Labels: Helpful?

Last weekend, I found myself at Westlake Center’s food court. I had been craving Thai food for a while so an order of Pud Thai and eggrolls sounded appealing. We took a seat over by the windows, away from the all the commotion and food ordering. I sat there enjoying my long awaited meal of noodles and peanut sauce, when I began to take notice of the notorious McDonald to-go bags. As a little girl, I was always excited when I was treated to a Happy Meal that came with an exciting toy, whether it be a Disney princess or race car. Did I ever consider what was contained in my chicken nuggets? Or the hamburgers and hot dogs I eat? Of course not, at least, not back then. It wasn’t until this year when I started to become more aware of the foods I eat, and especially where it came from. Fast food chains are just that, fast. To accommodate the numerous busy lives, foods are mass-produced. A discussion we had in class talked about how even the food producers can’t say with 100% confidence what is exactly in the foods they make. Foods that travel through various conveyor belts and machines can easily have random things fall in, such as animals. Though we don’t want to think about it, there is always the possibility that a rodent running through the factory accidentally falls to his death, and then is combined into the foods we consume. Vegetarians may have to be a bit more careful about what they buy at the store.

Although this could be said about normal foods, fast food also contains unhealthy fats. In another discussion in class we talked about how even though Eskimos have a diet that is high in fat and cholesterol, they have very low rates of heart disease. They mainly consume monounsaturated fats such as olive oil. Maybe we should take after their example and to reduce health problems.

I had this discussion with my friend as we sat there, eating our meals. I looked at my food and began to wonder if it was really only rice, noodles and veggies. Or was there something else not mentioned in the description?