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?
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Yes, and you can thank private equity for it.
It’s gotten worse. I don’t bother eating any of it because I make better food at home.
I think enshittification is hitting everything, but it’s probably also that you are old. I find that I just can’t eat the same way that I could 20 years ago.
It’s gotten worse and the portion sizes are like fucking 1/3rd of what they used to be. It’s also like 3 times the price now. So yes, fast food is absolute dogshit now and not even worth the price.
Both?
Yes it has gotten worse and time is a relentless asshole.
RIP Trans fats. So delicious, so terrible for you.
Can we all just collectively accept death is an inevitability and eat tasty food? This need for perfection in everything we touch is killing me.
Yes death is inevitable but you do have the opportunity to guide how you are going to die, to a degree.
Treating your body like a garbage dump will give you a long slow miserable death as you age as the garbage destroys your body. Eating more healthy can lessen that effect.
It has gone to shit.
In some cases like McDonald’s, the ingredients have been on par while the cooking quality has tanked.
For a lot of other places, both the cooking and ingredient quality tanked.
Taco Bell is probably one of the few major chains I still eat at because their ingredients are hard to fuck up cooking and putting it together isn’t that difficult.
Taco bell has turned to ass. Even their bean burrito tasted off and most of the menu items I see are crazy shit that doesn’t resemble anything in terms of Mexican food.
It’s always been trash …
It doesn’t pay a living wage so the people working there don’t give a shit about anything
Yes
I’m in my 40s… similar to you, used to eat fast food often, and enjoyed it. I was having a horrible day a couple weeks ago, and thought “fuck it… I’m eating at McDs.” It was disgusting, not like I remembered it all.
I work at McDonald’s, it is not good and is best avoided.
The answer is probably “yes”
- Food is probably worse.
- Your taste buds might have changed.
- Your gut bacteria might be different.
I have a couple reasons for believing each.
- Nutrient concentration in food has decreased over time (Veritasium talked about a fascinating explanation for this) and the desire to find low cost alternatives like HFCS over cane sugar changes the taste of food.
- “Children prefer higher levels of sweet and are more sensitive to bitter tastes until adolescence.”
- Your gut microbiome literally changes over time.
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I think the taste and texture may have become noticeably worse after the ban on artificial trans fats. It definitely impacted some of the junk food I used to buy in the grocery store. (I’m not saying the ban was a bad thing, just that a lot of us noticed the change).
Whatever the cause, I have noticed it, too.
