mmm... french fries

Really McDonalds?

McDonalds really did use a good marketing stratedgy to advertise their french fries with this badly made video from the 80s. They hardly featured them at all in the video, but focused on a somewhat-catchy gimmick. They used puppets and a song to make you want to buy their french fries, without mentioning their taste or anything about them at all.

This doesn't really make me want to buy them though, haha.

There are way too many french fry varieties at the store.

Whenever me and my mom go shopping, she will tell me to pick up a bag of french fries to go with hamburgers or hotdogs or whatnot, so I usually gab the store brand shoestring ones. Then she usually asks why I got those, and not something more fancy.

I hate potato puffs/tater tots. Seriously. They're like hashbrowns only less crispy and less delicious.

And then there's that weird one with the crunchy texture on it (I think they're called extra crispy by Ore-Ida or something.)

And McCain makes those weird smiley face mashed potato things with the crispy outside which are not very good.

And I'm not too fond of curly fries either, cause they have a different texture than that classic shoe string I love so much.

I do however will get steak cut or something similar to that when they're on sale, because I like those too.

There really are a bunch of different kind of french fries in the store, which I really never noticed until I analyzed them.

Today I went to Bennigan's in Boston with my friend on our way to see Hairspray.

Anyway, I had ordered chicken fingers (like I do everywhere) and they came with french fries and this delicious honey mustard sauce.

I find myself often dipping my french fries into honey mustard compared to ketchup when I go out to eat. Maybe it's because the honey mustard is delicious and ketchup is so standard and predicatble. But whenever I am at home, it is always ketchup, and no exceptions.

Oh, and the other day at TGIFriday's, I had dipped my french fries in tartar sauce and found that it was actually pretty good, haha.

I usually try random things to dip my french fries into to give them a different taste. Usually they will turn out good, but sometimes it's bleh. Also, dipping your french fries into Frosties are grossssss.

So the other day I went to Wendy's and got french fries, of course. When I took the container they come in out of the bag, the thing was saturated with grease.

I don't know how some french fries have it happen, but sometimes you just get that really really greasy batch and it tastes like it.

I remember when Wendy's used to have those soggy irregularly cut french fries. Those were the best.

So my friends and I went to TGI Fridays the other day, and we were feeling ritzy and ambitious, so we got some appetizers. We ordered the fried mac & cheese (which were little macaroni and cheese balls with a delicious crispy shell), and the fried green beans.

Oh man, those things are good.

They're like french fries, only instead of potatoes, they use green beans, and you kind of feel like they're healthy (even though they're not) because they have green beans in them!!!

And they have this spicy wasabi ranch whatever dressing to dip them in.

The only thing I can complain aboutis I wish the green bean was more crispy and less soggy.

I want more immediately.

So I was checking out a link that our professor sent us, listing food ingredients and nutrition facts, so of course, I looked up french fries. I chose McDonald's, because they are pretty much the standard around here.

INGREDIENTS: French Fries (, Potato(es), Soybean(s) Oil Partially Hydrogenated, Natural Flavor(s), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate To Protect Color, Vegetable Oil Partially Hydrogenated (, Corn Oil Partially Hydrogenated and/or, Canola Oil Partially Hydrogenated and/or, Cottonseed Oil and/or, Sunflower Oil and/or, Corn Oil ), TBHQ To Preserve Freshness, Citric Acid To Preserve Freshness, Dimethylpolysiloxane ),An Anti-foaming Agent, Salt

Anyway, they have some pretty iffy-ingredients in them. My favorite in particular is TBHQ which is "petroleum based; the HACSG recommends to avoid it. May cause nausea, vomiting, delirium. A dose of 5g is considered fatal. Typical products are fats, oils, margarine" ^{(foodfacts.com)}.

Check out the link, it's pretty interesting what these ingredients can do to your body.

An article I found mentions that in South Carolina schools, there is a bill, that if passed, will place a ban on high-fat foods, including pizza (!), moonpies (!!) and french fries (!!!).

What, why?

There is no need to completely remove one of America's favorite food from the lunch room because they do not know how to make it correctly. French fries could very easily be made a tad healthier. Instead of frying them in fatty oils, maybe they could try a healthier one, like canola or olive oil. They could also try baking them. Or removing some of the salt. There are many things that could be done to help the situation, instead of getting rid of it all together.

I can understand the moonpies, because there is no possible way to make those healthy. Pizza is possible to make a tad healthier, but then it wouldn't be pizza anymore. French fries are a lot easier to health-ify without removing the amazingness.

One thing that has always interested/bothered me is the different name for french fries that Brittish-land has. They call french fries, chips, and chips, crisps. Chips are flat and come from factories in colorful bags, not something you eat with fish. (Also, fish is a fancy meal, why would you de-fancify it with french fries? Is that why they call them chips instead?)

According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, there is an explanation of the different name.

The British usually serve thicker slabs of potato than the "french fries" popularised by major multinational U.S. hamburger-chains. In their homes or in non-chain restaurants, people in or from the U.S.A. may eat a thicker type of chip, called "home fries" or "steak fries".

It might just be a regional thing, but if its long and made out of a potato, I call it a french fry.

So I googled French Fries again in the news, since I forgot about this blog, and have been incredibly icky feeling/busy, and found an article (here) about a woman observing the use of ketchup in fast food restaurants.

People often will grab so many ketchup packets (more than they'll use) and just throw the rest away.

That really is a waste of food if you think about it. I know at my house, we have a drawer in the fridge filled with packets from McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell, and we use them when we run out of the bottle stuff, but there are many people who just discard the unused food. French Fries are one of the main things you use ketchup for, besides other things like burgers or hot dogs.

Sometimes (kind of related) when I go to Dunkin' Donuts, I want a single ketchup packet for my bagel sandwich. I tell this to the teller, and I usually get two. And then I just wonder what I'm going to do with the other one. So I let it sit in this little change-dish type thing in my car until I get another sandwich, this time, not asking for the packet.

But yeah. We waste ketchup a lot. Does anyone else try to conserve?

But in reality, what doesn't?

Googling "french fries" in the news section, there were quite a few articles explaining that soaking potatoes before making them into french fries can remove an acrylamide risk, whatever that is. Block quote time:

Acrylamide is a carcinogen that is created when starchy foods are baked, roasted, fried or toasted. In 2002, when scientists at the Swedish Food Administration first reported unexpectedly high levels of acrylamide, found to cause cancer in laboratory rats, in carbohydrate-rich foods. ^{[Food Navigator]}

Basically what it is saying, is that you should wash your potatoes (with moving water to remove 28% of the acrylawhatever, or soak them for a half-hour to remove 38%^{[LA Times]}) before you french-fry them.

Which I am pretty sure people do normally, since 9 times out of 10 you are supposed to wash your vegetables before you use them anyway.

Okay, so I remember hearing this song a while back, but we're talking about fast food in class, so I thought of it again.

And it is still hilarious.

This song is called the "Fast Food Song" by the Fast Food Rockers. Some weird dance-pop group from Europe. It's catchy and hilarious.


I find it interesting how much these American fast food joints have made their way into other countries (french fries included!), and even inspired this completely random song.

And oh look, there's a version dedicated to Christmas

So last night for an assignment, we were to look at nutrition facts and what not for fast food places.

Naturally, I decided to look at french fries:

Nutrition Facts																			% Daily Value
Medium French Fries	4 oz (114 g)	380	180	20	31	4	20	5	0	0	220	9	47	16	5	19	0	4	0	10	2	6

Oh god, is there really that much crap in them? 380 calories for fries alone; that's not including your burger with 500+ calories or your milkshake with another bajillion calories.

Is it necessary to be that unhealthy? If McDonald's really wanted to, could they make a healthier french fry? Maybe it wouldn't be cost effective, so maybe that's why they wouldn't want to. But they could totally pull a new marketing stunt for a new, healthy french fry.

Everyone thinks of McDonald's as unhealthy, but people still eat there, so why should McDonald's do anything about it?

Often people will argue about who makes the best frnech fry in the fast food agency. There certainly is variation between them, but it mostly comes down to personal preference, I think.

McDonald's french fries claim to be America's favorite fry. They have a special taste and texture to them that you don't really find elsewhere. They're usually crispy, and generally thin like shoestring fries. In an excerpt from the book Fast Food Nation, they actually report that McDonald's fries taste so different because of the way they are fried. The "oil" the fries are made in is actually mostly beef tallow, so when you're eating that french fry, it has a subtle taste of that burger you're eating too. I wonder if the vegetarians know this? Anyway, then the fries are usually drowned in salt afterward and end up tasting like poo anyway.

I remember a few years ago when Toy Story came out and Burger King was all, "Look guys we changed our fries!!1!" I feel like they've changed again since then too, because they have a little less seasoning on them than they did then, and I think it works better. A Burger King fry is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside and also has a trademark taste, different from McDonald's. However, out of the main three burger joints in the North East, I think their fries are the worst. I guess it is because they are so soft in the middle, and the weird seasonings they use. I just don't like it haha.

Now Wendy's, they know how to make a good french fry. It's not too crispy, it's not too soft, it has a happy place right in the middle. I remember a couple years ago that Wendy's redid their fries too (although they didn't make as big of a deal as BK did.) They used to be more irregularly shaped and a lot more soggy. Recently, they've taken a uniform shape, almost similar to McDonald's, but a little thicker, and the seasonings were worked on too a little. Another thing I like about Wendy's, is that they don't over salt their french fries like the other places do. They give you your own little salt packets to do that (I usually don't use them and throw them out). If McDonald's gave you a salt packet to put on their fries, I would be afraid, since they're already saturated with it.

But yeah. In the three major burger joints in the North East, I'd have to say Wendy's has the best french fry made of delicious and potato. Other fast food places make fries too, like Poppeye's (nasty fries), KFC (mediocre potato wedges), and so on, but none of them are really good, haha.

Fast food restaurants everywhere, as well as fancy-shmancy ones, all have french fries. So why shouldn't Dunkin' Donuts?

Dunkin' Donuts recently released these little hash brown creations (they were actually released last year, I believe, but they have just started pushing them), to go with their combo meals (McDonald's much?). You can get a sausage, egg & cheese bagel, medium hot coffee -- regular, and now you can get your hash browns to go with it.

These hash browns are definitely related to the french fry we find everyday at fast food restaurants. McDonald's and Burger King had been adding hash browns to their breakfasts for ages. Since you obviously can't serve french fries for breakfast (at least for now), Dunkin' Donuts had to think of another solution.

A side order is a staple in American fast food cuisine. Without one, it just doesn't really seem like a meal.

This hash brown pretty much serves the purpose of a breakfast french fry (as the real ones usually aren't bite sized). They're quick to cook, easy to sell, and if Rachel Ray loves them, why shouldn't America?

Personally, I think they taste like seasoned cardboard, but I am no food connoisseur. Give them a try. They'll probably become as common as french fries in McDonald's some day.

Sometimes people can get bored with their plain french fries with ketchup. They turn to alternate ways to dress them up!

A favorite of mine is the bacon, cheese, and ranch dressing explosion. You start with a layer of french fries, add some cheese on top of that, sprinkle some crumbled bacon, and dip it in a small (or large) cup of ranch dressing on the side.

Sometimes, people will substitute the bacon & ranch for some chilli, to create the ever delicious chilli cheese fries.

Googling french fry toppings, I also found something interesting.

Poutine is a dish of french fries found in Canada (especially in Quebec), topped with some sort of cheese curd and gravy. Yum. /sarcasm

Apparently, this is something popular in Canada, sold even at fast food resturaunts like McDonald's.

Other countries top their fries with different things too, like tartar sauce in the Netherlands, but that's too far from home for me.

I don't know how I feel about this curd-gravy dish, but I suppose maybe Canadians think the same of our cheddar-bacon-artery-hardening goodness.

So I went to Brigham's grille the other day at the mall because I was hungry and my friends and I were going to see a movie.

Well let me tell you, America can take anything good like a salad, and make it bad for you.

Looking at all their overpriced items on the menu, I eventually decided to get a chicken ceasar salad wrap with french fires.

Mmmm, grease.

So I got my wrap with lettuce, deep fried chicken, cheese and excessive amounts of dressing, and a pile of french fries on the side of my plate.

I love how we can go anywhere in America and take something as healthy as a salad, and turn it into artery clogging suprise with french fries.

What are these? What makes them "fries"? I guess they're kind of shaped like french fries, but they do not really taste anything like them (or anything else for that matter). Do they even have potatoes in them? I was curious about this "baked & crunchy" fry.

So Andy Capp was this comic or whatever in the late 50's. Jumping ahead a few years to 1971, Cheddar Fries were introduced using Mr. Capp as its logo. They have a description on ConAgra Food's website:

Unconventional in form and texture, Andy Capp's fries look like french fries but crunch like chips. It's a unique alternative to regular potato chips. Andy Capp's fries pack a powerful flavor punch in every crunch with zero grams of trans fat per serving.

Andy Capp's regular fries are available in Hot and Cheddar varieties, while Andy Capp's steak fries are available in White Cheddar Cheese and Hot Chili Cheese varieties. ^{ConAgra Foods}

I like how they add that zero grams of trans fat in there, making it seem almost healthy. It was a lot harder to find the product's nutrition value than their umpteen delicious flavors. They have it organized by "low fat!" or "high fiber!" I couldn't find a link that simply said "click here for nutrition info."

...alright, I've searched for like 20 minutes and can't find it on their website (I thought every product was supposed to have their nutritional information online?) So I gave up and googled it, and found this from here:

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 oz. (50 Fries /28g)

Amount per Serving
Calories 150 Calories from Fat 70
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 7g	11%
Saturated Fat 3g	15%
Monounsaturated Fat 2.5g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 300mg	12%
Total Carbohydrate 17g	6%
Dietary Fiber 0g	0%
Sugars 1g
Protein 2g	4%

Iron

4%

Low trans fat? Yayy! What about all that saturated fat? And mmmm, sodium. And it's also worth noting that a regular bag has 3.5 ounces in it, so multiply everything by 3.5. I guess that's why it's called junk food. (But look at all that protein!)

Also, I looked up the ingredients from here:
I don't know what the majority of that stuff is, but at least they contain SOME potatoes like the food they're based off of. Although I bet the percentage of "degermed yellow corn meal" is a lot higher.

So yeah. These "fries" aren't really anything like their namesake, but I guess it's just like "onion flavored rings." The shapes determine what they are instead of the ingredients/taste.

So the other night, I was getting ready for work, and asked my dad to make me something for dinner before I left. So he made me an omelet and some french fries. What a weird combination, huh?

Anyway, my mom had purchased a Fry Baby, because she remembered her parents having a Fry Daddy (a beefier version) as a kid, and it has pretty much only served the function of french fries and chicken nuggets. But yeah, it's interesting how we have a separate contraption for french fries & the like, just like we have a toaster and blender. I don't know if everyone else in America has one of these things, but they're pretty handy.

French fries are one of those things I can eat all the time, be it with a random omelet for dinner (even though people eat home fries often with breakfast), or just as a snack. I don't believe it's the most healthy thing I can eat (aren't there carrot sticks in my fridge?) but it's almost like a staple now in my house to have a bag of store brand french fries in the freeze to pop in the Fry Baby whenever needed.

So. For my college class, "You Are What You Eat," a socilogy class discussing the consumption of food in America, we were given the option of starting a blog. In said blog, we are to write about a certain type of food. I chose french fries.

Why? They are amazing and delicious of course.

Throughout this journal, I will analyze the french fry, what they're made out of (not just potatoes), who makes them, what different kinds there are, and what I observe in the world about them.

French fries are everywhere. I'm pretty sure I see at least one every day (although they usually travel in bunches), and it will be interesting to find out more about them.

Chances are, I'll never want to eat them again when I am done, haha.

But they're so deliciousssssssss...