Comments on: Bad Food! Bad!

By: spoonfork38

spoonfork38 — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:50:58 +0000

I do appreciate the nutritional information, as I said, especially if the company itself didn’t widely provide it. And, again, I’m just not seeing the company messing with my free will, here. I don’t like gritty bits (even chocolate bits) in my drinks, so I’d probably give these a pass, anyway.

They may be messing with my right to be fully informed about what I might choose to eat, if this information hasn’t been made readily available by the company. Presumably the author of the post found it on the company’s website, so . . . .

And you got me—the noun was there. I still have a problem with ‘worst,’ though. “Worst nutritional” or “Worst tasting”, “The least healthy milkshake ever,” or even “Cholesterol Bomb in a Glass!” I probably wouldn’t have argued at all.

But OMG Worst Drink Ever? I’m allowed to have my own opinions about that. As are we all.

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:33:29 +0000

What was that over there? Was that a nit? Worst what? Drink. It says so. Worst by definition, is an opinion. Frankly, I think you should be praising the author of that post. In it, there was no bashing of the consumer. Not so for the comments but hey, the author is not responsible for those.

With regards to nutritionally questionable, iceberg lettuce is nutritionally questionable but I think it’s fair to say that at least it does no harm.While it’s true that one Worst Drink Ever also does no harm, it represents a food industry culture designed to remove free will from our food choices and conscience eating is, I would think, nothing if not dependent on free will.

By: spoonfork38

spoonfork38 — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:24:44 +0000

Well, my original point (which again, I’m not sure I made) was that I don’t believe that ‘nutritionally questionable’ equals ’soul-destroying dessert drink of Satan.’

And I’m not quite sure it’s morally bereft to make a milkshake this, uh, powerful. The company thought there would be a market for it—if there isn’t, they’ll drop it.

However, I do agree that ingredient and nutritional information should be readily available to potential customers, should they need or want it. Health, separate from weight loss, is a perfectly valid reason to provide this information.

I just believe that labeling a food ‘worst’ is too subjective a qualifier—and without a noun (the ‘worst’ what?) it’s also, well, ambiguous.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:23:07 +0000

Sorry folks, but just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Remember, most people buying one of these won’t look or probably care about the ingredients or calorie content. In fact, they may figure it’s just another milk shake. This is an act of corporate evil. Buying it and choosing to drink it is a matter of choice and not subject to moral valuation. Selling it is.

By: TropicalChrome

TropicalChrome — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:33:15 +0000

That milkshake looks delicious. Not like that coffee banana smoothie sample I had at Starbucks yesterday – now THAT was truly vile. (The strawberry banana was pretty good, though.)

When did we stop evaluating food on anything but fat and calories? They’re not the only important things. Sometimes they’re not important at all.

By: Bree

Bree — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:57:19 +0000

I love Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins. Their regular milkshakes are yummy. I’ve never had one of their Oreo shakes and I can’t believe that it contains 70 ingredients and is 2600 calories, but then again, I thought Paris Hilton was a real blue-eyed blonde.

By: Twistie

Twistie — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:32:05 +0000

Do I want to drink it myself? Nope. Do I agree with the hand-wringing? Nope.

Do I think one of these once in a while is going to ZOMG kill us all with obeeeeeeeesiteeee? Nah.

The Purple People Eater, on the other hand, sounds simply noxious.

By: Jenny Rose

Jenny Rose — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:06:45 +0000

I thought the worst drink in America would be moonshine or something that could actually kill a person, like poison.

It doesn’t appeal to me but someone must like it or it wouldn’t last on the menu.

Meet me at the food court and we can take it away from all the people who don’t know any better.

By: Vixen

Vixen — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:41:08 +0000

Well, I agree with you in theory, but OTOH I dunno. The 70 plus ingredients list isn’t makin’ me love it …… what more does a milkshake need than milk, cream, sugar, salt, maybe a little egg, and whatever flavoring it is, hopefully the real deal?

And srsly … really, I’ve come a long long way from caring about such counting … but *2600* calories? 1700 m sodium? One (or even one occasionally) isn’t gonna kill ya, but boy howdy, health food it ain’t.

Although the Purple People Eater does sound worse.