Summary Of The Article 'Why Mcdonald's Fries Taste So Good'

Martinos Goudiotis

Dr. Brinker

English 1190

21 September 2015

Summary of “Why McDonald’s Fries Taste So Good”

In the article “Why McDonald’s Fries Taste So Good” by Eric Schlosser, Schlosser claims that “the look and the taste of what we eat now are frequently deceiving by design.” He talks about the McDonald’s franchise in the starting paragraphs to draw in the reader’s attention, knowing that most people have had McDonald’s fries and that they are familiar with restaurant. Schlosser then begins to explain the difference between natural and artificial flavoring in foods, and the manufacturing process that is needed for the flavors. He begins to then explain the science and processes needed to make McDonald’s fries taste so good.

This article starts by talking about how everyone is familiar with fast food, but more specifically McDonald’s. Schlosser begins on how McDonalds’s fries became such a processed food and the reason why it became so loved by its customers. Schlosser begins to explain that the cooking oil and its special mixture is the key to making the fries so good and have their unique flavor.

Eric Schlosser then goes on a trip to New Jersey to go see the world’s largest factories of artificial and natural flavoring and where all our major companies get the flavors. In this facility the flavors are created by manipulating

chemicals in a certain substance that will stimulate the olfactory system. He then begins the explain that the olfactory system works in many ways and that sometimes taste and smells can be recognized through memories and things they see.
Subsequently, Schlosser begins a detailed explanation of how his time was at the International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) factory. He then explains everything he sees as he walked through the corridors of the factory. He states that the facility reminds him of “Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory” because of how the workers behaved. They were all so joyful and dressed in all white lab coats. He was then shown a room filled with special chemicals used to create the familiar tastes of brands of foods. He compared these chemicals to “magic potions” because of how 2 substances could be mixed and then create a new substance entirely.
These artificial flavorings however, are not the only reasons for making processed foods so tasty. The IFF also creates fragrances along with flavors. These fragrances are also main reasons to why processed foods tast so good. Scientists manipulate the smells of processed foods to make them more likeable. While Schlosser was in the fragrance section of the factory the scientists gave him test strips that mimicked a hamburger. He claimed it smelt so real he thought that there was an actual hamburger in front of him. The chemicals were so strong and so accurate he could not tell the difference between the strip and an actual hamburger.
The next section of the article Schlosser begins to explain the differences and similarities that artificial and natural flavoring have.

One similarity being that they are both “manmade.” The idea behind them both being manufactured is that people would assume that natural flavoring on a food item would be “natural”, but almost all processed foods are now made with some sort of flavor additives. Schlosser then begins to talk about how he neither thinks one is worse than the other but how he shares the idea that neither of the flavorings are good because they are chemicals designed in a factory and it is unhealthy to

consume.
The mouth is our first step to determine whether or not we like a certain taste of food. The taste buds on your tongue are capable of recognizing many different tastes such as sweet, bitter, spicy, and sour being a few examples. Since the tastebuds can only determine so many tastes we as humans use our sense of smell to heighten our sense of taste. Although we all have favorite foods in Schlosser’s article it states that what foods we liked as a child may not continue to be so throughout our lifetime because our tastebuds change. Color can also be a way on how food can be perceived as tasting. It can make us think highly or poorly on the food just by its color. We wouldn't pick a brown and bruised apple over a nice shiny red apple freshly picked from the tree. Many factors come into play on how foods may appeal to us.
Lastly , he talks about the people that create these flavors and how they put their love into the processes of these chemicals. When coming up with how a food should taste the scientist would have to consider the combinations of chemicals and how it will affect the texture of the food it's going into. Some of these flavors being made are to be thought of ass natural flavors by the FDA, and McDonald’s loved this concept as they use these “natural” flavors in their food, including their oh so tasty fries .