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In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

theguardian.com

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Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#391

Post by niftich »

_Codemonkeyism wrote: post #390
Nadya wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even with 2 people - most ingredients I purchase are assuming 3-4 eaters the "large sizes" assume 6-8. If you don't eat leftovers it can get pricey or you end up eating more than you probably should... The other issue I run into is that most of my food goes bad before I even finish it coupled with the fact I refuse to even have "leftovers". I either buy too little of what I need (smaller amounts/sizes) and end up spe…

I have no problem for cooking for two people. But perhaps this is specific to Germany. "throwing away 1/2 a loaf of bread" I buy 1/2 not a whole bread then. About the milk: Not sure if you buy fresh milk from the farm, otherwise milk in the fridge does not go bad for days. Today we had a delicious lentil salad with feta and rucola and a vinaigrette of lemon and tomatoes. The base salad can easily be used 2 days in a…

In the US bread comes pre-sliced in a plastic bag. You can pick up this kind of bread nearly anywhere, from a convenience store to a fill-up station or a pharmacy. Bakeries which put out product that Europeans would consider bread are almost exclusively found inside grocery stores. This bread is slightly more expensive per weight. Grocery stores, like most commercial establishments in the US, can be hard to get to without a car, and public transport, if exists outside the few major cities, typically has low frequency and poor coverage of residential areas.

UHT milk does exist, but most people don't know about it, and it's expensive. Most milk sold isn't shelf-stable and needs to be refrigerated the entire time.

You make a good case with the salad, though.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#392

Post by chiaro »

nikdaheratik wrote: post #379
kristianc wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Knowing, for example, that the Founding Fathers were all secular deists. Knowing that you're actually, like, 30 times more likely to shoot yourself than an intruder. Knowing that those fools out in Kansas are voting against their own self-interest and that the trouble is Kansas doesn't know any better. Knowing all the jokes that signal this knowledge. Doesn't Vox exist to perpetuate this kind of nonsense? It's unde…

I'm from Kansas. I grew up with these kinds of voters. The problem isn't that they "don't know any better". It's that the way the party system is aligned in the U.S., you can vote for one side that may help your economic situation but is pretty much in favor of everything you abhor socially, or you can vote for the other side that won't do much for you economically, but at least pretends to care about the same things…

The LDP are a bit of a joke party in Australia, did you just mean the Coalition?

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#393

Post by pbhjpbhj »

Pxtl wrote: post #275
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the whole thing with fastfood that you can take it anywhere - so grab some and go to the community playground?

I mostly take the kids to McDonalds when the weather's bad, personally. The play place is a good way to get out of the house and do something energetic despite the rain or snow.

Interesting I don't think any McDo have play areas in the UK - sometimes there's a little corner with a TV and some colouring stuff, or I used to see them at least. Some of the larger chain pubs have play areas but they're usually outside. Do the restaurants charge for the play area, are their age limits?

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#394

Post by aluhut »

aluhut wrote: post #224
smokey_the_bear wrote: post #6

McDonalds is the only restaurant I enjoy eating at with my 2 and 3 year olds. Every other restaurant is a slog to get through the meal. Honestly I'd eat there more often if it weren't for the social stigma of it. (I live in Berkeley). I am pretty sure the cheeseburger, apple slices, and chocolate milk are not much worse, and probably better, than the typical fare on a slapped together kids meal. When I was a kid, my…

Why do you go to McDonalds at all? Are there no healthier alternatives? Is it a price issue?

Voting becomes slightly even more reddit like then in the years before here. Why am I being downvoted? Without comments.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#395

Post by MagnumOpus »

coldtea wrote: post #334
rue wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.” Smugness is certainly a fact, but so is that brexit will leave the UK economically worse off in pretty much all respects. Especially the poor.

> Smugness is certainly a fact, but so is that brexit will leave the UK economically worse off in pretty much all respects. Especially the poor. Citation needed. But not those made-up by economists, pundits and bureaucrats making money by being pro-EU and working within EU organization and with EC money...

It's like global warming. You can always find a crackpot who has a contrary opinion, but the fact that every single "neutral" economist apart from those with a monetary interest in Brexit agrees is a pretty strong indication - from the IMF over US investment banks to the Chinese government and the UK statistics authority - not to speak of stock markets and FX markets which sell off everytime the risk of Brexit rises, and rally when the risk of Brexit falls. So people put their money where their mouth is.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#396

Post by kbart »

ececconi wrote: post #265
brianwawok wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you looked at the ingredient labels? They are still crap. Salad is Iceberg lettuce, may as well eat cardboard. Salad dressings are high sugar highly processed fat free crap. Wraps are made with HFCS and a bunch of preservatives. (Not saying most fast food is better, but McDonalds is about a 10/10 on the crap-o-meter).

You're wrong. The salad is a mixture of kale, romaine lettuce, and other ingredients. Looks like you haven't looked at the ingredient labels. Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad: Ingredients: Romaine Lettuce, Baby Spinach, Carrots, Baby Kale, Lollo Rossa Lettuce, Red Leaf Lettuce, Red Oak Lettuce, Red Tango Lettuce, Red Romaine Lettuce, Red Butter Lettuce. Ingredients May Vary. Source: http://www.mcdonalds.com/content/us…

It probably depends on a country as MacDonalds restaurants are often franchise and use mostly local products. In my country it's entirely Iceberg too.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#397

Post by Pxtl »

nommm-nommm wrote: post #370
Pxtl wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. If there were more eateries that made as much effort to be kid-friendly as McDonald's (and I'm not talking about the food, I'm talking about the toys and the playplace) I'd get out more. It's actually quite frustrating because my kids and I are vegetarians and while the wrap suits me just fine, my kids get stuck with their mediocre grilled cheese sandwiches (vegetarian children are still children - they think th…

Where do you live where McDonald's sells vegetarian wraps and grilled cheese?

Canada

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#398

Post by Pxtl »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #393
Pxtl wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mostly take the kids to McDonalds when the weather's bad, personally. The play place is a good way to get out of the house and do something energetic despite the rain or snow.

Interesting I don't think any McDo have play areas in the UK - sometimes there's a little corner with a TV and some colouring stuff, or I used to see them at least. Some of the larger chain pubs have play areas but they're usually outside. Do the restaurants charge for the play area, are their age limits?

They don't charge, but there are age limits. The play areas here are this dense structure of interconnecting cubic sections they climb up inside, with a couple of slides, bubble-windows, and inlaid rotating kaleidoscope things to play with.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#399

Post by m00n »

khattam wrote: post #246
jernfrost wrote: post #157

Bizarre how the article seems to present this as a hopeful and positive thing about McDonalds. To me it is just another indicator of how broken American society is. A fast food place serving terrible and unhealthy food is becoming a gathering place for poor people who are probably the ones most in need of a healthier and better lifestyle. It is also a sad reminder of how society has gone so utterly wrong when the che…

>terrible and unhealthy food It is neither terrible nor unhealthy. >the cheapest food is the absolutely worst food. First, that would totally make sense. Second, it is not the case. Most McDonald foods are better than gluten-free ass-shit, both in taste and health. >A country priding itself in diversity is drowning in homogeneity. Breathing oxygen is homogenous. Let's create something else to breathe. Fucking brainle…

Your style of writing doesn't warrant a reply, but anyway:

Your "argument" seems to be: Who calls McD unhealthy or bland must be "fucking brainless", also if McD food were as cheap as it is, because it's of the worst quality, that would totally make sense. But for some reason this isn't the case. Indeed, it is "better than shit."

If you enjoy tasty food, by all means, eat it. But if you think deep-frying or pickling is the best way to serve vegetables, grilling meat puree to death the appropriate way to prepare BBQ and the main ingredient in good ice-cream can be corn-sirup, then you have a lot to discover in the world of tastes.

Go out of your comfort zone and try something new!

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#400

Post by coldtea »

MagnumOpus wrote: post #395
coldtea wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Smugness is certainly a fact, but so is that brexit will leave the UK economically worse off in pretty much all respects. Especially the poor. Citation needed. But not those made-up by economists, pundits and bureaucrats making money by being pro-EU and working within EU organization and with EC money...

It's like global warming. You can always find a crackpot who has a contrary opinion, but the fact that every single "neutral" economist apart from those with a monetary interest in Brexit agrees is a pretty strong indication - from the IMF over US investment banks to the Chinese government and the UK statistics authority - not to speak of stock markets and FX markets which sell off everytime the risk of Brexit rises,…

I don't really believe there are neutral economists. Not many in any case. Almost all economists are involved with government's, policy decisions, and financial institutions and interests.

And they comingle with people in power and others with large interests all the time.

It's like having a computer science professor in "databases" that's also a stakeholder in MongoDB.

>which sell off everytime the risk of Brexit rises, and rally when the risk of Brexit falls. So people put their money where their mouth is.

That's only short term assets they play with -- to make a quick buck on the uncertainty before and after a Brexit--, it doesn't show anything with regards to the medium- and long-term prospects of a Brexit.

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