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fast food

Pizza with pineapple, a filet o' fish and candy corn.

If there’s one thing that just about everyone is passionate about, it’s food. Everyone has their own unique palate and if they don’t think something tastes good, it’s impossible to convince them otherwise. People also have strong preferences over where they like to eat. Are they a Taco Bell or Del Taco person? Denny’s or Waffle House? Starbucks or Dunkin’?

People also have a sense of mortality about what they eat. Some are omnivores, others are Vegans. Some feel it’s wrong to eat food unless it died or fell off the tree naturally, while others are willing to eat fish that are still alive.

That’s why a recent post by Araaa, also known as @Shawntifying on X, was so fun. She asked people to share their most “cancellable food take,” and people gave some extremely passionate opinions on food. The X thread was extremely popular, receiving over 42 million views.



Here are some of the most “cancellable” food opinions to get your blood pumping and mouth-watering.



Some people jumped into the thread to take shots at other people’s tastes and habits.


Do people like pineapple on pizza?

Many people showed up to defend their love for pineapple on pizza. That’s been a heated debate on social media over the past few years. So, what do most people think about pineapple on pizza? A recent YouGov poll found that most people are fans. A poll of over 1,000 people found that 22% love it and 37% like it. That means 59% or more than half of those polled like pineapple on pizza. On the other side of the debate, 18% dislike it and 19% hate pineapple on pizza.



Some people were passionate about the first meal of the day.



Strangely, many people shared their thoughts on candy corn. The polls show that people either love the Halloween treat or think it’s an abomination. Food flavor specialist Marie Wright tells Today that our opinion of the candy is closely tied to our experiences with it as children.

"The area of the brain where we process smell (which has a major impact on how we process taste) … is in the same part of the brain where we store memories and evoke emotion," said Wright. "In that primitive part of the brain, often there is a strong connection between an event, especially when it's food, especially childhood."



Sweet potatoes were also controversial, with people swearing by them or wanting them eradicated from the planet.



There were also some extremely hot takes about fast food restaurants.



Many people don’t like shellfish, which will save them thousands of dollars over a lifetime.



Not everyone finds coffee delicious.



The bone-in versus boneless-wing debate was also a big issue among the people in the thread.



And, of course, some people in the thread were just 100% wrong.


BXGD / Flickr and Cody Bondarchuk / Twitter

Sometimes the smallest gesture can turn your entire day around. You find a $5 bill in the pockets of your jeans. There's no traffic on the way home from work. Or by some divine intervention, you get 11 chicken McNuggets in your 10-piece box.

Of course, if you've ever had such a blessing, you know your first thought is, "Must be some sort of mistake."

But do you return the extra McNugget? Nope. You don't even feel an ounce of guilt for it. You dunk it in barbecue sauce and relish it like a gift from the gods.

A former McDonald's employee in Edmonton, Canada let the world know that sometimes an extra McNugget is not a mistake and he's become a viral hero.


Cody Bondarchuk is being hailed as the "Robin Hood of McNuggets" after admitting in a tweet on November 15 that he intentionally gave thousands of customers an extra McNuggets in the two-and-a-half years he worked for the burger giant.

His admission invoked a passionate response on Twitter.

But Bondarchuk doesn't want to be called a hero. You deserved that extra McNugget, dammit.

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Bondachuk says he's not the only McDonald's employee who had zero issue with stealing from the multi-billion dollar company and giving it to his hungry customers.

"It was something that a lot of my coworkers did as well," he told CTV News. "It was really easy to overfill them without it looking weird when it was on the delivery line, and of course there are no cameras on the kitchen line."

So he never got caught.

He admits that he must have given away around $1,600 worth of free chicken.

In just six days, his tweet received 900,000 favorites and 80,000 retweets. It's even attracted the attention of a billionaire businessman.

"I saw that Elon Musk liked it, which is very cool," he said.

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Bondarchuk hopes that his new reputation as a champion of the working man helps him with his political ambitions, to run for Edmonton City Council in the next municipal election.

"Certainly I don't want a platform just based on nuggets," he said. "But anything that gets my name out there, I'm very happy about, because a lot of those things rooted in working-class support is where the platform will go."

via dllegrande / Instagram

Earlier this month, Cajun fried-chicken restaurant Popeyes rolled out its first nationwide chicken sandwich, and it kicked off a heated debate on social media: Which chicken sandwich is better, Popeyes or Chick-fil-A?

The sandwich is getting rave reviews for its large friend chicken breast, brioche bun, and two pickles.

People have been flocking to Popeyes to find out for themselves and many are experiencing long lines or can't get the sandwich because its sold out.


While the folks at Popeyes are obviously seeing dollar signs, 17-year-old David Ledbetter saw it as an opportunity to create social change.

On Saturday, Ledbetter took advantage of the long lines at a Popeyes in Charlotte, North Carolina by asking people to register to vote as they waited. According to reports, he was able to register 16 people.

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"I decided to register people to vote after I saw there was a lack of young people politically involved," Ledbetter told CNN. "I believe that it is our duty to vote as American citizens and it would be wrong not to exercise our political voice."

Ledbetter came up with the idea after talking with Stephanie Sneed, an attorney running for a position on the local school board.

RELATED: NRA lobbyist asking how to tell a 10-year-old she can't have her pink assault rifle is peak NRA

"Because he's young, he has a new perspective on candidates engaging with young people," Sneed said. "He's already engaged and it's in his makeup."

"I like engaging with the community and I have aspirations with helping people and making society better as a whole," Ledbetter said.

Ledbetter is setting a great example for his fellow North Carolinians by encouraging them to register to vote. North Carolina is a swing state that'll be pivotal in the 2020 election. In 2016, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton 49.8% to 46.2% in the state.

Joe Biden has a large lead amongst Democrats in the state, polling at 37.5%. Bernie Sanders (18.5%) and Elizabeth Warren (14%) round off the top three.

Biden also wins in a hypothetical matchup versus Trump in North Carolina. Real Clear Politics has Biden with a 51.3% to 43.7% lead.

McDonald's might not be the king of fast food for much longer.

McDonald's recently had decreased profits. New ideas and millennials just ruin everything, don't they?

It's hard to think of a name more synonymous with the word "empire" than McDonald's.

Even Emperor Palpatine from "Star Wars" would be jealous of their reach and global brand recognition. McDonald's happily sits on the throne as the undisputed king of fast food and one of the world's biggest and most successful businesses.



America's favorite road-trip bathroom. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.

As of last year, McDonald's had 35,000 locations worldwide and operated in 119 countries. To put that in perspective, Burger King, McDonald's biggest competitor, has 13,000 locations in 79 countries. The sun truly never sets on the McDonald's empire.

However, like all empires, McDonald's reign will one day come to an end. In fact, although they still serve around 68 million customers a day, McDonald's is beginning to slip from their place at the top.

The Wall Street Journal shows how McDonald's sales are becoming more limp than a reheated french fry.

Since last July, McDonald's has seen some declines in sales.

That's right: As of last July, McDonald's showed 12 straight months of same-store decline. That represents the company's first full-year fall in 13 years, and although they've shown a small improvement this year (a 0.9% increase in domestic sales in the third quarter), you can be pretty sure they're not lovin' it.

So what exactly is going on here?

Well, on the business side, McDonald's has had a few mishaps. In Asia, where McDonald's earns nearly 25% of its revenues, health scares have had a harsh effect on the company's sales. Reports of contaminated beef and chicken in China caused sales to fall sharply over the summer. In Japan, sales were affected by a woman who reported finding a tooth in her french fries.

Yeah, you read that right. A tooth.

But McDonald's is also having trouble here in the homeland, and that's where the story gets interesting.

It's well known in the economics world that competition is what keeps American businesses strong. Having one or more rivals keeps a company creative, efficient, and forward-thinking. Every Coke needs its Pepsi, every Apple needs its Microsoft, and every Bernat Yarns needs its Lion Brand Yarn Company. (Just don't bring that frizzy Lion Brand twine around me.)

Anyway, I digress. For decades, McDonald's hasn't had much in the way of competition. Even other fast food restaurants have struggled to present a true threat to Mickey D's despite carving out massive markets of their own.

One reason for the cracks in the McDonald's empire may be their new competition.

The growth of middle-ground, casual fast-food dining options such as Chipotle, Five Guys, Smashburger, and Sweetgreen have offered customers their first real opportunity to walk away from McDonald's and never look back.

No one even knows what barbacoa is. Photo by Ben Popken/Flickr.

Plus, a new generation of eaters has started to demand different things from their fast-food experiences.

They're trading in their Big Macs for Smashburgers, and their Chicken Wraps for Chipotle burritos. They want customization, they want healthy and sustainable ingredients, and they want guacamole, dammit!

Research shows this: Millennials and younger eaters in America are asking for a lot more than special sauce. They want to eat fresh ingredients, and they want to customize. Just like McDonald's, a restaurant like Five Guys satisfies that primal American need for a burger and fries. But in contrast, Five Guys does it with ingredients that are apparently fresh and never frozen.

In fact, millennials think about food so differently that it's started to affect major processed food brands at the grocery store. Young shoppers are buying more fresh meat, produce, and dairy products. This has caused brands like General Mills, who produce mainly packaged food, to slip in sales as well.

McDonald's has tried to combat these changes in their own ways.

They've offered digital touch-screen kiosks in some stores that allow you to completely customize your burger.

I bet this thing will still forget your extra pickles. Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images.

They're offering all-day breakfast. They just announced $1 mozzarella sticks.

And they've made a few company-wide changes to become healthier, like abandoning margarine for butter and no longer selling chicken and beef raised with growth hormones.

For the record, McDonald's has tried in the past to appear more healthy, and they've had...

Photo by Reg Natarajan/Flickr.

...let's just say...

Photo by theimpulsivebuy/Flickr.

..."varying levels of success."

Unfortunately, McDonald's image is still hopelessly tied to unhealthy food. Despite their efforts to change their reputation, people who care about fresh food probably don't think they'll find it between a pair of sesame seed buns.

So, the next time someone makes fun of you for ordering your vegan, gluten-free, chia-seed kale shake, just smile to yourself.

Your healthy choices really could crumble an empire.