Suicide by burger?...

Thanks to Boing Boing, anyone contemplating death by junk food can now find their preferred one-way ticket to gastronomical suicide right here.


Jude and I actually haven't eaten fast-food in a while, but not consciously so. It's not like we're a pair of anti-fast food ideologues who go around pontificating the corporate evils of the fast-food industry. There will always be those Saturday mornings when a quick and hearty MacDonald's breakfast just makes more sense than waiting in line for brunch somewhere, or that rogue strawberry milkshake that we always seem to be craving... But we've definitely been eating fast food a lot less than we used to back when we were up to our necks in coursework and just had no time to cook. These days though, with a little more flexibility to our schedules, a growing awareness of how much money we save cooking at home, and the realization that we need to really be taking care of what we put in our bodies, we've taken to eating at home a lot more.

I guess fastfood's OK once in a while- who can deny the comforting greasiness of a pack of french fries or a slice of pizza? It's when it becomes your default meal choice and when you can memorize all the value meals by their numbers that things become troubling. We can spend all day talking about food subsidies and farming lobbies and why fast food makes economic sense to so many people, but the bottomline is (pun fully intended), fast food isn't nutritious- just throwing apples in a plastic bowl of limp salad does not make it healthy, especially when you serve it with syrupy dressing- and it sure isn't nourishing. So the next time you find yourself eating a fried chicken sandwich and onion rings for the fourth day in a row, ask yourself, is this something your mom or dad would make for you at home for four days straight?

Here’s what it comes down to kids. Ronald McDonald doesn’t give a damn about you. Neither does that little minx Wendy or any of the other icons of drivethroughdom. And you know what, they’re not supposed to. They’re businesses doing what businesses do. They don’t love you. They are not going to laugh with you on your birthdays, or hold you when you’re sick and sad. They won’t be with you when you graduate, when your children are born or when you die. You will be with you and your family and friends will be with you. And, if you’re any kind of human being, you will be there for them. And you know what, you and your family and friends are supposed to provide you with nourishment too. That’s right folks, feeding someone is an act of caring. We will always be fed best by those that care, be it ourselves or the aforementioned friends and family.
-Alton Brown