Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with fastfood

Is marketing fast food by public schools a common thing?

dejah420 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:22:35 -0800

Is it common for public schools to directly market fast food to children under the guise of "school spirit"? My son started 1st grade at public school this year. So far, about once a month, the Chick-fil-A cow shows up at their school, wanders the hall and hands out these fliers that say that the class with the most kids that show up and order fast food on Date X wins a free chicken nugget party with said cow and a free recess. The class in second place of the spending race gets a free recess.

Not only that, but he brings home fliers from the school that announce that "spirit night" is coming. Today, we got a call (from the system that I thought was designed to only be an emergency announcement system) that reminded us to go to Chick-fil-A and spend money. Then, when I picked him up from school, he and all the other kids were plastered with a giant branding sticker in the center of their little chests reminding the parents to take their kids to Chick-fil-A tonight.

He was heartbroken when I told him that we would not be going. Apparently, they've been drilling them all week about getting a "free party" and a "get out of class free" period.

Is this as outrageous as I think it is? Is it common, and I'm just overreacting?

My opinion is that I should call the ISD superintendent to inquire why the school is trying to turn my kid into a mindless fast-food eating consumer-bot. But other parents around here don't seem to think it's an issue, and in fact were taking pictures of their kids covered in branding standing next to the cow when school let out today.

Before I go all crusader on the school district, am I being irrational about this?

(For the record; I didn't have an issue with this company before all this marketing to my kid started, and tonight as I was trying to google whether this sort of marketing was common, I came across the information that Chick-fil-A supports tea-baggers and funds homophobic organizations...so thanks to their aggressive marketing to my 6 year old kid, they're now added to my ever growing "boycott" list.)

I'm really not loving it.

heavenstobetsy — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:14:44 -0800

Did you quit fast food? How? I'm beginning to think that I'm addicted to McDonalds. I'm overweight (surprise) and have been working out 4 times a week (an hour each) for about 2 months. I feel a lot better, BUT I haven't lost any weight. I eat healthy breakfast and lunch, but I'm having A LOT of trouble not grabbing McDonalds on my way home from work. I've struggled with this for years. I basically grew up on fast food, having been raised by a single father who did not (but does now!) cook. Basically it's a habit I've had since I was a kid.

I've googled extensively about this, and what I've found has helped, such as thinking of the effects the McDonalds corp. has on the environment, their workers, farmers, etc. I've tried picturing my no doubt clogged arteries, calculated what I'm spending, to no avail. Which sounds horrible, I know. Each of those things should be a pretty strong deterrent, yet apparently not strong enough to overrule my fast food impulse.

For the record, I'm female, 27 years old, and Canadian if that makes any difference whatsoever.

So, anyone been in a similar situation or have any ideas that may help me quit this? Any help/advice is appreciated. I'm sick and tired of seeing my hard work at the gym nullified by my fast food intake.

Tomatofilter: 2% chance I'm crazy; 98% chance something (good) is up with our country's tomatos.

jjjjjjjijjjjjjj — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:28:28 -0800

Tomato question: Did something happen late last Autumn that could have caused low-priced/budget tomatoes in (U.S.) fast-food restaurants and supermarkets to become radically better tasting? My perception of increased quality had a sudden onset, was not chain-specific, not geographically localized, and is shared by a handful of friends. (tl;drers, question is as stated above; the screed below is just the boring details. I suspect that help might come from food/soil/earth scientists, ag-economists, farmers, restaurant suppliers, or some other industry insider. Barring that, I suppose there's an outside chance that help might come in the form of two men in white coats dragging me to a rubber room.)

Last November a friend made a salad with sliced tomatoes that tasted amazing. I asked if she had sprung for some fancy brand or got them from a ritzy store; she said no, that they were the cheapest fresh type at the local chain supermarket. I didn't believe her but thought nothing of it at the time.

Within a few days I ordered a $2 burger at a fast food chain and was treated to a fucking amazing tomato there, as well. The floodgates then opened, and for, say, two weeks following, every tomato I ate (from whichever restaurant or grocery chain), tasted fantastic. At the time I chalked this up to some major regional (I live in St. Louis) supplier (Sysco?) stumbling onto a great shipment or something. Again, thought nothing further of it at the time.

At that point, and for the next 1.5 months, I traveled to: several New England states, Central Texas, and Northern California, eating at dives and fast-food joints for most every meal, and--I shit you not--in perhaps 70% of the meals I consumed was what I will call, for brevity "the SuperTomato".

I feel confident in the stark difference of the two; if you spend any amount of time eating tomatos, I'm betting that you'll agree that the difference between a "bad" and a "good" tomato is about as subtle as the difference between a whisper and a shout. The things I am describing taste like completely different things, it's not just a slight or stepwise increase in quality. I feel entirely confident that in a single-blind taste test I would correctly identify "SuperTomato" from "old-and-busted cheap tomato" 100 times out of 100.

My Question to food/soil/atmospheric scientists, agricultural economists, restaurant buyers and the like: Barring delusion on my part, what could be responsible for a flood of great tomatoes across the country at the bottom-end of the tomato pricing tier? This is either a real phenomenon, or the damndest case of my senses tricking me that I've ever seen.

Confirmation Bias? Maybe... hard to tell, obviously. But I've tried to screen for it at every step. I've asked, say, 8 friends and got 5 blank looks, 1 "yeah, now that you mention it", and 2 soul-piercing, thousand-yard stares of disbelief followed by a "You've noticed it, too?!"

I'm not a gastronome or a foodie or a "supertaster" or anything close. I'm just an average guy who eats average, cheap food. I have always eaten a normal amount of cheap store-bought tomatoes and until this happened, had uniformly normal reactions to them. I have no history of sensory hallucinations, no recent head-trauma, mental illness, or significant lifestyle changes. Please tell me what the fuck is up with my 'maters. Apologies for the length. Thanks.

What's the deal on California food taxes?

rileyray3000 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:19:33 -0800

I've noticed when I buy food in California at different restaurants, sometimes there's sales tax and sometimes there's not. What's the deal? This is something I noticed at the quiznos the other day. I got charged sales tax on my meal. But, the next day, at Subway, NO sales tax. Both were takeout. One, arguably, with the toasted bun, was hot. But otherwise I have no idea why one meal gets sales tax and the other doesn't. I know if you go to a sit down restaurant there's always sales tax on the bill but does that become more arbitrary when it's fast food?

Ideas?

Fast Food (Parody) Nation

porn in the woods — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:32:14 -0800

A friend is writing a play and needs profane and puerile nicknames for fast-food franchises for dialog between two wage-slave burnouts about past jobs. We've brainstormed "charmers" like Papa Murphy's Wake and Bake, Jack Off In The Food, Pizza Slut, Raunch Table Pizza and Jack Off In Her Box; can you up the juvenilia? Bonus points for West Coast franchises.

No carb options at ubiquitous restaurants when you're on the run?

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:20:57 -0800

I'm looking for chain restaurants (including fast food places) that have some decent no-carb food options. If you could name the place and the dish, it would be most appreciated! I need to lose some weight, and South Beach has worked for me in the past. However, the stumbling block for me are those first 2 weeks (of no carbs whatsoever) when I inevitably end up having to grab a meal or takeout on the run, and few places are reliable for having a completely no carb meal.

I know California Chicken Cafe and El Pollo Loco have chicken breast with salad options, but I'm trying to spread my net wider than that. Also, I almost never go to chain restaurants usually so I am not familiar with their menus. A lot of places have salads whose dressings are sugary or covered in croutons-- so that's no good.

Please help! I'm in Southern California, if that aids you.

Trying To Find Evidence Of The Wendy's Jazz Cap

extraface — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:35:07 -0800

I'm looking for a photo of a Wendy's Jazz Cap, or even just first-hand recollections of them. These were apparently some type of multicolored painter's cap sold at Wendy's establishments in the late 80's(possibly 1988ish). There seems to be no trace of their existence online. Phone calls to the Wendy's Customer Service hotline have come back with a "try eBay" response. A few good but ultimately fruitless tries to track one down can be found on the comments to my blog. Any information, photos, or recollections would be very much appreciated.

Why does Subway™ stink?

sportbucket — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:43:26 -0800

Every Subway smells the same, and it's rank and pervasive. What is it? There's a distinct smell to Subway restaurants. I suspect it has something to do with the bread, but no other bakery or sandwich shop smells like this. And no other bread smell is so pervasive. I had a sandwich several hours ago, and I can still smell it -- oddly wet dog -- on my jacket and hat. When someone else in the office gets subway, they announce it silently upon their return. The smell is unmistakable.

As far as I can tell, it's universal -- I've been to numerous locations on the west coast that all had "the smell", this guy in the UK knows what I'm talking about, as does this guy and numerous MeFi commenters. Commenters on Chowhound think it's bad yeast.

Any food chemists in the crowd care to weigh in on this?

I feel so cornered and humiliated by my boss

Niomi — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:47:00 -0800

I feel so cornered and humiliated by my boss. She's the owner of the franchise, so I don't know who to complain to or what to do about it. I work at a fast food restaurant. My main responsibility is to clean the lobby: wiping tables, making sure there are enough straws, etc. I also do some things like dishes and breaking down boxes in the back of the store once the lobby is caught up. There's just no reason to have someone literally constantly cleaning the lobby all day.

Yesterday, she was hostile toward me as soon as I came into work. She started giving me short lectures on my responsibilities in the lobby as if it were my first day on the job, or as if I was doing a terribly negligent job. I kept the lobby very clean, but even though it was caught up on front she would get irritated and mad if I tried to do anything in the back of the store. She kept on telling me I needed to stay in the lobby, although I could find nothing to do there I tried to obey her and stay there. I was just waiting for a table to leave so I could clean up after them, and I was talking to one of my friends at work meanwhile. She found me talking to her and was furious at me for "chit-chatting". She accused me of trying to slack off when I was trying to get my work done in the back. She wouldn't even tell me why she wanted me to stay in the lobby so badly, I repeatedly asked her for suggestions on how to keep busy. She refused to give me any suggestions and became angry with me for asking her. She told me that I had to be self-sufficient in my position, and that if I had to rely on her to tell me what to do, she'd send me home and do it herself. (Am I crazy for thinking that she was threatening to fire me?) When I pushed her further, she (literally) told me to clean the same thing 20 times in a row. After she ended this discussion, she told me to sweep and mop, although nearly no one had been through the store since I last mopped about an hour and a half ago and the floors still looked fine.

None of the managers which work under her have had huge problems about my work. I do just as well as the other people in my position, if not better. (judging that when I get into work, I always seem to have to play catch-up) I don't understand why I'm being singled out and humiliated this way. I'm not a slacker, at my old job (my first) I worked my ass off. I stayed late, I went as far out of my way as I could for a customer, I never came in late or called off sick, I paid attention to all of the small things that the other employees didn't care for, I did favors for my co-workers. When other workers were fired, instead of hiring new people I was given more hours, and eventually I was working 6 days a week. My managers all expressed regret that I left (I moved out of state). I wasn't even that great at my old job (I was a waitress, which is a lot harder than fast food) but I was very dependable and worked hard, so I was still respected by my coworkers and my bosses.

I work as hard as I can here, but it's not very hard as I don't have much to do. I don't feel like I will ever have any respect at this job. I feel like my current boss wants me to look busy more than she actually wants to have the work done. I just really want to be respected for working hard and paying attention to detail. I need that to be happy.

How can I assist my girlfriend in finding a decent job in a difficult college town?

Anthony84 — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 00:55:07 -0800

How can I assist my girlfriend in finding a decent job in a difficult college town job market? My girlfriend, who is currently attending school for a bachelor's degree, moved in with me a little over a year ago. Ever since (yes, for over a year), she has been looking at least weekly at jobs, and she must have applied to well over 100 at this point, but has found not a single decent job offer. That is unless you really think fast food is a great career! Needless to say, she's been in fast food for about a year as well.

I know what you're thinking, there must be something wrong with her or what she's doing. As far as I can tell though, she is doing nothing wrong. In fact, I assisted her in building a resume that is about as good as it can get (and I was able to get a pretty good job with mine). She is also very intelligent and personable as well as bilingual. The only negative to her resume is that she did not hold either of her 2 previous jobs for very long, and of course, she has a high school education.

The strangest part is that maybe only 5% of the places she applies to even bother responding (even stranger that she keeps on top of the job sites and applies before most people get a chance). I am starting to think it's the town (Davis, CA) that's the problem. College kids everywhere filling in positions as fast as possible would make some sense to me. We also don't know very many people here, which is probably a factor. We have seen several jobs go to less qualified people for seemingly little reason. Of course, she has no car either, so looking in other towns or in Sacramento has little point for her. I have started considering moving into Sacramento just so that she can have a decent job at some point, but that solution seems a bit extreme.

This has been drawn out for too long and the problem is taking its toll on my girlfriend. Minimum wage and terrible management and hours are soon going to force her out of her current job. Are there any methods I can use to cheer her up or make finding a job easier? Perhaps we should give up on Davis and try for public transportation? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! :)

Which capitals should I steer clear of?

greytape — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 07:47:14 -0800

Which Capitals Cities don't have McDonalds? So last year I was in Ulan Batur, the capital of Mongolia, and I was shocked to find there was no McDonalds. (I know, I mean, what was I supposed to eat?)

Anyway I was wondering how rare this phenomena of a capital city without a McDonalds was. I thought perhaps it might be extremely rare (just the capitals of Chad and Nepal perhaps), but this year I was in Yerevan in Armenia, and no golden arches there either. So perhaps it is less extraordinary than I thought.

Anyone?

You deserve a buck today! Twelve Pointer Steakhouse! Thank you, drive thru!

ZachsMind — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 17:58:02 -0800

Why is there no such thing in the US as a successful national fast food franchise for venison? ...or for that matter, other kinds of meat besides the obvious standbys of beef, chicken, fish, and the like? There's even a "Souper Salad" for All You Can Eat vegetarians, but what about mutton, or alligator, or ostrich? Mostly vension though. I'm most interested in the moment why there's not a successful national venison franchise.

Tainted fast food?

rolypolyman — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 21:54:58 -0800

Has anyone here worked in fast food? How common is it for cooks to "mess" with food? Was it more common than you wanted to see, or did nobody bother with such shenanigans? I emphasize this question is about fast food, not traditional restaurants, and I'm wondering how much stock to put in those stories that sometimes make the rounds.

Cyclists refused service at fastfood drive-thrus?

mediareport — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 22:25:56 -0800

Refused service at a Wendy's drive-thru window because you're on a bike. Why? Someone who uses a bike as his primary mode of transport told me this story tonight: He rode to a Wendy's drive-thru and tried to order, but couldn't get the folks inside to notice him (maybe because they listen for engine noise or he didn't weigh enough or whatever). When he rode up to the checkout window, they told him they couldn't serve him. Other folks have told me similar stories, and I've encountered it once on a bike at a drive-through window at a branch of my bank.

Why do they do this? I find it difficult to believe that robbers on bikes are really that much tougher to catch than robbers in cars.

Is law school a safe bet?

T.D. Strange — Wed, 03 May 2006 17:36:24 -0800

Is now as good a time as any to assume massive debt to attend law school? Ive been accepted to a Top-20 law school and have everything in front of me ready to go in the mail and seal the deal. I just cant bring myself to send it off knowing that Ill be committing to 100k+ in debt in the face of rising intrest rates and inflation, plus who knows what else with the current crazy economy situation.

But my current job is dead-end fast food, and I graduated with a useless history degree from a bottom-feeder state university.

The legal career itself is not an issue, I have several paths to relative happiness depending on how law school plays out, and Im not THAT worrried about hating being a lawyer. (ok, maybe a little worried)

Is it a fairly safe bet to mortage the next 20 years of my life to enter an already crowded, competative field? Would waiting a year just make it a worse prospect?

Picture worth a thousand milkshakes.

zonkout — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 09:25:02 -0800

Where can I get fast food art? I want the art that is used in fast food restaurants.

Pictures of burgers, hotdogs, nachos, salads, fries, steaks, milkshakes, pizzas, etcetera. Framed photographs are good. Transparent pieces used in the big light-up menus are good. Window decals are ok.

I would prefer used/vintage pieces. Where can I find this stuff?

McMefi Recycling

bkdelong — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 18:37:56 -0800

McMefi - What packaging from McDonalds can I recycle? I've been involved in a fundraiser catered by, sigh, McDonalds and we have bags of straws, straw packaging, cardboard packaging, paper burger wrappers, plastic cups, plastic cup covers, napkins, bags, fry packages, and paper hash brown wrappers. I can't seem to find any place that tells me which I can recycle. Is all of it recyclable? How much of it is made from recycled products? Searches resulted in a lot of lawsuit responses and vague FAQ information. Help!

good question for the great taste of soda.

sammich — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 15:52:37 -0800

why does coca-cola at mcdonalds always taste better than coca-cola at other fast food places? do all mcdonalds have some kind of soda fountain with a special proprietary mix they must adhere to?

there's something about the coke from a mcdonalds soda fountain that has that perfect balance of syrupy sweetness and carbonation. and it's pretty much any mcdonalds all across the country. i never notice this in burger king or jack in the box or in-n-out.

has anyone else noticed this? or is it just some kind of subconcious childhood happiness manifesting out whenever i see ronald mcdonald?

Red and Yellow Logos

jonah — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 07:55:10 -0800

Why are all of the logos for major fast food chains red and yellow? Is this psychological, readable, an offshoot of McDonalds? The ones I have seen are McDonalds, Carl's, Wedy's, Burger King, In and Out, Sonic, KooKooRoo - I'm trying to find one that is not yellow/red.

Wind-Up Wendy's?

OmieWise — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 06:47:57 -0800

Question about Murakami's Wind-Up Bird and 1980's Japan. I just finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. It was my first Murakami book. I have a couple of questions.

1) The main character not only eats mostly Western food throughout, but also specifically Western fast food. Were there really Dunken Donuts in Japan in the early '80s? Even if there were, what would it tell me about this guy that he eats there a lot?

2) Do you think May Kasahara is really the eldest daughter of the Miyawaki (I think, the well family) family?

3) I understand sections were cut in the translated US version. Does anyone know anything about the differences?

4) I liked the writing, I pretty much liked the story, I thought it ended up being overlong and too diffuse. What Murakami should I read next? Is Underground as good as it seems like it would be?

What Can I Buy for $1.25?

jeremias — Fri, 19 Nov 2004 04:47:26 -0800

I've only got a $1.25 in my pocket. It's 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I walk into my local Quick-E Mart convenience store. I'm looking for maximum stomach fufillment to tide me over until dinner.What's the best buy for my measly change?

is the restaurant brand stuff I buy in the store the same as what's in the restaurant?

crunchland — Sat, 15 May 2004 15:56:28 -0800

A browse through the frozen food aisle of my local grocery store shows me all kinds of prepared foods from well known restaurant chains. Buffalo Wings from T.G.I.Fridays, BBQ Chicken Pizza from California Pizza Kitchen... what I want to know is, when I go to the actual restaurant chain and order the same products, are they just doing what I'd be doing if I bought the store-bought product? Is the "chef" at California Pizza Kitchen actually making my pizza to-order, or is he pulling a frozen pie out of his freezer, and popping it in the oven?