English taste sensation
Hungry for some breakfast I was in Pret a Manger this morning eying up the warm croissants. A bacon and egg croissant was making me drool, but before I bought it and crammed it down my throat the following thought crossed my mind. Why would you fill a croissant with eggs, bacon and tomato ketchup? The French would never do anything as crass. The croissant as a food has been developed and refined over hundreds of years. It’s already perfect salty, buttery deliciousness. Why mess with perfection. But not the English. We find it perfectly acceptable to cram two dishes into one serontonim-high giving bomb of calories and put it in a shop window. I bought one. And it was incredibly delicious.
As I polished it off and wiped the ketchup and scrambled egg from my nose I thought I’ve probably just devoured the same amount of calories as the average African done in a day. No wonder there’s an obesity problem here.
(a quick breakfast snack in London)
| Energy Values (kcal) per pack | 483 |
| Protein (g) per pack | 18.9 |
| Carbohydrate (g) per pack | 34.4 |
| - of which sugars(g) | 4.7 |
| Fat (g) per pack | 20.1 |
| - of which saturates (g) | 8.2 |
| Dietary Fibre (g) per pack | 3.0 |
| Sodium (g) per pack | 0.9786 |
| Average weight (g) per pack | 167.0 |
Central African Republic
(source: http://www.tulane.edu/)
Daily caloric intake is 1,945 kcal, with 10% coming from animal sources. Average caloric intake has fluctuated recently, but overall, shows a declining trend. The primary staples in the diet consist of cassava, yams, and maize. Malnutrition prevalence is high, with 39% of the population under-five stunted, and 24% underweight. Prevalence of malnutrition has declined over the past five years. Twenty-two percent of 0-3 month old infants are exclusively breastfed.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
You had a caloric bomb of a snack with a “diet coke”! Classic.
I do love seeing people in MacDonalds having a super sized meal with extras and then making themselves feel better with a diet coke :p