6 ms·

What happened to cheap food? Diners, Automats, and affordable eating [video]

27 points by carabiner 2y ago

paxys 2y ago
The cuts in the video are so distracting that I genuinely couldn't watch it past the first minute. Why on earth was every sentence recorded separately and then spliced together?
- FerretFred 2y ago
  Jump cuts are awful, but no-one on YouTube seems capable of creating a video without using them. Maybe read from a script instead?
aaron695 2y ago
[dead]
george-in-sd 2y ago
In SF Eatsa opened up around 2016 as an Automat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWeocXaIPMo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWeocXaIPMo
- prpl 2y ago
  I’m guessing they closed because there was no Kroketten
- dustincoates 2y ago
  To me, an automat has to be one where you put your money in and get your food right away. Eatsa was more of a fast food restaurant, but you got your food in a cubby rather than at a counter. The last true automat I've seen in the US is one in Manhattan that I visited around 2008 (I think it was called Bamn!). It was, truly, nothing more than a novelty. The food wasn't good at all.
galdosdi 2y ago
Transcript or blog post please, there is no reason for this to be a video
- aspenmayer 2y ago
  Transcripts actually are available for this video and many other videos on YouTube - press the "more" button to open the video description and scroll down past the Chapters and Music sections to find the Transcript section, and press the button labeled "Show transcript" to open the transcript. This section/button was not available/visible when I viewed this video on the mobile website, but was available on desktop version of site and on the iOS app, so if you're not seeing it, that may be why. In general, this kind of shallow dismissal is against HN guidelines, but I think you might just not be aware that this feature exists on YouTube, or else I don't know why you would ask for a transcript when one already exists. That being said, the transcript feature has moved around, as it used to be under the three dot menu to the right of the Share button, and many people have made posts on the Google/YouTube support forums and on Reddit noting that they had trouble finding the feature when it was moved in the past. I hope this helps you to consume content in ways that are meaningful to you. Having a preference is okay, but insisting that others adopt and share your preference is not fair to those who don't share your goals, ideals, or use cases.
  - galdosdi 2y ago
    I am aware of the feature. The styling makes it hard to read and the autogenerated transcript text is poor quality, so without a real transcript made by the author, it's useless. A real, literate piece of text intended for reading rather than autogenerated poorly, would be a lot easier to read. What I'm railing against here is the video-fication of the web as literacy rates and attention spans keeps going down. I do not think it is consistent with HN's mission of intellectual edification to use this kind of lowbrow video content that doesn't actually use the video format for any useful visualizations that can only be done in video (eg 3blue1brown), but is merely text content that is made more engaging with a bunch of meaningless clip art and narration
    - 2y ago
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
JumpCrisscross 2y ago
Price, quality (food + service) and convenience--pick two. That creates our modern digest: fine dining (quality + convenience) and fast food (price + convenience). You'll notice two things. One, the unfilled gap, quality and convenience, which most Americans remark upon when visiting e.g. Japanese convenience stores. (Diners and fast casual try to fill this niche.) And two, the forced joining of food and service quality. We saw one side of this union broken in family dining, e.g. Ruby Tuesday's and Chuck E Cheese: price + service, with convenience trumping food quality. Automats are the inverse. Price + food, with service quality being sacrificed. Unfortunately, this means suppressing labor. And that is controversial [1]. (Apart from, as the narrator points out, for those of us with access to company cafeterias, airport lounges, IKEAS, et cetera.) [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/11/nyregion/nyc-restaurants-virtual-remote.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/11/nyregion/nyc-restaurants-...
- carabiner 2y ago
  There used to be cafeteria restaurants beyond IKEA and corporate campuses though. In Seattle we had Bakeman's, where you could get a freshly made sandwich, soup, and slice of pie for like $11 (yes it'd be higher today with inflation, but even in 2016 it was still very cheap for a fresh meal in central Seattle). In Russia they still have stolovaya, very much like the IKEA cafeteria: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298484-d3201436-r553695307-Stolovaya_57-Moscow_Central_Russia.html#photos;aggregationId=&albumid=&filter= https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298484-d3201436.... I ate at them in 2009 and loved them. I really wonder if something like a food truck serving rice & lentils with a side of yogurt for $5 a plate would be economically viable in any US city. Some people just want food that tastes OK, is fairly healthy, and frees them from doing dishes that night.
  - JohnFen 2y ago
    > Some people just want food that tastes OK, is fairly healthy, and frees them from doing dishes that night. That would be amazing. I'd love to have such an option.
  - galdosdi 2y ago
Am4TIfIsER0ppos 2y ago
Central bank money printing.
flyingspaceship 2y ago
We need food carts really. I like the idea of using large kitchens to bulk produce hot food as well, however the density and traffic are very high to justify something like that. I feel like the concept of food carts is very American. Such a simple, entry level business that anyone can do who is passionate, however there have become so many rules they've become impossible. American streets no longer feel American or that they embody our brazen and unique American culture, but instead have become this very British, "do you have a license for that?" ordeal. Everything clean and tidy all of the grass cut neat. No raw spirit or passion. It disgusts me. Let some people sell food for heavens sake

27 points by carabiner 2y ago

The cuts in the video are so distracting that I genuinely couldn't watch it past the first minute. Why on earth was every sentence recorded separately and then spliced together?

FerretFred 2y ago
Jump cuts are awful, but no-one on YouTube seems capable of creating a video without using them. Maybe read from a script instead?

aaron695 2y ago

[dead]

george-in-sd 2y ago

In SF Eatsa opened up around 2016 as an Automat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWeocXaIPMo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWeocXaIPMo

prpl 2y ago
I’m guessing they closed because there was no Kroketten
dustincoates 2y ago
To me, an automat has to be one where you put your money in and get your food right away. Eatsa was more of a fast food restaurant, but you got your food in a cubby rather than at a counter. The last true automat I've seen in the US is one in Manhattan that I visited around 2008 (I think it was called Bamn!). It was, truly, nothing more than a novelty. The food wasn't good at all.

galdosdi 2y ago

Transcript or blog post please, there is no reason for this to be a video

aspenmayer 2y ago
Transcripts actually are available for this video and many other videos on YouTube - press the "more" button to open the video description and scroll down past the Chapters and Music sections to find the Transcript section, and press the button labeled "Show transcript" to open the transcript. This section/button was not available/visible when I viewed this video on the mobile website, but was available on desktop version of site and on the iOS app, so if you're not seeing it, that may be why. In general, this kind of shallow dismissal is against HN guidelines, but I think you might just not be aware that this feature exists on YouTube, or else I don't know why you would ask for a transcript when one already exists. That being said, the transcript feature has moved around, as it used to be under the three dot menu to the right of the Share button, and many people have made posts on the Google/YouTube support forums and on Reddit noting that they had trouble finding the feature when it was moved in the past. I hope this helps you to consume content in ways that are meaningful to you. Having a preference is okay, but insisting that others adopt and share your preference is not fair to those who don't share your goals, ideals, or use cases.
- galdosdi 2y ago
  I am aware of the feature. The styling makes it hard to read and the autogenerated transcript text is poor quality, so without a real transcript made by the author, it's useless. A real, literate piece of text intended for reading rather than autogenerated poorly, would be a lot easier to read. What I'm railing against here is the video-fication of the web as literacy rates and attention spans keeps going down. I do not think it is consistent with HN's mission of intellectual edification to use this kind of lowbrow video content that doesn't actually use the video format for any useful visualizations that can only be done in video (eg 3blue1brown), but is merely text content that is made more engaging with a bunch of meaningless clip art and narration
  - 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

JumpCrisscross 2y ago

Price, quality (food + service) and convenience--pick two. That creates our modern digest: fine dining (quality + convenience) and fast food (price + convenience). You'll notice two things. One, the unfilled gap, quality and convenience, which most Americans remark upon when visiting e.g. Japanese convenience stores. (Diners and fast casual try to fill this niche.) And two, the forced joining of food and service quality. We saw one side of this union broken in family dining, e.g. Ruby Tuesday's and Chuck E Cheese: price + service, with convenience trumping food quality. Automats are the inverse. Price + food, with service quality being sacrificed. Unfortunately, this means suppressing labor. And that is controversial [1]. (Apart from, as the narrator points out, for those of us with access to company cafeterias, airport lounges, IKEAS, et cetera.) [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/11/nyregion/nyc-restaurants-virtual-remote.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/11/nyregion/nyc-restaurants-...

carabiner 2y ago
There used to be cafeteria restaurants beyond IKEA and corporate campuses though. In Seattle we had Bakeman's, where you could get a freshly made sandwich, soup, and slice of pie for like $11 (yes it'd be higher today with inflation, but even in 2016 it was still very cheap for a fresh meal in central Seattle). In Russia they still have stolovaya, very much like the IKEA cafeteria: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298484-d3201436-r553695307-Stolovaya_57-Moscow_Central_Russia.html#photos;aggregationId=&albumid=&filter= https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298484-d3201436.... I ate at them in 2009 and loved them. I really wonder if something like a food truck serving rice & lentils with a side of yogurt for $5 a plate would be economically viable in any US city. Some people just want food that tastes OK, is fairly healthy, and frees them from doing dishes that night.
- JohnFen 2y ago
  > Some people just want food that tastes OK, is fairly healthy, and frees them from doing dishes that night. That would be amazing. I'd love to have such an option.
- galdosdi 2y ago

Am4TIfIsER0ppos 2y ago

Central bank money printing.

flyingspaceship 2y ago

We need food carts really. I like the idea of using large kitchens to bulk produce hot food as well, however the density and traffic are very high to justify something like that. I feel like the concept of food carts is very American. Such a simple, entry level business that anyone can do who is passionate, however there have become so many rules they've become impossible. American streets no longer feel American or that they embody our brazen and unique American culture, but instead have become this very British, "do you have a license for that?" ordeal. Everything clean and tidy all of the grass cut neat. No raw spirit or passion. It disgusts me. Let some people sell food for heavens sake