Loop Holes

Today in society, people of all ages can become trapped in to the sneaky little ways of the fast food industry. Almost every typical American decides to believe that every fast food restaurant is unhealthy, yet they still eat from it whether it’s because it’s cheap and/or it taste so delicious. Yes, anything under the terms "fast food" is unhealthy, but since we can't escape it, if we can't defeat the fast food industry, I encourage you not to join them, but to find loop holes. Such loop holes can be to find the fast food restaurant that serves the healthiest foods compared to other top restaurants. Eating the healthiest fast food can have many advantages like saving money and not consuming as many calories, fat, etc. The following information is where I state the most popular foods such as the Hamburger, Chicken Sandwich, French Fries, and Pizza, which are found in almost any fast food restaurant. Also I will inform you which chain serves the best and the worst particular food. The restaurants I could not get first hand research I provided interviews from two people who have visited those certain restaurants.

Even though it’s an Italian delicacy, pizza is a very popular food that America cannot get enough of. Pizza has been around for quite some time and the way it is made has not changed for Little Caesar’s. Little Caesar’s restaurant first opened in 1959 by Mike and Marian Ilitch. And by the end of 1969, it had expanded to Ohio and Indiana, in total there were 65 Little Caesars restaurants. They now rank number one for the best pizza, health wise and price wise. I found it surprising when I questioned some of my peers of Little Caesar’s and that about half did not know what I was talking about. Little Caesar's is not as popular as other top pizza restaurants because many people do not know about it; also, something tells me that if more people knew of this restaurant, they will lose their healthy name. From my experience eating pizza from Little Caesar’s, the pizza is delicious. The restaurant I went to is located in the Bronx, very near the Parkchester train station. The place is quite small with no place to sit; people would just order and go. I almost always ordered the $5 “Ready-To-Go” large pizza pie for me and my friend/s. The pizza was always hot and mouth watering. One thing I noticed that Little Caesar’s did not have the best of was the pizza sauce. The sauce tasted not as good compared to other pizzas I have had from different places, but it was still decent. I guess you can say that you pay for a greater value, even though their sauce is not as good, that part can go under the saying "You get what you paid for." Now ranking at number one in the unhealthiest pizza restaurant is Pizza Hut. Yes, Pizza Hut, known for their delicious cheese crust pizza, is the worst in the market. Pizza Hut is actually the world's largest user of cheese, I could only assume since their best selling pizza is the one with the cheese crust. They have the worst pizza compared to other top pizza restaurants such as Dominoes, Papa John's, and of course Little Caesar's. Only with their regular one slice, it contains 390 calories whereas Little Caesar's slice has 200 calories. Pizza Hut is the highest in all of the most important nutrition facts such as calories, saturated fat, and sodium. I have tasted Pizza Hut’s pizza and from what I remember, it does have the most favorable pizza ever. I don’t know if I am being bias, now knowing that it contains so much salt, but I do remember Pizza Hut's pizza being deliciously salty. I could only imagine that not many people disagree since they are the world's biggest user of cheese, and along with cheese always comes a salty taste.

An even more popular item that practically every fast food restaurant has to have is in fact French fries. According to nutrition facts, Sonic Drive-Thru serves the healthiest fries compared to other top fast food chains like Burger King, McDonalds, Dairy Queen, etc. I have personally never eaten in Sonic and it’s fairly impossible for me to get the chance to eat there since there are no Sonics in NYC, though from my knowledge there is one in New Jersey. I have interviewed a friend of mine who has visited Sonic in New Jersey a couple of times, however she did not allow me to use her name; therefore, I will just use her initials. From the second I explained to her the meaning of the interview, she blurted out “I LOVE SONICS!” She explained how she first heard of Sonics while she was driving in New Jersey, headed to Paramus Mall. On the way there, her and her parents stopped in Sonic Drive-Thru to get grab a bite to eat. She described the drive-thru and I found it very familiar to the drive-thrus on page 17 in the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. “You order through the speaker button and the waiters [carhops] come in roller skates with your food.” JR said.  I had asked her what she has ever eaten from Sonic. She responded, “The California Deluxe, which was amazing, chili fries, regular fries, and a huge shake.” The California Deluxe apparently is a big cheeseburger with dressing. Since Sonic served the healthiest fries, I asked about them. She explained how they were “deliciously good” and comparing them to Burger King or White Castle, she said Sonic’s fries tasted so much better and healthier. Then I asked her to elaborate a little more on White Castle’s fries. She responded “greasy”. Really interesting JR had no knowledge that White Castle, according to nutrition facts, served the worst French fries. White Castle’s fries contain 11 grams of trans fat, whereas Sonic’s is 0. From my personal experience, and listening to what some of my peers said about White Castle, the food gives you “the runs”. Not only was my first impression of them described as messy with the way they present the food, but you really could feel all the grease sliding down the corner of your mouth. I encourage everyone to avoid White Castle’s food completely, but that is a little unrealistic. Instead, I encourage avoiding the French fries and trying their regular Hamburger since that is healthier to others served in other fast food restaurants.

               Believe it or not, there is a food that is even more popular than fries, the Hamburger. The hamburger was created in a city in Germany which is ironically called Hamburg, see where it gets its name from? Hamburgers are is probably America's most popular food. It’s cheap, it’s convenient, and. It’s delicious (when made correctly). And a restaurant that really knows how to make a correct burger is Wendy’s. When I first heard of the restaurant Wendy's was when I was about 8-years-old in the Dominican Republic. I liked it because of the logo, pretty little redheaded girl with freckles. Wendy's has been around for a long time, they are known for not freezing their burgers. Wendy's is actually the only fast food restaurant I trust to eat beef from because of that fact. My experience from eating Wendy's is always good. I love the foods on their menu, including the Baconator Deluxe, Spicy Chicken Nuggets, and their basic Jr. Hamburger. The service is always decent and the restaurants I've been to are always clean. Wendy's, according to nutrition facts, serves the healthiest hamburgers compared to other top fast food chains. I would not beg to disagree because I don't feel as bad when I eat at Wendy's versus when I eat at Burger King. Now looking at the very bottom of the healthy list, you will find Carl's. Jr. to have the worst hamburgers. Coming from a person who has eaten in Carl's Jr. and has loved it, Kyle Lucas, a high school friend of mine, used to live in the state of Arizona where Carl's Jr. would be easily found. I interviewed Kyle who used to have Carl's Jr. at least three times a week. Carl’s Jr. could be found almost anywhere on the Western half of the United States; therefore, I could not visit the place myself. But I had asked him to describe it a bit for me. He said, “The restaurant was nice, always clean, and the service was never significantly bad.” He explained the logo for me, which was white letters against a red background with a smiling yellow star on the side. After I told him what I knew about Carl’s Jr. and how they serve the unhealthiest hamburgers compared to White Castle serving the healthiest, he was in complete shock. He said that he could not believe that because “Carl’s Jr. doesn’t give me the runs,” mocking White Castle.

            Not as popular as the Hamburger, comes the Chicken Sandwich which if you think about it is unhealthier because chickens are the farm animals that are treated worse. According to nutrition facts, Burger King serves the unhealthiest chicken sandwich, the Tendercrisp Chicken Sandwich. The Tendercrisp is 790 calories, consists of 1,640 milligrams of sodium, and 44 grams of total fat. Burger King personally is my favorite fast food restaurants. I live on Delancey St., Manhattan, and the Burger King and McDonald’s are only a block away from each other. I prefer Burger King because I just feel like they are better in taste and from what I thought health wise. I guess the reason I preferred it was because of McDonald’s reputation, I always heard something negative from there. Every single time I visited Burger King, I always would order #7 with a Sprite. Little did I know that that delicious Tendercrisp Chicken Sandwich was the unhealthiest chicken sandwich compared to other top fast food restaurants including McDonalds. If I had known this fact, believe me, I would no longer pick #7. Instead I would order the healthiest sandwich on their menu, the Whopper Jr. Ironically, I always ate chicken in restaurants because in my mind, chicken is healthier than beef. But I realized now what I said before; chicken is the farm animal that is treated the worst. Burger King, on Delancey St., is quite small. There are about 10 to 15 tables in total. Mostly Asians work during the day, and mostly African-American work at night. The service is pretty decent and it’s almost never full of people, but there have been times where I do not find a place to sit right away. Unlike Burger King, the restaurant that serves the healthiest chicken sandwich is KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken. KFC’s healthy chicken sandwich goes by the name Honey BBQ Snacker. The Honey BB Snacker is an all white meat chicken strip that is “double-breaded” for extra crunch served on a warm sesame seed bun. It’s actually very delicious and can trick you a bit. The BBQ sauce makes it look like pulled pork, but it’s actually chicken. I am surprised it’s healthy, every time I see BBQ I think fat. But we are comparing the healthiest food in fast food restaurants, enfaces on fast food. The Honey BBQ Snacker has 280 calories and 3 grams of fat, impressive.

            Since many decades ago, the fast food industry has been growing in America’s stomach, it is hard to digest. Many people, American’s in particular, have probably tried to avoid them and have succeeded, for now, and some have failed. Looking at nutrition facts, there are some healthy fast foods out there. Of course I would recommend to not eating it at all, but that would make me a hypocrite. What I do encourage is to make smart picks and start eating the healthiest fast food in your favorite fast food restaurant, as a guilty pleasure. I call this act finding loop holes. Loop holes consist of finding the fast food restaurant that serves the healthiest food compared to other top restaurants.

 

Works Cited

"Our Story - Little Caesars Pizza." Pizza Carryout - Little Caesars Pizza - Pizza Franchise Opportunities Available. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://www.littlecaesars.com/news/our_story_2.asp>.

"History of Hamburgers, Hamburg Steak, What Is a True Hamburger/ Meat Choppers, Cheeseburgers." What's Cooking America, Thanksgiving Dinner Planning, Prime Rib Roast, Thanksgiving Turkey. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/HamburgerHistory.htm>.

"Fast Food Restaurants & Nutrition Facts Compared." A Calorie Counter - Count Calories & Food Nutrition Facts FREE. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://www.acaloriecounter.com/fast-food.php>.

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: the Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print.