13 meals that used to be basic; now they’re controversial

Some of the most normal meals now come with a side dish of arguments, even though they used to be basic things everyone ate.

The little stack

What made Lunchables-style kits so great was that you never had to think about them. Crackers and meat, along with a little cheese, voilà. Lunch was done. But people have started looking a little closer at the ingredients and questioning whether they’re as simple as they seem.

One report even found traces of lead, cadmium, and phthalates in some of the kits. Not exactly things you want to be chewing on. It’s gotten so bad that Heinz has even pulled Lunchables out of some school lunch programs because of the backlash.

The lunch-box classic

That’s not all for lunch. Bologna sandwiches used to be one of the most dependable kinds of midday meals because you only needed a few ingredients to make them. However, the meat now gets lumped in with other kinds of unhealthy meats.

Hot dogs, bologna, ham, they’re all the same, thanks to curing and preservatives. It’s not like people didn’t know that before. But it’s becoming impossible to avoid, and the sandwich that used to cost almost nothing comes with a different kind of price.

The cafeteria favorite

It’s true. You’re still going to see hot dogs at school, especially on field days and during school cookouts. But there are more people wondering whether we should be feeding our kids that stuff, since all that processed meat isn’t great for them.

Nobody’s turning into the hot dog police or anything. Yet you’ll find there are more people struggling to defend why we’re feeding kids so much processed junk.

The tray everyone knows

Anytime that you had a room full of unruly kids, you could serve them a plate of chicken nuggets and fries to calm them down. That’s kind of the issue. Should we really be giving our kids such ultra-processed food?

You can make a chicken nugget in many different ways, sure, and not all of them are bad. But it doesn’t take a genius to understand the truth. The factory-shaped kind of nuggets isn’t great for their growing bodies.

The box with a toy

The issue with Happy Meal-style meals isn’t necessarily due to burgers or nuggets. It’s more to do with the prize side of things. Kids wanted the toy inside, and their parents would buy them the meal to get them to be quiet for a few minutes.

However, some people say that’s wrong. They say we’re encouraging children to see meals in an unhealthy way, and that we’re tying unhealthy food to the rush of joy when you get a toy or prize. 

The brown carton

It’s not hard to see why a lot of kids are more willing to drink milk when it tastes like chocolate. It tastes good. That’s why they used to be a relatively normal option in the school cafeteria. That is, until recently.

A lot of families have started asking questions about why kids are, essentially, having a dessert in a carton. Even the USDA has started to notice. Yes, they’ve put limits on how much sugar schools can have in their flavored milk, so while it’s survived, it has conditions attached.

The breakfast bowl

The easiest breakfast in America? Cereal with milk. You don’t need to cook, and you don’t need much more than the two ingredients. But that old routine is looking different. Doctors are saying we probably shouldn’t be starting our days with so much sugar and so many preservatives.

There have even been protests over the amount of artificial colors Kellogg’s puts in its cereals. Seriously. The bowl itself might be harmless, yes, but it’s the back of the box that doesn’t seem so good anymore.

The diner plate

Nothing beats a good old-fashioned plate of bacon and eggs in the morning. It’s tradition. But how much longer? There are two problems that some people have here, the first being with the bacon. It’s a processed meat.

The second is with the eggs, although that’s less to do with them being healthy. Some people take issue with the rules around factory farming and the risk of bird flu, as well as general shortages. 

The dorm-room bowl

Broke students and late-night workers practically live on instant ramen in America. You can’t really blame them. It’s so cheap and ready in only a few minutes. You know that you’re not exactly getting a healthy meal, but some people are now figuring out how bad it is.

There’s so much sodium. On top of that, some research has found that eating a lot of instant noodles could be linked to a higher risk of heart-related issues. Anyone in a rush isn’t going to stop eating them, of course. But maybe they’ll start eating them less.

The Tuesday plate

When you want a shortcut meal on a weeknight, you might make beef tacos. Not everyone does that, though. Yes, people have a problem with the huge amount of methane that comes from cattle farming, while others raise questions about water use.

Then there are others. They say that hard-shell American tacos don’t actually count as ‘real’ tacos, and that we’re disrespecting real Mexican food by calling them tacos. Who knew such a simple dish could be so divisive?

The takeout bowl

A lot of people make Teriyaki chicken bowls because they think it makes them seem responsible. They’re not wrong. However, there’s a bit of controversy over how the dish reduces authentic teriyaki to a sweet takeout glaze.

It has very little to do with genuine Japanese cooking. That’s not all, though, because there are also concerns over farming, especially with chicken and rice. It’s harmless enough in your bowl. But that simple dish is provoking a lot of difficult questions.

The drive-through order

There’s nothing more American than a cheeseburger and fries combo. Maybe that’s why people keep arguing about it. They complain about the climate side of things with the beef, as well as the ethics of dairy farming, thanks to the cheese.

Let’s not forget the issues around potato farming and seed oils with the fries. Growing potatoes can cause major environmental issues because of things like habitat degradation and soil erosion.

The after-school pair

Milk is something that gets an argument from practically every direction. People say we should ban dairy farms. People say we should only have plant-based milks. All those debates mean that the safest snack in the world, milk and cookies, doesn’t look so safe anymore.

That’s just the milk. There are also debates with the cookies over palm oil, cocoa sourcing, food dyes, and plastic packaging.

Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.