June 23, 2006

No Biggie.

Wendy’s announced this week that they are getting rid of the “Biggie” and “Great Biggie” nomenclature on their value meals. From what I can gather, the American public is no longer smart enough to grasp the idea of “Biggie” or “Great Biggie” as a size designation, so they are going with the old standards, “Small”, “Medium” and “Large”.

Here’s the kicker, and I have to admit that I really get a kick out of this. Well, not really a kick I suppose because I’m not doing the teaberry shuffle or anything like that, but rather, a kick in that it gives me a little bit of a chuckle.

Anyways, the “Biggie” is now … drum roll please… a “Medium” (and I’m not referring to Patricia Arquette, though she is a lovely woman).

That’s right ladies and gentlemen, what used to be huge is now not so huge anymore, in fact it’s just average.

I can’t help but wonder how this is going to affect the already growing waist sizes of the American public should this type of sizing develops into some sort of trend. We are constantly bombarded by news reports about the fattening of America and our obsession with fast food. In fact, I’m sitting in a fake fast food restaurant right now (Panera) while I’m blogging today. My large iced tea is bigger than freezer in my grandparent’s first refrigerator after it was defrosted.

One of the things that I enjoyed about our dinner date last night at Pinhead Susan’s in Schenectady is that the portions were reasonably sized. In the past, Earl and I have ordered some random appetizer that just about required a dump truck to haul it to our table. Naturally we ate the entire thing and depending on alcohol consumption at the moment, we may have licked the serving plate and surrounding table top afterwards, but we really didn’t need to eat such mammoth portions.

So next time you go to Wendy’s, you may get more by asking to “Go Medium”. If you decide to step it up to a large soda, think of the fun you can have by wading in it.

Fast Food Causes.

Over the past couple of years or so, Earl and I have steered our dining habits away from the “big three” fast food restaurants for the most part, opting to hit up local establishments when we are out and about on our travels. There are exceptions to this rule, most noteably when we enter Chick-Fil-A and/or Sonic territory, then we hit up each of these restaurants at least once. That is, until today.

I am big fan of the selection of food at Chick-fil-A. Their yearly calendar, featuring their rather infamous cows in various poses, has graced our kitchen for the past several years. I crave their waffles fries. I love the fact that they offer a “Polynesian Sauce” (instead of the pedestrian Sweet-n-Sour) with their chicken strips. I’ve even pointed out to several Chick-Fil-A cashiers that I live near the town that their cash registers are emblazened with (they’ve never cared) and that I’ve driven at least 150 miles to eat their food (they still didn’t care).

For those not familiar with the fast food chain, one of their unique features is that every single one of their restaurants is closed on Sunday. I find this to be quaint, harkening back to the good ol’ days when life moved at a slower pace. Whether the store is in a mall or standalone, it’s a guarantee that it’s closed on Sunday.

Chick-Fil-A is quite a charitable organization and supports numerous religious based organizations, including Focus On The Family. Now I believe that anyone and everyone has the right to express their religious or spiritual beliefs in any manner that they see fit. If you get spiritual satisfaction by sitting on a washing machine in spin mode while chanting “Era Era Era”, then I certainly encourage you to practice your beliefs with gusto. On the other hand, some folks make spiritual choices that are downright scary, but that’s their right and they should not be denied the opportunity. That being said, I will no longer spend money with a company that monetarily supports organizations such as Focus On The Family for these two reasons: this group believes that homosexuality, while inherent to a person in that they’re born that way, can be cured through various means (I can’t bring myself to read as to what that involves as I’m afraid it might include electroshock therapy and the thought of that rather freaks me out). The group is also vehemently opposed to gay marriage, because the gay boys and lesbians shouldn’t be getting married, they should be getting “cured” and then marrying a member of the opposite sex.

I think it’s obvious that these beliefs run quite contrary to my own.

Now that I am a little bit more informed on these matters, I can say without hesitation that I will no longer support Chick-Fil-A. In tandem with my beliefs of live and let live, I’m not going to ask anyone reading this to follow suit, but I offer this blog entry as a little piece of information.