Fast Food – Crasstalk

Kono Pizza: I Tried It For Science

I usually ignore fast food advertising, but I recently got a flier in the mail that grabbed my attention. A new place has opened nearby called Kono Pizza that serves pizza in a cone. Pizza. In a cone.

New Jersey has some of the country’s best Italian fast food. There’s a mom-and-pop pizzeria in just about every strip mall. You can buy a $2.50 slice or a $14 pie as big as a manhole cover: delicious with a fragrant, firm, yeasty crust that stands up to generous amounts of delicately seasoned marinara and gobs of salty mozzarella, plus whatever toppings you please (unless you’re into freaky things like sweet corn and shrimp. If that’s the case, you can just get on the Turnpike, get off at Newark Airport and fly back to wherever they think that kind of thing is okay). But fast food chains are also ubiquitous, and we have Domino’s and Little Caesars, which has never made any sense to me. So it’s Kono Pizza’s turn to pitch up and give it a try. Okay, why not? Continue reading →

Should You Try Cinnabon’s New Pizzabon?

Ha-ha! These are serious questions that we ask in 2012. Whenever a fast food empire releases a new meal item, despite our initial revulsion at seeing that it looks like something a dog coughed up and then spread on bread, or put in a taco shell, or slapped between two fried pieces of chicken, some insane part of us wonders, if even fleetingly, “What the hell could THAT taste like?” We wonder this as our minds conjure every variation of awful pseudo-food we’ve ever microwaved and eaten in college. Continue reading →

Why New York and Then the World Will Push Back Against Bloomberg

Oh, good gracious, Bloomberg, shut up. Haha! Michael Bloomberg believes he’s everyone’s dad in small man shoes. Yes, seriously, rich beyond all comprehension and destined to make everyone sign a waiver that says, “Not Approved By Michael Bloomberg Billionaire Mayor and Lover of Salt Bagels” in order to eat or drink whatever they damn well please! Bloomberg wants to run little, mini agog-camps where he yells at the world for drinking a 32 oz drink, but you can still get a “triple-stack” bacon cheeseburger from Wendy’s.

UPDATE: Jon Stewart and The Daily Show weigh in! Continue reading →

Here’s the Latest Proof that Americans are a Bunch of Fatties

The CDC has released this fun (scary!) new infographic that tells us that our grandparents would be shocked to know how much hamburger, fries, and cola we consume per fast-food restaurant stop. The average meal is four times larger than those consumed in the 1950’s, and in general adults are 26 pounds heavier. The size of fries has increased from 2.4 to 6.7 ounces and soft drinks have fattened up from 7 to 42 ounces. This is the scariest of all. I’m not sure what occasion really calls for 42 ounces of beverage in one sitting. That seems like enough sugar to launch you into outer space.

Continue reading →

Kentucky Fried Food Stamps?

Do you know what four things I never thought would go together? KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Food Stamps. Somehow, I thought that when it came right down to what offerings we’d give to the poorest among us, fast food items just wouldn’t be on that list. Apparently I’d be wrong — so very wrong since Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, is lobbying to allow their restaurants in Kentucky, America’s seventh most overweight state, to accept food stamps. Continue reading →