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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

#371

Post by refurb »

Merad wrote: post #368
refurb wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What equipment are you thinking of? Don't most homes have stoves? A pan or pot is maybe a couple dollars from a garage sale.

You won't get very far with one pot or pan. I live alone and cook for myself, and my kitchen probably has a dozen. For anything beyond the very basics you'll need a variety of mixing bowls, mixing spoons, measuring cups/spoons, spatulas, etc. Knives and cutting board to chop ingredients. Not to mention the need for a basic assortment of spices, butter, oil appropriate for cooking, etc. Sure, you don't need all of tha…

I guess it depends on your standards. Back in college I cooked a ton of meals in just one pot. Cook some ground pork, drain, cook rice, add pork and frozen veggies. Probably costs $10 to make 5 or 6 meals.

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

#372

Post by pjlegato »

dragonwriter wrote: post #358
pjlegato wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many younger people today find it hard to fathom, but the suburbs and fast food car culture were not (entirely) a capitalist plot executed by General Motors and McDonald's to brainwash the populace into unwitting wage-slave servitude. The WW2 generation built and adopted all that voluntarily , because they like it and think it's a much better way of life than how they lived before the war: in densely packed, dirty ci…

> Many younger people today find it hard to fathom, but the suburbs and fast food car culture were not (entirely) a capitalist plot executed by General Motors and McDonald's to brainwash the populace into unwitting wage-slave servitude. Yeah, a significant part of it was about race rather than capitalism.

Yes, racism existed (and still exists today.) However, the degree to which racism played a part in the construction of suburban America has now been greatly distorted and exaggerated by multiple generations of leftist academic historians, as part of a much larger political and cultural program aimed at disparaging traditional society in general.

This is in turn part of the larger and extensively documented phenomenon of leftists having come to control almost all American academic discourse during the past few decades and systematically stifling any dissenting narratives, especially prevalent in the social sciences.

While some racists certainly existed, the vast, vast majority of individuals who moved from the cities to the suburbs neither knew nor cared about any racism that was going on. It was not a factor at all in their personal decisions to build or move to suburbia.

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

#373

Post by treehau5 »

blakeyrat wrote: post #340
treehau5 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are some issues with McDonalds, but it is a pleasant user experience. That's interesting, given that McDonalds purposefully designs it's restaurants to get customers in and out as quick as possible. The chairs are hard, uncomfortable plastic, the music is annoying, and the dining room is always set to some arctic temperature.

They just remodeled the one in my town to be pretty comfortable. (Not quite as nice as that one in the photo someone else replied with-- no carpet for one-- but it's quite nice and much nicer than the other fast food places in town.) I think your information is out of date.

Yes I realize McDonalds is attempting to go upmarket with their interior redesign, but so far this is only implemented in major cities, which I think the sample of HN readers live in large cities, especially SF and NY area, where the vast majority of McDonalds are not located. I used to drive up and down 85 from FL to NY a couple years back. Most McDonalds are as I describe. It doesn't surprise me that the few in the larger cities are nicer and have amenities. I stopped by the one in Charlotte one time and it even had a fireplace and a piano. Those are few and far in-between. Changing? I don't doubt it, they have to try something, they are losing relevancy quickly. Of course, instead of focusing on interior gimmicks and tried to actually make their food good it would do miles more for them than stylistic upgrades. Take In-n-Out burger as the canonical example. Interior is horrible, but most are packed out because the burgers and fries are simply good.

I might also add I worked for McDonalds.

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

#374

Post by cm2012 »

DrScump wrote: post #354
tspike wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your objection to mechanically processed meat? Sure, the process doesn't sound appetizing, but it's a way to ensure that all the meat on an animal is used, which IMHO is a good thing. Also, for what it's worth, neither chicken nuggets nor the beef patties at McDonalds are made with mechanically separated meat anymore.

If it meets your definition of "meat", by all means stick with it. Just be aware of what MSM really is . The beef patties never were (it's illegal -- do you know why?) Their chicken nuggets originally were.

It seems like MSM is awesome, from a quick Googling. Humans really should be eating bone marrow, organs, etc. to get full nutrition from our meals - and the process reduces waste, which means less animals can be slaughtered.

I totally get why cow MSM is banned, considering mad cow disease.

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

#375

Post by DrScump »

cm2012 wrote: post #374
DrScump wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it meets your definition of "meat", by all means stick with it. Just be aware of what MSM really is . The beef patties never were (it's illegal -- do you know why?) Their chicken nuggets originally were.

It seems like MSM is awesome, from a quick Googling. Humans really should be eating bone marrow, organs, etc. to get full nutrition from our meals - and the process reduces waste, which means less animals can be slaughtered. I totally get why cow MSM is banned, considering mad cow disease.

By all means, dig in, then. You can have my share. Lots of Sara Lee brands sausages and such (e.g. Hillshire Farm) have loads of it.

But it's mainly connective tissue with little nutritional value -- padding. And I'm not satisfied that pork MSM is completely safe from prion disease.

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

#376

Post by nommm-nommm »

ghaff wrote: post #302
mjevans wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adding to this; there is also economy of scale. Restaurants can buy in much larger quantity and receive a discount for doing so. It is more /resource/ efficient for restaurants to make meals as they disburse labor and ingredients over many households in one day, instead of a single household's resources and labor trying to use perishable items before they expire. The main issue that comes to my mind is of the more pe…

>The simple dishes, like a sandwich, I would honestly like to be able to make my self, but that doesn't scale down well. A family, sharing the bread, meat, and greens, is really required to make that more economic. Seriously? You buy a loaf of bread and some cold cuts (or rotisserie chicken or whatever), mustard, mayo. Absolutely no trouble getting a week's worth of food for one person. Yes, you can absolutely cook a…

Dunno what sandwich shop you are going to that doesn't have any sandwich fixins or cheese. I only eat sandwiches that are full of veggies. The sandwich shop I go to bakes their bread daily. To recreate that at home I'd have to get around 10 components and chop them all. On top of that I'd have to stop by the bakery every day I wanted a sandwich.

Yes, you can cook at home, doesn't mean that by definition it is cheaper. Depends on what you eat and often how often you eat, if you have family, or if you prefer variety or stick with the same few meals.

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

#377

Post by pweissbrod »

dreamdu5t wrote: post #245
pweissbrod wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish I could upvote this more. I also dont blame McDonalds as a company. Like any other restaurant they're forced to strike their own line between quality of ingredients vs price. Like any other restaurant they must pander to what their customer base wants. Their success is a reflection of what we have become as a society, gladly choosing such a faceless generic landmark as the focal point of our community. There i…

So where should the focal point of your community be? What super-sophisticated place do you socialize at? A bar? Starbucks? The mall? At home in front of the computer?

Well your comment suggests I'm a privileged and snobby type person, maybe youre right about the privileged part. I live in Maine and I wouldn't say in this town there's one focal point. Different types of folks can be found frequenting different places such as the town rec center and the locally owned coffee shop and yes there's two bars people commiserate at after work. For the most part this community still integrates the wealthier living with the poorer in the same neighborhoods and generally speaking everyone privileged and lesser fortunate take pride in the local economy and integrate well. Now maybe I am being snobby but I do hope everyone in a community has a unique place that defines their community to call their own. I realize that isn't always possible for everyone to put together

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

#378

Post by frankacter »

Larrikin wrote: post #259
teddyc wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I 2nd that for Chick-fil-a being good for kids. They give out a quality kids book with the meal and the book can be turned in for an ice cream cone. Chick-fil-a has playplaces, too, but they are not quite as big as the ones at McD. The founder of CfA had controversial conservative views, but he is dead now, so you don't have to let that stop you anymore. Personally I wish they had stay out of politics altogether.

I was hoping this was true. The original owner died, but his son, the current owner, was the one in the news and that actively supports the controversial groups https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick-fil-A_same-sex_marriag...

Not stating support one way or the other, just an alternative perspective to this situation. While they may not be in support of aspects of certain lifestyles, they do seem to be in support of the individuals and community around it:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/06/14/chick-fil-a-o...

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

#379

Post by nikdaheratik »

kristianc wrote: post #120
stcredzero wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People finding community of some form is not just a good thing, it's an essential thing to human life. It should always be lauded. However, there is a lot of socioeconomic and sub-cultural in-group/out-group judgement in US society, all of which feels absolutely justified by those doing the judging. http://www.vox.com/2016/4/21/11451378/smug-american-liberali... In reality, it's all exactly the same sort of crap that…

> 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 you do.

If the Republicans made themselves more like the Lib Dems in Australia, or the Christian Dems in Germany they'd have a clean sweep. But then they'd also lose Wall Street, large chunks of the Libertarian wing of Silicon Valley, and would probably end up having to fracture first.

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

#380

Post by cbd1984 »

ArtDev wrote: post #197
bilbo0s wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair to the original commenter... a "kid's meal" isn't typically "food" either in the nutritional sense. A lot of "food" made for "kids" is actually devoid of nutritional content in the best cases... and actually harmful in the worst cases.

Why the downvote? Have you read the ingredients list, its insane! My kids would rather eat cheap Maki rolls from a local sushi spot than American fast food. In many cases, it actually cheaper.

> Have you read the ingredients list, its insane!

It literally contains dihydrogen monoxide!

More seriously: Unless you actually understand what's on the list, just slamming it because it looks "insane" is ignorant.

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