Joseph C. Piscatella wrote a diet book several years ago called, Controlling Your Fat Tooth. He used the play on words to draw attention to his theory that it is not sweets we crave but fat. In other words, forget about your “sweet” tooth, worry about your “fat” tooth. I believe it. I love sweets; but the ones I’m really fond of are full of cream and butter, like Nanaimo bars. And when I’m really hungry it’s steak and fries, lasagna, and fish and chips that I crave, all foods with mucho fat.
However, I know and you know that eating too much fat isn’t
good for you. The late foodie icon, Julia Child, who lived to be a vibrant
ninety-two, believed we should eat everything in moderation. That’s why I try
to moderate, as much as possible, the amount of fat I eat. Controlling the fat
does not mean eliminating the fat; because I also believe food isn’t as much
fun to eat when it’s really fat-free. (Ever tried air-popped popcorn? Yuck!)
Let’s face it; even so-called healthy choices need to have a little fat in them
to be palatable.
With that in mind, recently I checked out the less fat-laden
menu items now available at three fast food franchises - known more for their
burgers and fries than for their greens and yogurts. They are: Wendy’s,
Freshwater Rd., McDonald’s, Topsail Rd., and Burger King, Topsail Rd. In
addition to finding some pretty good food at these places, I was reminded of
how inexpensive a lunch for two can be at your local burger joint – under $20.
Wendy’s Mandarin chicken salad requires some assembly, but
the end result was worth it. My large plastic bowl contained lots of crisp
iceberg lettuce (along with a few pieces of mixed-greens), tender cubes of
chicken breast, and canned Mandarin orange segments. It came with three
separate packets containing sesame dressing, slivers of roasted almonds, and
crispy noodles - to be drizzled and sprinkled on top. The whole mixture was
toasty, crunchy, tender and citrus tart, with the unique taste of sesame oil (a
staple in stir-fries) giving the salad a real exotic flavour. I caution though,
it is important to use only a small portion of the dressing because the entire
packet (which is quite large) contains 19 grams of fat. I drizzled less than a
quarter of the packet on my salad and it was fine.
The ultimate chicken grill sandwich at Wendy’s was simple
but yummy. It was a Kaiser roll slathered with some of Wendy’s sweet and
savoury sauce, and then stuffed with a thick chicken fillet, a leaf of romaine,
and tomato slice. The dressing had a BBQ taste that gave the sandwich some
bite, although there was a tad too much dressing on mine. According to Wendy’s,
the whole sandwich contained less than 7 grams of fat, not bad considering the
amount of dressing and chicken fillet used.
At Burger King I tried the Greek salad. It too was large and
contained the usual (although not necessarily traditional) Greek salad
ingredients: iceberg lettuce, sliced tomato, black olives and feta cheese
(which tasted processed and bland). It came with a packet of balsamic
vinaigrette dressing. Again, please don’t use all the dressing because it will
add unnecessary grams of fat. The salad was decent enough, but some of the
iceberg lettuce was ragged and tinged with brown.
Burger King’s fire-grilled chicken burger was delicious. In
most respects it was similar to other brands but differed in the grilling.
Their fire-grilled method definitely gave the chicken a better flavour, nice
and smoky.
Unfortunately, their veggie burger was not quite as good.
Although it too had that smoky flavour, the veggie patty itself was too thin
for me. I was expecting something like the patty that appears in their
advertising, which seems to be about twice as thick as the one I was served. It
was tasty, thanks to the addition of lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, ketchup
and mayo; but I still felt unsatisfied because of the scrawny patty. However,
at a cost of $2.22 I guess I can’t complain too much.
I love fajitas so I gave the chicken ones at McDonald’s a
whirl. They had a similar problem, not enough filling. I knew it as soon as I
opened the package they came in. They looked like two tightly wrapped tortilla
cigars. The salsa on offer came in packets of spicy or mild. I went with mild.
It was good and improved the fajitas a lot, but they would have been much
better with more chicken, cheese, tomato, and onion. By the way, the two small
fajitas cost me $3.99.
After that, things started looking up at McDonald’s. Their
chicken McGrill was a straightforward chicken breast fillet with lettuce,
tomato, and mayo in a sesame seed bun. Not great gastronomy but good,
satisfying food.
McDonald’s side garden salad, costing a reasonable $1.99,
was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting more iceberg lettuce, but this little
number contained a nice mix of different greens along with grape tomatoes and
carrot slices. The dressing was a nice surprise as well, Paul Newman’s low-fat
balsamic vinaigrette.
Finally, another unexpected find at McDonald’s was dessert.
They serve fruit and yogurt in a clear plastic cup that, despite its
institutional appearance, is really good. It’s a creamy Danone vanilla yogurt
with pieces of strawberry and blueberries underneath. You also get about a
tablespoon of toasty granola to sprinkle over the top. The berries were the
frozen variety, but still, it was a wonderful little treat that cost only
$2.29.
Well, there you have it; my quest for good low-fat food at
some of the country’s most popular burger joints did yield some dividends.
Perhaps the “fat” police have been too hard on them in the past. Maybe we need
to get over the stereotype of the greasy burger joints of the past and look at
the new incarnations with more objectivity. There are some nutritious nuggets
to be found and I don’t just mean chicken nuggets.
Best Points:
All of these restaurants offered a good selection of low-fat alternatives.
Areas for Improvement:
They need to control the hidden fats in spreads and
dressings. For example, there are alternatives to real mayo.
Ratings Category:
Wendy’s, Freshwater Rd., 7.5 points out of 10.
McDonald’s, Topsail Rd., 7.5 points out of 10.
Burger King, Topsail Rd., 7 points out of 10.