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The point is not telling anyone what they should or shouldn't eat or hindering anyone from eating what they want even if it is a supersized McDonald's meal. The point is that FF, has gotten so pervasive in our culture that many people including schoolchildren do not have any real choices other than FF. There are a lot of costs associated with this, seen and unseen.

Perhaps the people here have access to such information - but if you read through lots of messages in lots of threads - there's a disturbing message to be found in quite a few. A lot of people who write messages here are overweight. No doubt this statement is true. Many people here who are overweight have some understanding of the issues involved, some have a great understanding while some may not. The children targeted by McDonald's and school lunches do not nor do many of their parents. Personal choice is certainly an important factor and to the extent that individuals have knowledge to make those choices, others cannot be faulted when those choices are made. If I were to go out and emulate the behavior seen in Supersize me after having seen the movie I don't think that I could blame McDonald's, but if I'm a kid and that is all that I can eat because that is all that is available to me, that's a problem. There is no choice there. I certainly wouldn't legislate against people being able to choose fast food, but they should be aware of the potential consequences, nutritionally and socially. That is informed consent - a subject very near and dear to my profession. Any extreme diet appears to be problematic. The point about Atkins is that the high fat diet does not necessarily lead to obesity. High fat by iteself or in any unbalanced way is bound to be a problem in some way as isa pure carbohydrate diet. The issue here isn't really one of aesthetics. It is one of personal and societal health. I can't dispute this, although the parents themselves need to be aware that the food is garbage first. This movie is a step in that direction. If you dance with the devil... Why not take money from cigarette companies and have cigarette vending machines or the pushers from down the street? On the surface these appear to be extreme examples, but personally I'm not so sure that the soft drink industry isn't the real culprit here.

Enjoy! and tell us about your experiences in The Big Easy.

I am jealous I just got his book. It is authoritative and easy to read.

The difference is that most people eating gourmet food such as many eGulleteers have at least some access to nutritional information and alternatives. Many of the people targeted by the FF industry don't or are unaware of better alternatives. A perfect example from the movie are the school lunch programs that are essentially FF joints. That IMO is the most disgraceful part of the whole thing.

The major problem I have with these "media events" is that the problem isn't only MacDonald's - or fast food - it's that high fat high calorie diets are bad for you. ← High fat diets get a lot of blame, although it is not absolutely clear that that is what is primarily at fault. The Atkins diet, although flawed has demonstrated this. A more hidden culprit is the role of simple sugars such as is found in soda and interestingly enough as a significant additive in a lot of McDonald's and presumably other FF products. The consumption of soda has skyrocketed in this country and remains the predominant beverage of the FF industry. While diet sodas may lack the caloric component, they are full of other chemicals that may or may not have short or long-term effects of their own. At best, this is an extremely difficult study to design. The movie obviously took FF to an extreme and used McDonald's as an example that could probably be extrapolated to most if not all of the major FF Companies. It did so to make a point. Is it awful for most people who only eat it once in a while? Probably not significantly so. The real point of the movie though is that that style of eating fast food is not necessarily an aberration and as such has its consequences. Buyer beware.

I need to respond to a couple of your points having just watched the movie last night. His blood glucose was not monitored on the screen. That is most definitely best monitored as a fasting test. The cholesterol might have been affected, butactually all one needs is an 8 hour fast for a reasonable level. The leiver function tests, which werer the most profound results are not a fasting test. This was indeed revelatory and a major concern. Were the results due to the fats in the diet, the sugars, the chemicals or a combination of the above? Who knows, but as a physician and a parent the results are indeed alarming. A political agenda? I suppose so, but then anyone making a point has a political agenda. Neither this movie nor Fast Food Nation are opposed to fast food as a concept, but the costs of the culture have gone way beyond the simple cost for a hamburger. I doubt you will find a controlled study out there looking at this. None of his doctors thought it would be good for him and none recommended the diet. That they were all shocked by the extremity of the diet's effects is not shocking to me. They couldn't have predicted it ahead of time. During the movie they were continually recommending that he cease the diet. Actually I don't think there was that much preaching. It was expostulation to draw one's one conclusions based upon his experiences. That someone can eat at McDonald's and not gain weight and still appear to be reasonably healthy is not really the point. Of course that is possible, the same way that some people can smoke cigarettes and not get cancer or emphysema or heart disease. If one can predict that ahead of time power to you. Most people cannot. While many people may have enough personal wherewithall to limit what they eat and drink at FF joints many do not. I vehemenently think that each person has to be responsible for him or herself in every endeavor in life including eating at McDonald's and such and to those of us who have the knowledge of what the potential is and still choose to do so no blame can be cast onto the fast food companies. Unfortunately most people nowadays either don't know what is involved, feel they have no choice or are inculcated at an early age. This is probably the most insidious part of the whole thing. The comparisons to Joe Camel are not far off the mark. I watched the movie on DVD. One of the most interesting extras was a piece on how various products left out in a jar broke down. Most of the sandwiches and a control sample of regular restaurant french fries broke down normally. Eerily the McD's fries, however, never did. While this proves nothing one does wonder why not and what the potential repercussions may be.

The wine I'm most curious to hear about is the Coturri syrah. When their wines are good they are great. If they have had a flaw it has been unevenness. I was at the winery in 1997. It was literally a garage operation.

Excellent report, Silly, with beautiful photos. By appearance at least the restaurant is comparable to others in Barcelona I am familiar with. The foie with persimmons looked particularly delectable.

Arthur, What are your favorite products from Campania and how do you source them in the US? I'm particularly interested in the ones that any of us can source, although I imagine you might have some private sourcing for some particularly delectable items. Those sources you can feel free to share by PM . Seriously, thanks for the insights.

Your book on the cooking of Naples is superb. My mother's family is from the region and I grew up with a lot of Campanian (and Sicilian) influences in my house and have had the pleasure to visit both areas with my sons. I was amazed at the quality of the raw ingredients as well as the artisanship involved in using them. What three ingredients of the region are most important to you and why? What would you consider the three best ingredients? If the lists are different, why? I apologize for limiting you to three. Picking one, I know would be impossible, but I want to lend some difficulty in narrowing the choices. Just to be fair, I'll answer my own questions. My three most important ingredients are: pasta - the artisanal kinds from Torre Annunziata are to my experience the best dried pastas in Italy Pomodorini del Vesuvio- a revelation when I first had them at Seliano. Regular San Marzano tomatoes, a relatedhonorable mention. raw milk mozzarella di bufala - amazing stuff, useful in so many ways and probably the single most closely associated ingredient of the region. The only thing I would change in my list of most important to best is I would replace the pasta with the lemons from the Sorrento peninsula. Most people consider a lemon is a lemon, but these are special - more than the pasta is special compared to that from other areas. Your thoughts?

Arthur, thanks for joining us here. I am looking forward to your discussion. We have a mutual friend in Baronessa Cecilia Barrata of Agriturismo Seliano. I had the great fortune of meeting her lat year when I stayed with my son at Seliano just prior to the Slow Food Congress in Naples. It is a wonderful place and she is a wonderful woman. How did you become acquainted with her and Seliano? What do you find most appealing about doing your workshops therre?

I too love chickpeas in a number of ways, though my favorite is the Sicilian pannella fritter - basically fried chickpea flour. This is particularly good in a sandwich with cacciacavallo cheese and fresh ricotta.

How far is Michel Bras from Catalunya, specifically Roses?

The timing of this thread is interesting for me. This evening I watched Supersize Me on DVD which also had an interview with Schlosser. I can't say that either the movie or the book have affected my or my family's eating habits since I just saw the movie and haven't read the book. The movie and by extension the book have given support to our habits though. We try to minimize our contact with the major fast food chains and try to buy locally and from known producers as much as possible. My influence has been more from the Slow Food Movement, although they co-relate. In the movie, the villainous emphasis was placed on the fats consumed, although mention of the sugars and sodas were made. It is the latter agents that I believe are the major culprits of the physiologic turmopil induced. I watched the movie with one of my sons. It was good to see our views and practices reinforced. I must make viewing for the rest of my family and our principle child-care provider mandatory, who will occassionally bring our five year old to McD's.

Ore, I'm surprised given your description of the kitchen equipment and raging popularity of this technique that I saw in all the high end Spanish restaurants I've recently visited. It could be that even the baccala might have been cooked by this method. I would think that if they've gone to the trouble of having all that equipment that they would use it. In Spain, I was shocked by some of the dishes that were cooked sous vide that I wouldn't have had a clue about had I not been told so.

Thank you all for these reports. It appears that Terra Madre and the Salone del Gusto were as stunning as I thought they would have been - perhaps moreso. I just hope that the movement is able to build on this momentum. It is interesting and gratifying to see Italy take on the role described in the posts above. Given its role as a pillar in the history of western civilization, it is uniquely situated to be able to do so.

Welcome to eGullet! I sent in my request about the same time you did and received my response this morning. I would imagine that you will hear soon. When did you request your reservation for? Wendy, thanks for the confidence. What will be particularly interesting is that I plan to bring my 15y/o son along. He is becoming very adventurous and somewhat sophisticated foodwise. I will be curious to see his response to the meal in particular. We will be going with our Catalan friends and their eldest son.

Thanks, Ellen. It is hard to make it out for cetain in the photo, but if you say it is raw fish, it is raw fish. I am curious as to what kind, though.

I received a gracious, affirmative email response today for a weekday in August for 6 people. Now I have to figure out how to make it work! I initially requested anytime in August back when I could have scheduled it accordingly. The response took so long that I wa forced to make some decisions regarding the timing. Now I am dependent on the good will of my partners.

Ha. I believe the dessert comments on the first page of this thread are worth reprising: As for myself, I've only been to Devi once, but the 'trio of creams' (chai panna cotta, banana flan, and shrikhand (mascarpone, crème fraiche and yogurt with candied grapefruit))--challenging, balanced, and delicious--was perhaps the most memorable part of an exceptional meal. I've long been a holdout in continuing to accord Bruni the benefit of the doubt, but this dessert comment zeroed out his remaining credibility with me. ← Excellent, informative post. Thanks for taking the time to do it. I haven't been to Devi yet, but I loved the desserts at Amma. I too wsa shocked by Bruni's statement. Makes one wonder about the chicken and beef dishes he criticized.

Ellen, could you highlight the centerpiece that you think is raw fish, please? That is difficult to decipher, although the qualioty of the photo looks fine to me.

Super report, Ore. Outstanding. My guess is that the cod was the cod-equivalent of toro-tuna, the belly cut. Unfortunately, I don't remember what it is called. Were any of the dishes cooked sous-vide?

I also like the fact that Sam is getting a haircut and taking a shower.

Dining should be fun. This looks like fun.