After almost a year on a ludicrously healthy diet, I have few food cravings. But one thing that sets off all my bells is the mere mention of chicken nuggets. You don't even have to start comparing the merits of various dipping sauces. Just say the words "chicken nuggets" and I am itching to grab my keys and head for the door.
And it's not just me. Chicken nuggets hold sway over our nation's children, too. It is my impression (as a childless adult) that all children would happily eat nothing but chicken nuggets, all day every day, if it weren't for their parents' intervention and entreaties. Chicken nuggets appeal to even the pickiest eaters, and there are some very picky eaters out there.
To an alien, our fondness for chicken nuggets would certainly seem bizarre and extreme. It's mashed chicken pulp, extruded and formed into a limited set of shapes, dipped in a batter, fried, then frozen, and baked in the oven. It sounds repulsive. Frankly it IS repulsive.
And yet.
What chicken nuggets lack in panache or presentation, they make up for in pure junk food bliss. They have the perfect combination of savory, salty, and fatty. Add in the right dipping sauce and you get a hit of sweet, too.
To people who don't believe that food is not an addictive substance, consider the case of chicken nuggets. Exquisitely designed to deliver the maximum payload of carnal joy, without a single shred of nutrition anywhere to be seen. Chicken nuggets are basically cigarettes that are legal to give to your kids.
Obviously they could make chicken nuggets that had spinach hidden inside, or vitamins, or were low fat. But they won't, because they know that's not what we want. And I'm afraid they are so, so right.
Image courtesy Flickr/my_amii
1 comments