Fast food places

[AnnaB]

Has everyone seen the news that India is now awaking to the greed of the fast food empire?

The problem is that there, poor people live on grain, now this is being given to cattle for burgers, so the poor starve.

Not only will it have an effect on the richer peoples health - obesity and diabetes - the poor will just die.

I am so glad that I do not support these outlets.

[Meanqueen]

Fast food places really are the pits, Anna, I don't use them either. I think they should be banned. I wouldn't eat that rubbish even if I was hungry while out. Every weekend there is a trail of rubbish, trays, cups, wrappings, etc, along the road between town and our village, people just fling it all out of the car window.
Ilona

[Richard]

Not defending as such, but would rather eat there if nothing else (which have free range policies etc) than some Greasy Spoons and Roadside Snack Bars.
Even up-market Hotels sell a fair amount of rubbish.

Then there's Airlines.........etc!

But, I agree there isn't much thought in poorer Countries for the 'bigger picture'.

[Johnhson]

I must admit it, I like a Big Mac Meal. I probably eat one every year or so

I'm reading a fantastic book sent to me by a friend from New Delhi about re-forestation project. The difficulties of the poor are hard for us to understand.

Want to cook something? Go and collect some dried cow dung and twigs, then walk a mile for some clean water. Get back before dusk because you've not got electric.

Worse than fast food places is the bio-fuel thing. Have you noticed how expensive sunflower or veg oil has become?

[misty]

Sorry Richard but in some of the jobs I've had I have eaten in greasyspoons and wayside vans and rate them over fast food joints.
Main diet was bacon butty, fruit cake and cuppa tea! I would also stop at these places in a smart business suit.
If I has to meet someone in a fastfood place I would normally feel ill one hour afterwards. The only thing that didn't do this was pancakes and hot chocolate. I just don't trust them. In Margao in India there was one pizza joint and the locals we knew were supprised we didn't eat from there (us being westerners). In the eight years we have been going there is still only the one thank goodness.

What does amaze me is when people pass up a lovely local restaurant with tableclothes and cutlery and waiters and go into a M>>>> and eat awful food from boxes with their fingers sitting on grotty tin chairs!!! What's the point in going abroad if you don't eat the food.

Food can be pretty fast in India but boy does it taste good.

[Richard]

I value your comments and I've eaten in some pretty good ones as wel. You tend to get to know where they are.

This is a huge huge issue and there are arguments for and against, one being (applies in this Country more) employment of University Students etc.
My point is that these larger chains do have some pretty strict policies on where the food comes from and you can trace most of it back and so on.

I was outside a Kebab place the other day and there was a bloke flattening the bread with his bare hands etc. and using the same spoon to dish up various 'products'. Between times wiping his hand on his shirt.
I looked inside Subway and in there all the Assistants had gloves, separate serving spoons etc.

The rubbish thing is social behaviour. I used to Mystery Shop for MacD and part was to survey the surrounding areas and count the boxes etc. They have a cleaning up policy up to a certain distance outside their Stores.

Also having worked the Winter in Catering, I've heard some fairly rank stories about some Hotels, Guest Houses and Restaurants.

Buy fresh bread from the local Baker - they closed one down in Ashford because of the rat droppings in the loaf's !!

I think you simply take your pick sometimes.

Another thing I'd bring in here are those who spend the money for more favoured places then drive home in their more expensive road tax cars etc.

But I completely agree about some foreign policies. You get the wealthy capitals and cities, when the rest of the country is poverty stricken.

Best just stay at home and eat your own !

[Meanqueen]

I have no experience of India, but my brother has lived in Mumbai for the last 8 years. He rang me a couple of weeks ago, he is still alive. Sorry, not a laughing matter I know, the thought just came to me. He has told me about India, it sound pretty awful in some places.

Ilona

[lou]

My niece went backpacking last year, and went to India, she said it was just awful, they stayed in a hotel where they could not walk outside and had to get very suspect taxis, and passed the most depressing scenes of poverty, it really upset her, i don't think she really new what to expect out there.

Fast food places though, well there is a k..f..c opening soon next to a mac.. i feel like enlarging some pictures of my hens and sticking up on the billboard thats advertising it!
I don't eat from them but i know my eldest has when out with other people, as long as its not all the time. i do hate them and won't waste my money in there. However since rescuing ex-batts my daughter won't eat chicken from them anymore bless her, its her own decision and im very proud of her! She is only 8!

[Richard]

That's good Lou. Often when you 'deprive' youngsters of the fast foods, as soon as they're more unleashed, they're in there every day!

Most call the 'C', 'C.r.u.e.l.t.y', but I believe that even they have succombed over the past few years to a lot of pressure from CIWF.

[saint-spoon]

This is a huge huge issue and there are arguments for and against, one being (applies in this Country more) employment of University Students etc.
My point is that these larger chains do have some pretty strict policies on where the food comes from and you can trace most of it back and so on.


The rubbish thing is social behaviour. I used to Mystery Shop for MacD and part was to survey the surrounding areas and count the boxes etc. They have a cleaning up policy up to a certain distance outside their Stores.

I agree with you there Richard, it's all very easy to blame the company for all the ills of world without investigating fully into the facts. I'm not defending them but they do have some minor redeeming features.

A friend of mine used to work for Ronaldo McDonaldo and recons that they are one of the best employers that he’s ever had and pay quite well compared to other youth employers. They are well above the standard required for health and hygiene because they can’t afford the bad publicity of having a shop closed down. They very publicly support charities and I believe that they have their own one for sick children…..

Like most multinationals I would suspect that beneath the glossy façade lies a rather grubby interior basing policy around profit and not ethics. We must however remember that at the end of the day they are producing food, we might choose not to eat it or agree with how it is produced but it still feeds folk; the bio-fuel industry is causing far more damage as it clambers towards the highly lucrative and profitable markets of the future. The Brazilian rainforest is being ploughed up primarily to supply the ever increasing demand for soya with which to make animal feed, how long until it switches to bio-fuel and exacerbates the global food shortage?

[Johnhson]

What's really sad is reading this and I fancy a big mac!

Can you blame the suppliers for making money in a legal fashion? Or the people who go every day and buy fast foods?

[oldboy]

Hi
I read this topic with interest.
Having had my own 'Fast food' outlet in Manchester for years, I have to admit that I could never understand my childrens desire for McD.............burgers when our own 100% pure beefburgers were much better quality in every way. Which just goes to prove the power of good marketing. By the way, I sold the business some years ago so this isn't an attempt to advertise!
I disagree with the comment about greasy spoon fast food, if any one has poor quality of food and service at extortionate prices, it is the motorway service areas. I will go out of my way to find a good greasy spoon when I'm travelling the country. Prior to a recent trip up to Scotland I was surfing the net for ideas and came across www.laybyecafe.com which gave lots of information for the travellor on the subject of laybyecafe's, road traffic & weather reports and lots of food tips.
It's worth a look
Cheers

oldboy

[misty]

My friends have their first day as 'wayside purveyors of good food '(burger van). We will go and lend our support with a cup of tea and a bun.

[roady]

Hi Misty
I hope your friends 'Eatery' is a great success. If they want to get in touch with me I will give them a write up on www.laybyecafe.co.uk
Or you can contact me direct
roady@laybyecafe.co.uk
Regards
Roady

[taff]

Maybe it's a generation thing..
I stopped eating fast-food outlet burgers a while ago, but they weren't the exciting 'treat' to me that people the next age group down and more appear to think they are.
I'd rather go to a greasy spoon than to a burger place, because fried breakfasts weren't done, except rarely, in my parents house, whereas my mother made her own burgers (polpetti) so there was no mystery there.