Do salads from fast food places taste funny to you?

Yah, I've had many disappointing fast food salads. Even my kids' play food looks better than that- ha ha. The salads often use colorless iceberg lettuce, with dried up bits of carrots - tastes as lifeless as it looks. You're right - the presentation is awful - who do they think they're fooling by putting it on black plastic plates (it makes the colors of the food look better). I don't know if it's truly healthier - looks like the nutrients got sucked out of the salad!

Oh yes, I think the look of the lettuce will tell you how good the salad will be!! I hate it when they use the dry, wilted, colorless iceberg lettuce (which the fast food places use) . . . you just know it's old and tasteless for that matter. Hmmmm, we haven't had salads at any pizza places lately, we'll have to try that!! I do like Olive Garden salads, but it's the dressing that makes it!:)

Those crummy fast food salads . . . yah, it does taste like pesticide (um, not that I eat/drink pesticide, but you'd expect it to taste like that - ha ha). Looks like they took the burger topping leftovers and turned it into a salad. I don't put a lot of dressing on fast food salads . . . lots of fat and often high fructose syrup junk too. I, too, question how healthy it is (or isn't!).

I guess those chemicals must be so bad that it discolors and ages the vegetables in fast food salads (even though it's supposed to do the opposite) - blechhhh!!!! Oh yes, and MSG is another "bad" topic. Our family has to watch for that because we get headaches from it very easily, like an allergic reaction. True, there are no food labels at restaurants . . . I'm sure they don't want to give their dirty little secrets away!! Oh, the stories you must have from working in a sandwich shop back then!!!!!

Yeah, I worked food service for the latter part of the 70's. I worked in the kitchen of a nursing home, the sandwich shop and college cafeterias and snack bars. I learned a lot... change is good! Really the people I worked for at the sandwich shop were very good and taught me a lot of very good practices to get me started! I think in that particular instance the "white stuff" they put on the lettuce was about the worst thing they did!

"White stuff" on the lettuce? Eek! Was it noticeable when you looked at it? I hope they didn't pass it as grated parmesean cheese - ha ha (with a funny taste)! I'm sure those food shops of the past had much better customer service than what we get today (oh, that's another story) - glad you had a good experience from working there! I don't think I would want to know the details of the fast food industry - I'd probably never eat there again!

"White stuff" was a powder they mixed in with water and let the lettuce soak in it like overnight! I remember asking what it was and she told me it was something to "keep it fresh"...

Eek - do you know what exactly that white stuff was? Sounds like formaldehyde or something scary like that! I'll bet whatever they use as vegetable preservatives in fast food restaurants today aren't too far off from what they used back then!!

In otherwords, it tastes like gross salad, right? They call it fast food, not necessarily fresh food - ha ha. Nope, it's not just you . . . the salads at fast food places really are stale.

Yes! That's the word - tinney! Just a few bites of tinney tasting fast food salad makes me not want to eat the rest. It's like week old salad - on top of the icky chemicals that are supposed to preserve it - blechhhh! And you're right that the dressing has a lot of chemicals (the list of ingredients is pretty scary reading). Such a big turn off, isn't it?!

Fast food salads are pretty unappealing, eh? I notice in recent times they're trying to get fancy on their salads . . . just by adding a few accessory ingredients, they can spice up the color on their blah salads. Like colored tortilla strips or corn or mandarin orange slices. But the base salad part is still the pathetic weeks old vegetables that it is. You're right - they should just stick to the menu items they are known for!!!

I find some to be wilted too; and not so fresh..

Ew - a wet Wendy's salad? Sounds mighty gross! A soggy salad can be just as nasty as a dry one, I suppose! That is true, I'd rather eat some greasy fries and a fat loaded burger than a disgusting excuse of a fast food salad! I agree that a place with a fresh salad bar is much better!

Really? You like salads from fast food places? They can be priced pretty high - especially considering you are not getting a fresh, nutritious salad. It seems like there are sparse vegetables - very dry, kinds of old - and to me it has a funny taste to it (which are preservatives, I'm sure). Well, if you like them, more power to you! But beware of what you eat!

Oh, I'm sure that's what fast food places have to do to keep their salads cost effective . . . to prolong the life of those cut up vegetables! But ugh, the salads taste dead anyway, right? I suppose a dead salad is a healthier alternative to say, a greasy burger - hee hee. And the salad dressings are high in fat and calories like you said - and even that can't wake up a dead salad!!!