Other side of the coin.
Aug 8th 2012 | 12:15 am
#136
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 2,143
From: London (mainly)/Oliva
Aug 8th 2012 | 12:32 am
#138
On the road again.
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 17,507
From: On Top of the World
Re: Other side of the coin.
Is Spanish Chorizo not junk food or at least very unhealthy, with its very high levels of saturated fat as well as lots of sodium and other additives ?
It certainly looks and tastes unhealthy to me so I tend to steer clear of it.
It certainly looks and tastes unhealthy to me so I tend to steer clear of it.
Aug 8th 2012 | 1:00 am
#139
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 7,749
Re: Other side of the coin.
Lots of saturated fat and cholesterol in Chorizo, and also degrees of quality varying from the very processed to the artesan
Aug 8th 2012 | 1:24 am
#140
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 10,759
From: Land of no recession
Re: Other side of the coin.
Unfortunately they seem to have taken over from the normal Chinese restaurant
http://restaurantewokreal.com/buffet_libre_asiatico.htm
Aug 8th 2012 | 1:24 am
#141
FreeThinker
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 9,702
From: the moors and levels
Re: Other side of the coin.
Menus del dia are no way near fast food. I'm surprised you would say this given that you serve food to people?
Fast food is processed and contains all kinds of hidden salts, sugars and E-numbers and tastes crap because of the way it is stored (at very low temparatures) and heated (very quickly)
Even a crappy menu del dia may be salad as a starter and then filete with a few chips (and I mean a few, maybe 10). Hardly a gastronomical delight but it is not exactly fast food is it!
Fast food is processed and contains all kinds of hidden salts, sugars and E-numbers and tastes crap because of the way it is stored (at very low temparatures) and heated (very quickly)
Even a crappy menu del dia may be salad as a starter and then filete with a few chips (and I mean a few, maybe 10). Hardly a gastronomical delight but it is not exactly fast food is it!
Some restaurants I've been to serve three courses to several hundred people per hour and I call that fast. My wife and I won't go near them any more - they are crap. The 10 (processed) chips and the bit of fatty meat are usually swimming in grease, the salad has been sitting on a sideboard for too long and the pudding is usually flan. Mind you what would you expect for 8 Euros?
Aug 8th 2012 | 1:42 am
#142
FreeThinker
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 9,702
From: the moors and levels
Re: Other side of the coin.
BTW There is nothing intrinsically wrong with processed food nor fast food.
Junk food, depending upon how you define it, can be bad for you.
Junk food, depending upon how you define it, can be bad for you.
Aug 8th 2012 | 2:19 am
#143
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 2,041
Re: Other side of the coin.
Try frying a few slices like you would with black pudding, or stick the small stubby ones on the barbecue and eat them like hot-dogs. They are not meant to be eaten raw.
Aug 8th 2012 | 2:26 am
#144
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 2,041
Re: Other side of the coin.
Ask 10 people what their definition of fast food is and you'll get 10 different answers. Same with processed food and junk food.
Some restaurants I've been to serve three courses to several hundred people per hour and I call that fast. My wife and I won't go near them any more - they are crap. The 10 (processed) chips and the bit of fatty meat are usually swimming in grease, the salad has been sitting on a sideboard for too long and the pudding is usually flan. Mind you what would you expect for 8 Euros?
Some restaurants I've been to serve three courses to several hundred people per hour and I call that fast. My wife and I won't go near them any more - they are crap. The 10 (processed) chips and the bit of fatty meat are usually swimming in grease, the salad has been sitting on a sideboard for too long and the pudding is usually flan. Mind you what would you expect for 8 Euros?
But some of them are really nice, especially in the smaller places where the soups and sauces are home made. For 6 euros in our local I can get a bowl of chickpeas with spinach, delicious meatballs in tomato sauce with freshly made chips, a beer, some bread, and an ice cream of my choice from the cabinet.
Basically they are school dinners for grown-ups.
Aug 8th 2012 | 2:28 am
#145
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,518
Re: Other side of the coin.
I just explained
The bread is loaded with sugar
The cheese is heavily processed, probably doesnt have much or any diary content
The fries are coated in sugar
The fries are made from reconstituted starch powder, not potatoes
The beef includes anything scraped up from the slaughterhouse floor
All beef is heated to over 100c and treated with ammonia, this kills bacteria, but also turns the meat into a tepid and tasteless sludge, hence the need to all the sugar to give it taste
The beef is frozen at -60c and then stuck straight on to a hot frier which again leads to soggy and tasteless meat
The lettace and tomato are stored frozen
i.e. the food is designed to be made cheaply and cooked quickly with the tastes comng almost solely from sugar i.e. fast food
A menu del dia with steak filete and a few chips couldnt be any further from this type of food experience
Anyone who can seriously say that they enjoy a McDs or Burger King has no food credibility in my opinion. I dont really care if its full of sugars or whatever, the point is they taste rubbish. There are many cafes in Spain who serve a burger and chips for roughly the same price but where the taste and experience of the food is much better. Obviously, there are many where it is worse as well!
The bread is loaded with sugar
The cheese is heavily processed, probably doesnt have much or any diary content
The fries are coated in sugar
The fries are made from reconstituted starch powder, not potatoes
The beef includes anything scraped up from the slaughterhouse floor
All beef is heated to over 100c and treated with ammonia, this kills bacteria, but also turns the meat into a tepid and tasteless sludge, hence the need to all the sugar to give it taste
The beef is frozen at -60c and then stuck straight on to a hot frier which again leads to soggy and tasteless meat
The lettace and tomato are stored frozen
i.e. the food is designed to be made cheaply and cooked quickly with the tastes comng almost solely from sugar i.e. fast food
A menu del dia with steak filete and a few chips couldnt be any further from this type of food experience
Anyone who can seriously say that they enjoy a McDs or Burger King has no food credibility in my opinion. I dont really care if its full of sugars or whatever, the point is they taste rubbish. There are many cafes in Spain who serve a burger and chips for roughly the same price but where the taste and experience of the food is much better. Obviously, there are many where it is worse as well!
In my experience if they get anywhere near zero they turn to mush
Aug 8th 2012 | 2:45 am
#146
Straw Man.
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 46,302
From: That, there, that's not my post count... nothing to see here, move along.
Re: Other side of the coin.
Snap! I'd love to see the technology McNasa have developed to freeze lettuce.
Aug 8th 2012 | 2:45 am
#147
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 7,749
Re: Other side of the coin.
What they really mean is fresh from the freezer. Everything arrives frozen, the bread, vegetables, meat, cheese, everything
Look, fast food is very cheap - and they can produce it within a few minutes at any time of day, its not surprising the food is treated the way it is. It is a convenience for people who treat food as a commodity rather than something to enjoy
My problem (if there is one) is that is tastes disgusting and is obviously getting people used to very low standards of food. A bit like ready meals and frozen pizzas. They are all horrible, yet a lot of people eat them
Aug 8th 2012 | 2:53 am
#148
Straw Man.
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 46,302
From: That, there, that's not my post count... nothing to see here, move along.
Re: Other side of the coin.
Seen all those subways in the UK - where is says Eat Fresh
What they really mean is fresh from the freezer. Everything arrives frozen, the bread, vegetables, meat, cheese, everything
Look, fast food is very cheap - and they can produce it within a few minutes at any time of day, its not surprising the food is treated the way it is. It is a convenience for people who treat food as a commodity rather than something to enjoy
My problem (if there is one) is that is tastes disgusting and is obviously getting people used to very low standards of food. A bit like ready meals and frozen pizzas. They are all horrible, yet a lot of people eat them
What they really mean is fresh from the freezer. Everything arrives frozen, the bread, vegetables, meat, cheese, everything
Look, fast food is very cheap - and they can produce it within a few minutes at any time of day, its not surprising the food is treated the way it is. It is a convenience for people who treat food as a commodity rather than something to enjoy
My problem (if there is one) is that is tastes disgusting and is obviously getting people used to very low standards of food. A bit like ready meals and frozen pizzas. They are all horrible, yet a lot of people eat them
Aug 8th 2012 | 3:42 am
#149
FreeThinker
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 9,702
From: the moors and levels
Re: Other side of the coin.
Your being robbed, you can get all that for €6 round here!
But some of them are really nice, especially in the smaller places where the soups and sauces are home made. For 6 euros in our local I can get a bowl of chickpeas with spinach, delicious meatballs in tomato sauce with freshly made chips, a beer, some bread, and an ice cream of my choice from the cabinet.
Basically they are school dinners for grown-ups.
But some of them are really nice, especially in the smaller places where the soups and sauces are home made. For 6 euros in our local I can get a bowl of chickpeas with spinach, delicious meatballs in tomato sauce with freshly made chips, a beer, some bread, and an ice cream of my choice from the cabinet.
Basically they are school dinners for grown-ups.
You can get good ones of course - one here in our village is well worth it - but many are very poor.
Let's just go through your meal; chickpeas - almost certainly not fresh - probably dried and bottled - therefore processed, tomato sauce - almost certainly processed, from a carton and with E numbers, chips - freshly made? - possibly but I've never known it, bread - processed obviously, ice cream - processed obviously.
Your school dinners for grown ups comment is very apt.
Aug 8th 2012 | 3:45 am
#150
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 11,231
From: Granada Costa
Re: Other side of the coin.
Try the Dr Oetke range - they are as good as anything I can cook and I can cook good pizzas.
Unfortunately they don't include frozen lettuce as a side dish
Incidentally they are the most popular pizza in Italy!
