• Wooly@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Do people eat enough fast food to have a favourite? I’ve probably eaten fries from a fast food place under 10-15 times in my life.

    • ArtieShaw@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I’m guessing that you’re some combination of “not poor” and “not from the US.”

      I’m no longer poor, but I do travel through the continental US on a regular basis. Even though my workplace reimburses me for food when I travel and budget doesn’t enter into the equation, I eat fast food fairly frequently.

      Scenario A) I’ve been though a series of planes, airports, and rental cars for the last eight hours. I’m in central Iowa, I’ve just checked into my hotel, and there’s a major winter storm 30 minutes away. Non-fast food takeout isn’t an option because this town has 20,000 people in it and I would need to travel for an hour to find a larger town. I could find a nice local restaurant, but there’s an Arby’s that’s a block away from my hotel. Since my priorities are 1) putting some warm food into my face, 2) not driving through snow, and 3) going to sleep, it’s Arby’s.

      Scenario B) I’m driving back home from Chicago, which is about a 7-hour trip by interstate highway. I’m in the scary part of Indiana when I realize that I’m hungry and still hours away from civilization. Food options are a) fast food and b) truck stop food. That last option is basically “unknown fast food with an unreadable label that’s been sitting in a heated tray for 4 hours.”

      Scenario C) I’m in a small southern city that I’ve never visited. My plane was delayed and my luggage is lost. The rental agency couldn’t find the car that I had reserved, so I’m driving a lifted pickup through dark and unfamiliar streets. By the time I finish shopping for some basic overnight things (deodorant, hairbrush, underclothing for the next day), it’s 9:45 and most nearby restaurants are closing. Five Guys is a block from the hotel and because they close at 10, I can either choose that or try finding and walking to a restaurant that’s open later.

      Those are all examples from this year. Basically, takeout options outside of major cities are horrible. In small cities, most places - if they even exist - close earlier than fast food chains. If I have the time and energy I’ll absolutely find the nicest local restaurant and enjoy some regional cuisine. And under normal travel circumstances, that’s exactly what I do. But sometimes you just need to put warm food into your mouth and get to sleep.

    • weew@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      lol at the attempted superiority

      Trillion dollar market

      Literally the largest restaurant chain in the world

      Still enough market demand for dozens of other restaurant chains to complete

      wHo EveN eATs FaSt foOd?

      • Wooly@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        More talking about eating it regularly, I just don’t get it. If I’m at a service station in the middle of nowhere, sure I’ll eat a McDonald’s. But in a city, with hundreds of better options, I don’t get why anyone would choose it over better takeaways.

        All I’m saying is I don’t get it, I haven’t eaten enough to know the differences in any of their food. You could put every frie(fry?) And every burger from every FF chain and I wouldn’t be able to identify a single one.

        • weew@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          Do you need to eat something multiple times to know how it tastes? Or do you just pay so little attention to what you eat that you can’t tell the difference between thick cut vs thin cut fries, or seasoned vs unseasoned, and so on?

          Or are you just blindly saying that any place that’s smaller is inherently superior because it’s less popular? Because you clearly can’t even remember how the fast food tastes…

          • general_kitten@sopuli.xyz
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            1 year ago

            i have to say living in a country with more options i have not eaten in any of the places on that list in somewhere between 7-10 years and in that time i atleast have forgotten what their fries taste like other than vague memories of slight dissapointment. Also smaller places I would say have to be better than large fast-food chains as why would anyone go there if it was worse. Of course at least in my country there are tons of random no-name grills and kebab-pizzerias that have the most wildly swinging quality but even for them its very rare for the food to be noticeably worse than what I would expect from mcdonalds so atleast for me i would rather throw the dice between "technically edible"and “holyshitthisisthebestthingever!” than choose “tastes like dissapointment engineered to taste “good””. And even if the frood from the Nonamekebappizzeria™ is just barely edible i guess at the end of the day i supported a local business(altough sometimes it might be that they dont pay taxes(not like the multinational corporations are too keen on that either).

          • Wooly@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Nah but it’s been so long I have no clue what any of them taste like at this point, they can’t be that different.

            Small doesn’t automatically mean better, it’s about the cooking process, speed, and cuisine. There are far better types of food I’d go for.

      • Wooly@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Maybe in food related matters but in life, no.

        There are just so many better options for takeaways. Fast food is like bottom of the barrel, if I absolutely have to kinda food.

      • Neato@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        In’n’Out fries are only OK. Honestly their burgers are only OK, too. Five Guys is superior. In’n’Out just has the distinction of being quite cheap.

        • letter_d@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          A double double animal style is a good fast food burger. And hits the spot when you’re in the mood. But those fries. Getting them animal style mostly redeems them but barely.

    • Neato@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      There’s more but they had to crop out the 1ga bag of fries that they use as insulation for your burger.

    • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yup. And they know how to make fantastic fries. And cajun seasoning if you want. Fucking great, a worthy compliment to their consistently decent-to-great burgers.

      Every time I eat any fast food burgers besides 5 guys I’m disappointed that I didn’t hold out for 5 guys.

  • obesity52@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    If you could get McD’s fries but animal style, we’d have a clear winner. Source: username contains the word obesity

    • Ziggurat@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      What blows my mind is that it’s all large franchise. We have tons of independant selling various form of fast-food. Stuff like Sandwiches, Pizza, kebap and more. But I can’t think about only 2-3 large chain, basically we have Mc-Donalds, Quick, and that’s it ? or may-be burger kind did a comeback last years, not even sure…

  • I’m all about Jack in the Box/Arby’s curly fries.

    I don’t know why they are always separate things on these tho. They are literally the same fries.

    Those Taco Bell fries are also pretty damn good. I didn’t expect much (because it’s Taco Bell) but God damn! They’re like the best potatoes you can get at TB.

    Didn’t like the Popeye’s sweet potato fries at all. I love sweet potato, but… That’s not the flavor I seek with french fries. Too sweet for something that my brain associates with salty only.

    Every other fry is just kinda… There. They don’t suck, they’re just not amazing.