Sunday, 10 July 2005
World hot dog championship made in the USA
I put the tele on today and on ESPN at 1pm was the world hot dog eating championship. It will be a sad day when Sky Sports start showing this pish. Now food is something that is never very far from American's lips. I often get asked what the big differences are between here and the UK, and I normally, say "a load of things but the food." The quantity, the waste, the whole profligacy of it all can be quite nauseating sometimes, particuarly when you are sitting watching Live8 and every 5 minutes commercial breaks interrupt the show about African poverty to advertise Burger King and Pizza Hut!
In a recent poll, American's were asked to stop eating for a minute and offer to tell their most favourite food. Here is the Top 10 most popular foods consumed in restaurants by men and women last year:
Men
1) Hamburger
2) French fries
3) Pizza
4) Breakfast sandwich
5) Side salad
6) Eggs
7) Doughnuts
8) Hash browns
9) Chinese food
10) Main salad
Women
1) French fries
2) Hamburger
3) Pizza
4) Side salad
5) Chicken sandwich
6) Breakfast sandwich
7) Main salad
8) Chinese food
9) Chicken nuggets or strips
10) Rice
You have to laugh that in between those calorific entries they include side salad. On the side of a pack of Krispy Creme's no doubt?
In the US a third of all adults are clinically obese. Very scary when you are walking around a dark night club drunk let me tell you. Even sadder is the fact that in America 1 in 6 kids are clinically obese. Is Playstation to blame for that? Of course not.
So, what are companies doing here to raise awareness? Are they reducing portion sizes? Have they stopped targeting vulnerable segments, such as kids through advertising? Are they eradicating ingredients that cause health problems? Are they initiating programmes and products to help consumers lose weight and get healthier? They could even make some money out of this? No, they are increasing the size of their portions because "that is what the consumers want?"
Well of course it is, isn't it? If we could manage to break American Football games into eighth's then there would be more time for an extra hot-dog or two and a coke the size of a 2-year old.
This below is the 1,420-calorie burger sold at Hardee's and Carl's Jr. since late last year. Arguably, it's the first fast-food sandwich to publicly flaunt its excess of calories and fat. The two companies are owned by CKE Enterprises and their CEO Andy Pudzer insists that "These products sell better than health-conscious products, we don't tell consumers what they want. They tell us."
Burger King have responded by introducing the Enormous Omelet Sandwich — with t
wo slices of cheese, two eggs, three strips of bacon, and a sausage patty — breakfast sales have jumped 20%, says Denny Marie Post, chief concept officer (now, thats a job!). Never mind its 730 calories and 47 grams of fat.
Pizza Hut have the new new triple-cheese 3Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizza. Ruby Tuesday sell the Ultimate Colossal Burger to try to keep up with the grandiose name. "That's what people want," says Rick Johnson, senior vice president and Ben & Jerry's have started doing wider cones that's made to hold two scoops of ice cream instead of one. Hang on I like a bit of B&J's (I said B&J!) but I wish they would bring back Cool Brittania ice cream.
It scares me that at the airport last week, Starbucks, a salad shop, a sandwich bar and a pizza joint had no one queueing but at Burger King I counted 25 people waiting in line. And, if only I had my camera, they all looked like they could have easily skipped the meal they were going to buy and not die of starvation. The time of day by the way was 3pm.
And all the time you've got twats like CKE's Andy Pudzer running companies, Americans will continue to eat the kind the shit that is out there. Pudzer has become the 'food police' and media's fast-food demon. Late-night talk-show hosts David Letterman and Jay Leno have poked fun at him naming him the Monster Thickburger but jokes are not enough.
In a recent radio interview Pudzer was talking to the interviewer on his cell phone while steering through a Carl's Jr. drive-thru in San Diego. It was 10am and he ordered a Breakfast Burger, hash browns and a Dr Pepper, when he revealed what was really on his mind: "I'm already thinking about lunch." said the fat fucker. ¶ 23:00
I put the tele on today and on ESPN at 1pm was the world hot dog eating championship. It will be a sad day when Sky Sports start showing this pish. Now food is something that is never very far from American's lips. I often get asked what the big differences are between here and the UK, and I normally, say "a load of things but the food." The quantity, the waste, the whole profligacy of it all can be quite nauseating sometimes, particuarly when you are sitting watching Live8 and every 5 minutes commercial breaks interrupt the show about African poverty to advertise Burger King and Pizza Hut!
In a recent poll, American's were asked to stop eating for a minute and offer to tell their most favourite food. Here is the Top 10 most popular foods consumed in restaurants by men and women last year:
Men
1) Hamburger
2) French fries
3) Pizza
4) Breakfast sandwich
5) Side salad
6) Eggs
7) Doughnuts
8) Hash browns
9) Chinese food
10) Main salad
Women
1) French fries
2) Hamburger
3) Pizza
4) Side salad
5) Chicken sandwich
6) Breakfast sandwich
7) Main salad
8) Chinese food
9) Chicken nuggets or strips
10) Rice
You have to laugh that in between those calorific entries they include side salad. On the side of a pack of Krispy Creme's no doubt?
In the US a third of all adults are clinically obese. Very scary when you are walking around a dark night club drunk let me tell you. Even sadder is the fact that in America 1 in 6 kids are clinically obese. Is Playstation to blame for that? Of course not.
So, what are companies doing here to raise awareness? Are they reducing portion sizes? Have they stopped targeting vulnerable segments, such as kids through advertising? Are they eradicating ingredients that cause health problems? Are they initiating programmes and products to help consumers lose weight and get healthier? They could even make some money out of this? No, they are increasing the size of their portions because "that is what the consumers want?"
Well of course it is, isn't it? If we could manage to break American Football games into eighth's then there would be more time for an extra hot-dog or two and a coke the size of a 2-year old.
This below is the 1,420-calorie burger sold at Hardee's and Carl's Jr. since late last year. Arguably, it's the first fast-food sandwich to publicly flaunt its excess of calories and fat. The two companies are owned by CKE Enterprises and their CEO Andy Pudzer insists that "These products sell better than health-conscious products, we don't tell consumers what they want. They tell us."
Burger King have responded by introducing the Enormous Omelet Sandwich — with t
wo slices of cheese, two eggs, three strips of bacon, and a sausage patty — breakfast sales have jumped 20%, says Denny Marie Post, chief concept officer (now, thats a job!). Never mind its 730 calories and 47 grams of fat.Pizza Hut have the new new triple-cheese 3Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizza. Ruby Tuesday sell the Ultimate Colossal Burger to try to keep up with the grandiose name. "That's what people want," says Rick Johnson, senior vice president and Ben & Jerry's have started doing wider cones that's made to hold two scoops of ice cream instead of one. Hang on I like a bit of B&J's (I said B&J!) but I wish they would bring back Cool Brittania ice cream.
It scares me that at the airport last week, Starbucks, a salad shop, a sandwich bar and a pizza joint had no one queueing but at Burger King I counted 25 people waiting in line. And, if only I had my camera, they all looked like they could have easily skipped the meal they were going to buy and not die of starvation. The time of day by the way was 3pm.
And all the time you've got twats like CKE's Andy Pudzer running companies, Americans will continue to eat the kind the shit that is out there. Pudzer has become the 'food police' and media's fast-food demon. Late-night talk-show hosts David Letterman and Jay Leno have poked fun at him naming him the Monster Thickburger but jokes are not enough.
In a recent radio interview Pudzer was talking to the interviewer on his cell phone while steering through a Carl's Jr. drive-thru in San Diego. It was 10am and he ordered a Breakfast Burger, hash browns and a Dr Pepper, when he revealed what was really on his mind: "I'm already thinking about lunch." said the fat fucker. ¶ 23:00
