I’m genuinely curious. Years ago, I was a chubby young pothead who lived on fast food. Taco Bell, McDonald’s, KFC, you name it—I ate it. Back in college, fast food probably made up at least 50% of my diet. And it wasn’t just because it was quick and cheap—I actually enjoyed it.
But these days, I find myself craving it less and less. Besides being more health-conscious, it just doesn’t hit the spot like it used to. It’s more expensive than ever, mostly bland, and I feel terrible after I eat it. So what’s changed? Is it just part of the enshitification of everything? Have I just gotten old, or has fast food really gone downhill?
I work at McDonald’s, it is not good and is best avoided.
I stopped eating fast food during covid and never got back into it.
The one time, post covid, I was out and stopped to eat, it was gross. But it’d been so long, I genuinely don’t know if it had always been gross and I lost my acclimation to it, or if it was actually more gross than it used to be.
Anecdotally, I’ve heard complaints online that the quality has gone down while the prices went up, so it probably has gotten worse.
Depends on the company and where you live, I feel. Some has gotten worse, some has improved.
But they have all gotten more expensive. So goddamn expensive. These days I can order a well made, flame-grilled burger at a burger joint for the same price as fast food slop.
And about the same speed. Most places take call in orders too now so call ahead and it’s basically ready when you get there
The only thing I’ll say there is that with burgers you can sometimes get out over your skis and take a tumble. A lot of sit-down places think some giant watery meatball is a good burger. While photogenic, it is not necessarily good, and a short-order smashed patty or (smashed patties) generally taste a lot better and are easier to eat.
The best burgers are almost certainly not fast food burgers, but the worst burgers aren’t either.
Both?
Yes it has gotten worse and time is a relentless asshole.
RIP Trans fats. So delicious, so terrible for you.
Can we all just collectively accept death is an inevitability and eat tasty food? This need for perfection in everything we touch is killing me.
Yes death is inevitable but you do have the opportunity to guide how you are going to die, to a degree.
Treating your body like a garbage dump will give you a long slow miserable death as you age as the garbage destroys your body. Eating more healthy can lessen that effect.
Yeah but I want the choice without having to cook for myself sometimes.
No one’s telling you that you don’t have that choice… Just that over-indulging in that choice could lead to heart disease. What you find to be an acceptable level of risk is entirely up to you.
i freakin love fast food, and as soon as covid hit i had to start a ‘blacklist’ of places that have gotten so bad (chipotle/tacobell/bugerking), its just not even kind of worth it.
fiveguys is one of my favorites as it did not change in any way.
fiveguys is one of my favorites as it did not change in any way.
Besides that price haha
20 bucks you can get a proper burger at a pub
Yeah. But their fries go hard. Lmao.
They used to load up… We get to burgers and mid fry to split with partner. Last time they shorted me on the fries on 30 bucks order for two.
Haven’t been back since
Oh fuck. That’d give me pause too. Haven’t experienced a lack of fries yet. But for 2 burgers at 30 bucks. I’d expect enough for both of you lol
Taco bell has turned to ass. Even their bean burrito tasted off and most of the menu items I see are crazy shit that doesn’t resemble anything in terms of Mexican food.
It’s gotten worse. I don’t bother eating any of it because I make better food at home.
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I’m feeling nitpicky in general so I apologize in advance.
Prices have gone up, not costs. The increase in overhead for these places hasn’t gone towards maintaining the same product quality, much less improving it, nor has it gone towards the pay of workers, and its not really even the real estate.
The bigger price listed is almost entirely because shareholders want more before they keel over finally fucking die
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Thanks, I’m too scatterbrained to have put it in those words, but yeah, thats totally what I was getting at. Thanks
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Eating garbage food will also make you feel bad, no matter your age.
I used to eat junk food a lot in undergrad, and since I developed a tolerance/got used to feeling shitty I didn’t realize how much it impacted me day-to-day. Once I started grad school I shifted to healthier eating (real, unprocessed food), and quickly noticed how much better I felt, how much more energy I had. Now if I eat fast food (rarely) I always feel like crap right after the meal.
Seeing the brand names you cited, I’ll assume you’re in the US, so my comment may or may not be as useful as some brands are way different in France (for example, Subway is decent most of the time).
Growing up I sure got less and less attracted to fast food, and trying it occasionally did feel bad in some case. Although there’s a definite shift in not wanting to clog my own arteries, it’s not all there is to it. Some brands really feel awful now (McDonald’s being the worst fast food out there these days), but there are also other that still “hit that spot” (BK mostly). I think it’s safe to say that some big names let themselves go bad, AND it is still possible to find good fast food stuff.
With that said, it do gets more expensive, as everything else. The craving for fast food really become less common as time pass, and although it’s still good while eating, there’s still a tinge of guilt afterward, knowing it’s both too expensive for what it is (I mean the actual food, not necessarily that it’s too expensive for service and stuff) and that it’s not that great for yourself.
I’d say if you keep them as an occasional treat and know a few good places to indulge, it can work. But it sure feels like it requires more thinking than just dropping in any fast food joint to have a good time.
It’s gotten worse and the portion sizes are like fucking 1/3rd of what they used to be. It’s also like 3 times the price now. So yes, fast food is absolute dogshit now and not even worth the price.
Is it just part of the enshitification of everything?
Yes
Have I just gotten old
Get off my lawn.
Fast food is called “fast food” because it’s fast, not because it’s food.
Apart from that, there is probably no production chain that has profited better from making things the cheaper way than anything related to food.
So this does not just concern fast food, but the HFCS loaded soda you drink, your bread swimming in dough raising and stabilizing chemicals, or your tinned soup made from water, starch, food coloring, flavors, and preservatives.
Just because of the masses produced and sold, any cent saved on a single Burger quickly adds up to a million dollar in extra profits. Don’t expect them to waste that money on better ingredients or flavor, as long as you keep buying that stuff, they keep on making it worse to save yet another cent.
Yeh you don’t like it, sure, but the question was whether it had gotten worse in some way that’s quantifiable different to how it used to be in the past, or if it’s just OP’s personal taste changing.
I think enshittification is hitting everything, but it’s probably also that you are old. I find that I just can’t eat the same way that I could 20 years ago.
im in my 40s and feel the same as you. things like fast food dont hold the same appeal, just nostalgia wishing for the ‘old taste’
The answer is probably “yes”
- Food is probably worse.
- Your taste buds might have changed.
- Your gut bacteria might be different.
I have a couple reasons for believing each.
- Nutrient concentration in food has decreased over time (Veritasium talked about a fascinating explanation for this) and the desire to find low cost alternatives like HFCS over cane sugar changes the taste of food.
- “Children prefer higher levels of sweet and are more sensitive to bitter tastes until adolescence.”
- Your gut microbiome literally changes over time.
