Fast-food burgers have tripled in size since the 1950s

[marmar]

from Grist:



Fast-food burgers have tripled in size since the 1950s
By Jess Zimmerman





According to this chart from the CDC, fast-food burgers have more than tripled in size since the 1950s, going from four ounces (i.e. a quarter pound) to a whopping 12. And if you think that’s bad, the average soda is six times as big as it used to be.

I don’t know what’s worse, the idea that we’re eating three times as much unsustainably raised snout-meat, or the idea that we’re throwing the overage out and thus wasting tons more food. It’s probably some of both, and neither is great.

Obviously a lot of people, even conscientious people, will eat fast food sometimes, for reasons of convenience or finance or being stuck at a rural rest stop and not really having a choice. I hear some people even like the taste and occasionally eat it deliberately. But just be aware that when you eat that McDonald’s meal, you’re actually essentially eating three of them.


http://grist.org/list/fast-food-burgers-have-tripled-in-size-since-the-1950s/

[orpupilofnature57]

1. When a Reeses cup was one

and not 4

[BanzaiBonnie]

23. Last year, I thought a Reeses PBC sounded good.

Afterward I was violently ill. I had not had any sort of candy bar in years.

Since it was the only odd thign I'd eaten I looked into the ingredients. In the line-up was a preservative. I learned that the side-affects from ingesting that preservative exactly matched my symptoms. The preservative, which I don't remember right now, is related to butane. Imagine... a butane like substance in your candy bar. A Reeses will never be worth what I went through that day.

[Javaman]

47. Check out the book, "Deconstructing the Twinkie"...

It will make you sick.

[KurtNYC]

2. Chart is showing the largest size available -- NOT the average size of a burger sold

White Castle sliders are pretty much the same size they were in the 1930s and the Dollar burger at McClown is about the same size that their original burgers were in 1955.

The dollar menu is what kept McD up during this depression.

[jp11]

8. Correct.

The menu has changed over the last 60+ years who would have thought restaurants would add stuff?

[PSPS]

9. You're right. This is misleading.

This is another "manufactured controversy." The fact is that a regular hamburger is about the same size today as it has always been.

[marmar]

10. So the CDC's goal is to manufacture controversy? And I guess obesity rates really haven't gone up?

nt

[PSPS]

22. Yes, obesity is up. But not because "the largest size of everything is bigger than it used to be."

Just because a fast food joint has "extreme" or "jumbo" sizes doesn't compel its patrons to consume them. It's the patron's choice what they eat. Misleading statistics just undermines the message.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. So when the industry itself says this

That portion size has gone up by that much, they are wrong too.

FYI CDC is using industry data.

And I guess we're imagining the obesity too.

[PSPS]

24. No, the "industry itself" isn't saying this at all.

And nobody is saying that obesity is "imaginary." You're mixing up the message, which is what the original piece in the tabloid NYDN does all the time. That's the "manufactured controversy."

The true meaning of the statistics is that the largest size of things is bigger than before. The only thing that associates that with obesity is that people feel compelled to buy the largest size of everything. So, the real message of this statistic is that people are eating more than they should, not that the largest size of everything is bigger than it used to be.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. Yes, the industry admits to portion creep

And it is not controversy, but fact.

[KurtNYC]

46. Fact: obesity correlates most strongly with poverty and church attendance

Where is that in the CDC's misleading graphic? Nowhere. They are too busy pandering to misinformed stereotypes.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/25/960222/-Study-links-Church-attendance-as-young-adults-to-Obesity-in-middle-age

Also: Sarcasm is the least efficient form of communication. Fact.

[nadinbrzezinski]

48. There is a correlation, direct mind you

With food deserts and poverty as well. I guess this is a simple problem with simple solutions.

[KurtNYC]

50. did I mention that I love sarcasm ?

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. But the whopper Jr is the size of the whopper

In 1960. And the single, double and tripple do follow that graphic. White Castle chose to buck a trend.

[cherokeeprogressive]

25. Never in my LIFE have I ever ordered a 42 oz drink. Never.

They don't serve beer in containers that big.

OTOH and back on topic, I hate when people exaggerate in order to make a point. It takes away from the point they're trying to make.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to Carl's Jr. for one of those 6 lb burgers I've been reading about.

[piratefish08]

43. you need a Huge Ass Beer.

to go.

[4th law of robotics]

32. Yeah, there's no way the average soda sold is 42oz

Not happening.

Yes some people order drinks that big and unless you're sharing that's pretty excessive. But it isn't the average.

[hfojvt]

36. people are jumping on the drink

but I am wondering how many people order a 3/4 pound burger? TWO big macs are probably not 3/4 of a pound. I am sure that is true because in the 1990s Mickey's was selling two big macs for $2 and I had several of those for a single meal. Later their special was 2 quarter pounders for $2, and I found out that I could not eat two quarter pounders in one sitting. By which I conclude that there is more meat in a quarter pounder than there is in a big mac. And unless my math is wrong, two quarter pounders is still 4 ounces short of a 12 ounce burger.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

44. You are correct... Big Macs use 1/10# patties. QPs use 1/4# patties.

I used to work there in the late 90's. We used to make big macs for ourselves using the QP patties and buns. We would also make "big mac" breakfast sandwiches with the sausage and eggs. Otherwise, that job sucked. It was the most disgusting worst job ever... even compared to construction jobs or jobs I worked doing laundry for an athletic facility (underwear, jock straps & dirty towels). Yes, working @ McDonalds is even worse than THAT.

[Art_from_Ark]

3. I remember buying a hamburger at Mr. Quick in 1971 for 19 cents

It was about the same size and thickness as a silver dollar.

[SharonAnn]

17. 35 cents for MCDonalds hamburger, fries, and Coke in 1963.

15 cents for hamburger
10 cents for fries
10 cents for small Coke

Ah, those were the days.

Of course, the Quarter Pounder is a better burger, the fries are bigger and the Coke is bigger, but lots more expensive.

The Happy Meal burger meal is about the same as the original McDonalds burger, fries, and Coke.

[Art_from_Ark]

31. I don't remember how much the fries and Coke were at Mr. Quick

They had a big sign in the window advertising their 19c hamburgers, so that 's how I remember that price. But a 10-ounce bottle of pop from a machine was still being sold for 10 cents in early 1971, at least. The next year, 1972, when I took my first trip to Joplin, Missouri, my group stopped at a small country store along the way. The owner proudly announced, "This is the last place in Missouri where you can still get a bottle of pop for a dime".

[smoochpooch]

34. My dad used to say that for $4-$5 you'd get way more food than a whole family could eat.

I can't even imagine what it must have been like to eat at McDonalds back then!

[hfojvt]

38. according to the inflation calculator

35 cents in 1963 is the same as $2.63 today.

[RebelOne]

28. I remember Royal Castle hamburgers for 10 cents each.

That was many, many years ago, so I doubt anyone here would remember that, but I am 73 years old. I remember when I was in labor with my son in 1962, I had a sudden craving for those burgers, and I made my husband stop at a Royal Castle, and I ate a dozen of them on the way to the hospital.

[NWHarkness]

4. How to lie with statistics

Lesson One: Compare the average to the extreme.

[marmar]

5. But how many people are eating the "average" as opposed to the "extreme"? .......

...... I rarely see anyone at a fast-food restaurant with anything but one of those ginormous soft drink cups.

[pokerfan]

7. The exaggeration

is in the graphics which turn 2X into 8X and 3X into 27X. A doubling (or trebling) in one dimension (which is already expressed in volume and mass) does not extend back to all dimensions. A six-fold larger soda is not six times larger in all three dimensions. A 3X burger is not three times larger. It's just 3X, which is bad enough, really.

The numbers speak for themselves without the exaggerated graphics.

[SwissTony]

29. If that's an actual CDC graphic, I'm amazed they didn't pick it up. Poor work. nt.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

16. I go for fast food once a week

before I hit the grocery store. I get just a sandwich,(chicken or breakfast) no drink, no fries (because I'm not gonna pay $3 for some sugar water and fried potatoes.)

It keeps me from deviating from my grocery list

[WolverineDG]

6. That is true

When I worked for a fast food chain back in the '80's, the largest size drink we sold was a 32 oz Jumbo. Folks only ordered that when they were going on a picnic (we gave away 4 small cups with each Jumbo). *RARELY* did anyone drink a Jumbo solo.

The small was 12 oz, medium was 18 oz, large was 24 oz.

Today, at that same chain, the MEDIUM is 32 oz. The 18 oz is called "kiddie" size.

[GoCubsGo]

11. Now, many have the "free refills".

So, no telling what really gets consumed.

When I was young, my mom would occasionally take us to Burger King. They didn't have kids' meals back then. So, she brought a knife along, and cut the Whoppers in half. They had these little, blue plastic cups, and she'd divide a couple of milk shakes among them. The same with the fries. It was less food than what comes in a kid's meal today, but it was enough.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. And not just fast food

Portion size is out of control.

[JohnnyRingo]

21. Good point.

I remember just 15 years ago there was an Italian restaurant nearby that was known for large portions. People who recommended the place would brag that "you'll have enough left over for another whole meal".

Now that's every diner, restaurant, and bistro in the country. I have so many styrofoam containers in my refrigerator it has it's own micro-climate crisis.

[Meiko]

41. It's what people want

so restaurants are providing it. The buffets are really something else, amazing.

[FarCenter]

15. A 6 times bigger soda would be 1.82 times as tall if the shape of the container is the same.

It's a really stupid and misleading graphic.

[slackmaster]

18. In-N-Out's patties have always been 1.6 ounces, i.e. 1/10 pound

So a double has 3.2 ounces of meat.

[IndyJones]

40. I was going to post that. I never get a double there. Their singles are perfect.

Never touch other burger joint food. Blech.

[Romulox]

19. When I worked at MCD's, we fried hamburgers to be eaten w/in 7 or 8 minutes. Now? Microwaved

after being prepped en-mass in the early morning.

The resulting taste is exactly what you would expect.

[JohnnyRingo]

20. ...and so have we. LOL

Odd too that the size of our homes have also tripled since then and the number of self storage rental units has grown expotentially.

Our burgers are bigger, we're bigger.
Our homes are bigger and we have less room.

I live in a small old home a few doors down from the Burger King. I have to diet just to get between the couch and the computer desk. Hahahaha

[Egalitarian Thug]

26. The meat is not the same. I haven't been around since the 50's, but I know

that finished regular burgers were bigger in the 70's. It did used to take two hands to handle a Whopper.

I think this graphic demonstrates the decline of the quality of the "meat" used today, rather than the size of the end product.

[MadHound]

30. Then don't eat at fast food joints,

Or if you do, order smaller portions.

[jwirr]

33. It isn't fast food - almost all restaurant heap the plate now. I was invited to a Habachi restaurant

and there was so much food it was not funny. Rice, pasta, meats, veggies, soups salads, drink refills. I ate all of the soup, salad, rice and veggies. Then realized that my blood sugar was going to be sky high so took home all of the pasta and half of the meat. And I find that most places do that.

[Jamaal510]

35. I noticed that Trix doesn't taste the same

as it did back in the 90s. Ever since General Mills ditched the fruit shapes for those puffs and decided to add wheat ingredients, it doesn't taste as good. And it looks like the size of cereal boxes, Chips Ahoy, and Eggo Waffles are smaller than they used to be.

[Go Vols]

37. Krystals

are the same size for 80 years,ya just dont need to eat 20 of them.

[Quantess]

39. You know what else has increased 3 times? Women's clothing sizes.

A size 8 of the 1960s is like a size 0 today. But hey, if it makes you feel thinner...

[Douglas Carpenter]

42. remember the 15cent one size only McDonald's Cheeseburger?

One size only French fries were 10 cents and cokes were also 10 cents - the most expensive item was their 25 cent Shakes which came in chocolate, vanilla or strawberry. An explanation at the time as to why their prices were so low was that they had such a small menu and thus could produce in such mass.

[LeftinOH]

45. White Castle; their burgers are still 1920s-style & small. n/t

[datasuspect]

49. HELL MUTHAFUCKIN YEAH!

this is what makes UHHHMERICA great!!!!!!!11111111111