In 2008, Sweden’s No. 1 burger chain got rid of its kids’-meal boxes and, contrary to expectations, sales of the meals rose. Apparently parents who are facing the prospect of their children scrabbling for survival on this wrecked cinder of a planet don’t like creating needless trash? At least in Sweden, anyway.

Max has even taken the unusual step of trying to nudge customers toward its vegetarian options by showing them that the beef version of its burger leads to five times as much carbon emissions. Sales of non-beef burgers went up 16 percent.

via grist.org: Swedish fast food chain makes bank by becoming ‘Klimatsmart!’, 13.04.12.

more: timemag, 09.04.12.

and there’s a “Minimize Me” campaign—contrary to America’s favourite fast food slogan.

how many more reasons to love Swedes/Sweden/Scandinavia?

Frying chicken is fairly simple, if a little messy. You dip pieces of chicken into a mix of egg and milk, roll them around in flour and spices, then cook the chicken in sizzling hot oil until the pieces are brown, crispy and delicious.

But wait! Don’t forget to add a dash of dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent made of silicone that is also used in Silly Putty and cosmetics. Now add a heaping spoonful of…

read more: organic authority.

maaaang! I used to love chicken mcnuggets when I was a kid! :[

but glad that I’m now doing this vegetarian thing and never eating fast-food chicken again.

I got these cute “not a nugget” stickers from some campus student org a while ago. have ‘em on my wall. I guess seeing them everyday makes me less and less likely to eat chicken again.

Attention: Your McRibsandwich is probably not good for your heart. It has 980 mg of sodium and 10 grams of saturated fat. But then we already knew that it wasn’t exactly health food.

According to Time’s healthland blog, that’s not all it has: The sandwich contains 70 other ingredients. And some of those ingredients, such as azodicarbonamide, ammonium sulfate and polysorbate 80 are kinda gross.

These components are in small enough quantities to be innocuous. But it’s still a little disconcerting to know that, for example, azodicarbonamide, a flour-bleaching agent that is most commonly used in the manufacture of foamed plastics like in gym mats and the soles of shoes, is found in the McRib bun. The compound is banned in Europe and Australia as a food additive. (England’s Health and Safety Executive classified it as a “respiratory sensitizer” that potentially contributes to asthma through occupational exposure.) The U.S. limits azodicarbonamide to 45 parts per million in commercial flour products, based on analysis of lab testing.

Something tells me this news isn’t going to stop people from eating the sandwich.

sfgate, 01.11.11.
time, 27.10.11.