Last night, I had the urge to go to McDonalds. It happens every great once and a while. More likely than none, it’s after I’ve had an alcoholic beverage or two when the thought pops into my head. There’s the part of your brain, obviously weekend with stupid juice, that says, “you know, that does sound good.”
On the way home last night, we stopped by one of the three locations that are all within easy reach from our home, all separated by an average of four blocks in the downtown area. When that spark lites in your head, it’s pretty hard to detour around it. You’re too weak to tell yourself that you’ve seen Super Size Me[imdb] enough times to run away. However, the other side of you says Harold and Kumar[imdb] went to White Castle, and they had a wacky adventure. I can totally do this.
Hollywood… you have failed me once again. Miserably. I guess I could blame the lack of common sense, but we can all just assume that one, right?
No worries, though. I’m not completely sick, and no, it’s not the effects of the tasty beverages. I’m “experienced” enough to know what is and isn’t. I even get upset when Rebecca gets McDonalds, so you can bet that I am kicking myself doubly over this one.
It gets better though. Going to the McDonalds website, I decided to look up exactly what crap I put in my stomach last night that’s still making me feel like the Hamburgler has setup a refugee camp in my intestinal track.
White Meat CHICKEN MCNUGGETS: Chicken meat, water, modified corn starch, salt, chicken broth powder (chicken broth, salt and natural chicken flavouring), seasoning [(vegetable oil (soybean and/or canola), extracts of
rosemary, mono, di and triglycerides (from sunflower oil) and soy lecithin)]. Breaded with: water, wheat flour, yellow corn flour, modified corn starch, salt, baking powder, spices (white and black pepper, celery seed), wheat starch,
whey powder, sodium aluminum phosphate, corn starch, partially hydrogenated soybean oil (manufacturing aid), (par-fried in partially hydrogenated soybean oil, corn oil, TBHQ, citric acid and dimethyl silicone). Cooked in 100%
vegetable oil (Canola oil with added THBQ, citric acid and dimethypolysiloxane). [mcdonalds]
It all starts making sense within a few words, doesn’t it? Forget that the menu even lists them as being “white meat”. And “dimethypolysiloxane”? I tried to do a quick search on it and came up with nothing after just a few tries. If I can’t go to Google and come up with a fairly quick explanation, then you know that can’t be good.
What I did find mentioned dimethypolysiloxane as a polymer in some sort of environmental science study, and the other website listed it as an ingredient in some sort of skin cream for applying to areas of your body that had laser surgery. Wow! A million and one uses. And you can eat it, too!
Sadly, it doesn’t end there, but I’ll bypass the explanation as to what’s in the barbeque sauce. Yet another thing that I hardly, if ever, consume. I will say that if you have to have sauce with your nuggets, go with honey and steer clear of everything else. It only has three ingredients, and it doesn’t get more natural than the stuff that bees make. All your other options have ten or more. Who knows what science experiments or cosmetic products you can create with them.
I guess I could rephrase that opening thought. Last night, I had a horrible idea to go to McDonalds.
First…Chickens don’t have nuggets. ’nuff said.
Second…Check out Jamie Oliver’s website regarding school dinners in the UK…he’s got a whole section of ‘nuggets.’
http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/J/jamies_school_dinners/
Third…McDonald’s, unfortunately, is the best and most accurate representation of American food I can find in GZ…seriously. Every other restaurant is sort of close…but McD’s is it.
Mmmm plastic-nuggety goodness. Should have gone with my street-meat suggestion that night, seems like the lesser of two evils now.
GZ… That’s really interesting. I was very fortunate, or unfortunate depending on how you view it, to grow up in a catholic elementary school system. All the food there was real, not made from powder and what not. From middle school on, I was in the public system, and the food was crap. Made me feel like crap, too. Jamie Oliver knows what he’s talking about.
And yes, I will never doubt you and your street meat from now on, Rebecca.
Here is a wikipedia definition of dimethypolysiloxane. Notice it’s multiple uses…
Siloxanes can be found in products such as cosmetics, deodorant, water repelling windshield coating, food additives and some soaps. They occur in landfill gas and are being evaluated as alternatives to perchloroethylene for drycleaning. Perchloroethylene is widely considered environmentally undesirable.
Polymerized siloxanes with organic side chains (R ? H) are commonly known as silicones or as polysiloxanes. Representative examples are [SiO(CH3)2]n (dimethylsiloxane) and [SiO(C6H5)2]n (diphenylsiloxane). These compounds can be viewed as a hybrid of both organic and inorganic compounds. The organic side chains confer hydrophobic properties while the -Si-O-Si-O- backbone is purely inorganic. Dimethylpolysiloxane is added to vegetable oil as an antifoaming agent. McDonalds uses this type of vegetable oil to cook certain products[2]. In addition, automobile ignition modules, which heat up during use, dissipate heat by having their backings coated with Dimethylpolysiloxane (also known as a “thermo grease”). Acting as a “thermo grease” in this application, Dimethylpolysiloxane allows high heat transfer between the transistor ignition module and the distributor backing plate that it is mounted on which effectively cools the switching transistor (ignition module) during operation which enhances and extends its useful life. (There are some discussions expressing uncertainty about “di-electric grease” (in general) for this ignition application but they all do not have equal properties in simultaneously conducting heat well yet also remaining electrically non-conductive. Dimethylpolysiloxane has this property and may be considered falling into the category of a “di-electric grease” though properties vary for substances in this group.