Difference between revisions of "User:RahalMccall69"
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| − | + | I鈥檓 as a 鈥渇ast food in moderation鈥?guy. I think it鈥檚 irresponsible for parents to make Burger King or Popeye鈥檚 a daily part of their children鈥檚 diet. But I think it鈥檚 a ridiculous reaction for county supervisors to regulate the sale of Happy Meal toys. Legislators should work on educating the public, not doing the parenting for them. | |
| − | + | With that said, I still think it鈥檚 shocking to see how much fast food drink cups have increased in size over the past 40 years. The cups in 1973 look like shot glasses compared to the two-fisted monstrosities being sold in 2014. | |
| − | + | This is a core argument by the crowd that is supporting the current proposed soda taxes聽聽and Berkeley; that big corporations have super-sized empty calorie beverages to extremely unhealthy proportions. Last year, for a different and , I found the San Francisco Chronicle鈥檚 earliest photos of fast food restaurants in the Bay Area. They were taken in Mill Valley and San Anselmo in 1973, when Taco Bell, Jack in the Box and McDonald鈥檚 were making their first huge surge into the suburbs. Last weekend,聽I decided to venture out with my own kids and take a few 鈥渘ow鈥?photos. | |
| − | + | I included every 1973 Chronicle fast food photo where the drinks can be clearly seen; I didn鈥檛 selectively pick images where the drinks looked small. Then I went to the three Alameda restaurants from the same chains with my kids, and made <a href=http://www.alportico.net/gosoc.php> true religion sale</a> the following request to the cashiers at each one: 鈥淧lease give me exactly one drink in every size sold by this establishment.鈥? | |
| − | + | The results are in the slideshow, above. A few more thoughts after this Jack in the Box photo 鈥? | |
| − | + | Taco Bell drink cups in 1973, 2014. | |
| − | + | * I brought the empty cups home and used a measuring cup to check the volume. The 2014 cups from three restaurants ranged between 12 ounces and 40 ounces. Jack in the Box鈥檚 cups ranged between 20 ounces to 40 ounces. (Based on the photos, I鈥檇 estimate the 1973 cups ranged between 8 ounces and 16 ounces.) | |
| − | + | * After the size of the drinks, the second thing I noticed was how fit the people looked in the 1973 fast food photos. Even the ones that are clearly stoned and listening to 鈥淟ed Zeppelin III鈥?look like they could run an 8 minute mile. Understatement of the day: If you walked randomly into a McDonald鈥檚, Jack in the Box and Taco Bell in 2014, the people would not look as universally healthy as they did in 1973. | |
| − | + | * I sprung this fast food excursion on my kids, who seemed suspicious. I take them to fast food maybe once every five or six weeks, and then only after they鈥檝e done something exceptional. Three in a day seemed unfathomable. Note to CPS: I did not allow them to drink 120 ounces of soda each. The smallest drinks were filled 1/3 of the way with root beer, except for McDonald鈥檚, where we filled only the smallest drink and shared it. | |
| − | + | (Photo: Stephanie Maze/The Chronicle 1973) | |
| − | + | * When I looked at the fast food menu prices in 1973 and 2014, the economic motivation for a drastic increase <a href=http://capstone.edu.sg/images/gucciusaonlineoutlet.php>gucci outlet</a> in drink size started to make more sense. Most drinks in 1973 cost 15 or 20 cents. In 2014, they cost about 10 times that much. Meanwhile, other menu items (cheeseburgers, tacos, etc.) have remained about the same size, and increased in cost by closer to three times. I know from working in food service that drinks have a very high profit margin. Creating a market with larger drinks (and larger corresponding prices) makes business sense, even if it comes at the expense of a healthy customer base. | |
| + | * McDonald鈥檚 was the only restaurant of the three where the cashier offered us a 鈥渒id size鈥?drink. (Which at 12 ounces looked about as big as most adult-size containers in 1973, but was still by far the smallest cup that we received.) The cashier also asked if I wanted milk as an option for the kids. If other chains had a smaller size cup than the ones displayed <a href=http://capstone.edu.sg/images/gucciusaonlineoutlet.php> cheap gucci</a> in the photos, they didn鈥檛 think to offer it to me. | ||
| + | Which brings us to 鈥? | ||
| + | (Photo: Stephanie Maze/The Chronicle 1973) | ||
| + | * I do not weep for the people who run McDonald鈥檚, and probably never will. But that restaurant chain shoulders an unbalanced brunt of the ire directed at the fast food industry. Of the five biggest fast food chains in the Bay Area, McDonald鈥檚 has by far developed the healthiest options in recent years for their kid and adult meals. (McDonald鈥檚 was also the only place I visited that had a composting option for our trash.) | ||
| + | And yet McDonald鈥檚 remain the poster child for unhealthy eating, while KFC and Jack in the Box sort of slink by quietly the in background, seemingly in an arms race to develop . McDonald鈥檚 may have the biggest historic role in the super-sizing of America. But the chain is no longer the worst. | ||
| + | One final note: A huge shout-out to former Chronicle photographer Stephanie Maze, whose tenure at the paper in the 1970s was shorter than some others, but she made her mark nonetheless. She always went the extra mile on otherwise routine assignments. (Her photos of the 1977 KISS concert at the Cow Palace .) | ||
| + | Stephanie went on to work for National Geographic, and published a series of books for young readers. | ||
| + | PETER HARTLAUB is the pop culture critic at the San Francisco Chronicle and founder/editor of The Big Event. He takes requests. Contact him at phartlaub@sfchronicle.com.聽Follow him on Twitter at聽. Follow The Big Event聽. | ||
Revision as of 20:32, 1 October 2014
@@@ I鈥檓 as a 鈥渇ast food in moderation鈥?guy. I think it鈥檚 irresponsible for parents to make Burger King or Popeye鈥檚 a daily part of their children鈥檚 diet. But I think it鈥檚 a ridiculous reaction for county supervisors to regulate the sale of Happy Meal toys. Legislators should work on educating the public, not doing the parenting for them. With that said, I still think it鈥檚 shocking to see how much fast food drink cups have increased in size over the past 40 years. The cups in 1973 look like shot glasses compared to the two-fisted monstrosities being sold in 2014. This is a core argument by the crowd that is supporting the current proposed soda taxes聽聽and Berkeley; that big corporations have super-sized empty calorie beverages to extremely unhealthy proportions. Last year, for a different and , I found the San Francisco Chronicle鈥檚 earliest photos of fast food restaurants in the Bay Area. They were taken in Mill Valley and San Anselmo in 1973, when Taco Bell, Jack in the Box and McDonald鈥檚 were making their first huge surge into the suburbs. Last weekend,聽I decided to venture out with my own kids and take a few 鈥渘ow鈥?photos. I included every 1973 Chronicle fast food photo where the drinks can be clearly seen; I didn鈥檛 selectively pick images where the drinks looked small. Then I went to the three Alameda restaurants from the same chains with my kids, and made <a href=http://www.alportico.net/gosoc.php> true religion sale</a> the following request to the cashiers at each one: 鈥淧lease give me exactly one drink in every size sold by this establishment.鈥? The results are in the slideshow, above. A few more thoughts after this Jack in the Box photo 鈥? Taco Bell drink cups in 1973, 2014.
- I brought the empty cups home and used a measuring cup to check the volume. The 2014 cups from three restaurants ranged between 12 ounces and 40 ounces. Jack in the Box鈥檚 cups ranged between 20 ounces to 40 ounces. (Based on the photos, I鈥檇 estimate the 1973 cups ranged between 8 ounces and 16 ounces.)
- After the size of the drinks, the second thing I noticed was how fit the people looked in the 1973 fast food photos. Even the ones that are clearly stoned and listening to 鈥淟ed Zeppelin III鈥?look like they could run an 8 minute mile. Understatement of the day: If you walked randomly into a McDonald鈥檚, Jack in the Box and Taco Bell in 2014, the people would not look as universally healthy as they did in 1973.
- I sprung this fast food excursion on my kids, who seemed suspicious. I take them to fast food maybe once every five or six weeks, and then only after they鈥檝e done something exceptional. Three in a day seemed unfathomable. Note to CPS: I did not allow them to drink 120 ounces of soda each. The smallest drinks were filled 1/3 of the way with root beer, except for McDonald鈥檚, where we filled only the smallest drink and shared it.
(Photo: Stephanie Maze/The Chronicle 1973)
- When I looked at the fast food menu prices in 1973 and 2014, the economic motivation for a drastic increase <a href=http://capstone.edu.sg/images/gucciusaonlineoutlet.php>gucci outlet</a> in drink size started to make more sense. Most drinks in 1973 cost 15 or 20 cents. In 2014, they cost about 10 times that much. Meanwhile, other menu items (cheeseburgers, tacos, etc.) have remained about the same size, and increased in cost by closer to three times. I know from working in food service that drinks have a very high profit margin. Creating a market with larger drinks (and larger corresponding prices) makes business sense, even if it comes at the expense of a healthy customer base.
- McDonald鈥檚 was the only restaurant of the three where the cashier offered us a 鈥渒id size鈥?drink. (Which at 12 ounces looked about as big as most adult-size containers in 1973, but was still by far the smallest cup that we received.) The cashier also asked if I wanted milk as an option for the kids. If other chains had a smaller size cup than the ones displayed <a href=http://capstone.edu.sg/images/gucciusaonlineoutlet.php> cheap gucci</a> in the photos, they didn鈥檛 think to offer it to me.
Which brings us to 鈥? (Photo: Stephanie Maze/The Chronicle 1973)
- I do not weep for the people who run McDonald鈥檚, and probably never will. But that restaurant chain shoulders an unbalanced brunt of the ire directed at the fast food industry. Of the five biggest fast food chains in the Bay Area, McDonald鈥檚 has by far developed the healthiest options in recent years for their kid and adult meals. (McDonald鈥檚 was also the only place I visited that had a composting option for our trash.)
And yet McDonald鈥檚 remain the poster child for unhealthy eating, while KFC and Jack in the Box sort of slink by quietly the in background, seemingly in an arms race to develop . McDonald鈥檚 may have the biggest historic role in the super-sizing of America. But the chain is no longer the worst. One final note: A huge shout-out to former Chronicle photographer Stephanie Maze, whose tenure at the paper in the 1970s was shorter than some others, but she made her mark nonetheless. She always went the extra mile on otherwise routine assignments. (Her photos of the 1977 KISS concert at the Cow Palace .) Stephanie went on to work for National Geographic, and published a series of books for young readers. PETER HARTLAUB is the pop culture critic at the San Francisco Chronicle and founder/editor of The Big Event. He takes requests. Contact him at phartlaub@sfchronicle.com.聽Follow him on Twitter at聽. Follow The Big Event聽.
