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?

Few people only get a burger without the fries. So 500 calories for a burger and 310-500 calories for the fries can amount to a 1000 calories per meal. Some people may also have a milkshake, mcflurry or a non-diet drink along with their meal, making the calorie count increase even more.
It is very easy to overindulge...
I also believe that McDonalds food can be addictive...the fats, the salt, the hidden sugars all contributing to the addiction.

Snobbery. Those mums who are virtue signalling and hold out as long as they possibly can to have one. DD's peer had her first one at 7 to much fanfare and now whenever we go, my DD says "Oh Sally can only have a McDonald's once a year mum"

@FinnyStory

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?

Salt and fat for starters, some of which you’ll find in a beef burger.

You’re right that it’s interminable snobbery but calories aren’t your defence here.

Because of the people it attracts. And because the food is cardboard.

Few people only get a burger without the fries. So 500 calories for a burger and 310-500 calories for the fries can amount to a 1000 calories per meal.

I do. I like a couple of fries but not a whole portion so I usually nab a couple from my kids

Big Mac sometimes but usually a double cheeseburger.

@popcornlover

Because of the people it attracts. And because the food is cardboard.

What kind of people? Like those on this thread?

The hot option in the department store would have almost certainly included battered fish and chips, which isn't going to contribute to obesity any less than what McDonalds sells.

I think the early objections were mostly against the import of American culture TBH and yes, about the lack of cutlery, not the food itself. Most traditional British food is pretty greasy and McDonalds arrived in UK at a time when the chip pan featured several times a week in most family homes and a home cooked fried breakfast was still a regular thing strange how obesity has increased with their demise

It extends to working there too.

But their management schemes are excellent both for grads and those who work up from the floor I know a couple of people working in management there. They earn very decent salaries. People are very snobby about "McJobs"

MaybeDoctor where did you live that didn't have a Wimpy? I thought everywhere had them in the 70s/80s .
Did you not have chip shops either (eating with hands from paper !!).

Fancy restaurants don't use salt or fat?

The McDonalds hamburger had 250 calories not 500 @Emmmie

@popcornlover

Because of the people it attracts. And because the food is cardboard.

Not even 2 pages in and there's that lovely sobbery we've all been talking about.

Also you're either one of those people it attracts or you're judging the food quality on hearsay alone. You can't be both...

Because it's cheap and the commoners frequent it 😂 I'm one of those commoners.

McDonald's breakfasts are the mutts nuts. Sausage and egg Mcmuffin and hash brown. Mmmmmmm.

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

Of course they didn’t

popcornlover since when are fish fingers and carrot sticks 'cardboard' ?

Since when are juicy burgers with melting cheese and Big Mac special sauce cardboard?! They're not they're absolutely delicious 😋

formerbabe I was going by what the OP said . Big Mac - 508 calories.

Pure snobbishness. I've said this for years. We enjoy a McDonald's from time to time, shouldn't be a staple but nor should most supermarket sandwiches (look at the salt content as well as the calories) and plenty of people buy them daily. Don't get me started on pret. If you eat a balanced diet and exercise a bit then treats are just fine - eating at McDonald's 4 x a week and a sedentary life not so good

Takeaway fish and chips invented circa 1860
First McDonalds opened 1955
So yeah - they 'invented' fast food
And I am not sure when pies were invented (since the dawn of time ish) but people bought then from market stalls ever since market stalls existed (oooh like 1000s of years !!)

Oh I've never tried a big mac! I occasionally get my dc a McDonalds and when I do, I always order myself a hamburger on its own as I love it, it's inexpensive and it only has 250 calories!

FinnyStory of course everyone uses fats and salt. What differs are the types of fat, and the amounts of both fat and salt being used in preparation 😊

My MIL once described McDonald's as "a bit council estate". Snobbery pure and simple.

@BogRollBOGOF

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.

You've just assumed that's for one person when it could've been for 2/3

Agree that it's snobbery, and the people who sneer probably don't even go there so have no idea what is on offer. Like anything else moderation is the key, and I enjoy going there every now and again. Some people feel they have a mission to suck all the joy out of life.