Hacker News Reader

Comment by milchek | Hacker News Reader

Not here to argue your point, just to note that McDonalds fries are not as natural as people think, ie. most people assume they’re just potatoes fried in some oil.

“French Fries Ingredients: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [wheat And Milk Derivatives]), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients. Contains: Wheat, Milk.”

Source: https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/product/small-french-frie...

View on HN

Fair.

I guess replace my earlier comment with Five Guys fries then. https://www.fiveguys.com/-/media/public-site/files/allergen-...

> Five Guys Style [Fries]: Potatoes, Refined Peanut Oil, Salt

Its gonna make you fat and clog your arteries either way.

----------

My point is that "processing" food doesn't seem to make it more, or less, healthy. The amount of "processing" that Pasta has (Dry the Flour, Wet the Flour, Dry the Pasta, Wet the Pasta/Boil it, and sometimes further Drying+Wetting steps after that) is one of those running jokes in culinary circles.

More processing usually equates to more refining which means removal of micro nutrients. So yes, while five guys fries will make you fat if you eat too many they at least contain the normal micro nutrients of potatoes without added preservatives that may cause other problems

Are you saying French Fries (Simply cut Potatoes, oil + salt) are healthier for you than Pasta? (Ground grain, dried, wet, combined with Eggs, dried again, combined with various sauces made from oils, often dried herbs and other such ingredients)

Because Pasta is a hell of a lot more "processed" than a typical French Fry

You're comparing oranges to orangutans

Not only are they cooked differently but you've added extra non processed stuff to the pasta and culminated in using a simple sweeping term of "healthy"

You can also add herbs to fries and cook them in an air fryer. What about if I add broccoli to the fries and throw some hot sauce on?

Both of those things have a place in a well balanced diet

Bleached, fortified white flour is an incredibly processed ingredient.

It's also got nothing to do with health (or lack thereof).

I guarantee you there are fewer processing involved in Five Guys French Fries compared to white flour alone, let alone all the extra steps before you have a good meal.

Do you think there is a Pesto recipe that has less processing than the typical oils used for French Fries?

-------

I'm simply pointing out that a Bowl of Spaghetti + Pesto on it is highly processed. To far greater degrees than highly unhealthy and fattening foods we already know about.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com