7 ms·

I wonder what it would take to get similar offerings to compete with American fast food? Now I'm hungry and there's no Japanese food anywhere near me.

protomyth 8y ago
I would imagine if it meets the following criteria: is it in a form that I can eat while driving a car[1], can it be served in the same time as other fast food, and is it priced within the fast food spectrum. I still think the greatest fast food I've ever had was a Greek place that did amazing kabobs. 1) regardless of your safety beliefs, this is done a lot
- masklinn 8y ago
  Bento really isn't designed to be eaten while driving (or even moving around). Eating while standing would be possible but probably less than ideal. Most bentos are designed to be eaten with chopsticks. The primary on-the-go food would be onigiri, with "festival booth" foods second (mostly stuff on a stick e.g. karaage, dango, yakitori, takoyaki, ikayaki).
  - saudioger 8y ago
    I think the intention with mentioning a car is the fact that the US is so commute-heavy that the majority of our fast food is intended for car consumption.
    - masklinn 8y ago
      And I'm saying bento really aren't suitable for that. Onigiri would be.
      - protomyth 8y ago
        Yeah. I was responding to the I wonder what it would take to get similar offerings to compete with American fast food? part. Onigiri looks like it would work if it holds together in your hand (don't know, never had it). Bento wouldn't. It has amazed me that there isn't a USA chain that has taken some food from Japan or China and it put it in a form that would be a good burger substitute. I would imagine some wrap? I could really go for a spring roll when I'm driving instead of a burger.
        amyjess 8y ago
        I remember years and years ago encountering a Japanese-themed burrito joint called Samurai Sam's. They were pretty tasty, but the only one where I live went under ages ago. (Googling shows that a chain by the name exists, but they don't have burritos. Either they pivoted or it's a new business who picked up the name.)
        protomyth 8y ago
        That would be awesome. I could really see getting a burrito with Japaneses or Chinese (well, the Americanized version) stuffing.
        pacaro 8y ago
        Sushirrito is a (delicious) thing
    - ghaff 8y ago
      This post was also discussing lunch where, presumably, eating while driving is less of a big deal. (Though, yes, some Americans eat in the car a fair bit which makes sandwiches and the like more suitable.)
      - protomyth 8y ago
        If you are going to replace American fast food, then eating while driving is pretty much a requirement.
        ghaff 8y ago
        It's not as ubiquitous as McDs, BK, etc., but pizza and Chinese are among the most common fast food alternatives to the primarily sandwich chains. (Fried chicken is the other.) And neither Chinese nor pizzas are very amenable to eating while driving.
        protomyth 8y ago
        I guess I'm conditioned to think of fast food in terms of drive-through. Even KFC has a lot of stuff on the menu that can be easily eaten in a car. Taco joints are the same way. Heck, the Greek place I mentioned was a drive-through. When I think pizza, I tend to think of it as its own thing given the whole delivery culture.
        ghaff 8y ago
        I doubt I’ve gone through a drive through in decades so my perspective is probably different.
        thaumasiotes 8y ago
        ...I really wouldn't want to try eating kabobs while driving. If you hit a bump eating a sandwich, you mash a soft loaf of bread into your face. Do the same thing eating a kabob, and you're sending a skewer through the roof of your mouth.
DenisM 8y ago
Population density is what it takes. Hence your current predicament.
- ghaff 8y ago
  I'm not so sure that's the answer. I imagine I could start myself at a random block in Manhattan and I'd possibly need to go at least some moderate distance to find a Japanese restaurant. And I'm sure that would be the case even in relatively large dense heartland cities. How far are you going to have to go in Tokyo if you're craving Mexican? And is there even a decent Mexican restaurant in Tokyo? (I'm guessing the answer might be yes but not many.) On the other hand, I understand KFC is very popular in Japan which happens to be one of my favorite US fast foods if I really need to choose. Some types of fast food appeal to me more than others. I'm actually not much of a cold bento box fan in general; I usually end up picking at them at conferences. But I like a lot of Japanese food generally.
  - coldtea 8y ago
    >How far are you going to have to go in Tokyo if you're craving Mexican? And is there even a decent Mexican restaurant in Tokyo? (I'm guessing the answer might be yes but not many.) You'd be surprised. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g298184-c29-Tokyo_Tokyo_Prefecture_Kanto.html https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g298184-c29-Tokyo_To...
    - ghaff 8y ago
      Not that surprising although I'd reserve the "decent" adjective until I tried them given that I find few enough on the US East Coast better than passable.
      - tlear 8y ago
        Lots of them are good restaurants. Not exactly authentic but personally I prefer non-authentic Mexican food. Tokyo has insane amount of good restaurants.
    - 8y ago
jorblumesea 8y ago
Have people demand fresh and quality food. Our standards for food quality are low compared to Japan or Europe. What people find as acceptable here would not fly in other places. The US government also subsidizes corn, soybeans and wheat over fruits and vegetables, making it far cheaper to produce meats, carbs and sugars, and thus easily undercuts any other food types. It can be more expensive to buy a head of lettuce than it is to buy a hot dog. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy#/media/File:United_States_farm_subsidies_(source_Congressional_Budget_Office).svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy#/media/Fi...
- m_mueller 8y ago
  I think it depends a lot on culture - US seems to have inherited a rather pragmatic, utility focused approach to food from Germans and Brits. Going from East Germany westwards towards France makes you realize such differences. Japanese are at the far end of that spectrum. I guess the best you can do is steal the best ideas from everyone - Japanese at least have zero issues with doing just that, going right back to first western contact with the Portuguese that brought them Tenpura and a bunch of cakes.
  - newen 8y ago
    I think it's because immigrants who came to the US could not find equivalent ingredients to their traditional recipes as easily. Also distribution of fresh food is hard as you go west. So people had to settle with low quality recipes and food. This resulted in there not being as much of a food culture in the general population. So now nobody (as in the average person doesn't) cares about how food tastes like in the US.
thrower123 8y ago
It's not as delicious looking as what's in the article, but gas stations like Cumberland Farms often have surprisingly decent grab-and-go prepackaged lunch items. Or if you can pop into a supermarket, there's often a salad bar, hot food, deli sandwich, sushi section that's nothing to sneeze at. Oftentimes that's faster, cheaper, and definitely better than your fast food McDonalds/DunkinDonuts/whatever chain. Alas my go-to is still the classic New England general store steamer full of red hot dogs...
- mhink 8y ago
  100% agree with both points here. I live near an organic grocery store (PCC) here in Seattle which has a very reasonably-priced salad/hot-food bar, all things considered- and they also have a rotating selection of little take-out bento boxes for about $5-8 which make for an excellent light-lunch or dinner. I've been trying to lose a bit of weight recently, and they've been great for helping me with portion control. Not to mention, the larger selection of fresh food makes it a lot easier to commit to eating a bit healthier. I wish this sort of thing was more common in other places as well. On the flip side, I'm originally from the South, where there's a huge number of gas stations which also include a diner (or even just a hot bar) which is often some of the best Southern food you can find, including "real" restaurants. There's actually an entire regional chain of gas station/convenience store/fast-food friend chicken places called Dodge's which I really miss. That being said, I used to drive between Mobile and North Mississippi pretty often, and there was a little place halfway along the way called the Buckatunna Grocery which I swear has some of the best fried chicken I've ever had.
Kagerjay 8y ago
There's a few legitimate ramen shops along my way home. Okonomiyaki, tonkutsu ramen, karaage chicken, takoyaki balls, and even cold soba are things I can get here. Service is fast, foods good, cost is on the lower end, etc. I eat ramen like once a week, some of the shops in my town actually make their own ramen by hand too instead of buying premade.

protomyth 8y ago

I would imagine if it meets the following criteria: is it in a form that I can eat while driving a car[1], can it be served in the same time as other fast food, and is it priced within the fast food spectrum. I still think the greatest fast food I've ever had was a Greek place that did amazing kabobs. 1) regardless of your safety beliefs, this is done a lot

masklinn 8y ago
Bento really isn't designed to be eaten while driving (or even moving around). Eating while standing would be possible but probably less than ideal. Most bentos are designed to be eaten with chopsticks. The primary on-the-go food would be onigiri, with "festival booth" foods second (mostly stuff on a stick e.g. karaage, dango, yakitori, takoyaki, ikayaki).
- saudioger 8y ago
  I think the intention with mentioning a car is the fact that the US is so commute-heavy that the majority of our fast food is intended for car consumption.
  - masklinn 8y ago
    And I'm saying bento really aren't suitable for that. Onigiri would be.
    - protomyth 8y ago
      Yeah. I was responding to the I wonder what it would take to get similar offerings to compete with American fast food? part. Onigiri looks like it would work if it holds together in your hand (don't know, never had it). Bento wouldn't. It has amazed me that there isn't a USA chain that has taken some food from Japan or China and it put it in a form that would be a good burger substitute. I would imagine some wrap? I could really go for a spring roll when I'm driving instead of a burger.
      - amyjess 8y ago
        I remember years and years ago encountering a Japanese-themed burrito joint called Samurai Sam's. They were pretty tasty, but the only one where I live went under ages ago. (Googling shows that a chain by the name exists, but they don't have burritos. Either they pivoted or it's a new business who picked up the name.)
        protomyth 8y ago
        That would be awesome. I could really see getting a burrito with Japaneses or Chinese (well, the Americanized version) stuffing.
      - pacaro 8y ago
        Sushirrito is a (delicious) thing
  - ghaff 8y ago
    This post was also discussing lunch where, presumably, eating while driving is less of a big deal. (Though, yes, some Americans eat in the car a fair bit which makes sandwiches and the like more suitable.)
    - protomyth 8y ago
      If you are going to replace American fast food, then eating while driving is pretty much a requirement.
      - ghaff 8y ago
        It's not as ubiquitous as McDs, BK, etc., but pizza and Chinese are among the most common fast food alternatives to the primarily sandwich chains. (Fried chicken is the other.) And neither Chinese nor pizzas are very amenable to eating while driving.
        protomyth 8y ago
        I guess I'm conditioned to think of fast food in terms of drive-through. Even KFC has a lot of stuff on the menu that can be easily eaten in a car. Taco joints are the same way. Heck, the Greek place I mentioned was a drive-through. When I think pizza, I tend to think of it as its own thing given the whole delivery culture.
        ghaff 8y ago
        I doubt I’ve gone through a drive through in decades so my perspective is probably different.
        thaumasiotes 8y ago
        ...I really wouldn't want to try eating kabobs while driving. If you hit a bump eating a sandwich, you mash a soft loaf of bread into your face. Do the same thing eating a kabob, and you're sending a skewer through the roof of your mouth.

DenisM 8y ago

Population density is what it takes. Hence your current predicament.

ghaff 8y ago
I'm not so sure that's the answer. I imagine I could start myself at a random block in Manhattan and I'd possibly need to go at least some moderate distance to find a Japanese restaurant. And I'm sure that would be the case even in relatively large dense heartland cities. How far are you going to have to go in Tokyo if you're craving Mexican? And is there even a decent Mexican restaurant in Tokyo? (I'm guessing the answer might be yes but not many.) On the other hand, I understand KFC is very popular in Japan which happens to be one of my favorite US fast foods if I really need to choose. Some types of fast food appeal to me more than others. I'm actually not much of a cold bento box fan in general; I usually end up picking at them at conferences. But I like a lot of Japanese food generally.
- coldtea 8y ago
  >How far are you going to have to go in Tokyo if you're craving Mexican? And is there even a decent Mexican restaurant in Tokyo? (I'm guessing the answer might be yes but not many.) You'd be surprised. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g298184-c29-Tokyo_Tokyo_Prefecture_Kanto.html https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g298184-c29-Tokyo_To...
  - ghaff 8y ago
    Not that surprising although I'd reserve the "decent" adjective until I tried them given that I find few enough on the US East Coast better than passable.
    - tlear 8y ago
      Lots of them are good restaurants. Not exactly authentic but personally I prefer non-authentic Mexican food. Tokyo has insane amount of good restaurants.
  - 8y ago

jorblumesea 8y ago

Have people demand fresh and quality food. Our standards for food quality are low compared to Japan or Europe. What people find as acceptable here would not fly in other places. The US government also subsidizes corn, soybeans and wheat over fruits and vegetables, making it far cheaper to produce meats, carbs and sugars, and thus easily undercuts any other food types. It can be more expensive to buy a head of lettuce than it is to buy a hot dog. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy#/media/File:United_States_farm_subsidies_(source_Congressional_Budget_Office).svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy#/media/Fi...

m_mueller 8y ago
I think it depends a lot on culture - US seems to have inherited a rather pragmatic, utility focused approach to food from Germans and Brits. Going from East Germany westwards towards France makes you realize such differences. Japanese are at the far end of that spectrum. I guess the best you can do is steal the best ideas from everyone - Japanese at least have zero issues with doing just that, going right back to first western contact with the Portuguese that brought them Tenpura and a bunch of cakes.
- newen 8y ago
  I think it's because immigrants who came to the US could not find equivalent ingredients to their traditional recipes as easily. Also distribution of fresh food is hard as you go west. So people had to settle with low quality recipes and food. This resulted in there not being as much of a food culture in the general population. So now nobody (as in the average person doesn't) cares about how food tastes like in the US.

thrower123 8y ago

It's not as delicious looking as what's in the article, but gas stations like Cumberland Farms often have surprisingly decent grab-and-go prepackaged lunch items. Or if you can pop into a supermarket, there's often a salad bar, hot food, deli sandwich, sushi section that's nothing to sneeze at. Oftentimes that's faster, cheaper, and definitely better than your fast food McDonalds/DunkinDonuts/whatever chain. Alas my go-to is still the classic New England general store steamer full of red hot dogs...

mhink 8y ago
100% agree with both points here. I live near an organic grocery store (PCC) here in Seattle which has a very reasonably-priced salad/hot-food bar, all things considered- and they also have a rotating selection of little take-out bento boxes for about $5-8 which make for an excellent light-lunch or dinner. I've been trying to lose a bit of weight recently, and they've been great for helping me with portion control. Not to mention, the larger selection of fresh food makes it a lot easier to commit to eating a bit healthier. I wish this sort of thing was more common in other places as well. On the flip side, I'm originally from the South, where there's a huge number of gas stations which also include a diner (or even just a hot bar) which is often some of the best Southern food you can find, including "real" restaurants. There's actually an entire regional chain of gas station/convenience store/fast-food friend chicken places called Dodge's which I really miss. That being said, I used to drive between Mobile and North Mississippi pretty often, and there was a little place halfway along the way called the Buckatunna Grocery which I swear has some of the best fried chicken I've ever had.

Kagerjay 8y ago

There's a few legitimate ramen shops along my way home. Okonomiyaki, tonkutsu ramen, karaage chicken, takoyaki balls, and even cold soba are things I can get here. Service is fast, foods good, cost is on the lower end, etc. I eat ramen like once a week, some of the shops in my town actually make their own ramen by hand too instead of buying premade.