You Are What You Eat

The Los Angeles Times recently published their quality ranking of French fries from fast-food chains. The grades assigned resulted in nearly two-hundred reader responses – not the deluge climate change or gun regulation topics generate, but a lot for fried potatoes – ranging from agreement to ho-hum to outrage that one’s favorite was rated poorly.

Number one: Five Guys, with McDonald’s ranked a distant second.

But what really generated controversy was the dead-last rating of In-N-Out. The California burger icon, lately creeping across borders into other states, is noted for its freshly-cooked menu items. It is also famous for its secret menu, so secret that it could take as long as twenty seconds to find on the Google machine.

  • “In-N-Out’s fries the worst? Del Taco’s fries among the best? What hot garbage is this???”
  • “In n Out Fries are awesome. What sucks is this list…who eats at McDonalds?!?!?!!!!!!!!!”
  • “Anyone who puts McD’s number 2 and In N Out last needs to be deported.”
  • “I’m horrified to read these blasphemous words about In-N-Out’s fries.”
  • (Tater-tot advocates also put in a few comments.)

Perhaps your interest is in healthier eating, such as seafood. Experts recommend two or three servings of fish or shellfish per week. That’s eight-to-twelve ounces, three times the average American’s consumption. But in a world where overfishing is already a concern, how could the seas produce that much? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says wild-fish production hit its plateau in the 1980s. The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program suggests aquaculture – farmed fish – could be the answer. Presently, half the seafood eaten in the world is farmed, but not much of it in the U.S. We import ninety percent of our seafood.

The NOAA reports that many countries are investing in sustainable aquaculture research and development. Many fish purveyors display Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch list.

Back to French fries; well, plant-based food anyway. (That excludes the current trend of fries cooked in duck fat.) Those who should know tell us we need to cut our red-meat and sugar consumption in half. We should double our intake of vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans and lentils. NBA stars are among those joining the trend to vegetarian and vegan diet.

If you can reconcile your fast food cravings with eating less meat, Amy’s, of frozen and canned vegetarian food success, also has a burgers, fries, shakes take-out place in Sonoma County. Everything is vegetarian and available vegan. (My former workplace in Santa Rosa was a couple blocks from one of Amy’s processing plants. If the breeze was right, the aromas of cooking onions or garlic or whatever wafted our way. Quite pleasant.)

Or you could be a trendsetter and eat bugs!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.