If you read the stories about the McDonald's MegaPotato in Japan, you might remember that the serving of fries is double the size of a large fries and 5x the size of the small fries.
While the MegaPotato should be too many fries for one person, how big is too big?
The MegaPotato comes in at 350 grams, or about 12.5 ounces. About ¾ of a pound of deep-fried, peeled potatoes. By contrast, the small fries is 71 grams or 2.5 ounces.
When eating French fries, you can easily lose track of how much you are eating. You can easily get through a 71 grams serving, but would you stop before you reached the end of the 350 grams serving?
When I did McDonald's more often, I would eat until the end of whatever size I bought. Chances are in a value meal, I would get the medium fries. I would finish the fries every time, yet I wouldn't ask myself, "Do I want more fries?"
So if the containers were smaller, would you eat fewer French fries?
The containers used to be smaller, but have grown like the soft drink sizes and the burger sizes. After all, a Quarter Pounder used to be a big deal because 4 oz. of beef was a big deal.
The calorie count for the MegaPotato is 1,142 calories, so even split 3 ways, you would still come out with 381 calories. If the MegaPotato were 1,000 calories, you would save 48 calories. Would you think you got cheated? What if you didn't know the calorie count?
If you just ate a serving of McDonald's fries, could you answer with certainty how much you just ate?
The small fries come in at 230 calories; you would save 151 calories versus sharing the MegaPotato with two other people. And you would have the container all to yourself.
If you get a value meal, you get a medium fries. You can go up to a large — extra value. But you can't go to a small size, at least not without hassle.
So you order the value meal and get the medium fries and finish them all. The medium fries are 117 grams, 4.1 ounces. Your calorie total, just for the medium fries, is 380.
So you would be consuming about the same number of calories if you 3-way shared a MegaPotato vs. ordering a medium fries by yourself. And you're still 150 calories over a small fries.
At least with McD's or another fast food place, you can get a calorie count. Try assessing the fries you get with a burger in a bar. No shiny container, just enough fries to fill up whatever size plate the bar gives you with the burger or sandwich.
Or maybe you and your mates ordered a basket of fries. Did you get enough fries when you ordered? What makes you get a second basket to share with friends.
French fries are in many ways the perfect food. Salt, heat, sweet (with ketchup) or spicy (with chili). They go well with everything and almost everyone loves them. Hey, they are gluten-free.
French fries are also a food where we can easily lose track of how much we've had or know when to stop.
photo credit: McDonald's
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