Friday, October 26, 2012

Food Reward Fridays

Each Friday, I'm going to post a picture of a modern food so ridiculous it makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time.  I'm doing this for two reasons:
  1. To raise awareness about the unhealthy, fattening foods that are taking over global food culture.  These are highly rewarding, highly palatable, energy-dense foods that drive people to eat in the absence of hunger, and continue eating beyond calorie needs.  In many cases, the foods have been specifically designed to maximize "craveability" and palatability.
  2. Because it's funny.
Without further ado... the first lucky winner:

 The Lady's Brunch Burger


Yes, that is what it looks like: a bacon egg hamburger with donuts instead of buns.  It was popularized by "Southern food" TV chef Paula Deen, who now has diabetes.  Go figure!

If you have a food in mind that you think is worthy of Food Reward Fridays, please pass it along!

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36 comments:

  1. UnknownOctober 26, 2012 at 4:19 AM

    Yum, where can I buy one Stephan?

    (When I'm eating it, I'll console myself with knowing I'm validating your Food Reward theory).

    ReplyDelete
  2. GretchenOctober 26, 2012 at 4:39 AM

    It's interesting the way one's food interests can differ. I looked at that photo and thought, "Yuch."

    ReplyDelete
  3. TylerOctober 26, 2012 at 6:27 AM

    All it needs now is a bit of syrup.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Phil GBOctober 26, 2012 at 6:45 AM

    Stephan,
    Great idea for sure. One thing I would recommend is if you could track down the nutritional information along with the picture. That way, we can bask in that particular food items fats/salts/sugars combination.

    ReplyDelete
  5. gunther gathererOctober 26, 2012 at 7:02 AM

    Disgusting. How can it possibly be edible without the cheese-food sauce and deep friend onion rings on top?

    And she calls herself a chef.

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownOctober 26, 2012 at 7:34 AM

    I love this idea! And that is awful and funny at the same time. I have seen some other crackers that I will have to pass onto you to share with everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousOctober 26, 2012 at 7:35 AM

    I know a beautiful young woman who raves about Krispy Kreme donuts, and ice cream and chocolate cereal and even Kix cereal, and I could weep, because some day it's going to catch up with her, and make her fat and give her diabetes and heart-disease. She's living a beautiful life now, but someday that sugar is going to bring her down. It's heart-breaking.

    ReplyDelete
  8. RLLOctober 26, 2012 at 8:22 AM

    I am guessing about 1000 calories, OK for a very athletic teenager. A smaller version, one donut, one egg, one slice of bacon, and a small (2oz) meat patty, about 500 calories. OK as an occasional breakfast for most.

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  9. TomOctober 26, 2012 at 8:42 AM

    How about this appropriately named cereal ?

    http://www.kelloggskrave.co.uk/product.aspx

    ReplyDelete
  10. Stephan GuyenetOctober 26, 2012 at 9:32 AM

    Whoa, that is amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Simon WhyattOctober 26, 2012 at 9:44 AM

    When I saw the into to this post in google reader, I fully expected to come across a picture of some highly calorific food, which while probably bad if consumed regularly, might well be quite tempting as some kind of "cheat meal".

    How wrong could I be.

    Almost as wrong as that burger!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Paul NOctober 26, 2012 at 10:14 AM

    A commercial approximation to this is the McDonalds "McGriddle", which has egg+ bacon, or egg+sausage, in a sandwich of maple flavoured pancakes.

    The sausage version has 560 calories, so RLL is bang on.

    I had one of these a few years ago, and yes, they are addictive!
    On a cold Canadian winter morning they do warm you up, but certainly make you want to eat a 2nd one (which I did).

    I imagine you could run with this Friday idea for years without ever having to repeat a "high reward food"

    A more interesting question is what is a naturally occurring (raw) high reward food? Honey is first one that comes to mind.

    ReplyDelete
  13. HamstercasterOctober 26, 2012 at 11:31 AM

    Remove the doughnuts and replace that patty with a home made beef patty and we've got a winner! Steak and eggs, yes. Steak, eggs and doughnuts or any other cereal grain based concoction, no!

    There are many other abominations out there. But even then, you don't even need any fancy concoction. Every process food out there is palatable more often than not. Chips, popcorn, fries. It's cheap and it's easy to get and fills you up quickly before your hunger signals kick in just minutes later. Processed food makers invest huge amounts of money on a yearly basis to find that special product that will appeal so much to your taste buds that you won't be able to stop eating before the container's empty. Just think of the Lays commercial. Betcha you can't eat just one..

    ReplyDelete
  14. cpsdcarrollOctober 26, 2012 at 11:41 AM

    http://thisiswhyyourefat.tumblr.com

    ReplyDelete
  15. Rosa ParkOctober 26, 2012 at 12:08 PM

    Oh...no.

    I really like your idea, Stephan!

    This reminds me of a video I watched: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LDQCIHu1Vo

    I would say all the meals of the "Epic Meal Time" YouTube show would definitely win awards in Food Reward Fridays. Obviously, they are definitely pushing to the extreme side of things!

    ReplyDelete
  16. SanjeevOctober 26, 2012 at 12:16 PM

    These guys want their idea back Stephan.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_is_why_you%27re_fat

    ReplyDelete
  17. SanjeevOctober 26, 2012 at 12:17 PM

    I should read all the comments before commenting ...

    ReplyDelete
  18. Charles L. PedenOctober 26, 2012 at 2:24 PM

    With that sandwich add 300g of sweet potatoes and 1/2 cup steamed broccoli and it turns into a respectably nutritious meal.

    ReplyDelete
  19. jdOctober 26, 2012 at 5:30 PM

    Stephan,
    Great idea. I think adding a bit of fun content will balance the the tone of the blog nicely.

    ReplyDelete
  20. 1977ubOctober 26, 2012 at 5:50 PM

    freeze it and shave just a little into every meal.

    ReplyDelete
  21. LeslieOctober 26, 2012 at 7:21 PM

    "Popularized?" How can anyone wonder how the state of Americans' health came to be so bad after seeing this. Jeez ... donuts for breakfast.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Agent TalOctober 26, 2012 at 8:34 PM

    I confess! I am pregnant and that actually looks really appealing...maybe these posts will have a detrimental effect on some...

    ReplyDelete
  23. PaleoliteOctober 27, 2012 at 3:25 AM

    I love donuts - and hamburgers... but this combo is truly disgusting! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  24. UnknownOctober 27, 2012 at 4:09 PM

    Cultivating disgust is one of the quickest ways to do a workaround of addiction… watching videos of making and eating the ladies brunch burger from youtube was always a quick and easy way to raise that feeling of revulsion in the stomach.

    ReplyDelete
  25. AnonymousOctober 28, 2012 at 4:20 AM

    I love donut ^^

    Soy milk, nice

    ReplyDelete
  26. JoAnneOctober 28, 2012 at 11:23 AM

    Oh my goodness. Jim Gaffigan, the comedian, made a joke about this some years ago. He must be psychic, because I'm pretty sure this didn't exist back then. He called it the donut ham hamburger.

    Stephan, if you haven't watched his routines before, you would really appreciate his humor, because so much of it is about food reward.

    ReplyDelete
  27. MonicaOctober 28, 2012 at 6:44 PM

    I haven't scrolled through the comments, but... I suggest the new hot dog stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut. Apparently it's only selling in Canada. Yes, this may be an alternate reality post.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Arun BabuOctober 28, 2012 at 11:21 PM

    It is sinful that chefs are not taught anything about health and nutrition.When even doctors are being tutored by Medical representatives advancing their medicines which often not based on Number Needed to Treat(NNT).There is hardly any reference to the healthy diets our ancestors took and how our body was made to deal with the food.It is also strange that we blame the food preparations made by laymen to satisfy the the taste buds,but where do we find food joints run by nutritionists.It is high time they should promote food for food joints rather for our homes and hospitals when one gets sick.The food item selected by you is awful because once fried in much processed refined pufa oils,though having omega-6 oils,but in nonfunctional oxidized form which is not metabolized by our cells.You may find it with oxidized cholesterol in the arteries leading to Heart lying snuggly.And follows the common problems and they bid final farewell.A.B.Agarwal

    ReplyDelete
  29. GastrolamasOctober 29, 2012 at 3:13 AM

    Please do cook your own food, do not eat those processed edible "things". As spanish I am surprissed by what you do consider tasty or crave, it is easy to cook from scratch! You just need the time and try the same recipe again and again until it tastes ok. And don't tell me you don't have the time to cook if you sit and watch television!

    ReplyDelete
  30. TierneyOctober 30, 2012 at 9:41 AM

    It's a superb picture. When I first saw it my brain said "Holy cow I want that!" But when I thought of how the components would actually combine in my mouth, it seems a lot less appealing. I think the photography has a lot to do with it. Food photography is an amazing art. A bad picture would have made the same concoction look disgusting.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Quakertown Family PracticeOctober 30, 2012 at 12:14 PM

    Great idea for sure. One thing I would recommend is if you could track down the nutritional information along with the picture. That way, we can bask in that particular food items fats/salts/sugars combination.

    ReplyDelete
  32. UnknownNovember 1, 2012 at 2:11 AM

    great ideas.
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    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
  34. allisonNovember 1, 2012 at 4:32 PM

    Stuffed French toast from IHOP. And yes, it appears to be deep fried. 1220 calories, 70 grams of fat, 31 grams of sugar and 1 gram of trans fat (probably from whetever it was fried in).

    http://www.ihop.com/menus/main-menu/french-toast/stuffed-french-toast-combo

    ReplyDelete
  35. PrItAm YaDaVNovember 5, 2012 at 2:21 AM

    There is hardly any referrals to the healthy diet plans our forefathers took and how our body was created to cope with the meals.It is also unusual that we fault the meals arrangements created by laymen to fulfill the the preferences,but where do we find meals joint parts run by health professionals.It is about time they should enhance meals for meals joint parts rather for our houses and medical centers when one gets fed up.

    http://www.onlinehghsupplements.com/

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete

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