On the not-quite sixth day of Christmas, a researcher gave to “we” … six lousy french fries — and a salad grown organically…
Eric Rimm, professor of the departments of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and real-life Grinch recently was quoted in a New York Times story, “You Don’t Want Fries With That.” According to the article, “Of Americans’ appetite for fries, Dr. Rimm said, ‘It’s too bad in this country you’ll pry them from my cold dead hand.'”
Furthermore, he called potatoes “starch bombs.”
And then he dropped this bomb about customers at fast-food restaurants: “There aren’t a lot of people who are sending back three-quarters of an order of french fries. I think it would be nice if your meal came with a side salad and six french fries.”
Six.
French.
Fries.
Let that sink in like so much vegetable oil.
And Rimm wasn’t even being tuberous — he was totally serious.
It quickly became a hot potato, hashed out (mmmm, hash browns!) in hashtags.
Twitter user @DietitiansHusband wrote: “The scientific study that said 6 fries are the limit…6 fries are what the beach chickens get when I’m done eating fries. Kidding…I don’t feed seagulls at the beach.”
Tweeter @bigdave325, who must come by his username honestly, said: “I eat more than 6 #FrenchFries just checking the bag to make sure that the whole order is there.”
VanityFair.com contacted the professor after his spud-den infamy. He felt his words were just small potatoes. After all, he wasn’t suggesting a total no-fry zone.
It was since reported by BusinessInsider.com that the fast-food chain will be making its fries even more fabulously fattening. McDonald’s will apparently introduce cheesy bacon fries nationwide next year, even though a spokesman could not confirm: “‘I’m afraid I’ll have to provide a cheesy no comment,’ a McDonald’s representative told Business Insider in an email. … ‘At this moment, our kitchens are bacon-ing something together. But we’re not yet ready to share the gouda news.'”
