Junk Food

Wednesday, January 4th, 2006

I’ve always been a fan of the orange+chocolate flavour combination, but not yet sure if this extends to Fanta’s new chocolate ice-cream "spider" flavour— It’s simultaneously the most delicious and the most disgusting soft drink ever! Dunno if I’ll try it again (ok I probably will). I got it from Burger King, which is exactly like McDonalds, in that you can’t just ask for a small cheeseburger meal because that’s, like, impossible to comprehend! So generally they will give me either a kid’s meal, complete with promotional toy (Mr Tumnus— oh joy!), or a regular cheeseburger meal with more fries and a larger drink than I actually want. Why can’t they recognize that some people maybe don’t want to consume an entire day’s caloric intake in one sitting? Where’s the "light snack" meal deal?

In a similar vein, I am routinely peeved at Starbucks for pretending to have no idea what constitutes a regular sized cup of coffee. I like a nice, simple flat white, in a cup that’s shorter than it is wide, but it’s always such a chore to get them to serve me this. Their smallest listed size (for this particular beverage) is "Tall" which really means "Bloody Great Mug" — such a shitty way to drink coffee, gulping it down and still ending up with a quarter cup of tepid brown milk at the end of it. If there’s one thing I don’t want from a coffee, it’s a feeling of fullness.

NB: There are notable exceptions— Starbucks Newmarket are actually very nice, and always serve me coffee in cups normally reserved for the long black. Also, McDonalds in Queen Street has this one guy who has twice given me a cheeseburger + small fries & coke for $3! I can’t quite work out what the deal is with that, maybe he assumes I’m a homeless person…?

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5 Comments

  1. Scott says:

    I totally agree with everything you wrote here. I usually end up ordering just a cheeseburger when I go fast food. Almost all the other sandwiches are overkill and their fries could fill a small pale.

    As a coffee lover, I prefer a smaller mug. The reason, you hit on right here. When I finish my cup, note cup of coffee, it’s still hot. All that while being able to sip my drink.

  2. lidna says:

    You’re complaining that fast food places don’t sell what you want? Ummm. I’m missing the ubermeaning of that post aren’t I? Oh yes, and junk food will kill you.

  3. mark says:

    I’m complaining that they don’t sell it to me in the *configuration* that I want– Basically I want a happy meal without the confused looks, the word jumble and the inflatable sword :)

    (and I agree with the sipping thing, I think it’s the only way to get the proper taste of a coffee, which is really what I’m after)

    BTW Starbucks is still one of the only coffee houses spacious enough that one can pull out a laptop computer without feeling like a tool, which is why I still find myself there from time to time… plus they do a good bacon & egg pie…

  4. dan says:

    In Starbucks, just ask for a ’short’ instead of a ‘tall’! It tall maybe the smallest they list but it’s not the smallest they sell…
    Great article at http://www.slate.com/id/2133754/

  5. mark says:

    I do ask for short, but over here (NZ) they usually either ignore me and give me a “tall”, or ask me to explain what I mean. It’s like a silent conspiracy!

    (I like that article!)

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