Due to a hectic day in one of the busiest cities in the world, and missing lunch and dinner, myself and a friend decided to grab something fast and convenient food to eat on the go.. as millions of others do on a daily basis..
being in london, with a fast food restaurant on every corner, we had a wealth of options.. or at least we thought we had..
realistically we only had a choice of 5 different food types, under a multitude of different logos, but essentially the same stuff. (remember im only talking about fast food, not including restaurants, cafe's, pubs..etc)

we have the deep fried chicken shops,we have the big one with the red logo everywhere, but here in london we have many different imitations of that one. (which are all blatent copies of the big one but are all eerily similar)

we have the burger shops again all under various logo's but in reality the food is virtually the same..

we have the many generic pizza places..

we have many kebab/burger shops.. generally the cheapest and nastiest ingredients you can get..

and of course the good old british favourite.. fish and chip shops.


We decided on a burger bar, the most popular in the world and one i have been to a thousand times before.. so much so i know the menu in my head and i know exactly what im getting before i arrive there..
i must add though, i used to eat very unhealthy and used to visit these places on a regular basis. these days since the things, ive discovered things about food, i tend to eat reasonably healthy..
but im not going to lie, i still do occasionally eat take away fast food..

after the meal, i felt the usual feelings of being unsatisfied, guilt, annoyance at myself for eating such a meal.. and i felt a little bit sick in my stomach, which sometimes happens after fast food.. during the conversation after with my friend we both commented on the similar bad feelings after eating fast food, especially feeling a little sick.
so i decided to check and see what is really in the food i ate today

this information is from the company's official website.

100% Beef Patty 100% pure USDA inspected beef; no fillers, no extenders. Prepared with grill seasoning (salt, black pepper).

ok, so it is claimed that the beef is 100%.. i cant argue with that.. USDA inspected beef? sounds official...
lets move on..

the bun..(mine had 3, so i guess its x3 of this stuff)

Enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, enzymes), water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated soybean oil, contains 2% or less of the following: salt, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, wheat gluten, ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride, dough conditioners (sodium stearoyl lactylate, datem, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, mono- and diglycerides, ethoxylated monoglycerides, monocalcium phosphate, enzymes, guar gum, calcium peroxide, soy flour), calcium propionate and sodium propionate (preservatives), soy lecithin, sesame seed.
CONTAINS: WHEAT AND SOY

sounds like alot of stuff in there! when i bake bread (which is easy) i only put 5 ingredients flour, yeast, salt, water and a little olive oil.. occasionally a little sugar.. all natural ingredients.. i dont know what the hell all the other stuff is for??

the cheese

Pasteurized Process American Cheese Milk, water, milkfat, cheese culture, sodium citrate, salt, citric acid, sorbic acid (preservative), sodium phosphate, artificial color, lactic acid, acetic acid, enzymes, soy lecithin (added for slice separation).

quite a few ingredients and chemicals again, seems like alot of different types of acids in that..

the salad in the burger

Lettuce Pickle Slices Cucumbers, water, distilled vinegar, salt, calcium chloride, alum, potassium sorbate (preservative), natural flavors (plant source), polysorbate 80, extractives of turmeric (color). Onions Chopped onions.

shouldnt this say just lettuce, gherkin and onion,i dont even know what most of this stuff listed here is?

the sauce

Soybean oil, pickle relish [diced pickles, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, vinegar, corn syrup, salt, calcium chloride, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate (preservative), spice extractives, polysorbate 80], distilled vinegar, water, egg yolks, high fructose corn syrup, onion powder, mustard seed, salt, spices, propylene glycol alginate, sodium benzoate (preservative), mustard bran, sugar, garlic powder, vegetable protein (hydrolyzed corn, soy and wheat), caramel color, extractives of paprika, soy lecithin, turmeric (color), calcium disodium EDTA (protect flavor). CONTAINS: WHEAT, EGG AND SOY

Damn you secret sauce!! this is the stuff that keeps me going back for more.. what is in it? wow..seems like alot of stuff in here too i counted around 40 items.. again i dont know what alot of it is..

French Fries: Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives]*, citric acid [preservative]), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent. CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK

why doesnt this just say potato, oil and salt?

i wont even bother with the brown drink in the red container..
so it looks like i have consumed more than 200 ingredients that made up my simple burger and fries... thats a beef pattie, bread, a little salad, sauce, cheese and fried potato.

and what is some of this stuff..

high fructose corn syrup – Increased use of high fructose corn syrup has shown significant correlation to obesity rates according to Princeton University researchers

partially hydrogenated soybean oil – An unhealthy trans fat created through an unnatural chemical process known as hydrogenation

sodium benzoate – Sodium benzoate is a preservative that has been in the press for a variety of reasons over the years due to concerns of cell damage, cancer (through a reaction with vitamin C resulting in benzene) and hyperactivity in children

ammonium sulfate – The IPCS has a lengthy and detailed 231 page safety study on this chemical.

to name but a few..

i have used this fast food chain as an example, because i had it today, but they are all the same, it doesnt matter which chain or even which type of food you are eating, they are all full of chemicals.

i already knew this food was bad, and i live in a fast moving city, so i cant honestly say ill never eat fast food again, but if seeing things like this, highlights to me and others what this stuff really contains, then maybe we can try and avoid it, or at least reduce the amount we consume..

Question? What is this British fascination with the fish and the chips? I tried that combo at a local fish shop and thought it was .. ok.

Oh and speaking for myself (I live in the U.S.), I probably consumed more than that amount. Not through fast food places, I stopped eating that garbage years ago. But by buying 'natural' ingredients from my local markets.

That food looks awesome too bad they always sneak in toxic chemicals to save a buck. Or make an extra buck, whichever.

But seriously though, those meals look mighty fine to me. Judging by appearance that is. Mouth watering...

Isn't it sad how they will 'design' foods in an industrial manner to 'look really good'? Odd isn't it?

Worst part is, our natural instinctual mind falls for it far too often!

Originally posted by anon102
Question? What is this British fascination with the fish and the chips? I tried that combo at a local fish shop and thought it was .. ok.

Oh and speaking for myself (I live in the U.S.), I probably consumed more than that amount. Not through fast food places, I stopped eating that garbage years ago. But by buying 'natural' ingredients from my local markets.

edit on 2-6-2011 by anon102 because: (no reason given)

yeah we love our fish and chips here, i dont know why its usually disgusting and greasy from these shops..

im the same with natural ingredients now, although sometimes you cant avoid this stuff..

Originally posted by anon102
Question? What is this British fascination with the fish and the chips? I tried that combo at a local fish shop and thought it was .. ok.

I eat fish and French fries together.

I don't usually have chips with my fish but on the rare occasion I do I will probably go with Baked Lays original flavor chips, or maybe some Ruffles.

Originally posted by Misterlondon

Damn you secret sauce!! this is the stuff that keeps me going back for more.. what is in it?

edit on 2/6/11 by Misterlondon because: (no reason given)

If thats really the only thing that keeps you coming back, I can help you with that. Big Mac sauce is nothing more than Thousand Island salad dressing.

Originally posted by muzzleflash
That food looks awesome too bad they always sneak in toxic chemicals to save a buck. Or make an extra buck, whichever.

But seriously though, those meals look mighty fine to me. Judging by appearance that is. Mouth watering...

Isn't it sad how they will 'design' foods in an industrial manner to 'look really good'? Odd isn't it?

Worst part is, our natural instinctual mind falls for it far too often!

your damn right bro.. looking through pictures of food while making this thread i was actually salivating at some... and i swear there were moments when i could actually smell some of this food..

Dude, I thought you were committing suicide! You went out for fast food oh.....these days it's not too far off though. You might as well drunk the drain cleaner from the bottle.
"Don't eat the GMO food!" they say, eh f it and enjoy your life.

Originally posted by muzzleflash

Originally posted by anon102
Question? What is this British fascination with the fish and the chips? I tried that combo at a local fish shop and thought it was .. ok.

I eat fish and French fries together.

I don't usually have chips with my fish but on the rare occasion I do I will probably go with Baked Lays original flavor chips, or maybe some Ruffles.

Haha Muzzle. Reminded me of Marx brothers for a second.

Chips = Fries in case you were serious though...

Originally posted by Cheesefacedogbone

If thats really the only thing that keeps you coming back, I can help you with that. Big Mac sauce is nothing more than Thousand Island salad dressing.

but im sure it has that added secret ingredient that make you a little bit addicted to it..

and to be honest ive had thousand island dressing on salads before and i cant remember it tasting like big mac sauce..

Originally posted by Misterlondon

Originally posted by Cheesefacedogbone

If thats really the only thing that keeps you coming back, I can help you with that. Big Mac sauce is nothing more than Thousand Island salad dressing.

but im sure it has that added secret ingredient that make you a little bit addicted to it..

and to be honest ive had thousand island dressing on salads before and i cant remember it tasting like big mac sauce..

The secret ingredient? The crushed souls and spirits of its employees
Misery never tasted so good!

These foods actually look better than what's sold here in Vancouver BC

Fast food vendors sell absolute crapola here.