Did fast food restaurantes (McDonals,Pizza Hut, KFC etc.) have better tasting food back then?

Question

Here's a bit of fast food trivia for everyone out there. Is it just me or did fast food taste a lot more appetising in the 1980's and the early half of the 1990's, and is it missing that old great flavor it once had? Here's my opinion, when I was a child (in the very late 1980's) fast food tasted like something you'd actually want to eat.

Answer 1

KFC definitely used to be better. I worked there when I was a teenager and we made the cole-slaw fresh every morning. Now it comes in a pre-packaged carton. When I was a kid I remember the pieces of chicken were bigger, and they served rolls, not biscuits. The gravy seems to have changed too. When I worked there, we made the gravy from the drippings of the chicken--they called it the cracklings. But it doesn't taste the same now. It tastes bland.

Answer 2

I think it's way more than fast food restaurants of yore that tasted much better. Try store-purchased steaks from back then and compare them to today, even some fruits and vegetables. And have you tried a Twinkie lately, or an Oreo cookie? Gross and bland, respectively.

SOME of it, is, admittedly, maturing taste buds. What you loved as a kid you just don't appreciate as much as an adult. When I was a kid I couldn't stand the taste of coffee. Now I love it.

However, as far as the above-mentioned brands are concerned, yes, the food did taste better. Why? Because they didn't need as much of it. Those brands were smaller, had fewer points of distribution (restaurants), had more centralized supply chains. Beef and chicken, while being mass-produced for consumption, may not have been raised as quickly back then as they are now, and they may not have been shot full of growth hormones. As these brands grew, their infrastructure grew, their labor costs grew. As inflation rose and the cost of food and paper and energy and so on grew they HAD to look at ways to streamline costs. So, they shaved a little here and there, gradually compromising the very product that got them their success.

With some of those brands there has been a pendulum shift back to improving taste. But some things are lost, possibly forever.

I'm told by those who lived through it that, for example, there is simply NO comparison to the Big Mac sauce of yesteryear and that of today. Back then it was far superior, to cite one example. And how many stories have you read about KFC and its chickens' taste? Or its sides? When Col. Sanders first sold his recipe he was disappointed at what the company did to the taste.

Such a shame.

Answer 3

I think you have a point. Back in the late 1980's and early 1990's fast food not only tasted better, but you got more for your moey

Answer 4

It was even better in the 70's. I notice the difference in Taco Bell.
Forget the Pizza parlors. They are just grease. Could have something to do with additives or health laws. Or it might just be people just don't care anymore about service or quality in the product. I seem to notice a lot of that nasty attitude and lack of service in most all places. That would affect the taste in the making of the product.

Answer 5

Yes, you are right. In the early 80's while i was growing up, i think that fast food tasted alot better. Now, i don't like Wendy's, and very seldom eat at McDonald's anymore.

Answer 6

Yes, food used to taste better because they used fresher ingredients. Now they have to come up with ways of cutting costs and delivering profits and stock performance to shareholders. Welcome to corporate food.

This is why the best tasting fast food usually are smaller chains or chains that demand higher quality at the sacrifice of some profits.

Answer 7

I think you were probably just less aware of what you were actually eating. Of course it tastes better as a kid, but I think the food always sucked!

Answer 8

It's true, but maybe it's because our tastes have changed since then or because before it was a treat and now as grown ups we can get it all the time.

Answer 9

i agree,and i remember kfc use to sell hamburgers. i never ate chicken,so when the folks went their i got a burger.i never ate at pizza hut back then much,but it sucks real bad now. never liked mikey ds much,but their shakes were a whole lot better 20+years ago.even white castle has changed,too salty and greasy now.

Answer 10

i was only born in '87, but I think that fast food chains just want what's cheaper (ingredients) and they portion sizes are smaller and smaller while the prices just go up and up! and the food just tastes worse and worse!