A Side of Clyde
Anyone going into to a Burger King restaurant one day last month received a free small order of Burger King french fries. BK made changes in the way they prepare their potatoes. This was supposed to be the largest one-day sampling of french fries in the history of fast food and BK officials estimate more than 15 million orders were served. They do have more than 9,000 restaurants and sales of $9.8 billion.
Mr. Potato Head, official "spokespud" for Burger King, said they made changes in the way they prepare potatoes, and the new BK fries are tastier, hotter and crispier. In a blind study, he said, "Our new fries are preferred over McDonald's fries by a landslide margin, 57 percent to 35 percent. Eight percent couldn't taste the difference."
Ronald McDonald isn't threatened by Mr. Potato Head even if he is offering free fries. "We have our own recipe, and our McDonald's survey claims we offer the country's favorite fries," said Ronald McDonald.
The fact remains, they are playing around with potatoes again and no one makes potatoes like "the kind mom used to make." I have spent nearly six decades looking for the kind of potatoes my mom used to make and nothing comes close to it.
On Sundays we usually had fried chicken, pork chops or pot roast with fresh, homegrown vegetables. Of course, we had mom's famous mashed potatoes. Now and then she would throw in some garlic for a different flavor.
I recently went into a restaurant in Los Altos and ordered chicken-fried steak. "Can I get mashed potatoes and gravy with the chicken-fried?" I asked the waitress. "Sure, why not?" she answered.
I took one bite of the potatoes and I called back the waitress. "Would you please tell me how these mashed potatoes are made?"
"The mashed potatoes came out of a box," she asked. "Why?"
I can't believe potatoes out of a box. No one made mashed potatoes like our family did. You peel them, cut them into little pieces and put them in a pot of boiling water. Then you put in some salt and pepper, and add some butter and maybe even a little sour cream, and then you beat them and stir them and you get biblically correct mashed potatoes.
Mashed potatoes from a box? And now a new way of preparing french fries by Burger King. I think this country is going the wrong way on food.
We have nonalcoholic beer, instant grits, canned biscuits, frozen french fries, fake flowers, tanning salons, and I recently bought some ice cream at Haagen Dazs and received yogurt instead.
When you call business establishments on the phone you get computerized voices. Airline takeoffs in airports are announced digitally, and you call a friend and he talks to you from a machine.
We've got to get back to making mashed potatoes and french fries like we were used to eating. Let's save the world from having to eat boxed mashed potatoes and french fries with additives, and get back to the way we used to do things.
When you have to eat steak au gristle and chicken a la belch, the least cooks can do is prepare mashed potatoes properly. Otherwise I'll have to say "Yes, I'll take some french fries with that."
Clyde Noel is a longtime contributor to the Town Crier.