KintarianOn a lighter note: Why do people still buy fast food?
edgemaster72Habits, familiarity, convenience, complacency
[deleted] in lemmyThe four horsemen of obesity!
Most of this thread is overlooking familiarity, consistency. Aside from regional/international differences, the mcdouble you order at home is gonna be exactly as the same as the mcdouble ordered 400 miles away. Your usual will be there. Many people aren’t gonna take a chance on Jeff’s Cafe on the road. Jeff’s Cafe doesn’t spend a billion dollars on ads to tell you they still have the same thing you ate a decade ago. People don’t want to spend as much time and effort as it takes to read Jeff’s menu, decide what sounds good, and then see if it matches their expectation.
shoulderoforionI'm not sure where this cafe you can get waited on is selling a hamburger, fries, and a coke, with tax and tip, coming out less than $20, but if it's edible, definitely, I'd eat there if I had the choice. The difference between the cheapest sit down restaurant and fast food is almost down to nothing, but fast food is still the cheapest thing you're going to find, and the fast food companies know this, which is why they're comfortable raising the prices. They're attitude is if you don't want to pay our prices, eat at home, but we know you're not going to do that.
I regularly go to “La Mañica” in Albacete, where you can get the baturro with a drink and coffee for less than 10€. That bocadillo is bigger than my arm.
I just did that today for lunch. I had a very good patty melt with fresh onion rings and a glass of iced tea for $22 after tax and tip.
ComradeSharkfuckerI don’t really. It’s a treat sometimes that’s it.
It’s in the name. It’s fast. You order at a drive-thru and you’re on your way in a couple of minutes. I agree though that prices are insane now and doesn’t justify the quality. I’d rather go to an asian restaurant for their lunch specials and get more for my buck.
In a lot of cases it’s not actually fast, but people would apparently rather sit in traffic than cook, for some reason.
AdaI don’t drive. At work and at home I have multiple fast food options within a very short walking distance
Cooking takes time, ingredients, and if you want it palatable, ability. Fast food takes driving up to a location and saying “give me something easy”.
It’s not as fast as it used to be, but it’s still relatively quick, especially if it’s on your way home from wherever you are. Any extra time is just spent doomscrolling on your phone or listening to your preferred media pundit.
See, I don’t get the fast drive through thing. I pull up to the drive through. They have two lanes. Both are full and there are 10 cars ahead of me. I have to wait 10 minutes or more just to place an order and 10 minutes to get to the window to pay. It’s generally not fast at all.
Another thing I haven’t seen mentioned is its one of the last places open late anymore. I live close to a city, but if I need to grab something late (9:30+) fast food is about the only place open.
I genuinely have no clue. I only ever have it once in a blue moon if I stop during a road trip and don’t have another option. I wish I had money to open a fast food place with because holy shit, how can you even fail, given what is successful???
It’s actually more expensive than other options, truly awful service, usually much slower than it was in the past (I’ve literally never gotten my food in a McDonalds in less than 30 minutes because they prioritize drive through and online orders), it tastes like shit and makes me feel like shit after I eat it.
Because it’s fast… Because I can take it home… Because it doesn’t feel like I’m trashing something nice when I order it to be delivered…
Its not really about the taste - its about the speed and convenience. If you want good food, you make your own. If you just finished a shift in a particularly back-breaking job, and hate cooking, then its a chance to relax rather than spending another half hour or more cooking.
the speed and convenience.
Is even true?
Relative to cooking a similar meal, absolutely. Getting McDonalds takes like 5 mins. Less if ordering for delivery or pickup. If I want to cook myself a burger its probably going to take me like 40 minutes to makes and fry the burger, and prepare toppings. Im sure a good chef could do it much faster, but thats not me, and esspecially not after a full work day.
My point being that it is never 5 minutes anymore and it costs the same as any fast casual joint which van also be had maybe no drive through and maybe thats the selling point but drive trough aint fast either, just dont have to get out of the car.
Bro chipotle gets made in real time as I speak. It’s faster.
Order for pickup had entered the chat
JoYomcds has never been 5 minutes since ive been alive.
It’s like… shockingly faster for me?
If I have to wait five whole minutes for fast food they’re either slammed or they’re having equipment problems. I can literally count on one hand the amount of times it’s happened in the last few years.
Don’t forget the time and effort to clean too
I left it out because its something that can (theoretically) be left for a more convenient time such as a weekend, so its a less one-to-one comparison.
Plus the grocery shopping!
I gotta say, I fucking hate doing dishes. I’m not sure what it is about it, but I just have this almost irrational dislike for washing dishes (especially pots+ pans). Sure, I’ll do it when it needs to be done, but my God do I dread it. Is there something wrong with me? Oh absolutely, but there’s plenty else to fix before the dishes issue lol
I’m not sure, but I know what you mean. I dread doing dishes, but my wife dreads putting dishes away. So before we had a dish washer, she would wash and I would dry/put away.
HipsterTenZerothe craving for absolute slop rears its ugly head every once in a while. I blame the ennui
Yep. I love high quality food and spend a lot of time learning to copy from chefs I like. I’m very selective about ingredients (e.g. fish, only so much is flown in daily and accessible to normies), often make my own sauces, and have a pretty large collection of dinnerware and lacquerware for accurate plating.
Yet like clockwork, several times a year I will eat multiple McRib patties in a single sitting. That shit has presumably the worst ingredients, the same sauce as every other year slathered inconsistently, and is presented in a cardboard box that has definitely gotten thinner. It is in no way worth anywhere near the price but I do it anyway.
Sometimes slop hits the spot. Plus I can’t make my own heavily processed slabs of… whatever those things contain.
If you can limit it to just the sandwich you can save some. But otherwise, it’s just baked into our society for all the reasons already mentioned. Seems like the choice for a cheap meal is gone however.
This is actually a pretty good idea. And I bet the sandwich is the least worst part of the meal as far as nutrition and satiation.
I hate that my immediate next thought is, “I should get TWO sandwiches!”
Mayor PoopingtonSometimes I need food fast
I don't want to be waited on. I don't want to have to wonder when or if someone might refill my drink. I don't want to have to ask for extra napkins. I don't want to be put on the spot deciding what sides I want. I don't want to have to ask what salad dressings there are.
I want to interact with other people as little as possible. McDonald's might be basic, but give me a kiosk to order from every time.
What I do want is to know exactly what I'm getting. Fast food has continuity of product down to a science.
If it’s just not wanting to deal with people, it seems like most restaurants do takeout, since COViD.
Last Spring I went to this Thai restaurant I’ve been eying. The restaurant was pretty much what you’d expect and the food pretty good. Most of that meal we were the only customers, but there was a steady stream of takeout orders. That seems typical now
I can go to a cafe where I’m waited on and served decent food for $20.
How much do you tip on you cafe meal on top of that $20?
I got Subway yesterday.
It cost less than $8, took like 10 minutes, i drove 5 minutes to get there, and I didn’t have to clean anything.
It cost less than $8, took like 10 minutes, i drove 5 minutes to get there, and I didn’t have to clean anything.
BombOmOmYou can assemble a sub at home in just the time it took you to drive one way. ‘Fast’ food being the slower and more expensive option has resulted in many, many more at-home meals for me.
Okay thanks for the tip
That makes assumptions, like that they would have had all the ingredients available or that they would eat enough subs to make buying the ingredients more viable.
Some people don't have $20, Richie Rich.
But you have $15 for fast food?
CatoblepasI live in southern CA and burritos are cheap ✌️ Once a week it’s nice to not have to cook.
Burritos aren’t fast food unless you’re getting them from Taco Bell.
Burritos are not food if you get them from taco bell
Sometimes I want cheap, fast and delicious.
Not always, but sometimes.
Default_DefectBecause most of the non-fast food restaurants in my rural town are priced highly for the rich yuppies LARPing blue collar living.
There’s a lot of reasons people still eat fast food. Others have pointed out though that fast food these days isn’t all that cheap and in some cases isn’t even all that fast/convenient when compared to other alternatives.
I can’t speak to that as it’s been decades since I’ve stepped inside a fast food restaurant save to use the bathroom while traveling, but I can guess that it also has to do with nostalgia. Some people grew up eating that shit and it provides them with a sense of comfort and familiarity. While I’m not going to hold my breath, it is my hope that the predominance of fast food will die alongside cable news when the younger generations come of age.
Some people grew up eating that shit and it provides them with a sense of comfort and familiarity.
That’s exactly it. It’s confort food for a lot of Americans. I grew up in a different country, where home cooking was the norm and fast food was considered a huge waste of money. I of course tried it when I got my own money, but there was no reason for it to stick with me. So now fast food places don’t even register as an option for me if I ever find myself needing to eat from outside the house. But I’ve seen my friends in the US talk about fast food, their eyes gleaming talking about the Whatever Burger at Whatever Fast Food and the Whatever Taco at Another Fast Food and always get the Whatever Sauce at Yet Another Fast Food. The same way they talk about Twizzlers or Twinkies or other absolute junk that they would never touch if it didn’t bring them back to their childhood.
I don’t know, but I can tell you with certainty that I don’t.
southsamuraiSame as they always have. It’s fast. You can grab taco bell in a flash compared to even the best run diner or cafe. And you don’t have to sit around with a bunch of strangers that are essentially walking disease vectors to do it, unless you want to.
The draw of fast food joints has never been primarily about the food quality, or service. Yeah, you’ll likely pick the place that has what you consider better food, and avoid shit service, but that’s a different thing.
Even joints that pretend to not be fast food (like chikfila) only pull a small portion of their consumers on the food primarily. They might draw some customers away from other fast food places, but not from sit-down places like you’re talking about
a bunch of strangers that are essentially walking disease vectors
What came first? Anxiety or this totally healthy attitude?
Covid happened.
What came first, the urge to be a dick needlessly, or the lack of creativity?
You’re the one reducing human beings to their diseases. That’s beyond just being a dick. It’s dehumanizing. But apparently that’s a-okay on this supposed leftist platform.
Are you dense? Or just looking to troll someone?
My boyfriend absolutely loves the taste, I really don’t know what they put in fast food to make to taste fast food but he craves it so much. Im thinking it might be msg
Me 2001: Mcdonalds is running an anniversary special. Cheeseburgers are $0.10. Fuck yeah! I’mma order 20 them sumbitches!!!
Me today at age 41: I haven’t had Mcdonalds since before the pandemic.
“Hi, I’ll get a double quarter pounder with cheese meal, large, and I’ll wait for new fries.”
“That’ll be $26.69”
“HAHAHAHA, right??? Could you imagine??? what’s you’re name? James? Could you imagine that James? Charging that much for some Mcdonalds? HAHAHAHAHA!!! Ok James. That’s a good one. Now what’s the actual price?”
“$26.69”
“HAAAAAAAA, ok, ok, funs fun, but c’mon. I gotta pay for my food. What is it really?”
“$26.69”
“Wha—are you being serious?”
“Yes.”
“ARE YOU HIGH???”
“Yes.”
“Well…uhhhhh…”
checks the board and does the math
“WHAT THE FUCK??? IS RAY CROC HIGH???”
“He’s dead.”
“WELL I DON’T THINK YOU CAN BE HIGH WHEN YOU’RE DEAD JAMES!!!”
“I know. That’s why we gotta spend the time that we’ve got on this planet doing what we love, with the people that we love. We don’t have a lot of time on this planet, and someday, maybe someday soon, something could happen. Then your best friend is just taken from you. With no warning. Maybe a lightning strike. Maybe hit by a drunk driver. You never know. So you gotta live your life doing what you can while you can to make sure that you have no regrets. Last thing you want is for someone to die before you can tell them you love them.”
“Wow. That was beautiful. I’m sorry about your friend.”
“Oh no. All my friends are still living. I tell them I love them all the time. And they love me too. Not in a romantkc way, but in a pure of heart real human connection kind of way. We love each other like brothers.”
“That is a surprising level of introspection from someone of your age. You have a real sense of emotional maturity.”
“Hey, thanks! That’ll be $26.69”
“FUUUUUUUUUUU-----”