Fascinating History of the McDonald's French Fry

re: Fascinating History of the McDonald's French Fry

brandy1 — Tue, 29 May 2007 14:06:55 GMT

potatoes are grown in the ground and are not harmful because they are a real food.

re: Fascinating History of the McDonald's French Fry

Marie150 — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:51:17 GMT

I worked at McDonalds for many years and when I was training to be a manager, I discovered that the real secret to their French fries was that they were sprayed with a sugar solution before they were frozen. This made them browner and crispier (because the sugar carmelizes!) Just a few more calories and carbohydrates added to an already bad food. Also, instead of changing the oil daily, they had a filtering system they ran, at my store whenever the oil looked dark and cruddy, that pumped the oil out through a filter and baking soda and then back in the fry vats to be used over and over again. Yummy! I never ate them after I learned all this.

re: Fascinating History of the McDonald's French Fry

traductor — Sun, 27 May 2007 23:49:00 GMT

As per Dr. M, and comments below, the transfat addition to the deep-fat fryer has raised the MD french fry from a mere non-nutritional gut filler, to a lethal, life-compromising poison. Hydrogenation (so convenient for commercial profits and corporate bottom lines) was hypocritically touted for its health benefits; but the vegetable "shortening" had the opposite effect of shortening the consumer's life.
Another comment about "sick and dying" animals sent for processing and retailing out of the MD outlets reminds me of the movie "Soylent Green," in which dead bodies are processed into food for the living.

re: Fascinating History of the McDonald's French Fry

bemmy — Sun, 27 May 2007 16:13:10 GMT

pretty weak willed to blame everything on macdonalds, plenty of healthy people eat it sometimes, just dont eat it everyday.
seems to many people want some amazing dietary fix and dont wanna get off the behinds and actually exercise with some intensity

re: Fascinating History of the McDonald's French Fry

Paddy_203 — Sun, 27 May 2007 14:20:14 GMT

Is there anyway to make French fries less harmful?

re: Fascinating History of the McDonald's French Fry

KathieJamisonCote — Sun, 27 May 2007 13:07:45 GMT

One of our children's friend's Moms worked at Mikkey D's and stopped because she said they added finely shredded plastic to their shakes - to thicken them - does anyone know if there is truth to this?

re: Fascinating History of the McDonald's French Fry

blasto — Sun, 27 May 2007 05:26:46 GMT

I do believe that a french fry can be more harmful than a cigarette, particularly given the low correlation between lung cancer for instance, and cigarette smoking (reliable long-term longditudinal studies r=approx 0.2).

I do however have a problem with 30lbs of average consumption.... I don't eat any, not because of rancid fats, but because they are junk food. 13kg of fries??? This has got to be bunk statistics, they must have been offering big mac vouchers to survey respondents.;-)

re: Fascinating History of the McDonald's French Fry

Zambini — Sat, 26 May 2007 23:22:10 GMT

I admit, I like french fries. I grew up in french fry country - land of the potato - Northern Maine. I don't know when the last time we bought a bag of processed fries though (the same fries supplied your fast food chains).

If you want an idea of what a nastified fry is, just drive to potato country and stand outside a fry processing plant. You don't even need to go in! The smell is wretched. The employee cars are covered in a film of sticky grease, it is nasty.

The worst part? They take a beautiful potato, many times the very good, dense, shepody, and turn it into a disgusting nightmare they try to pass off as food. Oh, well, those potatoes wouldn't have crossed my plate anyway, since most of them were produced by commercial farmers who sprayed, fumigated, and fogged them before during and after growing. Never buy anything but an organic potato. Cut it yourself, and cook it yourself. It's a power packed food if you can keep it away from commercial ag.

re: Fascinating History of the McDonald's French Fry

Jonathan B — Sat, 26 May 2007 22:22:10 GMT

I had to basically give up the burgers and fries at McDonalds, due to a consistent upset stomach I got within an hour of eating them.

I still get the sweet tea, and the grilled chicken on a tortilla wrap there, and an occasional egg mcmuffin but very rarely, due to the 30 minute pain I get from the mcmuffin.

The burgers and fries from Braums do not cause the pain, but I eat them very, very rarely, less than once a week, because of the fat and grease and sugar content, and I find I do not crave them like I did Mcdonalds fries when I stopped eating them.

I heard that the McDonald fries were cooked in beef fat at one time, and this was one of the reasons modern fries were so addictive.

If I want fries at home, I find that sweet potato fries, sprinked with coconut oil, and baked, are a good substitute and do not cause the pain issue. My sister taught me about this recipe.

I suspect, but cannot prove, that the cheapest McDonald burger patty is a soy-beef mix, since I notice a taste of soy when I used to eat them, years ago, but this may be due to the oil they are cooked with. My elementary school loved to use meat extenders with beef to make burgers, and I bacame sensitive to the taste of soy then.

re: Fascinating History of the McDonald's French Fry

DWPenn — Sat, 26 May 2007 18:11:43 GMT

The McDonald's French Fry is as bad as you say, and worse for one other reason. For about fifteen years now there has been no genetic trace to a real potato in what McDonald's frys up. If you are going to have a health problem, you may as well get a decent french fry. Right now it happens that Der Wienerschnitzel has the best fries (like McDonald's did in the olden days). The only caveat with DW is tell them to drop a fresh batch, that you don't want any that have been under the IR Lamp aging. Now I'm not saying the DW fry is healthy, it is now what McDonald's used to have until what they had turned into a Kroc of _ _ _ _.

re: Fascinating History of the McDonald's French Fry

mama_of2 — Sat, 26 May 2007 15:35:49 GMT

So average American consume 30 lbs of french fries?
Can we do a little survey on the forum who does NOT consume ANY french fries?
I do not eat any french fries long time ago (when I was expecting my son 25 years ago I could not drive close to the Mc Donald's or any fast food because I got nauseous just from the smell!) So last 10 years I am totally french fry free-just because I educated myself about risk associated with consuming deep fry food.
I started to use coconut oil 3 weeks ago for all the cooking and baking and to drink Wu-Long tea 2x a day and so far I dropped 8 lbs. ( I do not have major refined carbs cravings as I used to have and I eat more healthier stuff-mostly organic.I will keep you posted on my progress.

re: Fascinating History of the McDonald's French Fry

annapavlova42 — Sat, 26 May 2007 14:27:39 GMT

Doctor Mercola,

I prepare and serve my potatoes boiled in stainless steel and steamed distilled water.

What are your feelings in this cooking method?

Anyone that has this knowledge, please respond. Thank you.

re: Fascinating History of the McDonald's French Fry

saxy26 — Sat, 26 May 2007 13:17:52 GMT

Read the Book Fast Food Nation to learn the truth about the fast food industry.

re: Fascinating History of the McDonald's French Fry

dhrishta — Fri, 11 May 2007 22:20:16 GMT

Anyone read the New Yorker article? Its befuddled author endorses Olestra, characterizes saturated fats as "bad guys," opines that consumers prefer unhealthy food, and concludes that what the "nutrition movement" needs is another Ray. What a Kroc ;o)

re: Fascinating History of the McDonald's French Fry

Katy B — Fri, 11 May 2007 15:51:41 GMT

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