NEWSFLASH: Fast Food Not Strictly "Natural"

(Incidentally, I'm in the middle of trying a dietary experiment wherein I'm going vegetarian for the month of October at the moment.)

Via Gizmodo, here's a lady in New York who left a Happy Meal sitting on her table and took a picture of it every day for six months. Spoiler: Nothing Happens. Preservatives, nutritionally-neutral products, etc.

Look, I get the whole thing where companies should be required to post their ingredients, of course. And I get "they shouldn't deceptively market to poor people," and all of that. But the whole broader "Rraaaargh!! McDonalds... BAAADDD!!!" stuff is getting to be one of those things that makes me hate my own culture and "people" (re: whitebread, nominally-liberal, coastal) and vaugely understand why "the rest of the world" resents us so damn much. If you're officially so "comfortable" that just the IDEA of mass-produced "budget" things is repellant to you - I'm sorry, but somebody needs to kick you in the bum. Hard.

Yes, it's surprising that there's enough salt/preservatives/whatever (or so-little legitimate nutrient value) in there that it "keeps" for six months, and it's a big clue that it oughtn't be the STAPLE of your diet. But do y'know what McDonalds would've called this footage 30 years ago? An advertisement. Even disregarding the meat - the fact that the BREAD doesn't seem to have gone moldy would've been some kind of "breakthrough." We'd be air-dropping that shit into the Third World, and the guy who came up with "EverBread" would have some kind of philanthropy award.

Here's an experiment: Get on a plane with some Happy Meals, go to the most war-torn hell-hole imaginable, show them this video and tell them you've got food that "keeps" in open-air for six months. You'll probably be elected Jesus. Then tell them that where you come from, we're so fucking RICH that we've got whole supermarkets DEDICATED just to food that goes bad really quick, because eating is basically pleasure/recreation here and we're into "rustic charm." See how well that goes over ;)