• barsquid@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      32
      ·
      29 days ago

      You’re supposed to be cutting quality in exchange for price and speed. If the prices are up there’s no incentive to get it at all. If I wanted 100x the recommended monthly sodium intake all in a single meal I’m sure there are cheaper ways to find it.

      • forgotaboutlaye@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        28 days ago

        Also McDonald’s seems to take forever these days. I had it in February in Portugal, and waited 20min for my food. Same experience when I have it here in Germany (maybe 1-2 per year)

  • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    80
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    29 days ago

    There was an immigrant friend of the family who during the Bush era (this was during what I would call the ‘height’ of the Muslim panic), who basically made the argument to me that even with all the hate, all the war-mongering, all the bullshit, that the US was the best country in the world. When we pressed him for why, his argument was basically, “The McDonald’s Dollar menu”.

    This is decades ago, but his argument was that in-spite of everything else, he knew that in Amercica, at least his children would not starve, because they would always be able to afford ‘something’, however unhealthy, from the dollar menu.

    I don’t think that America exists any more.

    • Dkarma@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      27 days ago

      Wow your friend needs an education badly. Imagine thinking mcds is better than rice and beans…

  • Cap@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    67
    arrow-down
    6
    ·
    29 days ago

    Fast food isn’t a luxury. A luxury is something extravagant, high quality, and highly enjoyable. Fast food is simply an overpriced disappointment.

    • Mac@mander.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      27
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      29 days ago

      it’s obviously a luxury of convenience. nobody has ever claimed fast food was extravagant or high quality.

      • Cap@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        28 days ago

        If that’s the case, a luxury of convenience, then fast food was and still is a luxury. Or maybe fast food was an $affordable luxury of convenience and now it is an $$$expensive luxury of convenience. Ok, that makes sense to me.

    • interrobang@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      28 days ago

      It barely tastes like food to me anymore!

      I dont eat much meat, but i still like a good crispy chicken sandwich- now that costs $12, is so brined and salty i get kinda grossed out, and has 3 gristley bits i have to spit into a napkin. And i sweat grease and stink for a day.

    • exanime@lemmy.today
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      28 days ago

      A luxury is something extravagant, high quality, and highly enjoyable.

      30 years ago, fast food may hit the “highly enjoyable” part… but now, for many, it’s hitting the “something extravagant” part because of the cost (proportional to their disposable income)

  • Ech@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    34
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    29 days ago

    This feels like they’re implying it’s a luxury like a lambo when it’s more so a luxury like an extra piece of cake. Just because people are realizing they shouldn’t eat out every night doesn’t mean it’s “luxurious” to got to BK. It’s an unnecessary expense, that’s all.

    • doingthestuff@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      28 days ago

      The prices have doubled though, and wages haven’t budged. I used to consider a sit down meal a luxury, now fast food is almost as expensive. I used to buy a $2 lunch. Now I skip lunch most of the time.

    • Letstakealook@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      29 days ago

      Demolition Man was a cyberpunk dystopian prediction taken to the absurd in order to be palatable to the masses. Really, though, who’s to say what eventual conglomerate will be on top. Tangential revenue streams and strange mergers could make tomorrow’s winners. Either way, the rest of us lose.

  • CaptKoala@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    32
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    28 days ago

    I mean, I know their economy is falling apart. But good, those fuckers need to lose some damn weight. Australia too, per Capita we’re now one of the fattest countries on Earth.

    USA has only succeeded in exports twice, number 1 being war, number 2 being obesity.

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      28 days ago

      Fast food isn’t to blame for all the weight problems. High carbs, high fats, highly processed foods in general are to blame, along with sedentary lifestyles. Fast food is carbs, fats, and highly processed, but if you’re poor I can’t see eating out all the time. Having take-out or hitting a McD’s is pretty rare, it just costs too much.

      • brygphilomena@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        28 days ago

        We also got screwed over on portions at all these fast food and restaurants. McDonald’s legit made their food so cheap that you would buy two cheeseburgers, and you might as well make it a meal with an oversized drink and oversized french fry. Then we all got used to more food, subtly convinced that was the norm. Hell, a large soda was cheaper than a bottle of water!

        It’s not normal to have a 1500-2000 calorie meal like that.

      • CaptKoala@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        28 days ago

        Ok, so it’s a long history of piss poor dietary choices as well then. You can decide not to eat fast food.

  • jordanlund@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    19
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    29 days ago

    My wife and I were running around doing errands and stopped for a quick lunch at Carl’s Jr.

    $25(!) For 2 people! At Carl’s Jr!

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        16
        ·
        29 days ago

        That’s fucked up btw, that American companies are allowed to display the prices before tax.

        You either need to do math every time you buy something or be surprised that it’s more expensive than advertised.

      • brygphilomena@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        28 days ago

        I can visit actual full service restaurants and get a similar burger (with a bigger patty and better quality) for about $16 that comes with fries. A drink might be $2.

        Because the US is stupid, I’ll have to tip. But that’s only like $3.

        Overall, that’s only two bucks more after tipping.

        Fast food is the same price, for worse food, and worse service. They’ve forgotten their place.

    • Alto@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      29 days ago

      Hardees/Carl’s Jr. Has always been stupid expensive for fast food, at least in my area

  • Melkath@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    29 days ago

    How long before Wendy’s is a lunch time stock market?

    But rest assured, capitalism is the only successful model and every instance of socialism has failed in human history. /s

    • Ech@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      29 days ago

      They “responded to the feedback” (ie tested the waters with a batshit idea on purpose), so at least a year or so before they more quietly broach the idea again.

    • Cowbee@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      27 days ago

      I do hope that in the coming years, food culture becomes more focused on nutrition and sustainability, rather than profit, but that’s a good ways away in the US.