McDonalds in East Dulwich

[falcao]

er.....Cos it tastes nice ?

[HonaloochieB]

Actually if the quality of the food was on a par with the quality of the toys, then you'd be talking some good victuals.

I remember seeing some of The Bash Street Kid models and they were triff.

[Asset]

It doesn't really taste nice though does it? And you are hungry again within the hour. Plus the whole multi national aggresive agri business is not on man.

[lozzyloz]

In my mind I'm not sure the problem is the quality of the food as I'm sure McD's (and all other big chains) source acceptable quality ingredients. It's the global dumbing down of a cultures gastronomy that worries me.

A little hypocritical perhaps, because maybe twice in the last couple of years I've had a snack from McD, but then again, because of their ability to buy strategic locations there really wasn't much other option . . . save another fast food chain.

[jumpinjackflash]

Asset Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> It doesn't really taste nice though does it? And

> you are hungry again within the hour. Plus the

> whole multi national aggresive agri business is

> not on man.

Of course it tastes nice! Yes a Quarter pounder with cheese is full of grease and salt and the burger is probably only about 3% meat but it tastes lovely when you're hungry and wondering around the high street. You are hungry after about an hour I agree which is why I always buy two!

[david_carnell]

My Grandma always said the key to good cooking was to "keep 'em hungry" i.e. anything tastes good if you're hungry enough. During the famines under Mao, rural Chinese villagers often ate clay.

Doesn't make McDonalds a good place to eat though - either in terms of taste or business ethics.

Plus on a practical side, the amount of litter such establishments create is terrible.

[jimmy two times]

I don't know why people always follow the tired old cliche of calling them 'evil'. They're a fast food chain and I would rather buy my burgers there then in the fast food KFC style wannabees such as Dallas Chicken, Tennessee chicken et al. I think McDonalds actually offers excellent value for money. I bought a cheeseburger and fries the other day for ?1.78 and it really hit the spot. The reason why McDonalds is so succesful the world over is because a lot of people actually like it. If they didn't they wouldn't spend money in it. Pretty simple really.

[SeanMacGabhann]

solyent green.... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Jimmy you make a good point - but if the only factors to consider are price and taste. I mean there must be a reason something costs that little right?

[Asset]

exactly, bit like Primark

[kford]

Having a McDonalds is like having a cigarette - the smell makes you really, really fancy one, then half way through and especially afterwards, you deeply regret it.

[jimmy two times]

To be honest I never regret it. I run four times a week, swim, work out in a gym and do a martial art twice a week. If you work out hard enough you can burn it off anyway. The fatties that everyone associates with eating burgers probably don't even walk to their local chain.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Again tho jimmy you couch the argument about how the food affects you.

forget heath. . Is there anything in the production of fast food that would make you think twice ? Anything at all . . .

[kford]

Plus there's the argument against having a megachain barge its way onto LL, opening the floodgates...

[Asset]

With you all the way on this one Sean, but then there is freedom of choice. But I am constantly amazed by the choices I see many people I think would know better, making.

Jimmy, I hope you won't take that personally.

[jimmy two times]

You know I have never suffered food poisoning or even a mild tummy ache from eating McDonalds. However, I have been ill after eating in various restaurants and cafes over the years. No worries Asset, I don't take it personally. In fact, I agree with you about being amazed about the choices people make. It always amazes me how people who eat organic food then go and light a fag up after their meal.What's that all about?

[alethea]

having had the misfortune of working at maccy d's to earn the extra cash at uni, heh not all of us get bankrolled, you might be re-assured to know that many a night I would spend cleaning EVERYTHING, they are obsessive, some nights cleaning for hours after it closed. So if anyone wants to know how you get shiny stainless steel i'm your expert.

[SeanMacGabhann]

again with the health thing jimmy. I'm glad you haven't been ill there, but it wasn't the question I asked..

(re-reads that and thinks it sounds aggressive - I don't mean it to be - honest guv. I'm genuinely curious about the wider impications)

But as an aside from this thread how healthy/unhealthy people eat/drink/smoke - I'm not that bothered. that's where Asset's "personal choice" comes in.

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

Personal choice should also come with personal responsibility.

If you choose to eat something that you know has been produced on land where the former residents were displaced, or surrounding rivers and land were poisoned or otherwise destroyed in order to make the thing you want to eat cheaper than everything else on the market, do you think you should really have the right to make that choice?

[jimmy two times]

There is absolutely nothing in the production of McDonalds food, that I am aware of, that stops me eating there. If there was then I wouldn't be eating there...and I am...with relish.

[SteveT]

I did some work for a certain burger chain some years ago, they were selling the basic burger for ?1.10

it cost them 7p to buy in.

There's big money in sh!t food.

In a book called 'Stark' by Ben Elton there is a passage that described 'a man who was the greatest salesman, he was such a good salesman he could sell shit, so thats what he did, he was the CEO of the biggest burger chain on the planet';-)

It made me chuckle anyway.

[RosieH]

I'm inclined to agree with JimmyTT's comment about lighting up a fag.

Of course there is such a thing as personal responsibility, but how far does that go? McDonalds is very far from being alone in not being whiter than white: anyone who's ever eaten a KitKat or a Philadelphia dunker, drunk a Bacardi and Coke, taken coke, lit up a Marlboro while sporting Primarni, bought non-fair trade flowers from Mexico or Kenya is equally open to question.

The list goes on and on, and I suspect there are few of us in our glass houses who can throw stones only at McDonalds

And personally, I thought they tasted better before they took out all the salt and sugar - cursed be the health lobby

[Asset]

Jimmy Two Times can I recommend you read a book called 'Fast Food Nation'.

There is absolutely nothing in the production of McDonalds food, that I am aware of, that stops me eating there. If there was then I wouldn't be eating there...and I am...with relish.

[SeanMacGabhann]

blinder999 has worked for McDonald's and pointed out they have changed many of those practices mentioned in the book. But if even a few of the more dubious ones remain....

And RosieH is right to point out again that McDonalds is an easy target when there are so many targets to choose from - something I had already pointed out to be fair. But just because we have so many ethically dodgy companies isn't an excuse for us to shrug and say "nothing to do with me". Surely? Jesus might have worked for the Romans but I don't think he would have extolled their virtues

Most companies are responsive to external pressure - McDonald's have done much, publicly anyway, to change but without that pressure....

Aalll that said, I've dragged the conversation away from the topic. Apologies. You can probably guess by now if I want one on LL ;-) Apart from anything else it brings the Mall Rats out to play

[Nero]

Plus on a practical side, the amount of litter such establishments create is terrible.

McDonald's doesn't create the litter, its customers do. The same maxim goes for any fast food outlet or producer of takeaway comestibles.

For the record, I think McD's is on the whole an average-to-good company. Its food, if eaten in moderation, is good value, tasty and nutritious. Once again, it is the people who overindulge and then write (or don't write) fatuous books about the experience that rubbish the company's name. McD's has converted a lot of its packaging to more environmentally friendly material, gone very big on free range and organics, and is scrupulously clean. There are leaflets in most outlets telling the customer - if they could only bear or were able to read them - all sorts of facts and figures about its food and how it is best consumed as part of a varied diet. It is not angelic, but it's not a demon either.

[ASR]

I would be firmly against a mcdonalds anywhere in East Dulwich. I think they are fine where they are. The food they serve has always been useless and it continuing to deteriorate in quality and is by far the most unhealthiest you could possibly eat. I think it would be a negative point for the area.