Men’s Health says they’ve found the Worst Food in America: 2,900 calorie cheese-covered ranch dressing french fries from Outback Steakhouse.
From Men’s Health:
2,900 calories
182 g fat 240 g carbsEven if you split this “starter” with three friends, you’ll have downed a dinner’s worth of calories before your entree arrives. Follow this up with a steak, sides, and a dessert and you could easily break the 3,500 calorie barrier.
Dude. Ew. A full pound of Porterhouse steak has just 1492 calories.
The Worst Food In America [Men's Health via BoingBoing]
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America doesn’t have the market cornered on this sort of excess. There are other places in other countries that offer up whopping huge portions. Even in Japan, land of tiny people and tiny portions, you can buy 3-foot-high ice cream parfaits, 2 pound pork cutlets, and curry by the gallon. The main differences are that it’s sufficiently more expensive that people are dissuaded from buying it and few places offer them compared to the U.S.
These gargantuan monstrosities are linked to low food prices and the need to sell more to get more money per person. If you sell something normal (plain fries) for a reasonable price, people aren’t going to bother with a restaurant. They’ll just cook at home. Restaurant portions will change when food prices go up in the U.S.
I don’t know why people say your daily caloric intake should be no more than 1600-1700. That’s almost impossible, and on the verge of starving yourself. I get around 3000 calories a day, high protein diet (150-175g), and been hovering around 140 for the past 6 months. Height is around 5’7″
@Ayo: really? i didn’t know that
@XianZomby:
The fat smokers have been shown to be cheaper on insurance company rolls than health conscious people.
Healthy people live to long and that adds up.
I.e. You are driving up the rates of the obese smokers.
@theirishscion: They are…they are VERY good. Needless to say, I don’t eat that kind of stuff very often. Its more of a one or twice a year indulgence.
Outback wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t pretend to be Australian.
If you come here to Mena, Arkansas one of our local drive-in serves “Fried Greenbeans” and during the County Fair you could round your VEGETARIAN “mega fries fried green bean” meal off with a “Deep Fried Milky Way”!
@darkjedi26: My friends and I play a little game called “Butter, Cheese, or Chocolate”. There isn’t a single food that wouldn’t be better without one of those things.
Aw, come on. No love for the turducken? Granted, I’ve never seen it on a restaurant menu, but as long as we’re talking about ridiculous quantities of food …
Don’t forget to order the diet coke when you order this gut buster.
Wow…this was covered on the news months ago. Is this really a surprise to anyone? The thing is HUGE – you’d have a hard time splitting it between four people. 2900 seems like a low figure to me.
No, what was surprising to me was that a large tuna melt from Quiznos has the same amount of fat (175g) as this entire thing, and that’s a sandwich aimed at serving one person.
@chstwnd: They credited the wrong inventor…That’s called a “Lutherburger” and it should have a lot more bacon and cheese than that.
Clearly, they missed Susie’s Drive Thru.
I love Men’s Health and they may be right, but they’re also wrong because these are also the best food in America. I dare you to try them.. Delicious and HUGE. I think we all know it’s not healthy… Though my friend dude throwup that one night after aussie cheese fries and some drinks.. yeah long story…
Those fries are the jam!
Since it is a STEAKHOUSE, I thought it was implied that none of the food there is healthy. It shouldn’t be surprising that the fries are 2,900 calories, since they probably use the fat from the beef to fry them.
I saw this a couple months ago. When I looked at the list, number two was the “worst appetizer”, and I figured, it had to be the cheese fries, but alas, my beloved made it to number one. I’ve eaten these as a meal probably about twenty or thirty times, and boy are they good.
I like how the health issue of this is overlooked by some and it actually takes on the form of an advertisement for them. I guess the stereotype of the average American being fat, greedy and stupid may not be that far off the mark…
@darkjedi26: don’t forget cheese or cheese food product
All I know is the wait stuff at Outback loves it when the customer pretends to speak with an Australian accent.
@XianZomby: Actually fat people don’t “jack up” your health insurance. You know who does? According to a recent study, it isn’t smokers or fat people who strain our health system, it’s healthy skinny people.
Seriously. Article just came out about a week ago. Fat people and smokers die soon enough, but you self-righteous skinny people live forever and develop all kinds of horrid problems that cost a ton of money to treat/manage until your well-trained heart finally quits.
@shufflemoomin: Ironic, given that several European countries have fatter populations than the U.S. I hope, sir, you don’t happen to be from one of them, although I’m guessing that’s likely, given your snooty, elitist attitude. If you’re from Canada, I have one word for you: Poutine.
I’m going to make this comment again, it’s the same comment every time one of these articles gets posted.
If you eat out every day and get stuff like this it will make you a big fat fuck.
Why ruin good tasting foods for those of us who can control their eating? These things look mighty tasty, and they certainly make me wanna go to outback.
@SkyeBlue: Frid Milky Ways are wrong on so many levels.
I think my arteries are clogging just reading all of the posts.
omg, a hamburger on a krispy kreme, yikes I think I gained 10 pounds just looking at the picture@chstwnd:
@RamV10: “Why ruin good tasting foods for those of us who can control their eating?” Because there is a huge contingent of folks out there that know what’s good for you and feel compelled to not only tell you all about it, but force you to comply with their recommendations.
BTW, these thing are, as the kids say, DA BOMB! And if you need a blog to tell you that FRIED potatoes, hidden under a mountain of CHEESE and BACON with a side of RANCH dressing might not be the healthiest of treats, you must have been dropped on your head as a baby.
@hwyengr: so true
seriously though, I don’t think anybody looks at those and thinks “ah a nice healthy appetizer” If you want to eat them, then eat them. It’s nobodys business what people eat. As long as people buy them, they’ll keep making them, they are in the business to make money, but I don’t think anybody has the right to be another adults calorie/fat police.
@Trai_Dep: heh thanks,yah the women of the South have it rough in only having redneck men who eat this kinda shit and call women fat chicks to choose from for dating and marriage. However, the lesbian chicks such as myself have to listen to the aforementioned men and their comments and theories about how we just haven’t met the right man or they could do us so good we’ll transformed into straight women. So which is worse: dating men who eat this shit or having to listen to their crap? I’d rather listen to their bullshit any day as long as I don’t have to date them
Ok, here is the secret to Ouback you get the blooming onion as an appetizer and then get the cheese fries as a side. Soooo Gooood
mmmmmmmmm fries with cheese.
@valthun:
Oh god… you got me thinking about Roberto’s. I tried those Carne Asada fries once and Jackson Pollocked my toilet bowl for about a week.
It was worth it.
Good thing I’m paid up on my insurance. Those fries are great.
@aphex242: That study was just MADE for people to chime in these kinds of discussions with comments like “I heard skinny people are the problem, not fat people, so nyah!” Personally, I have serious doubts about that study, not least of all that it failed to compare the net costs incurred for the health care of skinnies vs. fatties — the skinnies are likely to have longer productive years, experiencing the majority of their health problems well after retirement, and pay more into the system, whereas the fatties are more likely to suffer ill health and lost productivity during their prime years.
Plus, it might cost more, but you have to weigh the relative benefits — if it costs $100 to have a fat citizen who is sickly and obligingly dies at 60, and $120 to have a skinny citizen who lives a long, healthy life and finally dies at 102, isn’t there a chance that the increased utility generated over the course of the long, healthy life was worth more than the extra $20 it cost?
Seriously, people. If least possible cost is the ONLY factor, then universal infanticide will ensure that no one will ever rack up any healthcare costs at all. If you’re after maximum utility, though, I’d hazard a guess that “healthy and long-lived” is the way to go.
And as far as cheesy fries go — it’s a shame that so many people are incapable of indulging appropriately, and that restaurants like Outback Steakhouse cater to this tendency, both responding to and accelerating it. But if you are able to consume delicious treats in moderation, I bet these fries are a pretty tasty way to do so. Like hammers and guns, cheesy fries are tools, only as good or bad as the user, and not inherently evil.
For years the Big Mac was No. 1 on the list of “usual suspects” rattled off by health professionals when they talked about foods that are not good for you. “Big Macs, French fries, peanuts, popcorn, potato chips… etc.” But I notice the Big Mac isn’t really on the list of worst foods anymore. It’s not on the list of worst burgers either. The Big Mac, at 540 calories, has fallen well below the new standard for food decadence.
there have been way too many stories about puking at outback in this thread. i was once at outback with someone who puked, and i’ve avoided the place ever since. based on these comments, i think that’s been a wise choice.
i do love cheese fries, though.
You could always get a half order of the Outback cheese fries (not always on the menu but always available). So it’d only by about 1500 calories, then split that between three people. Then it would be about as bad as a Big Mac.
Then you could throw caution to the wind and get them “Layered”. They add cheese all throughout the fries instead of just on top…
I love Outback cheese fries.