Fast Food Nation

My eating habits here are less than impressive. I have access to many of the bad things I crave, so that, plus sitting on my butt all day, will surely equal weight gain.

After seven-plus years in France I'm as big a food snob as anybody (ok, yeah, bigger I know). But I've always adored things with fat. That's my big weakness. And here in the land of eating on the go (in the press center, I mean, not in China) there are lots of things to satisfy.

This morning I OD'd on fried bumplings (OK, dumplings, but bumplings is so much more fun to say, and that's how it's spelled at the hotel buffet). They aren't really fried -- they're your typical potstickers, filled with yummy chopped mystery meat. I had a totally Chinese breakfast this morning: Too many bumplings, a hearty portion of Chinese broccoli, fried rice and won ton soup. Starch-o-rama!!

But my really shameful secret (till now) is the McDonald's, downstairs, at the Main Press Center. Now, it's not the only option; not by a long shot. There is a large cafeteria that serves several types of cuisine: Asian, Mediterranean, Grilled, International and Cold. The prices aren't bad; things seem to be subsidized for the journalists. Highlights, from my cruise through the other day: Curry chicken at Asian, pizza and pasta at Mediterranean, chicken pot pie at international (what?) and polish sausage and skewers at the grill.

I tried the Asian food the other night and it was, not to put too fine a point on it, gross. I think the chicken was particle chicken, and if I'm gonna eat particle chicken, it's gonna be in the form of a McNugget.

Which, second only to pizza rolls, are one of my favorite bad-for-me foods. And the McNuggets here (not to mention the fries) are awesome. The best McDonald's has to offer. And they've given us coupons, too. I imagine I will tire of McDonald's soon. (Oh, I hope so.)

I just called up the Wikipedia article on Morgan Spurlock's experiment "Super-Size Me" in which he eats nothing but McDonald's for 30 days. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Size_Me

It's thoroughly disgusting.

But I''ll see if I remember that come 4 p.m. when the bumplings wear off.