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Mick's USA sojourn

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mullokintyre

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As we conclude week eight of our USA grand National Park tour, I though I might share some of my observations so far.
It has been about six years since we were last in the USA for any length of time.
I may have already mentioned the level of obesity we have noticed.
Anecdotally, it seems that a problem that was largely confined to people over the age of 40, has spread to the ranks of the young, and more so among the gender set that used to be called female.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the morbidly obese contestant just crowned Miss Alabama highlights how this level of obesity is becoming the norm, and more acceptable.
Mick
 
To what do you attribute this phenomena?
 
As an adjunct to the above, I noticed a distinct drop off in patronage of some of the fast food restaurants that we dined at.
Arbies, dennys, Applebys, dominos, taco bell, all seemed mostly empty when we were forced to eat at those establishments.
The one exception was IHOP. Every time we planned to eat there, there was a waiting list.
They must be doing something right.
Burger King was once the biggest fast food enterprise after Maccas.
According to Business Insider , it had closed 400 stores by the end of 2023.
Red Lobster has effectively closed all its stores. we have not been able to find one still opened, and seen about 15 closed ones.
TGI Friday was one chain I remember positively, but could not find one still in business. it is rumoured thay will be filing for bankruptcy.
A bloomberg report from New York/New Jersey highlights the plummeting foot traffic in FF stors.

According to. Zero Hedge its plain old economics that is driving this change.
the FF stores have increased their prices well beyond the CPI .





We have had to stoop so low as to grace a Maccas with our presence, but this chart shows them to be a major culprit.

 
To this blue blooded male an obese/or fat female is not something of beauty.
True beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but a woman with a good figure does it for me, even now.
She, who has been beside me for 52 years still has it and does it for me !!!!!
 
mullokintyre said:
As an adjunct to the above, I noticed a distinct drop off in patronage of some of the fast food restaurants that we dined at.
Arbies, dennys, Applebys, dominos, taco bell, all seemed mostly empty when we were forced to eat at those establishments.
Click to expand...

How about Subway?
 
People want real, fresh, interesting food. The Asian restaurants I've partnered in seem to kill it. Vietnamese bakeries have added fresh rolls and salads and are doing well. Something like $7-$9 a roll that's packed full.

Majority of fast food is expensive in comparison. I think it's something like $10-15+ for most maccas meals. But wage inflation would be killing them at the moment. Even pub meals are bloody expensive now. Forget about clubs often $40 a meal for a badly cooked steak.
 
The weight thing is not much different here. It might be good manners or maybe Boomer and early Gen Xer recollection of "your day" to not mention it but the acceptance of morbid obesity is mainly acceptance of women of said status. You now often see those bizarre partnerships where a skinny, servile guy orbits a huge chick, like those fish species where the male has evolved to be a tiny parasite stuck permanently to the exterior of the colossal female.
 
wayneL said:
Everything is so bloody sweet, full of sugar or corn starch/syrup. Even basic bread tastes like cake.

Plus there is the good ol' "supersize me".... massive portion sizes.
Click to expand...
Supersize portions for those super-sized obese, rolling bodies of lard.
 
wayneL said:
Everything is so bloody sweet, full of sugar or corn starch/syrup. Even basic bread tastes like cake.

Plus there is the good ol' "supersize me".... massive portion sizes.
Click to expand...
You would think that there would have been some education over the last 50 years , but maybe it's written into the American psyche that bigger is always better.
 
SirRumpole said:
You would think that there would have been some education over the last 50 years , but maybe it's written into the American psyche that bigger is always better.
Click to expand...
I think that the sugar lobby sucessfully pushed the idea that cholesterol and fat were our enemies when in fact the enemy is sucrose.
Sugar seems to be in everything.
The size of portions is also ridiculous.
Most people get a meal and take half home in takeout polystyreneboxes.

Mick
 
Serendipidously, this just came across my timeline a few moments ago.

 
Rather than start another thread, I will tack onto this one, we just arrived back from an 8 week holiday, 6 cruising from Australia to Vancouver, then a couple of weeks driving through British Columbia and Alberta.
We didn't notice much difference with people's eating habits between here and there, with food similar prices to here but more taxes added on.
One thing that was noticeable was the tourists in Canada were mainly Asian and Indian also lots of them, with food being similar to here but more taxes added on and dodgy pricing they use metric but show the price of fruit in lbs and very small print.
I was caught buying grapes $6.50, then when you pay it comes up as over $13.
With regard the cruise the really notable difference was, the casino was very near empty, which is unusual on a cruise.
 
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