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| Here is the Beef! |
Like all restaurants, which wish to capture our attention, all fast food places back then, lured us in with larger portions, tasty fried and highly salted ingredients. The Burger Wars were in full Battle and everyone was asking "Where is that Beef?". Well, they said it differently, but you get the idea. Burger sizes were definitely growing, as were the sizes of the additional items they had on their menu, plus they were adding more variety and testing new products on the Baby Boomers and my Generation of Xer's.
That was a fun time to grow up as New Age Music was in, Grunge hadn't hit hit the main stream yet and we all sported hair styles that mimicked our favourite Pop Star at the time. Dressing up like they did and layering our clothing in such a fashion...that, well...we called it Fashion! None of us were even remotely concerned about what was in the food we were eating. It was all about Music, Dancing and just generally hanging out. Good times. OH! School, yes, we were interested in school. =/
There are so many more convenient restaurants and shops available to us now. They are on every corner, and within a block of each other. Thankfully there are also more coffee shops, but they all have those specialty drinks with lots of Whipped Cream and added flavours to attract our ever more eclectic taste buds. The styles of foods have also changed. We have an absolute diverse selection of restaurants and different tastes from around the globe now.
More opportunities for us to "grab a bite" on the run, instead of preparing our food and cooking for ourselves.
My last post, "Food over the Generations and Marketing",
I mentioned I had asked a series of questions to Friends and Family. I asked my Grandmother the same questions. Here are a few of her responses.
1. Sunday dinners. Always roasts and special desserts.
2, No fast foods. Bought the occasional chocolate bar, soft drink, popsicle, or ice cream cone.
3. Pork and Beans.
Sunday night dinners, and the Holidays, were a family meal and you always sat at the table with the whole family to eat. The leftovers from those meals were divided up and re-created into another dish for a different day. There was less opportunity to over-indulge and more thought was put into menu planning. The Silent Generation were very frugal and remembered when their childhood was more sparsely fed and when food was more seasonally available. Trucking in Bananas and Oranges happened closer to Christmas, and not year round.
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| Roast Turkey! |
My Grandmother's generation did more walking, had family gardens and the kids biked, walked, and played outside. The Baby Boomers didn't have the vast selection of Fast Food restaurants to choose from like my Generation did. More of the Foods they were eating were becoming highly processed though, as women began working away from the house more often. I'm grateful women's equality is recognized and it is no longer a common belief that women are "just homemakers" A "homemaker", whether Male, Female or shared between a couple is an important role when you are raising children. Never doubt that!
As a quick aside...
I know, even without children, keeping a home organized, running properly, your yard groomed and clutter free and staying on top of bills, is A LOT of work. Scheduling maintenance, and even fixing the plumbing (which I do, I can fix my own plumbing), plus all of those little "unknowns" that pop up just keep eating into our time.
As a Gen Xer, I can tell you I watched family time come to a screeching halt. Family sit down meals were replaced with grabbing a bite before Job # 2, so you could get changed from Job # 1, forget doing the dishes in between. You would grab a coffee and sandwich at a drive thru if you didn't have the time to wrestle with the contents of the freezer.
If you have a full time job with children, it is very much like have three full time jobs, if you want to stay on top of it all. It's impossible to do, so you know. That is why our conveniences have become so important. It is impossible to do what is perceived as being "expected" in today's society. This is a topic I chat about a lot with friends. STOP trying to be perfect please, it will make you insane.
Back to my Grandmother.
The local stores did carry the odd sweet treat, but at one time, we all lived further away from those centre's and the walk or bike ride to indulge in those treats would definitely burn off their calories. The frequency of the visits was less as well. Those "occasional chocolate bar, soft drink, popsicle, or ice cream cone", were without doubt, occasional.
Today, the "Burger Wars" have turned into the outright "Fast Food Frenzy", due to the pace we live at. I do believe in moderating what we eat, I believe it is Okay to grab a bite if your hungry. However, if the Shawarma, Sub Sandwich or Hamburger you are eating for lunch is bigger than your head, a bowl of homemade soup or a salad may be the better option for your dinner. Honestly, one Latte, Pumpkin Spiced Cappuccino, or Large "Double Double", is twice the size of what they used to be and eating out everyday is not as good for you as selecting a meal which you made. Even when you ARE preparing your own food, you still need to be wary of your ingredients.
Homemade Tortilla Wraps
Many months ago, I commented on my surprise to discover the foods I thought were healthy, were likely worse for me as the accumulated salt gave me more then what was recommended for a daily intake. Additionally, the sizes and portions of processed foods are now packaged in such a way that we eat more then we should.
Learning to cook, taking a day, an hour and a minute to yourself is really essential. I think we lost something very important to "ourselves" as individuals and as a society. It's not just Fast Food and "Burger Wars" any more. That was 25 years ago. Now it's Fast Paced, Fast Living, Over-worked, Over-commuted, Over-wrought, Over-whelmed and an Over-indulging (albeit unintentionally) world which we live in.
In Canada and the US, it seems to be status quo that 1 person needs to work 2 jobs to survive. Gen Xer's worked 1 or 2 Jobs as a rule. Baby Boomers, and the Silent Generation had between one to 2 incomes as well, although it didn't seem that working was all that they did. I remember Saturday and Sunday visits at my Grandmothers' and I remember having both my parents available on weekends and through-out the week. At the beginning. Things have changed a lot.
I wonder about the Millennial's and think about how they eat, how they cope and just generally, how are they navigating this fast paced world which was created Or do they put a lot of thought into it? More musings tomorrow, pictures too, but for today, I hope you take a minute and breathe, if you read this.
The Gen X Appetite
Have a Great Day.
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