Would you queue for McDonalds?

[captain nemo1701]

I'm trying to get my head around this:
Burgers
Assuming there are say, 30 cars and each takes two minutes (it won't!) to get through that jam, they'll be waiting for an hour to get something that would have taken less time to cook at home and eat. Plus, waiting that long renders the concept of 'fast, convenient food' rather neutral.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Time in car's not real time

 

[Mo1959]

I'm trying to get my head around this:
Burgers
Assuming there are say, 30 cars and each takes two minutes (it won't!) to get through that jam, they'll be waiting for an hour to get something that would have taken less time to cook at home and eat. Plus, waiting that long renders the concept of 'fast, convenient food' rather neutral.

We seem to have become a nation of fast/junk food lovers Given how often they mention obesity as one of the risk factors for bad outcomes for Covid 19, you would think people might start to think about looking after themselves instead of shovelling that garbage down. A few times as a year as a treat if you must.

 

[annedonnelly]

I don't have any experience of McDonalds & the like but is there some aspect of a "trip out"? Especially for people who've had to entertain kids indoors for weeks.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Oh here we go again...let the petty prejudice roll....

 

[captain nemo1701]

Oh here we go again...let the petty prejudice roll....

I don't think its petty prejudice. I'm trying to understand why people would wait that long for 'fast' food when they could have saved time, eaten a better quality burger, and had more free time to do other stuff. Plus, they're reducing the air quality for people in the street if they are idling.

I once came out of a night cinema screening with a former friend who, lets say, is large enough to have his own gravity well. He wanted a big mac. The car park at 11.30 had about five cars in it. I offered to go and buy the burgers if he parked his car. He refused and insisted on driving through...so we got stuck in a small jam and waited longer than it would have taken me to go in by foot.

Plus, the thing that was in a bun with bit of floppy green stuff (I assume was lettuce) was my first and only experience of a 'big mac'. Certainly not impressed....

 

[oldwheels]

Many nowadays do not have the skill to cook even a burger. There are apocryphal stories of teenagers who do not know what to do with a knife and fork.
I am not being too critical as we once took our own two under 10's out to a Chinese restaurant and realised their table manners were terrible. After that we had family meals all at the same table to make sure they learned to conduct themselves properly in public.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I don't think its petty prejudice. I'm trying to understand why people would wait that long for 'fast' food when they could have saved time, eaten a better quality burger, and had more free time to do other stuff. Plus, they're reducing the air quality for people in the street if they are idling.

I once came out of a night cinema screening with a former friend who, lets say, is large enough to have his own gravity well. He wanted a big mac. The car park at 11.30 had about five cars in it. I offered to go and buy the burgers if he parked his car. He refused and insisted on driving through...so we got stuck in a small jam and waited longer than it would have taken me to go in by foot.

Plus, the thing that was in a bun with bit of floppy green stuff (I assume was lettuce) was my first and only experience of a 'big mac'. Certainly not impressed....

Why do people queue for anything non-essential?

 

[vickster]

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/would-you-queue-for-mcdonalds.261825/

 

[vickster]

We seem to have become a nation of fast/junk food lovers Given how often they mention obesity as one of the risk factors for bad outcomes for Covid 19, you would think people might start to think about looking after themselves instead of shovelling that garbage down. A few times as a year as a treat if you must.

I’ve got a McDs 5 minutes walk from home. I’ve been past the queue (not that long now and with security controlling, it’s a dual carriageway) several times and it’s mostly young couples, the odd family waiting, not really noted anyone obese in the cars. I’m guessing a lot of it is due to boredom, they’ve possibly been furloughed and are looking for things to fill their time

 

[Electric_Andy]

I can understand why peple do it, not that I'd do it, I'm far too impatient. I think it's partly due to a trip out, and people trying to enjoy things that they used to enjoy before covid, albeit queuing for longer. The drive through is just easier for a lot of people. Yes you are blocking the road, but I've been in my local retail park a few times where the car park is blocked, no-one can get in or out (luckily I was on a motorcycle), so arguably the drive-through is more efficient than parking up.

 

[Cycleops]

At the risk of going over the same old ground again it’s noting to do with how nice or wholesome or unwholesome the food is or why they queue for hours it’s people desire to get back to normality in a time of crisis when their world has been turned upside down.

 

[mudsticks]

We seem to have become a nation of fast/junk food lovers Given how often they mention obesity as one of the risk factors for bad outcomes for Covid 19, you would think people might start to think about looking after themselves instead of shovelling that garbage down. A few times as a year as a treat if you must.

It's a question that comes up a lot among those of us who spend quite a bit of time angsting over reform of the food system into something that better serves human health and wellbeing (and planetary health too)

We are often told that 'peasant style' diets are the best for us - ie lots of veg and fruit.
More minimal meat, refined carbs, and to eat healthy fats.

The trouble is we - in the UK and US particularly 'industrialised' our food system many years back, when we gained access to cheap meat, fat, salt, and sugar* through our colonies, and then in post war chemical developments.

So now the 'standard' or cheapest diet is the worst for us, but also highly addictive.

But if you try to turn this around through implementing health policy, or positive nudges such as 'five a day' you are accused of being 'nanny state' or middle class, fun sponge, do-gooders.

And of course companies such as mc Donald's selling tonnes of cheap cr@p at vast profit, don't really want much to change.

And they have far greater lobbying power than us 'virtuous' veg growers..

* All the things our 'caveman' palate craves, because they are naturally scarcest in the natural world.

 

[raleighnut]

For really dire food anyone else remember 'Wimpy' burgers, I think they came in a tin*.

* not when you're served one, I mean they arrived at the shop in tins and were then 'heated'

 

[Drago]

It'd be quicker to plant your own cow, grow it, harvest it, chop it up, make a burger, cook it and eat it, and still have time for a cuppa.