Comments on: Fast food going natural

By: Divina

Divina — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:30:23 +0000

Natural is a tricky word. I don’t expect fast foods to go natural. Are they just saying natural just because they want to attract more customers so they really want to change the way people eat. It could be natural sugar but sometimes people still consume them in industrial sizes.

Although at the same time I think it a good idea for other companies offering healthier alternative. Some fast foods are offering healthier alternatives but I’m not paying more for it. For example, they’re using iceberg lettuce on their salad and a bottled dressing. Very tricky and a lot of people can be fooled. It’s not even worth buying it.

For me, it’s eating the less processed foods you could ever find and you can find them at the farmer’s market. And replacing not-so-healthy items with healthier products.

The word natural is still open to many interpretations. It depends on the motive of the company as well.

By: Patti

Patti — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:21:56 +0000

Good question Dawn the question this site is asking is …if places such as Starbuck’s is “going more natural”, are we willing to pay more for this…duh?? Wouldn’t MORE natural mean less expensive ingredients would be used, since they aren’t pre-processed by someone else, thus not adding to the costs???

The whole point of “eating Local” was to cut down on the need to ship food long distances and reduce our “Carbon footprint”, since this should reduce the costs, why should we be expecting to pay MORE??

“Lala land thinking” is what gives these huge corporations justification to push their hands deeper into our pockets by preying on our conscience using targeted marketing, do you honestly think they care?? It is still all about MONEY, and I doubt if pure food is actually their goal.

I owned a small bakery that was invited to supply the baked goods for Starbucks on Vancouver Island. My baking was all Organic and we made specialty products for those with Allergies.
Their pricing requirements made it impossible to compete.

By: dawn

dawn — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:47:00 +0000

I like the fact that companies are potentially taking a more natural approach to things (although it’s too bad we even got this far, before we thought about making some changes).

Like Amy and Katerina, I am just a bit leery about what is actually “natural” and what are companies allowed to say, so they can safely label their products natural, whether they actually are or not.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that I am not hopeful, I am just not going to buy or use something because the front of the package says “all-natural” – because that is the latest fad and the companies know it will sell the product.

Anyways I suppose it could be a great step in the right direction!

By: Rouxbe Online Cooking School Blog » Blog Archive » Cuisine Canada Scene | Fast Food Going Natural

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:50:24 +0000

[...] thought this was such an interesting blog post from Cuisine Canada Scene, that I thought it might also be of interest to all of [...]

By: Katerina

Katerina — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:37:40 +0000

The only problem is the labeling “all-natural” frequently meaning nothing, it makes us all have to be very savvy consumers indeed.

By: Amy Proulx

Amy Proulx — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:19:56 +0000

We call it “Clean Labeling” in the industry. In general it means a movement towards more natural processing technologies. But it also sometimes means ingredient suppliers find strategies for producing the same sort of stuff, without adding off-putting words on the ingredient deck. Looking at some of the Back to Nature products (the macaroni and cheese in particular), I’m not sure the general public would call it natural if they knew the process of making some of the ingredients. I remember the products from when I was in the US, haven’t seen them here yet.

By: Dana McCauley

Dana McCauley — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:15:42 +0000

I just love that all natural is becoming more common. I really feel best when I eat mostly whole foods that have minimal processing and I wish it were easier for all of us.

I’ve tried the Back to Nature snacks (in the interest of full disclosure, I’ve been working with Kraft on the launch) and they really represent a new way for big food companies to think. Such a a positive change in the long run, I hope.