Here are some responses to my message earlier this morning about fast food and how I don't enjoy it as much as I once did. This first one's from Doug Cuff…
Thanks for asking "Is it me or have these places plunged in quality lately?" It hadn't occurred to me that the Colonel's chicken had declined in quality. I just assumed I wasn't enjoying it as much (nor the burgers from Burger King) because I was getting older. Maybe it's neither me nor my arteries. None of this will stop me from chowing down on In and Out french fries next time I get a chance. And I might as well have a burger and a milkshake after a journey like that…
A tip when you're at In and Out: Try asking for your fries "well done." That won't get you anything different in most places but they know what they're doing at In and Out, and it also makes for a big difference because they use fresh potatoes there. Won't help you at Arby's, though. This next message is from Gary Emenitove…
I used to be a big fan of Arby's, to the point where I'd drive the hour and a half from Dubuque to Madison just to indulge. (I am not kidding and was known for this foolishness.) Then I moved to Omaha where Arby's were plentiful and I could partake whenever I wanted, and did so fairly regularly. Until about a year or two ago, when apparently the company took some new direction in its food. Their standard fare was still there, but seemingly in smaller, less-flavorful portions. They pushed all sorts of new, apparently-more-healthful sandwiches, and frankly I didn't like any of them. Then the final straw — they changed their chicken. And had the audacity to proclaim the new chicken "better" in ads. Sorry, but the previous Arby's chicken was a big reason I visited often. Now, I don't go there at all. I suspect they're aiming for a younger crowd, but they've lost this consumer in the meantime.
When I worked for Sid and Marty Krofft, we were usually on the KTLA lot on Sunset in Hollywood…a facility with no commissary. There was a catering truck there occasionally but it was undependable and awful. The food from that truck destroyed more people in television than all the Tom Arnold sitcoms have since then. So when I needed a fast bite, the only answer was the nearby Arby's, and I recall it being quite acceptable. I mean, the roast beef sandwich is only a roast beef sandwich by a technicality but it was fine for what it was.
A few weeks ago, I was in a time crunch and I drove through that same Arby's for the first time in twenty years. Got a roast beef sandwich that I think had been prepared shortly after my previous visit…with "meat" (I'm being charitable) stamped out of plastic sheeting. It was literally two bites and into the dumpster. I didn't even leave their property with the putative food. As the following message from Ted Frank suggests, some of this could be about my changing taste buds but in the case of that Arby's meal, no. It was just really a decline from what the product used to be. Here's what Ted sent…
I can't speak to the Corn 'n' Cluck, but I know from personal experience of losing 60 pounds that one's tastes change and one becomes less tolerant of the fat+sodium formula that makes fast food so enjoyable if one goes a long time without it: that Burger King chicken sandwich or Papa John's pizza I craved just a few months ago becomes barely edible, and I don't think that the quality dropped so much over a few months.
That's kind of what I was thinking was true in part but I think it's also that these places are going for cheaper ingredients or, more likely, food that is largely prepared elsewhere and then just reheated (sort of) on the premises. I can't find it now but a few months ago, I read an article on the wondrous worldwide web about how Burger King was squeezing their new outlets into smaller and smaller retail spaces and that this had necessitated some changes in how it was prepared. I think in some cases, we're almost to the point where the kids in the fast food stands are just opening cans and dumping the stuff into glorified microwaves.
Anyway, I'm receiving a lot of interesting mail on this topic. I may post some more later today. Thanks to everyone who offered their thoughts.