Why do people love to sneer at McDonalds so much

[FinnyStory]

And blame them for obesity?

A Big Mac has 508 calories, a lot but not excessive if that's your lunch once in a while. A Costa Brie and Bacon panini has 517 calories, a no more satisfying or nutritionally valid choice surely?

In Prezzo, their hummus starter has over 600 calories! They have mains at over 1000 calories and their menu is similar to many other restaurants more acceptable to MNetters, which is why I looked them up, not because I have anything against Prezzo.

At least in McDonalds you can choose a salad or a lighter wrap if you want it, very many coffee shops and cafes don't even offer those things.

IMO McDonalds have made far more effort on these things than most and yet as soon as people talk about obesity, it won't be long before families who frequent McDonalds are vilified, although a gastropup or more upmarket restaurant chain seems to be considered OK?

It's just snobbish, pure and simple.
Yes, I am sure McDonalds is not the most nutritionally sound meal going but as an occasional treat as part of a balanced diet it is fine. The work of Satan it is not!

Couldn't agree more OP. The only difference for us is that you get a more 'pleasant' restaurant environment rather than loads of beeping machines. But eating out is eating out, food is almost certainly going to be heavy on the calories no matter where you go.

i totally agree

I don’t think it’s just about the calories...

When I do 5:2 and I'm out and about on a fast day, I go to McDonalds for a chicken salad which is roughly around 250 calories, and wash it down with a bottle of water. Nothing unhealthy about that choice and is genuinely healthier and far cheaper than most other establishments ideas of a salad.

It's certainly no worse than many other takeaways or cafés.

I once got the wrong order in a drive-thru. I'd ordered a chicken wrap & fries, and by the time I opened the bag at home it contained a Big Tasty, two double cheese burgers and one fries. I am inferring from one fries that it was intended for one person and they'd have got a shock if they were expecting that and just got a puny wrap! That lot was about 2200 calories. I only made it through half the Big Tasty which was a bit gloopy for me. If someone is over eating on multiple items like that, that's on their personal choice. McDonalds is not forcing them and does have the avaliability (usually, not on the Covid menu) for reasonable portions within a balanced diet. Plus it's easy to over eat and add sides and deserts wherever you go if that's what you want.

I was berated last week for taking my child to McDonalds because it was suitable for their multiple allergies. Unfortunately the plant based diet they were advocating would have been limited to the point of dangerous to apply to my child, and we were better off knowing that McDonald could reliably offer fish fingers, fries, apple wedges and an orange juice without my child's facial features disappearing into a mass of swelling, hives and a week of agonising, explosive diarhorea.

What is it about then Brokensunrise? Is the burger in the gastropub made of something better than 100% beef?

If it's about food and obesity, what is it, if not calories?

Well, I think it's also about the quality of the food, or lack thereof, and the zero nutritional content - a pizza at least has some tomato, maybe salad on side etc.

Having said that, I personally have no issue with McDonalds now and again myself. DH took the kids for one yesterday in fact.

Well I’m not talking about the healthy wraps etc (which to be honest I don’t think people first think of when they talk about getting a McDonald’s!) but having lots of greasy burgers isn’t good for your health, and that’s not just to do with calories but high cholesterol risks etc? Very high in salt and sugars.

I’m not sneering though, and I’m not a health food nut! But just making the general point that 500 calories worth of salad and lean chicken for example is better for you than 500 calories worth of McDonald’s burger - I don’t think that’s controversial?

Base someone judged you? Anyone judging you is a fool!

We normally enjoy McDonald’s once per school holiday as a treat. We don’t eat there more because it’s a distance away!

I think you may be making a TAAT based on a post I made on the eating out Rishi scheme. If you'd bothered to read my reply to your accusation you'd have seen that I wasn't, in fact, making any comment about McDonalds!

Completely agree with you OP! I eat well and I drink lots of water. But every now and then (maybe once every 6 weeks) I want to demolish a quarter pounder with cheese, large fries and a diet coke! Hmmm is it lunchtime yet? 😂

Just coming on to say I absolutely love McDonald’s and now I want one . What I wouldn’t give for a Big Mac meal right now!

I often would get a McDonald's burger when I was on a diet...by itself, no chips or drink. I think it's about 250 calories... everyone would question why I was eating it. A supermarket pre made salad or sandwich could be about 800 calories but no one would question me eating that.

Yes, just snobbery. People bring their kids up to do it too. I was at the park with mine once and after a few hours I said we were leaving to go home for dinner. I really didn't feel like cooking and asked my kids if they wanted a KFC, first time in a couple of years probs as it wasn't that nearby for us to go there so it was kind of a treat. Nearby child - no more than four or five started making noises of disgust and said "Mummy they're going to KFC, yuk! Why doesn't that Mummy care about what they eat?!" The mum looked mortified and I just laughed, but that's what she'd clearly told him - people who give their kids that food, don't care about what they eat.

@Brokensunrise

Well I’m not talking about the healthy wraps etc (which to be honest I don’t think people first think of when they talk about getting a McDonald’s!) but having lots of greasy burgers isn’t good for your health, and that’s not just to do with calories but high cholesterol risks etc? Very high in salt and sugars.

I’m not sneering though, and I’m not a health food nut! But just making the general point that 500 calories worth of salad and lean chicken for example is better for you than 500 calories worth of McDonald’s burger - I don’t think that’s controversial?

But that's exactly my point, at least McDonalds do offer these healthier choices and if you look at their sales figures for those products lots of people do go with those products in mind. You'll struggle to get something as healthy or as light in most fancy coffee shops, but families eating there don't get judged in the same way.

I just don't like the food. We take the kids occasionally but I usually just have a coffee.

I worked there as a student, which probably put me off tbh!

Its snobbery pure and simple. Yes once upon a time it was pretty unhealthy but because they have been vilified they were alsmost forced to make huge changes whilst the vast majority of other fast food establishments didn't.

They are transparent with their ingredients and nutritional information and great at catering for those with intolerances plus the food is generally the same in each restaurant so ideal for people who have difficulties with the unexpected.

You could indeed do much worse than go to mcdonald's.

I agree that it’s snobbery, but I also think it’s a mistake to focus only on calories - if that was all that mattered you could just eat chocolate!

It is being snobby and usually from people who last went to one in 1983 (and only for a friends birthday party).

It's snobbery, pure and simple.

I can actually think of 2 people in RL who sneer at McDonald's but have both been known to eat it.

In case you missed it, here's my reply to you on the other thread, OP:
I'm far from singling out McDonalds, I assure you! Sorry if it came across like that. Most people I know who eat out more than once a week seem quite 'rounded' in shape to me, and some of them eat in some very swish restaurants.

For the same reasons that people on here turn their noses up at shopping at Iceland and then have the cheek to complain about how much Waitrose home delivery is. 🤷‍♀️

I like to think that they are all secretly snaffling their maccies breakfasts down them while claiming that they live on dust and one whole chicken for a month.

@Abraid2

I think you may be making a TAAT based on a post I made on the eating out Rishi scheme. If you'd bothered to read my reply to your accusation you'd have seen that I wasn't, in fact, making any comment about McDonalds!

Hmm, so why pick a post about McDonald's profits to reference obesity, from all the dozens of posts on that thread from people describing the kinds of restaurants they've enjoyed under the scheme?

Inspired by perhaps. But you're not alone.

I agree about snobbery.
As an adult who regularly reads Dahl books again and again (primary teacher) I see this idea about Americans/all things American being crass and cheap run through his books as well, it's been around a long time, possibly even since the second world war?
Scratch the surface in England and there is still quite a lot of class-based judgements going on, this is just one example. And I do enjoy a big Mac every so often myself, don't give a toss what anyone thinks.

It's because McDonalds started the whole problem of high calorie, fast food.

I was a child in the 1970s and early 1980s, living in a suburb of London. There was a good sized local high street. However, if you wanted to eat something while you were out your choices were:

Department store café (tea, biscuits, sometimes a hot option)
Formal restaurant
Pub, but most didn't serve food and weren't family-friendly
McDonalds

There were some independent cafes, but they weren't always in main shopping streets and the quality was very variable.

McDonalds filled a need, but a lot of people didn't like them even at the time. I remember hearing adults saying that they didn't like the fast food, eating with your hands or the disposable wrapping. So the image of them being cheap, unhealthy food has stuck.