis]

Originally posted by GePap
The notion the poor should be making their own food at home and not paying for the "luxury" of fast food seems to come only from people who don;t have a freaking clue about the urban poor.

As has been said:

1. Access to supermarkets is limited-even then for the working poor the time to cook is low.

2. IN reality, the cheapest fast food is comparative with cooking at home-look at wendies and it's 1 dollar menu-for about 4 bucks you can get a lot of food-and superzising does entice people.

There is a reaosn obesity is more prevalent among the poor-the fact is the cheapest food now is the most fattening as well. Cheaper to buy a sack of potatos and a gallon of oil to fry it in that fruits and vegetables.

Oh, and my boss went to school with this guy..sadly, that has not gotten us in the staff a free way to get in

Bull**** of course.

None of you know what it's like to be poor. I WAS poor when I was growing up. We could NOT afford fast food. The most we could afford is Mcdonald's maybe once a month. Pizza maybe once or twice a year.

It IS cheaper to buy groceries than fast food. How many times do I have to say it?

[Dis]

and I know why poor people are fat. I won't state it hear, because it might not be politically correct.

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by mindseye

It is heresy! The popular Chinese opinion of Italian food is that it's "just noodles".

And what exactly is wrong with Indian food?
Whenever I eat either Chinese or Indian, I get a stomach ache for the next week and a half...

[Al B. Sure!]

Mcdonalds is fairly cheap but i always have said that for the price of a double cheeseburger (a dollar) you could get a loaf of bread. granted, if you were to make burgers at home, i got a feeling it'd cost more than mcdonalds (just because they buy in bulk) but its definently overall cheaper to eat frugal food you made at home with basic foodstuffs than eat at mcdonalds.

when i was young, i rarely ate at mcdonalds. when they had those 39 cent hamburgers or 49 cent cheeseburgers on certain days of the week, my mom would send me out to buy a small hoard that we would freeze. a few dollars and a microwave and we could eat for the whole week.

now that i'm grown, i actually eat at fast food places quite often (everyday but the fact that i work at a mcdonalds increases my daily dosage). you develop a real hatred for the customers, by the way, if you work at mcdonalds. you start getting a certain satisfaction when the animals come to the trough and pay you for slowly killing themselves. feels like i'm doing something special...

and by the way, people going to mcdonalds is a bit over-rated. There's a mcdonalds every few blocks but there's a chinese store on every other corner. it's the chinese stores with their 2 dollars gets you four chicken wings that is where people really go for every meal of every day.

[Al B. Sure!]

and I know why poor people are fat. I won't state it hear, because it might not be politically correct.

id like to hear this...

[Dis]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
Mcdonalds is fairly cheap but i always have said that for the price of a double cheeseburger (a dollar) you could get a loaf of bread. granted, if you were to make burgers at home, i got a feeling it'd cost more than mcdonalds (just because they buy in bulk) but its definently overall cheaper to eat frugal food you made at home with basic foodstuffs than eat at mcdonalds.

when i was young, i rarely ate at mcdonalds. when they had those 39 cent hamburgers or 49 cent cheeseburgers on certain days of the week, my mom would send me out to buy a small hoard that we would freeze. a few dollars and a microwave and we could eat for the whole week.

now that i'm grown, i actually eat at fast food places quite often (everyday but the fact that i work at a mcdonalds increases my daily dosage). you develop a real hatred for the customers, by the way, if you work at mcdonalds. you start getting a certain satisfaction when the animals come to the trough and pay you for slowly killing themselves. feels like i'm doing something special...

and by the way, people going to mcdonalds is a bit over-rated. There's a mcdonalds every few blocks but there's a chinese store on every other corner. it's the chinese stores with their 2 dollars gets you four chicken wings that is where people really go for every meal of every day.

I hear you about those chinese places. And they give you a ****load of rice with those meals, and it's just as cheap as McDonald's almost. We have one on just about every corner, including N. Las Vegas (which is probably the poorest area).

we have more of those chinese places than McDonald's by a long shot. We actually had a McDonald's close down!! I guess they weren't getting a lot of business.

But the thing about those chinese places. I never feel comfortable eating chinese food cooked by a mexican . I was just kidding, don't take that as racist. It just feels more natural to have chinese cook chinese food.

[Al B. Sure!]

we got it the opposite way here... it's chinese (and koreans) making american food. fried chicken, fried fish, catfish, shrimp, ribs, etc. you can still get chinese food but they make their business selling american food.

and the spanish people keep going for the garlic plantans and ****.

[Theben]

Originally posted by Dissident
None of you know what it's like to be poor. I WAS poor when I was growing up. We could NOT afford fast food. The most we could afford is Mcdonald's maybe once a month. Pizza maybe once or twice a year.

Hmmm... I remember running over to the Shell gas station to buy a can of $.89 spaghetti for dinner, every night for 6 months when I 1st moved to Chicago, and walking past a store selling $.99 hot dogs and thinking to myself, "I can't afford it."

I think that qualifies, but I can't say I care to repeat the experience.

[monolith94]

ebert just posted a wonderful review of super size me:

http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/wkp-news-super07f.html

it's really great, although I wish he had discussed the movie a little bit more.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Theben


Hmmm... I remember running over to the Shell gas station to buy a can of $.89 spaghetti for dinner, every night for 6 months when I 1st moved to Chicago, and walking past a store selling $.99 hot dogs and thinking to myself, "I can't afford it."

You can get a crown of brocolli and bulk rice for less than that and voila - steamed vegetables and rice. Food for a king.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Dissident


Bull**** of course.

None of you know what it's like to be poor. I WAS poor when I was growing up. We could NOT afford fast food. The most we could afford is Mcdonald's maybe once a month. Pizza maybe once or twice a year.

2 questions: poor in an urban area, or in a sub-urban area with easier access to other places to buy food?

2. How long ago was that?

It IS cheaper to buy groceries than fast food. How many times do I have to say it?

Yes it is, so when exactly will the woman working a job for 10 hours a day have time to cook it?