Fast Food

Roughly a month ago (June 8, 2024) I was driving home from a day trip to Tallahassee and I skipped dinner. Throughout the hours of driving I passed so many familiar fast food places and wanted to stop, but I didn't. I've tried to avoid fast food for the greater part of the last 6 years.

It wasn't always like that - in my childhood years of being driven around to school events was a common time for a fast food stop. Carpooling with other kids meant that it often landed on the parent driving to select a place to feed the army of kids in the car.

This led to a near weekly experience of places like Culvers, Sonic, Panda Express, Wendys, Goodcents, Fazolis, Schlotzskys, etc. I got pretty good at eating in a car no matter the place we went. I also discovered a crave for certain items at certain places for a quick meal.

As I left high school, had a car and went to college I commonly still visited fast food places when coming back home on a day that I wasn't on campus. Of course posting a 10+ year old picture with a mess of drinks, some cloth and an order of Sonic is embarrassing. I can't believe I would order a sugary drink, ice cream, a double cheeseburger and a ton of tater tots.

Of course life was different back then - I was working out in the mornings with pickup soccer during the evening. When I wasn't directly working out - I was walking around the hilly University of Arkansas campus. I could afford to eat a ton more calories than normal as my lifestyle consumed them.

These days while I may workout - a good chunk of my work life is sitting in front of a computer working. So my ability to consume large amounts of unhealthy food is decreased as it'll go straight to increased weight. Though, I know fast food tastes good and I remember back to the days of frequently ordering Wendy's.

I miss a Wendy's burger with a ton of ketchup and fries, but I know what that food will do to me at this point in my life. I just don't understand how fast food is excellent from the single bite to the last - it just must be packed full of salt and chemicals. The appear has something more to be desired for some fast food, but I don't think most are judging the convenient food on the look.

I have found some replacements though for the food I sometimes crave, but it'll never match the speed and convenience of pulling through a fast food line. Sandwich shops and the increase of sushi bowls / poke bowls have become my healthier option that would have previously been a stop for a burger.

I'm happy that places like Half Moon Seafood exist - which offer what reminds me of a BBQ sandwich, but instead its fish & buffalo. A combination I would never have tried myself, but an excellent tasting sandwich that I can deem as not fast food.

When I look back at my past and fast food though - what has happened to present day fast food? It seems like the brands of the past are collapsing for new blood to take its place. I researched why my local Boston Market was closing to become a "Cook Out" and the reason was funny.

When the Boston Market at East Fowler Avenue and 56th Street closed in October, it was no surprise as the rotisserie chicken chain was handling more lawsuits than customers and has now shut down all its restaurants.
Source - Tampa Beacon

They take a stab at the lawsuits, but I'd believe it. As I slowed my eating of fast food - it was also because every encounter was becoming just a 1 star review. Perhaps its because we as a civilization insult those working the gig, while demanding they support us as a global pandemic rolls through. Perhaps its the increasingly expensive economy to survive in with positions that can't or barely support people through it.

Perhaps its any combination of something that results in experiences at fast food places that just suck. I couldn't believe it was possible to get a cold burger at Wendy's - until I did. I couldn't believe I could get entire parts of my order forgotten, yet I don't want to be the person that checks their bag sitting in a drive through line.

As the customer experience took a nose dive and the quality collapsed - only a few giants probably remain as the pillars of fast food. I know I've grown past fast food, but I won't lie I crave it every now in then.