In defence of Real Food

Oh please, let me talk about this from my heart. I don’t want to offend or aggrivate but I’m fed up of people telling me their thoughts on this without a chance for the poor victim to defend itself. The victim, of course, being real food.

Social media churns out so many infographics, memes and recycled posts regarding ‘junk food’ than I’d care to count. Some claiming chicken nuggets contain hen heads, others claiming restaurants have cleverly named their meat substitute as ‘100% Beef’ providing the illusion of its origin. Other claims say that new studies have proven links between something and some disease. I don’t know where these start (probably fruit markets), but these rumours make their way into everyday conversation as fact and before you can say ‘but it tastes so good’ – fast food has been branded as forever unclean along with anyone who eats it.

Sorry, but that’s ridiculous. I am a proud advocate of fast food and will defend it to my full-lifespan grave. Let me just defend this glorious food industry on the fronts that it is often attacked…

1. “My friend posted something on Facebook…”. In case you didn’t realise people will do anything for a bit of Internet fame. Literally. Don’t just take my word for it, you just have to spend 5 minutes on YouTube to realise it’s true. So when a post comes up spilling ‘shocking revelations’ regarding fast food (or anything else). Consider the source. If you haven’t heard of the author – there’s a safe assumption that they haven’t just stumbled across a industry-shaking revelation. If you’re still in doubt, check out snopes.com or any other rumour-busting site before you jump on the bandwagon. Sorry, but just coz you saw it online, doesn’t make it true.

2. “Ok but the ingredients are unhealthy.” Much like the majority of our diet. If you think a McChicken Sandwich would be less calories than a healthy-eating-branded turkey sandwich from Tesco – you’d be wrong. Careful ordering isn’t going to break you calorie allowance and frankly doesn’t matter if you’re excersizing enough anyway.

3. “It tastes as cheap as it costs.” Maybe I’m just blessed, but to me, it tastes incredible and it’s cheap. That’s a win win. I’ve had fancy meals before. I’ve had what I would consider to be the best steak of my life. It was insanely delicious. But would I trade it in for a Five Guys burger? In a second. I’d pay extra to do so. It drives me mad that I’ll be dragged along to some fancy restaurant, pay the earth for rabbit food on a pancake in a portion smaller than my eight-month-olds elevensies snack. I’d rather a Bargain Bucket any day.

4. “Grow up, it’s for kids and students.” No. Don’t tell me to grow up. I’m married, with a kid and two businesses. I can choose how I’d like to eat thank-you-very-much. Besides, I’ve finally got kids so I can start getting Happy Meals again, so there’s no way I’m stopping now. But even if I wasn’t a parent, I’d still get fast food. It doesn’t have an age restriction on the packaging or the restaurant door and until they do: I’m entitled to eat there judgement free. And I will. Proudly.

Happy to tackle any more of these if people have them, but safe to say it’s not going to convince me otherwise. Call me cheap, call me podgy but after each meal I bet you my smile is bigger and my wallet will be less gutted than if I’d had a platter of french delights that no-one can pronounce. Fast food is a sheer miracle of the age we live in and I intend the lap it up like an oasis in the desert of fancypants-overpriced-boring food.

Rant over, thanks for your patience with me 🙂