| Home Cookin’ Forfeits to Fast Food | The Ottawa Citizen - September 4, 2002 | |
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It’s enough to make a starving fourteen year-old drool. Last week one of the local fast food restaurants advertised a special lunch combo which consisted of one slice of pizza, a bag of nacho chips, a chocolate bar and of course, the mandatory can of pop to wash it all down. This mouthwatering feast of caloric cuisine sold for a mere four bucks.
Now how’s a mother supposed to compete with that? How can my meager maternal offering of tuna on whole wheat, a shiny red McIntosh and a sack of granola compare to that lip-smacking load of carbohydrates? Let’s face it; brown bagging doesn’t stand a chance against the power of the Meal Deal. Realistically what child wouldn’t experience lunch bag letdown after being bombarded by all those tantalizing offers of deep-fried everything? Fast food restaurants have refined their marketing pitch and hit their target audience right in the gut, catering to the young adolescent’s insatiable appetite for anything sold at a drive-thru window. Try as we might, none of us responsible for filling our family’s stomachs can ever match the allure of fast food. No home cook steps up to the family dinner table, drops a load of green beans on Junior’s plate and then asks, “Ya wanna supersize that?” The herculean-sized portions of super-sized restaurant meals means that the traditional parental plea of "Please clean your plate dear." has now been replaced with, “I think you’ve had enough fries.” Those megameal deals are the scourge of nutrition-conscious parents everywhere. The fact that my truck came with a drink holder that has “Adjustable for larger drinks”, printed right on it, tells you that supersizing is out of control. No parent in their right mind would invite their child to sit down to supper and slug back three cans of pop. Yet supersize that soft drink and you’ll get a whopping 32 ounces of cola. That’s enough caffeine to make even the most sleep-craving teenager bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Is it any wonder that a study of 200 teenagers found that over 80 per cent of them consumed more than the recommended levels of fat, and almost half had excessive dietary cholesterol? Picture those adolescent bellies awash with quarts of soda and floating French fries and it’s easy to understand the study’s conclusion; that by continually chowing down on junk food, one third of those kids have increased their heart disease risk factors. Of course it’s not just teenagers, adults and wee ones are equally susceptible to the temptations of take-out. Some food places have even tried to corrupt the family dog. As if the sight of golden arches doesn’t evoke enough of a Pavlovian response in kids, by handing out doggie treats at the drive-thru window these restaurants have now convinced even our canines that fast food rules. But at least the doggie snacks are low-cal and help prevent nasty tartar buildup. Show me one other item on their menu that can live up to that claim. We humble home cooks realized long ago that despite our considerable culinary talents, our kids are more responsive to those clever ads hawking hamburgers than they are to our summons to the dinner table. How is a mother supposed to compete? Should families set aside money from the household grocery budget to promote Mom’s Italian Meatloaf? A father’s paltry offer of “I’ll pay ya a quarter if you eat that brussel sprout.” doesn’t even come close to the millions of dollars spent annually on advertising by restaurants and food manufacturers. Fast food is served up with a side order of toys, celebrity-endorsements, spectacular contests, even high-tech, teen-oriented web sites. The simple pleasures of nutritious food and familial dinner conversation pales in comparison to the entertainment value of highly marketed fast food. Admittedly, fast food does have its place. What family doesn’t occasionally scarf down a quick Mcdinner en route to yet another hockey practice or dance recital? But it seems these days things have gone too far. A recent British study found that for every healthy food item aimed at children, there were more than ten other products being promoted to kids that were laden with fat, sugar or salt. Some restaurants appear to have abandoned all pretense of offering anything the least bit healthy on their menus. That pizza, nacho chips, chocolate bar and pop combo is hardly a nutritious lunch. Rather, it’s a feed of empty calories, disodium guanylate and phosphoric acid, with a little pizza sauce thrown in for flavour. All of which makes mothers shudder, and kids salivate. |