Are we living in the golden age of fast/junk food?

[DevilRedeemed]

From a quality and variety point of view I mean? Since food has become hipsterized I see fast food as being thoughtfully prepared in a lot of places, with sophisticated and tasteful endeavour. Not that I over indulge in the stuff, I would quickly become a fat bastard if I did, but I kind of see these past few years with food trucks pop up shops and whatever, making for a gourmet level era in junk food.


Or maybe we are slow to catch on here in Buenos Aires. It was already happening back in London when I went for a visit some 7 years ago so...

 

[StevenK]

Enjoy it while it lasts, it might be insect kebab before you know it.

Meat, petrol, air con, all of these things will be outlawed or at best ostracised by the time our kids reach our age.

 

[madman]

Paging bubba...

 

[LoneSage]

DR can you explain what you mean

Enjoy it while it lasts, it might be insect kebab before you know it.

Meat, petrol, air con, all of these things will be outlawed or at best ostracised by the time our kids reach our age.

silkworm kebab is pretty dang good. crunchy on the outside, gooey on the inside

 

[DevilRedeemed]

@ls
To go a bit more in depth
Lately for instance around here a shit ton of burger joints have appeared, a few years ago it was mostly just McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's came back and... not much else.
Now all the hip kids flip burgers. You have your burger and drink indie beer. Or you cross the street and grab a kebab. I do live in one of the culinary areas of the city. But I've also seen that food truck culture has become a mainstay in places like the US and many of the cooks there are closer to chef status and have a gourmet attitude to food.
It's something that seems to have transcended the hipster culture.

Funny thing is we have a strong appreciation for Argie style pizza here with a few pizzerias being highly valued, but to me the best most authentic pizza is to be had at small greasy dimly lit joints which have been around since my area was an bigger shithole than it is today.

@Steve. Wouldn't mind having insects become more than a food fetish. I think there's potential there.
I'm looking forward to when ramen becomes fashionable. It's bound to happen to some degree. Or at least more varied asian street food than the greasy shit that is available these days in China town

 

[Heinz]

I cite the actions of hipsters and the 'eat better' movement over the last 5 years or so. I won't complain though, there are a lot of food van/truck events and the food is pretty dang good. Who cares about processed junk food when you can have real but likely just as unhealthy junk food.

 

[evil wasabi]

I would say “yes, we are in a golden age of fast food.”

Chick FilA has raised the bar of fast food through the roof. No one can come close to their offering of nuggets, tenders, and sandwiches. I think Chipotle has done pretty good, but their attempts to change things has hurt the company, namely with their fake meat tofu. Vegans won’t be attracted to that stuff because it’s too close to the meat and besides that, the servers constantly drip sour cream and cheese into lettuce and guacamole.

I think hamburgers have been improved too. 5 Guys did the world a service by changing the way hamburgers were made by making them like they used to be made. Now we have a lot of better burger places. Competition has improved. The processes to prepare food are becoming less processed, which is huge, because now we can taste the ingredients, as opposed to businesses offering trademarkable flavors (McDonald’s fries that don’t taste like potatoes; the Burger King whopper that didn’t taste like real beef).

 

[oliverclaude]

Idk... first putting half a ton of salt to conserve it, then putting half a ton of sugar to balance it out. That makes for a ton of variety, sure, but the price is still too high.

 

[LoneSage]

I would say “yes, we are in a golden age of fast food.”

Chick FilA has raised the bar of fast food through the roof. No one can come close to their offering of nuggets, tenders, and sandwiches. I think Chipotle has done pretty good, but their attempts to change things has hurt the company, namely with their fake meat tofu. Vegans won’t be attracted to that stuff because it’s too close to the meat and besides that, the servers constantly drip sour cream and cheese into lettuce and guacamole.

I think hamburgers have been improved too. 5 Guys did the world a service by changing the way hamburgers were made by making them like they used to be made. Now we have a lot of better burger places. Competition has improved. The processes to prepare food are becoming less processed, which is huge, because now we can taste the ingredients, as opposed to businesses offering trademarkable flavors (McDonald’s fries that don’t taste like potatoes; the Burger King whopper that didn’t taste like real beef).

But you don't seem the kind to eat fast food.

 

[DevilRedeemed]

But you don't seem the kind to eat fast food.

I would say though, that with the quality rising so much, it has found new customers for sure. I must have eaten at McDs twice in the past 15 years, I just get the feeling I'm eating playdough at places like that.
With the new spate of places available, I see eating a decent burger an option.

Edit: to me it's because we live in modern day Rome in the west (the west conceptually of course)

 

[LoneSage]

Is the quality rising or is the marketing getting that much better?

There's a pizza place here and, I shit you not, I overheard two ugly women talking at a table opposite mine say this - "Look at this, they don't like to waste - they're a B corporation."

Two disgusting-looking women talking about how healthy and enviro-friendly a fucking pizza restaurant is. Worst part is they were both foreigners and should know better.

 

[DevilRedeemed]

Is the quality rising or is the marketing getting that much better?

There's a pizza place here and, I shit you not, I overheard two ugly women talking at a table opposite mine say this - "Look at this, they don't like to waste - they're a B corporation."

Two disgusting-looking women talking about how healthy and enviro-friendly a fucking pizza restaurant is. Worst part is they were both foreigners and should know better.

Goddam ugly people...
Fuck them

 

[smokehouse]

I would say “yes, we are in a golden age of fast food.”

Chick FilA has raised the bar of fast food through the roof. No one can come close to their offering of nuggets, tenders, and sandwiches. I think Chipotle has done pretty good, but their attempts to change things has hurt the company, namely with their fake meat tofu. Vegans won’t be attracted to that stuff because it’s too close to the meat and besides that, the servers constantly drip sour cream and cheese into lettuce and guacamole.

I think hamburgers have been improved too. 5 Guys did the world a service by changing the way hamburgers were made by making them like they used to be made. Now we have a lot of better burger places. Competition has improved. The processes to prepare food are becoming less processed, which is huge, because now we can taste the ingredients, as opposed to businesses offering trademarkable flavors (McDonald’s fries that don’t taste like potatoes; the Burger King whopper that didn’t taste like real beef).

I agree completely. The bottom of that barrel still remains, although some have tried to change. 20 years ago we had no good chains locally (like 5-guys, Chick FilA, others). You could go to local joints, if there was a quality local joint, or you got crappy fast food. Now, the choices are far better for fast, medium quality food. I'm not saying it's good for you, but the quality of much better.

 

[Setherial]

I would say “yes, we are in a golden age of fast food.”

Chick FilA has raised the bar of fast food through the roof. No one can come close to their offering of nuggets, tenders, and sandwiches. I think Chipotle has done pretty good, but their attempts to change things has hurt the company, namely with their fake meat tofu. Vegans won’t be attracted to that stuff because it’s too close to the meat and besides that, the servers constantly drip sour cream and cheese into lettuce and guacamole.

I think hamburgers have been improved too. 5 Guys did the world a service by changing the way hamburgers were made by making them like they used to be made. Now we have a lot of better burger places. Competition has improved. The processes to prepare food are becoming less processed, which is huge, because now we can taste the ingredients, as opposed to businesses offering trademarkable flavors (McDonald’s fries that don’t taste like potatoes; the Burger King whopper that didn’t taste like real beef).

In America you have a shitload of good fastfood joints. I was surprised how good it was to be honest. I tried: Five Guys, Church Fried Chicken, Carl Jr's and Wendy's when I went to the States. When I get back there next year, I need to try out Whataburger and In-and-out Burger, Wendy's again and Jack in the box.

 

[WoodyXP]

Or maybe we are slow to catch on here in Buenos Aires. It was already happening back in London when I went for a visit some 7 years ago so...

Your location factors into it, I'll tell you that. I took a 3,000+ mile road trip last summer and the quality of fast food varied from city to city. Some was trash and some was decent. In my home town I live in the "Stone Age" of fast food(Chik Fil A is the exception). Kids can't get my order right, or it's cold or there's ants in my soda.. etc.

Maybe that'll get better when the elderly take over the fast food workforce.

Senior Citizens Are Replacing Teenagers as Fast-Food Workers

 

[evil wasabi]

Your location factors into it, I'll tell you that. I took a 3,000+ mile road trip last summer and the quality of fast food varied from city to city. Some was trash and some was decent. In my home town I live in the "Stone Age" of fast food(Chik Fil A is the exception). Kids can't get my order right, or it's cold or there's ants in my soda.. etc.

Maybe that'll get better when the elderly take over the fast food workforce.

Senior Citizens Are Replacing Teenagers as Fast-Food Workers

literally.

 

[GohanX]

My local McDonalds has McRibs right now, so yeah it's a pretty great time to be alive.

 

[DevilRedeemed]

I may have miscontrued things and swapped street food for fast food. Kind of the same but not.
Just had a bowl o ramen. Kind of dissappointed. But now I recall I didn't think much of ramen when I was in Japan 20 years ago.

 

[Gaston]

Out of curiosity, what's the difference between fast food and street food? Quality of ingredients?
And what's your regular diet?

 

[smokehouse]

My local McDonalds has McRibs right now, so yeah it's a pretty great time to be alive.

I've already had two over the past few weeks...I'm kind of ashamed to admit it...but I freaking love a McRib...

I may have miscontrued things and swapped street food for fast food. Kind of the same but not.
Just had a bowl o ramen. Kind of dissappointed. But now I recall I didn't think much of ramen when I was in Japan 20 years ago.

Really good Asian cuisine is something we're lacking where I live. We do have one really good Vietnamese noodle place...but that's about it. No real Japanese and the Chinese is pure Americanized trash.

Out of curiosity, what's the difference between fast food and street food? Quality of ingredients?
And what's your regular diet?

Fast food = corporate owned, mass produced food.
Street food (vendor) = locally owned/made (at least this is a the case where I live).

I'll take a good street cart over fast food any day of the week.

 

[Ip Man]

Enjoy it while it lasts, it might be insect kebab before you know it.

Meat, petrol, air con, all of these things will be outlawed or at best ostracised by the time our kids reach our age.

i agree but why air con?

 

[DevilRedeemed]

Out of curiosity, what's the difference between fast food and street food? Quality of ingredients?
And what's your regular diet?

Smokes already said it.
My regular diet consists of spiders and lizards

 

[GohanX]

I've already had two over the past few weeks...I'm kind of ashamed to admit it...but I freaking love a McRib...

It is possibly the greatest of all fast food.

 

[sr20det510]

My local McDonalds has McRibs right now, so yeah it's a pretty great time to be alive.

At 2 for $5 they cant be beat.
I ask for extra pickles and onions FTW.

The other day though bastards put so my sauce on the protein that my meat kept sliding out of the buns.

 

[DevilRedeemed]

my meat kept sliding out of the buns.

You might be overdoing it with the lube