Sunday, October 05, 2008

Great Moments in Fat History, Vol. 2: Arby's/Sbarro, KFC/Pizza Hut/Taco Bell and the Dawn of Fast Food Caloric Collusion and Cholesterol Consolidation





By Blaine Fridley, Just a Small Town Girl Livin' in a Lonely World



How many times have you gone to a Pizza Hut and wished that you could order a 12-pc. extra crispy bucket of chicken and Nachos Bell Grande to compliment your Stuffed Crust Meat Lover's Pizza, cheesy bread, Oreo Dessert Pizza and 2-liter of Mountain Dew?


Or sat down at an Arby's and felt disappointed that you couldn't wrap a nice greasy over-sized slice of pepperoni pizza around your Big Montana?

Never you say?

Well then, I'd hazard to guess you don't find your bedsheets and clothes in the same department at Kohl's. I'd also bet that you maintain at least a casual relationship with dignity.




But at some point in the early-to-mid 90s the fast food industry powers-that-be (in an apparent partnership with the world's elastic pants producers) felt that the collective American waistline still had room to grow, and that the menu items of a single, stand-alone fast food restaurant simply did not meet the needs of its waistline expansionist agenda.

What if, they dared to ask, we combined the menus of several restaurants under one roof?

This bold question proved to be the catalytic event leading to widespread pairings of fast food restaurants, creating havens of super-saturated fats and, consequently, one of the Great Moments in Fat History.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

BOOOOOOYA, this just makes sense..i mean now i dont have to drive to snack on my favs!!!!!!

i love intergastronomic dating..


chris thomas

Merton Sussex said...

Were I come from, there are also a few Long John Silver's/Taco Bell combos, too. Oddly enough, the one thing they don't sell...? FISH TACOS.

Way to go, "Yum! Brands."

Anonymous said...

What better night out for today's busy families. They can each get their caloric intake for the rest of the week in one simple stop without little Fat Lorenzo or Chubby Susie whining they didn't go where they wanted to go. And mom and dad can sample from multiple menus. And by having multiple counters, they don't have to put up those pesky playlands where kids could actually burn some calories.