I've been hearing similar things for a time now, like e.g. poor people eating at McD because it's cheaper to get a caloric and macronutrient-full meal there than to assemble it from fruits and stuffs.

This disagrees with my daily experience in Europe, so I conclude it's a US-specific thing.

> This disagrees with my daily experience in Europe, so I conclude it's a US-specific thing.

It is. Having lived in both places, it's astounding how expensive good food is in the US and how cheap crap food can be. $1 for a single apple or for a McD burger? Tough choice.

Add to that the fact that most of the US poor are time poor as well. Working 3 jobs and/ot commuting 3hrs per day doesn't leave a lot of time to prepare meals.

Agreed. In my midwest small town, the $1 apple isn't even the good apples. Bananas are preposterously cheap though. I'd still rather east two double cheeseburgers or two breakfast burritos than 5-6 bananas.

> I'd still rather east two double cheeseburgers or two breakfast burritos than 5-6 bananas.

Probably healthier to eat two double cheeseburgers than 5-6 bananas too. Bananas are really really really packed with sugar.

14 grams per 100 calories (banana) versus 7 grams per 440 calories (McDonalds double cheeseburger).

Now whether it's healthy to eat 800 calories for breakfast ... eh, probably not. But that's a different problem. Also depends on what you intend to do all day. Physical labor? Eat away. Sit at desk? Maybe try a quarter of a double cheeseburger instead :D

A double cheeseburger may have only 7 grams of "sugar", which is defined by the FDA as a mono- or di-saccharide, but it has 29 grams of carbs, most of which is white flour, which is almost as unhealthy as sugar.

A single banana has 27 grams of carbs. Most of which is pure sugar.

So I dunno. Bananas are not the best example, great after and pre workout, not thaaaat great as something you'd eat all the time.

It's affected by what foods get agricultural subsidies and which ones don't.

It's also much less calorically dense. It's not just snacks though. It's also nearly anything you can buy in a store that's made of wheat or corn. Whole aisles of stuff, packed floor to ceiling. People keep eating it between meals, and they get fat.

> Maybe this differs per area, but AFAICT in most places i know, fruit is significantly cheaper than processed snacks

Fruit is bulkier and spoils faster, this means it takes more storage space and more frequent shopping trips (and/or more refrigerated space.) These have costs.

Further—for basically the same reasons—the corner convenience store that will carry processed snacks often won't carry much, if any, fresh fruit, meaning it takes many who are poor longer shopping trips, as well.