Why I've never gone to Burger King...

[Arglwydd Golau]

OT I know, but I'm slightly worried about your post number...

Many thanks for pointing that out! I'd better post some very quick comments! (before I make something to eat tonight!)

 

[Pinza-C55]

I was thinking about this a bit today and the funny thing is that I lived in London in the 1980s and had a McDonald's and a Burger King near me but I hardly ever eat at McDonald's. I can't remember why but it was because McDonald's burgers always struck me as flat lifeless things a bit like the Whammy Burger scene from the movie "Falling Down". Whoppers on the other hand were bigger and better cooked even though though they were more expensive. Nowadays my local McDonald's is a sort of meeting place for the local chav elements and the drunks later at night. Burger King never seems to have the problem with chavs possibly due to the higher prices.

 

[yorksrob]

I was thinking about this a bit today and the funny thing is that I lived in London in the 1980s and had a McDonald's and a Burger King near me but I hardly ever eat at McDonald's. I can't remember why but it was because McDonald's burgers always struck me as flat lifeless things a bit like the Whammy Burger scene from the movie "Falling Down". Whoppers on the other hand were bigger and better cooked even though though they were more expensive. Nowadays my local McDonald's is a sort of meeting place for the local chav elements and the drunks later at night. Burger King never seems to have the problem with chavs possibly due to the higher prices.

This is true. Some of the BK burgers have an impressive range of pickles and onions !

 

[Nym]

Or to be honest, for the price of the burgers in most branches of BK, predominantly operated by SSP on stations nowadays, one can go to the likes of Gourmet Burger Kitchen or a similar establishment and get a much nicer product for a not dissimilar price.

 

[SouthEastern-465]

If you are a man of high principle you would need to check that the place you eat (such as many Subway cafes ) don't sell you Halal meat where the animal has its throat cut and is left to bleed to death while still conscious.

I'm glad someone actually has the guts to say that. I agree.

How ever on an entirely different subject, given the choice out of Mcdonalds or Burger King, it'd be Burger King every time I'm afraid!

Mcdonalds to me is extremely p*ss poor for food. Burger King seems slightly more up in the world (only by millimetres ofcourse )

Regards,

 

[blakey1152]

I don't usually eat at Burger King but I was tempted to try the limited edition Halloween Whopper....

Sadly, it wasn't a good experience, the picture on BK's web site has a black bun, pickles, cheese, onion and loads of lettuce with the usual whopper burger.

Mine however, didn't have any pickles, cheese or onion and two tiny bits of lettuce and it was stone cold.

I should have learnt my lesson really as last time I had a BK I had to complain about the fries - apparently a portion of regular fries contains a mere 3 and a half chips!

So all in all, I've been twice in virtually 2 years and been disappointed both times.

 

[backontrack]

Was looking at a picture of that in a window - looks absolutely disgusting, very lurid green. And that's just the (likely shopped) picture of it.

 

[Pinza-C55]

For those of you who have never seen it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eREiQhBDIk

 

[DarloRich]

Just about sums up my view. I've been a vegetarian for nearly 40 years, and also enjoy cooking and therefore eat plenty of delicious, fresh and additive free meals. I mainly eat a wholefood diet.
I find the main problem in Society (in this discussion area at least) is the lack of interest and skill in cooking. Simple nutritious meals can be made in minutes, yet, it seems, many people prefer to eat the rubbish found on the high street - hence this thread.
My mother was a good traditional cook, so maybe I've inherited something from her. I've always loved many of the wartime recipes she used, froma time when, despite the privations of war, the population was healthier....then big business moved in, and the rest is history (or obesity)

I agree. I am not going to appear on Masterchef but i have a stable of solid, healthy, relatively simple, decent (meaty ) meals that anyone can make cheaply and easily.

Having family members who are veggies also means you need to be able to cook something up for them that isn't simply a chili with beans not mince! (nice as that is)

BTW why cant restaurants get veggie foods right. I am sure you can list the one of 4 options they always seem to have!

 

[mikeg]

I have to admit, despite being a vegetarian I am quite partial to BK - for their bean burgers at least. Now where the point is missed in the discussion of the merits of McDonald's or BK is that Wimpy is far superior to either. Bring back British Rail? Nah, just the Wimpys at stations will do.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Whilst perhaps not all adjacent to railway stations, there are still some better-quality family business cafeterias that still offer good home-cooked food. In Clitheroe, not far from the railway station, I can personally recommend "The Apricot Meringue". Knives, forks and spoons are also provided there to enable those of the human race to keep up the development of this species, rather than the reversion back to Neanderthal times that is a feature of the cutlery-poor chains of some of the "fast-food" establishments.

Well, I would say this, wouldn't I....

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

BTW why cant restaurants get veggie foods right. I am sure you can list the one of 4 options they always seem to have!

The number of times that we have discussed exactly this in our household! It's one of the reasons why we don't eat out often, even the supposedly 'excellent' restaurants often have an awful vegetarian selection and bog-standard pub meals sometimes are little better. All I can say from personal experience is that my brother was an excellent chef for many years, a wizard with meat and fish, but hopeless in formulating ideas for a vegetarian dish (he often used to ask me for advice). I think many chefs might be the same, possibly they try to be too clever when simplicity will do!

 

[AM9]

I'm glad someone actually has the guts to say that. I agree.Regards,

It sounds that the priniciple is more to do with 'Halal' meat than animal care or slaughter.
If animal suffering was really of concern, the the priniciples would include all aspects of your food's life, i.e. from extreme breeding, through food and accommodation to preparation for killing to the actual end act.
Kosher and Halal slaughter methodology is both legal and under regular inspection yet cruelty exists in many other aspects of our food's conscious lives, - not just the last 5 seconds.
Farmers have a difficult job to do producing the end product at the low prices that we demand through the retailers we use. As a consequence, what happens at the point of slaughter is of no consequence compared to many of the farm practices that are endured by those same animals lasting anything from weeks to years. Just focusing on the last few seconds is a specious argument.

 

[Aldaniti]

I don't demand cheap food prices. I buy organic and/or local produce wherever possible and it needn't be that more expensive if you take care in what you buy and where you buy it from. I want to see animal welfare standards improve across the board and I would certainly like to see CCTV installed in slaughterhouses. Halal and Kosher is just a part of the problem. Halal is even being sold by some retailers to those who do not demand it, purely because in many cases it can be cheaper. Disgraceful. If people want to believe fairy stories that's up to them, but I draw the line at bringing the methodology of animal slaughter into it.

 

[Donny Dave]

I want to see animal welfare standards improve across the board and I would certainly like to see CCTV installed in slaughterhouses.

Just the post I was waiting for before I commented in this topic (I have been watching it closely).

I work in a poultry processing factory here in Scunthorpe. How much more red tape and regulations do you think we should have to put up with and follow?

We have FSA (Food Standards Authority) vets on site at all times when the slaughter lines are in operation. We have Animal Welfare Officers on site at all times while we are killing chickens. If any of those are unhappy with anything from the time the loaded lorries come through the gates to by the time the chickens have left the chiller and gone through grading, they say stop. When they say stop, it means stop. Stop killing, stop offal recovery, stop packing.

We are subject to frequent FSA, customer and BRC (British Retail Consortium) visits and audits (not all of them planned or announced in advance. Sometimes they just turn up at the gates, and we have to let them in). Fail any of those audits, and quite frankly the factory is f****d! Lose 1 of our major customers because of a low score or failed audit, and we go down to a 1 shift system. Lose 2, and the rest gets of our work gets transferred elsewhere and the factory shuts, with upto ~1500 people (including me) out of a job.

Not only that, but because of the nature of our operations and the subsequent machinery involved, the HSE are interested, and they are not shy of calling a snap inspection either. Fail that, the factory shuts down there and then with the same result to the employees!

FYI, where I work, there is CCTV all over the factory, and it is monitored.

 

[Aldaniti]

Just the post I was waiting for before I commented in this topic (I have been watching it closely).

I work in a poultry processing factory here in Scunthorpe. How much more red tape and regulations do you think we should have to put up with and follow?

We have FSA (Food Standards Authority) vets on site at all times when the slaughter lines are in operation. We have Animal Welfare Officers on site at all times while we are killing chickens. If any of those are unhappy with anything from the time the loaded lorries come through the gates to by the time the chickens have left the chiller and gone through grading, they say stop. When they say stop, it means stop. Stop killing, stop offal recovery, stop packing.

We are subject to frequent FSA, customer and BRC (British Retail Consortium) visits and audits (not all of them planned or announced in advance. Sometimes they just turn up at the gates, and we have to let them in). Fail any of those audits, and quite frankly the factory is f****d! Lose 1 of our major customers because of a low score or failed audit, and we go down to a 1 shift system. Lose 2, and the rest gets of our work gets transferred elsewhere and the factory shuts, with upto ~1500 people (including me) out of a job.

Not only that, but because of the nature of our operations and the subsequent machinery involved, the HSE are interested, and they are not shy of calling a snap inspection either. Fail that, the factory shuts down there and then with the same result to the employees!

FYI, where I work, there is CCTV all over the factory, and it is monitored.

Thanks for that information, it's good to know that the industry is cleaning up its act and striving for higher standards, whether that be unilaterally or as a result of regulation.