Would you like fries with that?

Ignorance, they say, is bliss. So I have studiously avoided reading Eric Schlosser’s “Fast Food Nation” for several years now despite the pressure of several close friends. I know I eat too much fast food and that the truth about the fast food industry, ingredients, processes, and practices would shock, even disgust me. So I have chosen to remain in the dark and have continued conveniently patronizing McDonald’s, Taco Bell, KFC, and others, returning most often to McDonald’s when the boys insist upon the latest Happy Meal give-away (which multiplied by three boys and five or more pieces per promotion makes for bushels of disposable tchotchkes getting under foot).

Recently though, I picked up “The Best American Non-Required Reading 2002” volume edited by Dave “A-Heartbreaking-Work-of-Staggering-Genius” Eggers. One entry is an excerpt from Schlosser’s book and is titled, “Why McDonald’s Fries Taste So Good.” Sigh. OK, I’m not sure total ignorance is bliss, so I read it.

That night at dinner with the boys we discussed what I had read. I asked them why they thought McDonald’s french fries tasted so good. They had many great theories including the potato, the cooking oil, salt, and how the fries are cooked. All great answers, but none of those actually explain why McDonald’s fries taste the way they do.

McDonald’s buys, slices, cooks and freezes millions of pounds of potatoes daily. Americans live on processed food, but unfortunately the freezing, dehydrating, and packaging techniques destroy most of the food’s flavors. So what is McDonald’s secret?

Enter IFF--International Flavors and Fragrances--the world’s largest manufacturer of natural and artificial flavors. It is a multi-billion dollar a year industry shrouded in secrecy with few of us knowing the names of any of the leading companies. Sure, we know the fragrances: Estee Lauder, Clinique, Lancome, Calvin Klein, but we don’t know who creates them or how they are developed. And we eat the flavored foods, but IFF and others have no interest in revealing their clients because it is important to their success, to the success of the fast food industry, as well as the success of the manufacturers of 90% of the products sitting in our cupboards, that we believe the tastes come from the cooking process and ingredients, not a laboratory in New Jersey.

According to Schlosser, “Distinctions between artificial and natural flavors can be arbitrary and somewhat absurd, based more on how the flavor has been made than on what it actually contains…Natural flavors and artificial flavors sometimes contain exactly the same chemicals, produced through different methods.” Schlosser reveals that the wizards at IFF can manufacture the taste of popcorn (by adding methyl-2-pyridyl ketone), marshmallow (ethyl-3-hydroxy butanoate), even, if they chose, the aromas of freshly cut grass (hexanal) or body odor (3-methyl butanoic acid). Makes you wonder why so many processed foods taste so bad, doesn’t it?

Want to know how Burger King creates the taste of its strawberry milk shake? I read the ingredient list to the boys, first challenging them to try to memorize it, and then quoting:

amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl acetate, ethyl amyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hydroxyphenyl-2-butanone (10 percent solution in alcohol), α-ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butyrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptine carbonate, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl salicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobutyrate, orris butter, phenethyl alcohol, rose, rum ether, γ-undecalactone, vanillin, and solvent.

When I finished the list, Andrew let his jaw drop in mock surprise and said, “Daddy, I am just dumbstruck.”

After reading the article, and discussing artificial and natural flavors with the boys (wouldn’t it be funny, we thought, if the french fry and hamburger flavors got mixed up?—when in fact, McDonald’s fries are designed to taste like the beef tallow they were once cooked in), I went to IFF’s web site. It’s all there. The products, the ingredients, the chemical formulas, the industry overview, the annual report. Not the names of specific food industry clients, of course. But confirmation of much of what Schlosser reported and overwhelming evidence that the flavors and aromas of most of the foods I enjoy daily are carefully manufactured by chemists.

Like Andrew, I am dumbstruck.