Mmmhmm
I’d like to take this time (and whatever billions Wendy’s is spending on its new marketing ploy) to remind everyone everywhere that “natural” in the food industry means absolutely nothing.
OK, not nothing. But not what most people think, which appears to be: healthier, cleaner… somehow better.
Wendy’s is launching its new fries, which will have potato skins in tact and be seasoned with sea salt, in an attempt to appeal to “foodies” and people looking for more natural food choices.
I see two major problems with this:
- People will assume that “natural” means “healthier,” and these fries are not healthier (in terms of calories, fat, sodium content) than the original fries. In fact, they’ll actually be slightly higher in calories and significantly higher in sodium.
- People will assume that sea salt is somehow better than table salt. Sodium chloride is sodium chloride is sodium chloride. Whether its refined, unrefined, iodized, Kosher, etc… it’s salt. If you’re on a sodium-restricted diet for, say, hypertension, switching to sea salt will not reduce your sodium intake, as it has just as much as table salt.
Food labeling is a science. It’s sad to me that we’re even eating things so far from its whole food state that it has to meet legal definitions of its contents. But this is how it goes.
The USDA has identified and defined appropriate adjectives for food packaging, among them: low, high, reduced, light, etc. For marketers, working within these verbal restrictions makes food labeling an art, and they use all kinds of tricks to lead us to believe something is good for us–brown packaging, green font, pictures of plants, words like “wholesome” or “healthy.” All these things seem to signal that a product is “natural” and, therefore, a better choice than whatever the competitors are selling.
Personally, I think that Wendy’s new fries look way better than the old ones, but this doesn’t mean I’ll be throwing them back with a Frosty any time soon. I have nothing against fries and am happy to eat them. I love fried food. All of it. I just also know what it is, what it’s doing to my body and that no amount of it being “natural” or sea-salted will change any bit of that. So I eat accordingly.
Sweet Tater Blog 
I think I read in a Women’s Health magazine (possibly that one?) that people undershoot calorie estimations by 40% when they think something is organic. So yeah… I can so how people will get overly excited about this one…
I had no idea these were on the horizon, and I’m kind of excited. I’d rank Wendy’s regular fries really high on my list of Favorite Fast Food French Fries (as long as they’re just out of the fryer…Wendy’s fries taste gross if they’ve been sitting around a while).
Five Guys, if you count them as fast food, have amazing fries. I love KFC’s potato wedges which are fry-like enough for my purposes. Checkers/Rally’s are probably my favorite inarguably-fast-food-fries although I hardly ever eat there. Most people flip over McDonald’s fries and find Burger King’s fries repulsive, but I’m the complete opposite. I saw today that Fuddrucker’s now has sweet potato fries…I think that’s the first chain I’ve seen offer those.
I also love the fries Henry’s Smokehouse when they’re super-crispy. The one on Wade Hampton is awesome about that…the one by my house prefers to make them kinda mushy.
Man, I could keep this going for seven or eight more paragraphs. I’m kind of sad that I can’t remember what I think about Hardee’s fries, though.
haaa, i always liked burger king fries better than mcdonald’s too. mcdonald’s used to season theirs with some kind of beef derivative though…
sweet potatoes are a trend to expect in the fast food area because sweet potatoes are “healthier” than white potatoes.
Oooooh, Burger King has the best fries! So delicious. These new Wendy’s fries look a lot like Boardwalk fries, what with the skin still on and everything. Mmmmmm. I’d go for sweet potato fries at a fast food joint. They’re not necessarily less calories, but they ARE more delicious.
Yep.
On a related note, I’m irritated by erroneous assumptions that multi-grain = whole grain, gluten-free/dairy-free/vegetarian/organic = healthier and/or unprocessed, and “natural” = safe. It’s much more complicated than that.
Aaaand in my ideal world, people would eat organic not only for the good of their bodies (perceived and real), but for the good of our planet and future generations. They’d care not only about the welfare of animals raised for food, but about the working conditions of the humans who produce and handle it (animal, vegetable and grain) and the practices of the business entities involved.
[Steps off soap box.]
yeppp. [steps ON soap box]
and if i see one more thing “made with whole grains” i am going to implode. whole grains are good for you and you should be eating them so EAT THE DAMN WHOLE GRAIN. not the whole grain macaroni or the whole grain pizza crust or the whole grain fruit loops. eat the oats, the millet, the quinoa, the rice. eat that.
and YES, the assumption that “organic” implies “diet-friendly” and “this-will-make-me-lose-weight” makes me crazy.
Gah, I love Wendy’s fries. I hope this doesn’t screw them up.
Oh lordy I used to looooooove me some Wendy’s fries dipped in a frosty.
ooh, i hope they make a natural/whole grain/0 trans fat/gluten free/fortified/lactose free/recycled/GMO free/hemp/solar powered frosty so i can feel good about tossing a few back a week, because THAT SHIT IS GOOD.
You mean organic ice cream still has calories? Well that explains a lot…
I’m leaving your blog before you start telling me all-natural 7-Up isn’t a healthy.
🙂
haaaahaha
The sad this is that this is really going to work. People will think they are making a better choice while they aren’t.
Just saw it on Fox News…………….again, sweettaterblog broke the news to me first.
haha, awesome
Ugh, this drives me insane. Anytime someone uses the “it’s natural, so it’s healthy” argument, my blood pressure skyrockets and then I remind them that cocaine is also natural.