OK this question might sound dumb but I need to know the answer. When we read the McDonald's menu, it says for the french fries ingredients that some beef ingredient is used maybe to salt them. Is that true? If I am a vegetarian, can I eat them or is the beef ingredient something else?

- Huma

As Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation famously exposed, McDonald's uses "beef extract" as a flavouring for their incomparably delicious french fries. It's not entirely clear what "beef extract" is, but it comes from a cow, it's certainly not vegetarian, and it's sprinkled on the potatoes before processing.

McDonald's has always been quick to state (officially) that the company "does not represent any of their foods as being vegetarian." If you are a strict vegetarian, you should not eat their fries.

Prior to 1990, McDonald's cooked its fries in a combination of 7 percent cottonseed oil and 93 percent beef tallow. As Schlosser put it: "The mixture gave the fries their unique flavor — and more saturated beef fat per ounce than a McDonald's hamburger." For health reasons, the company switched to low-cholesterol vegetable oil in 1990, which left them with a unique challenge: figuring out how to keep their fries tasting beef-alicious without the beef fat adding flavour. The solution was adding "beef extract" — which was originally referred to simply as "natural flavour" (entirely within government guidelines).

With the switch from beef tallow, McDonald's began proudly promoting fries "now cooked in 100 percent vegetable oil," without making any mention of the added beef extract. Many customers, perhaps understandably, assumed this meant the fries were vegetarian-friendly. When the truth came out, a number of people, notably Hindus and vegetarians, were outraged. McDonald's eventually issued an apology of sorts, and changed the wording on its ingredients to reflect the source of the natural flavour.

For the record, here are the ingredients in McDonald's french fries (according to the U.S. corporate site):

Potatoes, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural flavor (beef source), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (to preserve natural color). Cooked in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (may contain partially hydrogenated soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated corn oil and/or partially hydrogenated canola oil and/or cottonseed oil and/or sunflower oil and/or corn oil).

The McDonald's Canada site lists a slightly different set of ingredients (which, interestingly, still includes beef fat):

Potatoes, a blend of partially hydrogenated fat and oil (beef fat and cottonseed oil), may contain dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate and cooked in A/V shortening (beef fat and cottonseed oil, monoglyceride citrate, propyl gallate, propylene glycol).

It should be noted, however, that McDonald's uses different ingredients and processes in different markets. While french fries in Canada and the U.S. are sprinkled with beef extract (or still cooked in beef fat), McDonald's in other parts of the world (in the Middle East, for example) do offer safely vegetarian fries.

Sources: Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good, McDonald's ingredients, McDonald's Nutrition FAQ, Beliefnet.com

This is more of a "please help me make believers out of my peers" than an actual question. Please confirm for me the existence of The Burger King — their mascot from the '70s which was a red-headed bearded man dressed as a king (crown, cape, the whole shooting match). I am starting to doubt myself that he existed because I cannot find anyone who remembers him! But I do seem to remember seeing him recently in a commercial, but it was someone in a mask as opposed to a real person.

- Rob L.

Yes, as anyone of a certain age will remember, there actually was a real live "Burger King" in commercials. Not the modern-day guy with the huge mask who wakes up in your bed, but a fully human king dressed in resplendent garb.

Regarding the newer commercials, a recent Slate article says:

Interestingly, this King character was a fixture of Burger King marketing in the late 1970s. (Although the disco-era King had a proportionate, non-plastic head.) You could often find a costumed King performing magic tricks and making balloon animals in the parking lot outside your local BK franchise. So, in a certain sense, this ad is a throwback — it draws on Burger King's proud (OK, dubious) brand history.

Joining the real-live Burger King in his Burger King Kingdom (clearly not a rip-off of McDonaldland at all, wink wink) were:

• Sir Shakes-A-Lot, a knight who craved milkshakes, much like McDonaldland's more beloved Grimace. Sir Shakes-A-Lot had a big hit in the early '90s with the rap smash "Baby Got Back." (Huh? Different guy? Oh...)
• The Duke of Doubt, Burger King's sworn enemy, who looked a little like Richard Nixon.
• The Burger Thing, a framed picture of a hamburger.
• The Wizzard of Fries, a robot that apparently made fries.

If you're looking for evidence to show your friends, here are some pictures of the gang (the live Burger King and cartoon versions of the others), and here's a commercial you can watch.

Hope you had a good Christmas. I know it's over, but I still have some Christmas-related questions I want to ask.

I read your answer to where the story of Santa came from, but you didn't mention one thing. I've heard Santa being referred to as Kris Kringle, who is he, and is he ever a real person?

- Rose

Kris Kringle comes from the German Christmas tradition. The name itself is a derivation of the German "Christkindl," meaning "Christ child." This is not the baby Jesus, as you might have thought, but rather an angel (usually envisioned as a young girl) who brings presents to boys and girls on Christmas Eve.

The Imaginary Archive explains:

One of the many Christmas characters to spring to life in Germany, the Christ Kindl was Martin Luther's direct answer to St. Nicholas when he banned the Saint from religious households in the 1600s. The Christ Kindl brought gifts of small toys, mittens, and fruit to children on Christmas Eve — not St. Nicholas Day (December 6th) as was the custom with St. Nicholas.

German immigrants in the New World retained their "Christkindl" traditions, but their English-speaking neighbours misheard it as "Kris Kringle." Since both the Christkindl and Santa Claus bring presents on Christmas Eve, it was also taken for granted that they were one and the same, thus, the interchangeable use of "Kris Kringle" and "Santa Claus."

Sources: The Imaginary Archive, Christmas Customs and Their Pagan Origins, Santa Claus: A History

There's one word in the English language (that I know of) that has three sets of paired letters in a row. What is it and do you know of any with four or more sets? Thanks!

- Michael

You're probably thinking of BOOKKEEPER, but A Collection of Word Oddities and Trivia also lists DEER-REEVE, FEED-DOOR, GOOD-DEED, HEEL-LOOP, HOOF-FOOTED, HOOT-TOOT, KEEK-KEEK, SOONNEE, TOOT-TOOT, VENEER-ROOM, and WOOD-DEER. (All found in the Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition.)

Four sets of paired letters is a little harder. Perhaps the person beneath the bookkeeper on the org chart is a SUBBOOKKEEPER?

Answer Man, please help. There is a church on Avenue Rd. in Toronto (north of Eglinton) called James-Bond United Church. Apparently it has been there much longer than the Ian Fleming character has been around, but no one I've spoken to knows the origin of the name. Can you help us?

- Curious Carolyn in Toronto

The Avenue Rd. church is called St. James-Bond United Church. It was formed in 1929 by the merging of the Bond United Church (named after Bond Street) and the St. James Square United Church.

The church, of course, wasn't named after the super-spy, but it's possible that Ian Fleming got the name of his secret agent from the St. James-Bond United Church:

When British Naval Intelligence Commander Ian Fleming was invited by Sir William Stephenson, Intrepid, to observe and participate in the SOE subversive warfare training Syllabus at STS 103 (Camp-X), he was billeted at a private home on Avenue Road, Toronto, as at the time the Camp was at capacity. ... Clearly visible across Avenue Road when entering or leaving his temporary residence was a large sign at the front entrance of Saint James Bond United Church. (From Camp X Did You Know?)

(James Bond was also the name of a famous ornithologist. It's possible that Fleming took the name from one of bird-man Bond's books.)

Sources: Fairlawn Heights United Church, The Ship of Fools Awards

How many minutes do we gain in daylight following the winter solstice? I realize this number depends on where you live (latitude) so if you could answer this question for those of us living in the Toronto area that would be great!

- Treacey

Toronto lies at 43°40'N latitude, but let's assume it's at 40°N because it's easier to find numbers for that latitude. (Yeah, I'm writing a whole new column this week, but I'm still trying to take it easy and enjoy my holiday. Don't worry — the difference will be small.)

In the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest "day" (sunrise to sunset) occurs at the winter solstice, which is usually Dec. 21 or 22. There are 9.1 hours of daylight on this day at 40°N (in Toronto it's slightly less). The longest day occurs at the summer solstice, June 21 or 22, when the sun shines for 14.9 hours at the same latitude.

At the equinoxes, there are exactly 12 hours of daylight, so Toronto gains 2.9 hours (174 minutes) of daylight between December and March, and another 2.9 hours of daylight between March and June. Overall, it's a difference of 5.8 hours (348 minutes) between the shortest day and the longest day.

Half of a year is about 182.5 days, so you're gaining nearly two minutes of daylight each day between Dec. 21 and June 21. Then you lose nearly two minutes of daylight per day until the winter solstice comes around again.

[It has been pointed out to me that while we average two minutes gained per day, the "shape" of the time gain is not regular. Near the solstices the daylight gain is small — a few seconds per day — and around the equinox the gains are greater.]

More: Southeast Regional Climate Center

In the video "Let Me Love You" by the artist Mario, who painted those great dragon, rising sun, and lion murals on the walls of the studio?

- B4M

According to Nokia Canada (yeah, I know — weird place to find it), the murals in that video were painted by a graffiti artist named "Zion" from Toronto.

Zion owns the Bombshelter "Urban Arts Emporium" aerosol art supply store and counter culture boutique at Queen and Spadina.

If Indira Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi are not related, then how come they share the same last name? Please don't ignore the question, this will make your column more diverse.

- F.D.

O.J. Simpson and Jessica Simpson aren't related. Bruce Lee and Pamela Anderson Lee aren't related. Last names don't necessarily mean anything.

Indira Gandhi was born Indira Nehru, the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, another famous Indian politician. She took the name Gandhi from her husband, Feroze Gandhi.

Feroze Gandhi was also not related to Mahatma Gandhi. In fact, he was born Feroze Khan, and changed his name to Feroze Gandhi before marrying Indira. This was apparently done for political/religious/cultural reasons, and Mahatma (Mohandas) Gandhi appears to have been involved. (See the sites below for more information.)

Most of the other Gandhis you hear about are related by blood or by marriage to Indira (and not to Mahatma): Sanjay (son), Rajiv (son), Sonia (daughter-in-law), Rahul (grandson), Priyanka (granddaughter).

More:

• Vepachedu Educational Foundation: The Nehru-Khan-Gandhi Dynasty
• Mumbai Central: Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and others
• Wikipedia: Nehru-Gandhi family

Where is my life headed?

- Suzi

It looks like you're headed, with the rest of us, right into a brand new year. Happy 2005! And keep the questions coming!