Fast Food’s Quest To Feed Body And Soul

[MaxPC]

A lighter topic for a change.

Fast Food’s Quest To Feed Body And Soul During Lent And Beyond
...For the typical Mormon, the Word of Wisdom forbids the consumption of hot drinks and alcohol — something that complicates the use of establishments like Starbucks and, of course, bars. So, for most, the last drink left is soda.

In Utah, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ headquarters is located (and where 55% of the population identifies as Mormon), it’s no wonder someone saw the profitability in providing fun drinks for this group.

In 2010, Swig was founded in Salt Lake City. While Swig does have a few small food items like cookies and pretzel bites, the clear priority of its menu is drinks. Swig features over 70 beverages, which it calls “dirty sodas.” Essentially, these are just traditional sodas such Coke, Sprite and Dr. Pepper, which are mixed with some kind of cream — usually coconut — and a variety of flavored syrups.
...
The Big Mac is notoriously critiqued as having too little burger and far too much bread. But, when McDonald’s started expanding to India, this particular complaint was not likely to be brought up.

A burger chain in a country comprised of mostly Hindus ascribing to a beefless diet doesn’t make a lot of sense — unless you take out the beef, which the restaurant of course did. India is now home to over 500 McDonald’s restaurants.

Their menu is void of any beef, but it is full of potato burgers, chicken sandwiches and cheese-like paneer patties. All of these are labeled as burgers. Burger, it seems, does not imply beef for McDonald’s. Even its Big Mac isn’t safe from this. The “Big” is dropped right along with the beef. Instead, the Indian menu features the Maharaja (or “Royal”) Mac.

The alternate Mac comes in a “veg” version, as well as chicken. It’s shaped in every way like the Big Mac, but in place of sauce McDonald’s provides either cocktail or habanero sauce. And instead of pickles, the Maharaja Mac is loaded with jalapeños.
...
Though only 0.4% of Indians identify as Jains, that’s still some 5 million people. Of those, 92% are vegetarian, and 67% of these vegetarians also abstain from root vegetables. As a result, the McDonald’s “Jain friendly” meal excludes all meat, onions and garlic.

The meal is heavy on cheeses. It features a McCheese Burger Veg along with a Classic Cheesy sauce for dipping. In addition to this, McDonald’s also sells the Oreo McFlurry and some root-free ketchup. Perhaps the most-interesting addition is the replacement of french fries with a cup of corn.
...
While Burger King rarely ranks high in the United States, it is certainly fast-food royalty when it comes to international distribution. Burger King is the fifth-most popular chain in the world — and 17 of those locations are located in Israel

Over half of these restaurants are officially certified and advertised as kosher, but even without the official declaration, it is clear Burger King Israel is catering to a kosher palette.

The kosher commitment is clear when one realizes that it is impossible to locate a menu item that allows meat and dairy to touch. There is not a single cheeseburger on the menu. In fact, there doesn't seem to even be cheese on the menu. It is no wonder Burger King has been so capable of embracing a cheeseless burger menu when the original Whopper itself does not come with cheese.
Its casual ability to go cheeseless was clearly not as easily embraced by McDonald’s, which features many burgers that have both a cheese and non-cheese option. Despite being such a staple of American food, bacon is a much harder sell in a kosher establishment. Burger King, for example, has abstained from using traditional bacon in Israel — Jews don’t eat pork — and bacon burgers instead use turkey bacon.

Wendy’s does not have a location in Israel (it tried and failed to survive), but it does have locations in the nearby United Arab Emirates. The chain’s iconic Baconator has been renamed the Beefanator and is loaded with beef bacon since practicing Muslims, too, abstain from eating pork....

More oddments at the link.

[steve-in-kville]

McDonalds, at least in our area, really fell out of favor. We have a Hardee's on the same block and they are a much better value, but their hours are not as expansive as McDonalds. Go further towards the city and there is a Wendy's, Burger King... and another McDonalds that is open 24 hours. Plus a greasy spoon diner or two.

For as many Spanish-speaking people we have in our population, there are really no Spanish food places. At least not good ones, so I'm told.

[Soloist]

I generally like burger kings burrito, I bought one this morning as I had to go into work late… they gave it to me cold. Most distasteful.

[Valerie]

We have 5 Mexican restaurants in my town. They all do very well. One is pick up only but all homemade. When we moved to Medina 30 years ago there were none. We are huge fans!

My Aunt & Uncle were Mormon. No coffee, tea, or alcohol but she drank Coke all day. We were perplexed at the difference. Coffee & tea have health benefits.
Mormons have really strange beliefs.

My weakness is Popeye's Chicken for fast food

[steve-in-kville]

We have 5 Mexican restaurants in my town. They all do very well. One is pick up only but all homemade. When we moved to Medina 30 years ago there were none. We are huge fans!

It is that way in our area, but Asian/Chinese joints. We used to have a taco place inside a local gas station, but that is a Subway now. We just got a few smaller tavern-style places, but that is for special occasions, at least in our budget.

[Soloist]

My Aunt & Uncle were Mormon. No coffee, tea, or alcohol but she drank Coke all day. We were perplexed at the difference. Coffee & tea have health benefits.
Mormons have really strange beliefs.

Wife: what if you put the coffee on ice or same with the tea? Can they have sun tea if the hot water is the problem? I guess I never knew that. I thought they were against caffeine though, but that doesn’t explain the coke unless it’s caffeine free.

[Josh]

The injunction is actually against coffee and tea specifically. Yerba mate is allowed.

[Soloist]

The injunction is actually against coffee and tea specifically. Yerba mate is allowed.

Wife: What about chamomile tea? I should just look this up and stop asking all my questions, because I have to admit it’s strange. I always thought it was just caffeine.

[Josh]

The injunction is actually against coffee and tea specifically. Yerba mate is allowed.

Wife: What about chamomile tea? I should just look this up and stop asking all my questions, because I have to admit it’s strange. I always thought it was just caffeine.

Basically it’s black tea (and by extension green and white tea).

[Soloist]

The injunction is actually against coffee and tea specifically. Yerba mate is allowed.

Wife: What about chamomile tea? I should just look this up and stop asking all my questions, because I have to admit it’s strange. I always thought it was just caffeine.

Basically it’s black tea (and by extension green and white tea).

Wife: I just looked it up and got a Reddit post from the Latter Day Saints section, and I saw that and someone also linked the original writings because they were claiming that it was all because some lady was complaining about cleaning up men’s tobacco and saying there should be a revelation against it, and so they decided there should also be a revelation against women’s drinks like coffee and tea. Not sure if all of that’s true, but they did refer to women’s hot drinks and tobacco for the boys under 90 during the vote, so maybe…

https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org ... 2451/0/870