Posts Tagged ‘fast food’
“It requires a certain kind of mind to see beauty in a hamburger bun”*…
There may be no American institution more polarizing than fast food. Whether it’s wages, health, the environment or those Colonel Sanders ads, the problems associated with the all-American meal inspire lots of detractors. But for many millions, places like McDonald’s, Taco Bell and Steak ’n Shake generate fierce loyalty for their convenience, value, ritual, shock-and-awe menu items and community; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2018 that more than one-third of Americans eat fast food on any given day. As the summer season of road trips and Frosties enters full swing, here are five myths about fast food…
Adam Chandler, author of Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America’s Fast-Food Kingdom, enumerates “Five Myths About Fast Food.”
* Ray Kroc, creator of the McDonald’s franchise empire
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As we chow down, we might send beefy birthday greetings to Rex David Thomas; he was born on this date in 1932. After rising through the ranks at Kentucky Fried Chicken, then helping to found the Arthur Treacher’s fried fish chain, Thomas founded Wendy’s– the burger chain named for his daughter (whose real name was Melinda Lou, but who was called Wendy, since as young child she couldn’t pronounce her name).
“What a museum chooses to exhibit is sometimes less important than how such decisions are made and what values inform them”*…
This cartridge for holding tartar sauce is made of white cardboard; the words “McDonald’s ® Tartar Sauce” are shown in green lettering along with the McDonald’s double arches logo. This canister holds 25 fluid ounces of tartar sauce, and is made to be used with a ratchet gun condiment dispenser. The tartar sauce is used on McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, a menu item developed by a franchisee in 1962 as an option for his customers who did not eat meat on Fridays for religious reasons. The Filet-O-Fish became a nationwide menu item by 1965 beating out another meatless option, the Hula burger, made with grilled pineapple…
From the collection “FOOD: Transforming the American Table 1950-2000,” in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of America History.
* Martin Filler
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As we lick our lips, we might recall that it was on this date in 2001 that Taco Bell announced that the chain would give a free taco to everyone in the U.S. if the Mir Space Station, which was scheduled to re-enter the atmosphere and fall to Earth later that week, landed on a 40 foot by 40 foot target that the company had floated in the Pacific Ocean. In the event, the Mir missed.
The baddest ad…
Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority publishes an annual list of the broadcast commercials that generated the most complaints. The Guardian recounts this year’s “winners”… but reminds readers that none of them came close to achieving the opprobrium earned by the most complained-about ad of all time, this 2005 KFC spot:
And while we’re on the subject… “one in eight American workers has been employed by McDonalds,” and 25 other interesting fast food facts.
[TotH to Next Draft]
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As we supersize that, we might note the proprietary of the fact that this is the feast date of St. Justin Martyr… (the patron saint of apologists and speakers).
You deserve a break today…
From ingredients to consumption patterns, an infographic with fun facts like…
From OnlineSchools.org; Click either image or here to see it in its appetite-inhibiting entirety. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
As we rethink our lunch plans, we might recall that it was on this date in 1879 that James Ritty, a saloon keeper in Dayton, Ohio, and his brother John, a skilled mechanic, patented the first cash register, “Ritty’s Incorruptible Cashier.” The company they formed to exploit the invention didn’t prosper; in 1881 they sold the patent to a group of investors who built the enterprise that became the National Cash Register Company (NCR).
Replica of the first Ritty machine (which had no cash drawer) source: Smithsonian Institution
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