"The nihilism of the Popeyes chicken sandwich and its surrounding hoopla."

I posted this one on Food & Dining's web site, too. It continues to amaze me that so many friends and acquaintances who are directly or indirectly involved with independent food service businesses still merrily buy into chain restaurant logic -- with both sentiment and cash.

Fast food is bullshit, and we're all dumber for the transaction. This ends my rant, but Soleil Ho's is only just beginning.

The nihilism of the Popeyes chicken sandwich and its surrounding hoopla, by Soleil Ho (San Francisco Chronicle)

 ... The sandwich was delicious for what it was: a cheap product where the true cost is carried by marginalized people and animals besides the consumer. It seems that, as a culture, many of us who can afford to choose from many options of what to eat vacillate between caring a lot about the welfare of our meat animals and restaurant workers and being willing to put up with anything for the sake of momentary pleasure. Yes, life is hard and sometimes you just want to roll your eyes back and eat something good. At the very least, it’s nice to know what everyone else is talking about.

Snappy Twitter repartee, eye-catching bag designs, whatever political symbolism is inscribed in the object itself — they all function as distractions from the real-world consequences of the choices we make. It is possible to hold all of these truths together and sit with whatever inconvenient implications they lead us toward ...