Originally posted by: Deeko
Descartes, *sigh*, you people don't learn, do you? To go with your example of mexican food - I ate at a legitimate mexican restaurant last night. Of course, it was considerably better than Taco Bell - but it cost roughly 8x more and took about 20x longer.
Quite the contrary. I would bet the cost of your meal that this Mexican place wasn't a "legitimate Mexican restaurant." Seriously, real Mexican food is
cheap. Yes, cheaper than Taco Bell in a lot of cases. We're talking < $5 for an entire meal.
You're missing my point. I'm not suggesting people go to some haute cuisine restaurants and blow $100 a meal. I'm saying that there are alternatives that offer
a lot more to the consumer, both in terms of health and in terms of supporting local economy, culture, etc.
As you said, fast food has it's place. And it's place is a quick, cheap, delicious meal.
It's the delicious part I'm arguing really. I'm failing to see how you could consider it delicious after having tried the alternatives?
If you've had fresh pasta, how can you then really consider the boxed kind delicious?
If you've had fresh tortillas, how can you consider the frozen kind delicious?
If you've had fresh meat, how can you consider the processed kind delicious?
That's a serious question, not just a series of rhetorical questions (a major theme in this thread it seems).
Since we're on a Mexican theme, I'll make one final example. I ordered two taquitos from a "Mexican restaurant" that we tried, and what I got was a plate full of cheese, guac and sour cream hiding these two little taquitos. There must have been 3,000 calories on that plate, with the taquitos themselves taking only about 300-500 of that.
I've had fresh taquitos, so when I get something like this it's extremely dissatisfying. If you're saying you know the difference, appreciate the difference and still somehow find it equally satisfying to enjoy the lesser product, then more power to you. I just don't understand it, but we can have a difference of opinion.
The reason we are "jumping all over" the OP and nerp is their pretentious "I can't understand you silly peons" attitude, which you yourself also displayed in your opening.
I don't consider anyone a peon for having different tastes. I merely object to people calling something for what it isn't, and I think it's disingenuous to equate something of an inferior quality to that of a better product.
You say "it's quite simply impossible to fully enjoy PF Chang's" after eating "real Chinese". Now, I can't really speak for that because I've never eaten at PF Chang's, but my Mexican example above is still apt, and on top of that I've had "high end" burgers from real restaurants, and I can still enjoy a Whopper just as much as I ever did.
I think we're really in agreement with all this, though I still think you need to try a real Mexican restaurant. Do you have a Little Mexico? Do you have any taco stands? I'm talking the things that the Mexicans eat on their lunch break, not a place that serves chips and queso at lunch.
It's not a snob thing. It's just that America has taken the cuisines of the world and boxed it into something that completely deviates from what it was and should be: Traditional meals that are often quick, healthy and inexpensive.
There's nothing wrong with not liking fast food. There's nothing wrong with preferring higher end equivalents to fast food. However, it takes a certain level of ignorance and pretentiousness to claim it isn't impossible to actually enjoy fast food.
Hmm. Who said it's impossible to actually enjoy fast food? I enjoy it on occasion. I enjoy it for what it is, which is my point.
And that's all for me.
I'm actually hungry again.
[edit]Messed up my post again.[/edit]
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