Topic: Official Sales Thread

[Stratos]

You're making me hungry...

[Mop it up]

No! Don't eat at this hour! You must resist!

[Stratos]

I'm a night owl. Eating at this hour is like eating dinner.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I thought the beef fat is what they were using up until 2004, not back in the older days.

Man this stuff is confusing...

In 2004 after Super Size me they changed a long used recipe for their french fries due to overwhelming public perception thanks to that damn movie. That movie also led to the health craze that led to Trans Fat awareness across the country and McDonalds (and everyone else) had to change stuff again.


So we can all blame Super Size Me for ruining the only consistently good thing about McDonalds.

[Enner]

How in the **** do they keep selling Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors games? I guess it's just the culture, but doesn't Japan understand that those games are horrible?

They aren't horrible games. They're okay games. They're just the same games for the past eleven years :

The Warriors/Musou games are a guilty pleasure for me so I'm forgiving of its many faults. I loved playing beat'em ups video games when I was younger. Warriors games are those beat'em ups, in all their good and bad, multiplied. Sadly, they have not embraced the evolutions of that game conceit (be a guy/gal and melee smash or slash your way through baddies) that other games like Devil May Cry, God of War, or Ninja Gaiden brought.

It's frustrating for me because the Warriors games should be so much more awesome. It takes two things I love in my movies, Kung Fu and war, and combines them in to Kung Fu wars! That should be so awesome, but the Warriors games executes it in such a stilted, limited, unvaried, shallow, grinding and repetitive manner that is mediocre. It still makes for some good moments and it is always a pleasure to slowly have your allied color dominate the field (there's a reason why missions have 30 or 60 minute timers and it's because the game plays really well to slowly and surely pushing your army's front line). Hmm, I guess Warriors games can work like some sort of comfort food.

Lastly, it should be mentioned that (most of) the Warriors games are based on historical periods (Three Kingdoms era of China and Warring States period of Japan) that east asia appears to be crazy for. There are so many takes on the history and it never stops. Perhaps it is that fascination with those histories that fuels the success of Warriors games.

[NWR_insanolord]

Pig fat would also be a problem because it would be offensive to Jews and Muslims. Not to mention that any animal fat period would be offensive to vegetarians and vegans.

Sadly, Trans Fat came about as a result of Lard being phased out. Lard is actually a lot healthier than trans fat is. The appeal that Lard has is that it remains solid at room temperature, which is important. Unfortunately, vegetable shortening generally does not stay solid at room temperature and therefore it gets chemically modified and converted into Trans Fat so that it is able to stay solid at room temperature. But it will clog up your arteries worse than anything. Back in the olden days Lard was used for most cooking and baking. Nowadays its all trans fat.

Being solid at room temperature is not a good thing, at least from a health perspective. The same thing that makes a fat a saturated fat, which is the bad kind of fat, is what makes it solid at room temperature. Being solid at room temperature means it's more likely to be able to be solid inside your body, which is bad.

[Ian Sane]

If you live near the border and need a McDonalds fries fix come to Canada.  The fries are still as good as they ever were!  American McDonalds fries taste like weird potato chips.  Now I don't know if the Canadian fries are what the American fries used to taste like but they've been the same my whole life so at the very least they haven't screwed with them.

However they recently changed Wendy's fries here in Canada and they SUCK now.  I don't go to Wendy's anymore because of it.

[Chozo Ghost]

While I understand the religious problems with perhaps why McDonalds can't cook them the way they used to, one of my childhood favorites foods is now essentially banned because people got offended.

It isn't "banned". There is no law or court order saying they can't cook with beef fat. They just VOLUNTARILY decided to change the recipe because of the controversy. Being a business, the last thing McDonald's wants to do is offend its customers or potential customers, so that's why they changed it. But that can work both ways, because apparently by changing the ingredients they managed to offend you and probably many others as well who preferred the old recipe. The problem is just that it is impossible to please everyone and since the people who were offended by Beef Fat (Hindus, Vegans, Vegetarians, etc.) likely outnumbered the people who are offended by the new vegetable oil (you and others who liked the old taste better), it was the logical thing to do.

But with that said, I'm sure the old french fries recipe is available online or in a book or something somewhere. If you like it badly enough you could figure out a way to make it at home yourself the way it used to be.

[broodwars]

While I understand the religious problems with perhaps why McDonalds can't cook them the way they used to, one of my childhood favorites foods is now essentially banned because people got offended.

It isn't "banned". There is no law or court order saying they can't cook with beef fat. They just VOLUNTARILY decided to change the recipe because of the controversy.

It's a de facto ban: in this day and age, if they hadn't changed the recipe they probably would have been sued on some grounds of religious intolerance or discrimination, especially because I don't believe at the time it was MD policy to tell people what was in their food before they bought it.  I'm not "offended" by the change.  I'm just disappointed and I've taken my occasional fast food shopping elsewhere.  Oh well.  Enough said.

Speaking of the Wendy's fries, though, I don't know what they did to yours up there, Ian, but I just had some today down here in Florida and they taste just fine.

[Ian Sane]

They changed Wendy's fries to this natural cut thing with sea salt.  Looking at Wendys.com, the American site, you guys have the same thing so maybe you changed it a while ago?  Wendy's used to have what my brother called "waffle fries".  The shape was very square and they were a uniform yellow-ish colour and the salt was almost like a powder.  Those fries were magic, only McDonald's tops them.  They changed them a few months back.  Some people say they prefer them but I think they completely suck.  I've noticed it is usually those that don't eat fast food normally that like them.  That is the general way business works these days, always changing to accomodate the people that aren't customers at the potential expense of those that that are.

Regarding the McDonald's fries I believe they were not indicating that their fries are not vegetarian.  The general assumption is that fries are vegetarian since they're made from vegetables.  Those offended by it could claim McDonald's was intentional deceiving them.  McDonald's might have even said the fries were vegetarian.  A cheeseburger isn't kosher but that doesn't matter becaues it so obvious that it isn't.  But if you say a meal is kosher and it isn't I can see why you might get in hot water.  I remember reading that McDonald's did claim the fries were vegetarian but I don't remember where.  So I might be completely wrong about that.

Junk food has become a target.  Obesity is a problem in the US so obviously the finger is pointed squarely at the companies making the unhealthy food including fast food chains.  So every chain is going to play ball if the slightest controversy erupts.

A general rule in life is that things are compromised for the irrational.  The reason broodwars doesn't get offended by the change of fries is because he's a reasonable person and reasonable people don't feel that fast food fries which no one is forcing them to buy are worth the effort.  And no reasonable vegetarian or religious person practicing dietary laws would make a fuss either.  It's the irrational lunatic who throws a fit until they get their way.  Everyone else would just not eat McDonald's fries if they found out it had beef fat and that didn't work with their lifestyle.

[Stogi]

Sometimes the irrational could help out the general public though. For example, the Taco Bell 88% bullshit about the meat being gross or something helped me out cuz their crunchwrap supremes (usuall $2+) were 88 cents a piece.

I don't eat Taco Bell much, or fast food for that matter, but that was a nice surprise worth visiting.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Crunchwraps are $0.88 right now!?

::drives off to Taco Bell::

[Stogi]

They were for a week about a month ago.

[Chozo Ghost]

It's a de facto ban: in this day and age, if they hadn't changed the recipe they probably would have been sued on some grounds of religious intolerance or discrimination,

I don't think you can sue a restaurant for using food that is against your religion, at least I certainly would seriously hope you can't do that. Because it would be bullshit if you could. But they do still sell products with beef in it such as their various hamburgers, and I'm sure Pig is present in their sausage and ham stuff. That isn't religious intolerance or discrimination.

The problem with the fries though, is like you said that it wasn't obvious that beef was an ingredient. If you order a hamburger you know beef is there, but with fries its not so obvious. But as for them "hiding" it, I don't think that's the case. I'm sure if someone were to ask or do some research they could have found out that beef was being used. They weren't hiding it, they just weren't openly stating on the label or the menu that it was there. But I think nowadays it would be a moot point because now they do list ingredients and nutritional information much more openly.

[BlackNMild2k1]

When did this become the "What is CoD:BO really about?" thread?

It went from SKU sales to shooters and annual installments. Activision was thrown in to the mix and that will undoubtedly bring up Call of Duty.

It's something to pass the time until the next sales numbers gets posted.

Sales Numbers Get Posted

CoD conversation switches to fastfood.


This forum really does have a problem of staying on topic.

[Chozo Ghost]

I remember reading that McDonald's did claim the fries were vegetarian but I don't remember where.  So I might be completely wrong about that.

If they did then that would be a problem because that would be fraud, and one that grounds someone would be able to make a valid case to sue them. I don't remember all the details of the case with the Hindu suing them, but I know his beef was that he didn't know the beef fat was there. Whether that was because he just made an assumption and didn't bother doing research or whether McDonald's outright lied and said it wasn't in there I don't remember, but that's the critical thing in the case because if they lied then they are the ones at fault, but if the Hindu man just assumed and didn't look into it then he has only himself to blame for eating it.

But either way I fully support labels on all products which fully list all ingredients so that people have the information they need to make their own decisions. In my opinion there should never be "mystery ingredients" in food.

[Mop it up]

Trans fats might as well be banned, since almost every product that contained them has had them removed. So you can't go and make fries the way McDonald's used to because you can no longer buy any cooking oils or shortenings with trans fats in them.

[Chozo Ghost]

Trans fats might as well be banned, since almost every product that contained them has had them removed.

Actually, it still exists and is used more often than you might think. There's a loophole where if a product contains less than 0.5g of Trans fat per serving they are allowed to say it contains 0 grams. But one way you can tell if its there in something or not is to look in the ingredients. If you see "Partially Hydrogenated oil" then it contains Trans-far, because that's the scientific term for trans fat so if that's in the ingredients then trans fat is present, even if it says it contains 0g per serving. Of course, a lot of people don't limit themselves to a single serving of something, so odds are they are eating 1g or more when they eat something that claims to contain 0g per serving.

There is also "Fully Hydrogenated oil" in a lot of stuff which isn't considered a trans fat by the legal definition, but it is probably even worse healthwise.

You also need to watch out for stuff that contains Cottonseed oil, because due to a legal loophole Cotton isn't considered a food crop and therefore it isn't subject to the same stringent regulations regarding pesticides and other chemicals. So Cottonseed oil is likely to contain a lot of poisonous chemicals that is normally not allowed in food.

[Mop it up]

But either way I fully support labels on all products which fully list all ingredients so that people have the information they need to make their own decisions. In my opinion there should never be "mystery ingredients" in food.

Care to tell me what xanthan gum is? As your examples in your next post have just proven, there are still plenty of mystery ingredients in food even if they list them.

[Oblivion]

Dude, it's a food additive. Not that hard to google.

[Mop it up]

The point is that I shouldn't have to look up each ingredient to know what it is.

[Chozo Ghost]

But either way I fully support labels on all products which fully list all ingredients so that people have the information they need to make their own decisions. In my opinion there should never be "mystery ingredients" in food.

Care to tell me what xanthan gum is? As your examples in your next post have just proven, there are still plenty of mystery ingredients in food even if they list them.

I'm pretty sure Xanthan gum is completely harmless. It is used as a thickener. I think it is harvested from microscopic organisms but I'm not really sure. You know how yeast comes from or is micrsocopic organisms? Well, Xanthan gum is like that. In any case its natural and not some weird artificial chemical, so I don't have any concerns about it.

[Mop it up]

I don't have a jar of xanthan gum in my spice cabinet, therefore it isn't something I want in my food. Additives like that oftentimes make food taste worse.

[UncleBob]

The point is that I shouldn't have to look up each ingredient to know what it is.

Umm... that's not a very good idea.  There are some really, really stupid people out there.  If you're going to limit ingredients to the list of things that can be identified by the lowest common denominator, then you're not going to have very much variety out there.

Unless, of course, you mean the lists should only contain items that you, yourself know... and that'd be a very weird law.

[Mop it up]

I never said it should be a law... just pointing out how much additives and processes go into too many foods. Not enough stuff is truly natural and/or unprocessed, though sometimes it's unavoidable to prevent spoilage.