The Greatest Food In Human History

[Anonymous No.4669983]

nypost.com
By KYLE SMITH
July 28, 2013

The greatest food in human history

In terms of cost-per-calorie, no locavore, organic veggie can compete with the McDouble

What is “the cheapest, most nutritious and bountiful food that has ever existed in human history”
Hint: It has 390 calories. It contains 23g, or half a daily serving, of protein, plus 7% of daily fiber,
20% of daily calcium and so on.

Also, you can get it in 14,000 locations in the US and it usually costs $1. Presenting one of the
unsung wonders of modern life, the McDonald’s McDouble cheeseburger.

The argument above was made by a commenter on the Freakonomics blog run by economics
writer Stephen Dubner and professor Steven Leavitt, who co-wrote the million-selling books on
the hidden side of everything.

Dubner mischievously built an episode of his highly amusing weekly podcast around the debate.
Many huffy back-to-the-earth types wrote in to suggest the alternative meal of boiled lentils.
Great idea. Now go open a restaurant called McBoiled Lentils and see how many customers
line up.

But we all know fast food makes us fat, right? Not necessarily. People who eat out tend to eat
less at home that day in partial compensation; the net gain, according to a 2008 study out of
Berkeley and Northwestern, is only about 24 calories a day.

[Anonymous No.4669985]

The outraged replies to the notion of McDouble supremacy — if it’s not the cheapest, most
nutritious and most bountiful food in human history, it has to be pretty close — comes from
the usual coalition of class snobs, locavore foodies and militant anti-corporate types. I say
usual because these people are forever proclaiming their support for the poor and for higher
minimum wages that would supposedly benefit McDonald’s workers. But they’re completely
heartless when it comes to the other side of the equation: cost.

Driving up McDonald’s wage costs would drive up the price of burgers for millions of poor
people. “So what?” say activists. Maybe that’ll drive people to farmers markets.

For the average poor person, it isn’t a great option to take a trip to the farmers market to
puzzle over esoteric lefty-foodie codes. (Is sustainable better than organic? What if I have
to choose between fair trade and cruelty-free?) Produce may seem cheap to environmentally
aware blond moms who spend $300 on their highlights every month, but if your object is to
fill your belly, it is hugely expensive per calorie.

[Anonymous No.4669987]

Junk food costs as little as $1.76 per 1,000 calories, whereas fresh veggies and the like
cost more than 10 times as much, found a 2007 University of Washington survey for the
Journal of the American Dietetic Association. A 2,000-calorie day of meals would, if you
stuck strictly to the good-for-you stuff, cost $36.32, said the study’s lead author, Adam
Drewnowski.

“Not only are the empty calories cheaper,” he reported, “but the healthy foods are becoming
more and more expensive. Vegetables and fruits are rapidly becoming luxury goods.” Where
else but McDonald’s can poor people obtain so many calories per dollar?

And as for organic — the Abercrombie and Fitch jeans of food — if you have to check the
price, you can’t afford it. (Not that it has any health benefits, as last year’s huge Stanford
meta-study showed.)

Moreover, produce takes more time to prepare and spoils quickly, two more factors that
effectively drive up the cost. Any time you’re spending peeling vegetables is time you
aren’t spending on the job.

[Anonymous No.4669990]

Activists will go anywhere to wave the banner of caring and plant their flagpole of social
justice right in the foot of the working class.

Forcing New Yorkers to pay unnecessary high prices, they’ve managed to keep Walmart
out of the five boroughs of New York City. The City Council of Washington, DC, recently
passed a bill, designed specifically to punish only Walmart, which would mandate a super
minimum wage to benefit a small number of employees while effectively placing a surtax
on every Walmart shopper. (Walmart responded by saying it was canceling plans for three
stores. The bill may yet be vetoed by Mayor Vincent Gray.)

Fuel prices, like food prices, disproportionately hit the poor, so do-gooders do everything
they can to raise energy costs by blocking new fuel sources like the Keystone XL pipelines
and fracking. And they are always up for higher gasoline taxes and regulating coal-burning
energy plants to death.

If the macrobiotic Marxists had their way, of course, there’d be no McDonald’s, Walmart or
Exxon, because they have visions of an ideal world in which everybody bikes to work with
a handwoven backpack from Etsy that contains a lunch grown in the neighborhood collective.

That’s not going to work for the average person, but who cares if they go hungry because
they can’t afford a burger anymore? Let them eat kale!

[Anonymous No.4670001]

>People who eat out tend to eat
less at home that day

[Anonymous No.4670008]

Yes good goyim, eat more mcdoubles.

[Anonymous No.4670007]

>>4669987
>A 2,000-calorie day of meals would, if you
>stuck strictly to the good-for-you stuff, cost $36.32

Stopped reading, called the cops, reported your IP to the FBI

[Anonymous No.4670014]

This may be true if people who ate a McDolans only ate 2000 calories of it a day, but it's so easy to go waaayyy over a healthy caloric intake quickly at fast food because it is so dense.

[Anonymous No.4670025]

>>4669987
>A 2,000-calorie day of meals would, if you
stuck strictly to the good-for-you stuff, cost $36.32
not true, i can buy organic peanut butter and bread and eat that 6 times a day for under 10 bucks.

[Anonymous No.4670028]

>>4669990
>we should all be obese and destroy our environment for the sake of cheap consumables

[Anonymous No.4670030]

>>4669983
>People who eat out tend to eat less at home that day

Wow, it's like a retard wrote this.

[Anonymous No.4670032]

>That feel of grabbing a McDouble in break between class and feeling sated until dinner

When I get home it's dhaal and rice, but McDoubles are pretty fucking legit.

[Anonymous No.4670033]

>>4670008
>Yes good goyim, eat more mcdoubles.
This.

[Anonymous No.4670037]

>Junk food costs as little as $1.76 per 1,000 calories, whereas fresh veggies and the like
cost more than 10 times as much, found a 2007 University of Washington survey for the
Journal of the American Dietetic Association. A 2,000-calorie day of meals would, if you
stuck strictly to the good-for-you stuff, cost $36.32, said the study’s lead author, Adam
Drewnowski.

But they're shit calories, that's why it's called junk food. Good god this guy's a moron. He's acting like calories are calories no matter what, whether it's from white bread, whole grain, lean meat or a tub of lard. In his universe there is no such thing as vitamins, fiber, fat, etc, only PROTEIN, which is good but not the end-all be-all, obviously.

[Anonymous No.4670039]

>A 2,000-calorie day of meals would, if you stuck strictly to the good-for-you stuff, cost $36.32,
That's hilarious, especially when they are talking about America (Land of Cheap Food).

[Anonymous No.4670041]

>>4670014
When I go to McD's now, I get the Spicy McChicken Mini-Meal (small fries, medium drink - typically hi-c). Could I eat healthier? Sure. But it's better than the large 2-cheeseburger meal that I used to get. A small order of fries isn't the worst thing in the world.

Yes, you can get a loaded Big Mac with a large Coke and a large order of fries with a McFlurry for dessert. You can also get a salad or wrap and some tea or water. McDonald's and their ilk do make it easier to gorge yourself on unhealthy crap, yes, but they *do* offer alternatives, and people need to realise that.

inb4shill, postin' in a troll thread, etc.

[Anonymous No.4670042]

They should factor in the long-term cost of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, etc.

[Anonymous No.4670045]

>>4670041
>but they *do* offer alternatives, and people need to realise that.
Like what?

[Anonymous No.4670064]

>>4669983
>>mcds
>>costing less than things like beans ramen rice, a loaf of fucking bread.
This guys a dumbass shill.

[Anonymous No.4670066]

Crossing over from this thread: >>4666192

I contend that the Little Caesar's hot-n-ready pepperoni is "the greatest food in human history," by this article's definition

MCDOUBLE: Per dollar, you get 390 calories, 23g of protein, and 7% of daily fiber.

LITTLE CAESAR'S PIZZA: The pizza is five dollars and has eight slices. Each slice is 280 calories, 14g of protein, and 2g of fiber, or 8% of your daily value. Multiply this by eight and each pizza gives you 2240 calories, 112 g of protein, and 16g of fiber, or 64% of your daily value. Divide it all by five to get it per dollar and you have 448 calories, 22.4g of protein, and 3.2g of fiber, or 12.8% of your daily value.

Winner: Little Caesar's.

[Anonymous No.4670101]

>>4670066
Totally worth having the squirts for a week!

[Anonymous No.4670112]

>>4670045
I mentioned two in that post - salads and wraps.

[Anonymous No.4670139]

>>4670064
>>4670025
>>4670007
> A 2,000-calorie day of meals would, if you stuck strictly to the good-for-you stuff,
> cost $36.32, said the study’s lead author, Adam Drewnowski.

I think the author is basing that $36+ price tag on balanced menu of organic food,
which does cost an arm & a leg, due to both the valid increased cost to produce
and the artificial cost inflation of the hipster factor.

[Anonymous No.4670145]

>>4669983
> McBoiled Lentils

sorry, but that cracked me the fuck up

[Anonymous No.4670147]

>>4670139
Seriously. You can buy a giant bag of frozen veggies for a dollar. Couple that with basic pastas and some bulk frozen meat +spices and you got meals to last awhile.

[Anonymous No.4670155]

>>4670101
> Totally worth having the squirts for a week!

Hopefully you'll never breed, if your constitution is that weak.

[Anonymous No.4670175]

>>4670139

He is. Everyone is getting worked up because he's comparing two extremes and makes no mention of any other alternatives. I liked the article, it made me laugh. I really don't think he's suggesting that everyone eat nothing but McDoubles all day. I think he's just triying to point out that everyone over-villifies McDonalds, and that if you're broke grabbing a McDouble isn't going to kill you.

[Anonymous No.4670183]

>>4670175
If you're broke, you have far better options than fast food.

[Anonymous No.4670192]

>>4670183

Yes you have better options if you're broke, but let's say you just got out of class and have to go work an eight hour shift and you woke up too late to make your sandwhich. You scrape the change in your car together and order a McDouble and a glass of water. Then you go to work and you're not starving. It's for those types of situations he's saying the McDouble is aiight.

[Anonymous No.4670202]

>>4669983

[Anonymous No.4670233]

>>4670202
You think that picture is so clever

[Anonymous No.4670247]

>>4669983
>tfw all the mcdonalds you've been into in a 10 mile radius all sell it for at least $1.29

[Anonymous No.4670269]

>>4670192
no, what op is saying is that mcds is cheaper by calorie than groceries. he's a fucking retard.

[Anonymous No.4670272]

>>4670066
Okay I guess you're too stupid to read the OP that specifically mentioned the ridiculously vast availability of McDoubles. One dollar is a lot easier to scrounge up than five dollars, making the McDouble even more accessible.

[Anonymous No.4670280]

> calories/$.
If that were the only measure of the worth of food, you could smugly get by chewing on a stick of butter for dinner.

[Anonymous No.4670281]

>>4669990
I'm from Nebraska where the Keystone XL was suppose to pass through, and the vast majority of our very conservative state opposes it. Not for energy reasons but because there are worries of spills getting into the Ogallala aquifer which is very shallow and supplies much of the water to the western part of the state. Additionally, TransCanada attempted to bully, intimidate and coerce many small farmers and ranchers into selling/allowing it and people were not willing to stand for that.

[Anonymous No.4670290]

>>4670281
b-b-b-b-b-but you gotta be all for corporate motives or else you are a hippie.

[Anonymous No.4670293]

>>4670272

>I guess you're too stupid

Wow, you're an asshole.

[Anonymous No.4670296]

>>4669990
> Fuel prices, like food prices, disproportionately hit the poor, so do-gooders do everything they can to raise energy costs by blocking new fuel sources like the Keystone XL pipelines and fracking. And they are always up for higher gasoline taxes and regulating coal-burning energy plants to death.
This is farsighted thinking, which is why politicians are so eager to fight it. Why accept singular blame for increased taxes instead of massively shared blame for crop failures decades from now?

[Anonymous No.4670306]

>>4670037
Good god, do they only watch the calories?

[Anonymous No.4670315]

>>4670290

Yeah, it's not like corporations ever push externalities onto the public as a whole! It's just crazy hippies!

[Anonymous No.4670317]

>>4670269

No one's that stupid though. I don't think he expects everyone to completely ditch vegetables and fruits -- but calorie-wise and satiety wise they are cheaper by calorie.

[Anonymous No.4670321]

>>4669987
>“Not only are the empty calories cheaper,” he reported, “but the healthy foods are becoming
>more and more expensive. Vegetables and fruits are rapidly becoming luxury goods.”

I'm sure this has nothing to do with obesity becoming a disease of the poor.

[Anonymous No.4670324]

>>4669990
>Forcing New Yorkers to pay unnecessary high prices, they’ve managed to keep Walmart
>out of the five boroughs of New York City.

Actually that's Walmart's choice - given the high cost of retail space, NYC not willing to subsidize their poverty wages, and the many other business here selling goods at low prices, Walmart has multiple times done studies and figured out they can't operate in NYC.

tl;dr; it's not activists keeping walmart out of NYC, it's capitalism

[Anonymous No.4670328]

>>4670321

What are you saying?

[Anonymous No.4670326]

>>4670112

McDonald's salads have a worse nutritional profile than their burgers, and cost much more. So does their oatmeal.

[Anonymous No.4670335]

>>4670324

Bullshit. I don't live in NYC, but I live in the "hipster" part of town. The people here fought for years to not have a Walmart built here here because of MUH EVIL CORPORATIONS. Meanwhile there's no grocery store to fucking walk to.

[Anonymous No.4670337]

>>4670326

Their regular cheeseburger are I think like 300 calories which isn't that bad. I don't like they're McDoubles. (Gross, too much meat.) A reg cheeseburger, a spicy chicken with no mayo, and their crispy ranch wrap are like the only options I have when I'm ordering from there. Everything else is shit. But their hash browns are the best.

[Anonymous No.4670339]

>>4670321

Poor fat people eating like shit = quality fresh food costs more?

[Anonymous No.4670381]

McDoubles only cost a dollar in murrica?
Where I live they are 1,59€ which is around $2,11.
How much do smaller sandwiches cost?
Here a cheeseburger is 1,19€ which is $1,58 and a hamburger is 1€ ($1,33).
Until some months ago cheeseburgers were also 1€. Haven't eaten at McDonald's since.
I'm not paying 19c extra for a tiny slice of processed cheese.

[Anonymous No.4670566]

>>4670326
Is that true?

Any source to show people?

[Anonymous No.4670574]

>>4669983
I do love me some McDoubles

And I buy every bum two if I see them on my way to a McDs

[Anonymous No.4670588]

>>4670381
european mcdonalds have higher health standards so everything is more expensive

[Anonymous No.4670589]

>>4670324
>>4670335
I've always wondered why Walmart didn't basically set up their own farmer's market system

That would make everyone happy

[Anonymous No.4670592]

>>4670566
You could look at the nutritional information on their website.

[Anonymous No.4670595]

>>4670381
Where's this?

Over here in Ireland the Double cheese has been €2 for about 7 years, except one month it can off the eurosaver menu and people threw a shitfit about it costing more.

[Anonymous No.4670596]

<pic related likes to have a word with you

[Anonymous No.4670597]

>>4670566
It' only true if you use the salad dressing, but then again salad dressing being fatty fluid isn't unique to McD

[Anonymous No.4670603]

>>4670596
babby's first 4chan post

[Anonymous No.4670602]

>>4670597
>It' only true if you use the salad dressing
Yeah, because people go to McDonald's to by raw, unseasoned produce.

[Anonymous No.4670614]

>>4670037
You can live off vitamin supplements and a bulk of protein-rich 'empty' calories

[Anonymous No.4670624]

>>4670032
> dhaal
> not dahl

fucking disgusting

[Anonymous No.4670625]

>yet another McDonald's shill thread
>outright lies and misinformation

This shit needs to stop.

[Anonymous No.4670636]

>>4670625
>shill
>Freakonomics

[Anonymous No.4670649]

>>4670636
>not understanding what a shill it

[Anonymous No.4670651]

>>4669983
A-A-A-Astroturfing

[Anonymous No.4670656]

>>4670649
>not understanding what Freaknomics is about

[Anonymous No.4670841]

>>4670625
I don't understand the hate against McDonalds, BK, KFC, etc other than you could get tastier food if you pay a premium.

I used to hate fast food too, and then I learned just how much bullshit is in the hatred.

Fat Head helped me see the light. It's not that hard to stay physically healthy. You won't hurt yourself eating what is stereotypically "bad" for you. I've been doing it forever, but only recently found out I wasn't eating "bad."

[Anonymous No.4670863]

>>4670841
Human pet food is the worst food.

[None !OPIATE9fy. No.4670884]

mcdouble is now off the dollar menu where I live

1.19 for a mcdouble
1.29 for a double cheese burger

the price for the double cheese burger stayed the same and has been this much ever since they introduced the mcdouble

it seems when they raised the cost of the double cheese burger everyone was fine with just having one less slice of cheese and still paying a buck

[Porn Corporation No.4670888]

>>4670008
This again.

[Anonymous No.4671028]

>>4670841
the problem with kfc is that they no longer use real chickens and aren't allowed to say chicken on the menu. That's wrong, and pretty gross. Also, these foods are made out of a lot of stuff that (while they can sustain you for now) are crap in the long run.

[Anonymous No.4671183]

>>4670863
I don't get it, why?

>>4671028
Okay, but what's wrong with them not using real chickens?

>>4670888
>>4670033
>>4670008
>dah joos
We already went over this on /pol/ - McDonalds is one of the least jewish companies, the only reason they have higher prices was because of the tax regulations on the food they were serving.

[Anonymous No.4671509]

>>4671028
as much as i dislike kfc, that is pure bullshit.

[Anonymous No.4671518]

>>4670841
again, it's the ammount, not what you eat. you can live forever on bacon grease toast an orange, and bacon for breakfast as long as you are normally relatively healthy, but you wont be having it super sized, a couple strips, a small or half slice of toast, and a small orange.

[Anonymous No.4671531]

>>4670884
then Obama's shitty policies lead to beef skyrocketing, so McDoubles cost them more than a dollar to make (but if anywhere close to half the people who buy McDoubles buy a soda and/or firesthey make out ahead)

[Anonymous No.4671549]

>this whole thread

[None !OPIATE9fy. No.4671579]

>>4671531
I buy a small fry and those went up in price to 1.19 also

[Anonymous No.4671605]

>>4670041
>a loaded Big Mac

What the fuck is this wizardry? Is this part of the "secret menu"? Is it a Big Mac with extra pickles, extra onions, two quarter pound patties, six strips of bacon, ketchup, mayo, deep fried in bacon fat, served on a buttered bun?

[Anonymous No.4671640]

>>4671531
>Obama caused McDonald's prices to increase
Wow, it's like a white trash conspiracy theorist's wet dream.

[Anonymous No.4671805]

>>4669983
>tfw they're $2 down under

I get 5 of them every time.

[Anonymous No.4671834]

>>4670066
>five dollars
Around here they upped it to 5.55, unless that was a temporary thing.

[Anonymous No.4671908]

>>4669983
390 calories and 23 servings of protein for 1 dollar for double cheeseburger

960 calories 84 grams of protein for 12 farm fresh cruelty free eggs ya all dat hippy shit
$2.23 ( thats plus tax)

in total that's 430.49 calories and 36 grams of protein

let me pull up something else

[Anonymous No.4671916]

>>4671908
2275 calories in total and 195 grams of protein
I believe this was 2.99 without tax but lets say it was instead 5 dollars ( if you can't see I am exaggerating)
then it is 455 calories per dollar and 39 grams of protein
If you cant tell this is a package of bacon at trader joe's

so really now what the poor people should eat is bacon
pounds and pounds of bacon

[Anonymous No.4671929]

>>4671028
http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/kfc.asp
git rekt faggot

[Anonymous No.4671930]

>>4671916
yeah but you go ahead and eat 4 strips of bacon and see how full you get.
im against the mcshits but seriously lets not have a calorie picture contest.

[Anonymous No.4671931]

You all got taken to troll school. Well done OP.

[Anonymous No.4671943]

What absolute twaddle.

[Anonymous No.4672002]

>>4671908
time and energy to prepare the eggs?

[Anonymous No.4672058]

>>4670147
But they're not organic fucking vegetables, much less organic free-range fucking vegetables. Because everyone knows that broccoli that is allowed to roam free tastes better than broccoli that has been confined in a battery-farm pen.

[Anonymous No.4672144]

>>4671028
you are stupid, or a McD's shill

[Anonymous No.4672150]

>>4669987
>A 2,000-calorie day of meals would, if you
>stuck strictly to the good-for-you stuff, cost $36.32
U wot m8. I'm on a low-carb vegan diet and barely spend that in a week. Arer they basing this on the idea of someone who eats nothing but vegetables (no grains, no beans, no nuts)? Because that person a) isn't eating healthily at all and b) doesn't fucking exist.

[Anonymous No.4673502]

It's vastly cheaper and healthier to just buy raw ingredients and cook at home, everyone knows this, why the hell are articles like this being written?