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?
Yes, and you can thank private equity for it.
I’m 60 now and am literally a Boomer; fast food has definitely gotten worse. Especially in the last 10 years or so. The foods and processes have been tweaked and tuned to the point that the value of the food hovers just barely above the price and not a tick more.
Health concerns also play a role. McDonald’s fries are a good example. When I was young they were cooked in beef tallow and they were so good they would roll your eyes back in your head in in ecstacy (not kidding). They switched to vegetable oil due to health concerns over saturated fats and they’ve just never been the same.
They switched to vegetable oil due to health concerns over saturated fats
I thought they wanted to make it “vegan” or whatever.
Either way, they took a good fat like tallow and replaced with utter shite.
To be clear, not all vegetable oil is trash but boy macshit will surely use the lowest quality most chemically processed shite out there because they don’t respect the customer or their own product.
You can also trust a corpo to do that.
Not just fast food, chains and franchises in general. Local only may be more of a quality gamble when trying things out but when you find that unassuming diner or small restaurant that takes pride in their daily soups, and doesn’t do delivery or apps, and closes at reasonable times for their workers, and is usually packed on weekends, you’ve found something special.
We sense less and less as we get older. I’ve learned this from observing my kids and seeing them react to things like needles and spicy food with such greater sensitivity than me. I can remember being like them, too. But I just plow through experiences now with less sensation of them. Part of it is that my senses are physically more dull, but also important: my cognitive filters are much more established and sensations that are outside of them get little notice. Meanwhile my kids are like raw nerves at the mercy of every experience that comes their way. Bubble gum probably doesn’t blow your hair back anymore either but I bet it was awesome when you were a kid.
It’s not just cognitive. We lose taste buds with age, and the ones that remain shrink and lose sensitivity.
It makes sense if you think about it. Bitterness is associated with a lot of poisons. Sourness is associated with spoiled foods. Having a strong aversion to these tastes during childhood compelled our ancestors to avoid dangerous foods during their most fragile stages of life.
Then of course, sugar is a quick source of energy. It should be a given why a quick source of energy benefitted our ancient ancestors (for whom food was much more scarce.)
In short, that increased childhood sensitivity allowed our ancestors to survive until adulthood.
So parents - next time a kid complains about their dinner being too bitter, take comfort in knowing that if they were ever exposed to actual poison, they’d avoid it with the same urgency.
Mmmm, tastes like supply chain optimization.
