• Nakedmole@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    No offence intended but it´s old news to the world that a lot of Americans consume horrible trash food and drinks every day until they become morbidly obese and worse. It´s in fact one of the most commonly known stereotypes about the USA. So there is really nothing on the picture a euro mind could not comprehend, more like the contrary.

    • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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      1 year ago

      Behold, the Euroslave, uncomprehending of what real freedom looks like.

      I bet they would object to all the unnecessary preservatives that enhance the flavor, too.

      /S

      I had to add the /s because there are clearly people that don’t understand humorous statements around here. Six of them at the moment.

    • ImFresh3x@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Obesity rates in Europe are catching up. Especially in Britain. California is leaner than most of Europe. It’s definitely not all skinny in Europe and all fatties in USA. It’s regional.

      • Nakedmole@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Obesity rates in Europe are catching up

        Yes, thanks to americanisation and food imports from the US

          • Nakedmole@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Oh I don´t but most people are too unconscious about what they eat to protect themselves from the food industry, as you might know.

        • theragu40@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Lol this has to be the silliest take I’ve seen.

          “The Americans made us fat!” Like there’s an American sitting behind you with a riot stick, tapping their hand with it menacingly…“eat this shitty food you imported and no one forced you to buy, or else I’ll whack you in the head!”

          • Nakedmole@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Are seriously calling the idea that introducing dozens of american fast food chains into a society, will increase average body weight and unhealthy eating habits a silly take? Please elaborate how that is a silly take.

            • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              It’s silly because it has been widely known how terrible the food is for you. Just because a bunch of rich assholes dangle fast food in front of y’all doesn’t mean you have to eat it. No one is force feeding you, so stop blaming Joe Schmoe from Arkansas because y’all don’t have the self control to consciously eat healthy. If anything, it just proves the opposite of the lazy American stereotype: everyone is lazy given the option to be.

              • Nakedmole@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                You seem to assume that everyone is always making exclusively conscious decisions about everything. I think you severely overestimate the ability of people to make conscious decisions. Are you not aware that companies have been systematically lying to consumers for decades? That they are using psychology based advertising, to manipulate consumers into buying things that are bad for them? I certainly don´t believe everyone is that smart and conscious about what they are doing all the time.

      • Gabu@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        “Catching up” in the same sense that a baby is “catching up” to Usain Bolt when it learns to walk.

    • fluxion@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      There are still some things to unwind here. Breakfast pizza, dirt cheap “meal”, advertising “mega” for what appears to be a normal sized slice.

      • NOSin@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        4$ for a slice of pizza and a drink is dirt cheap ? I get the whole pizza for twice that in eu excuse me wtf

        • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          This appears to be a Casey’s gas station. Caseys is known for having pretty decent pizza and being in every tiny town dotted across America (plus being open very late/early if not 24 hours). By memory the pizza is priced at $3-4 per slice. Sure you can buy a $3 frozen Jacks pizza but it won’t be as good.

          It’s worth remembering that fountain sodas cost next to nothing for businesses. It’s just flavoring syrup, water and a big bottle of CO2 to carbonate the water packaged up in a semi-automated self-serve machine

          • NOSin@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I think it’s worth noting that the pizza I’m mentioning in eu is a oven made one, not a frozen anything A whole pizza, for like 10-12$ converted in €

            • HamSwagwich@showeq.com
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              1 year ago

              You don’t even get ice in your drinks, you can’t compare. And $12 is 3x that price and I’d have to pay for water in the EU

                • HamSwagwich@showeq.com
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                  1 year ago

                  I’ve never been given free water anywhere in the EU and I’ve been to a large number of the countries. You are high as fuck if you think they aren’t charging for water. One of the many reasons I hate Western Europe, but certainly not the only one.

              • Gabu@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                In the EU you’d also get REAL pizza, as opposed to cardboard with fake 3rd rate meat on top.

                • HamSwagwich@showeq.com
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                  1 year ago

                  It’s funny how you think all pizza in the US is from Pizza Hut.

                  You do know the US food culture and depth of quality dwarfs whatever country you are from, right? That’s the problem with so many Europeans. They don’t understand the size of the US. You can’t grasp the fact that just one of our fifty states can be more diverse than your entire country. Even the largest EU member is smaller than Texas, just one of the states.

      • hansl@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        My visit to London a few years back showed me that Englishmen eat bad food, but not unhealthy food. Did I miss something or is it just London?

      • Sloogs@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        Idk, maybe that most of the western food supply is owned by a select few conglomerates that have an interest in getting you to buy a ton of product and make it as addictive as possible? That’s my guess.

  • bi_tux@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Why is this petrol station so big? I could park 2 tanks between the petrol pumps.

    Why would you eat pizza for breakfast?

    Why would you drink so much cola (this looks like 1l-1.5l to me)?

    How is this so cheap? They charge 4€ at my local petrol station for 0.5l of pepsi alone.

    What kind of pizza is this?

    Is midwest some kind of common marketing?

    • tenacious_mucus@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Okay, i’ll bite and try to answer these. Without knowing any details of which chain and where exactly this station is located (in a city/town or right off a motorway/interstate?)

      A lot of “truck stop” type stations are this big to accommodate large vehicles and potential larger trailers they might be towing. Like a 3/4ton pickup with a huge 5th wheel trailer. Or even Class A/C motorhomes and RVs. These pumps likely have diesel and petrol so even large box trucks will pull in the fuel up. There are usually different areas for full tractor-trailer (lorries) but those pumps are for those trucks only. Further, the gap is three vehicles wide so a vehicle can be on a pump on either side and someone arriving or leaving can fit between them- especially if there is a case of 3 pumps in a row.

      Pizza for breakfast? Judging by the picture and the title, this looks like actual Breakfast Pizza. Eggs, sausage, etc are the toppings. Had this a lot growing up just at home. And pizza style is common “grab and go” type food from gas stations since it’s easy to eat, even while driving.

      Now, a cola with/for breakfast…naah. I’m with you there. That’s a bit off. But otherwise, the size is normal for a truck stop. Fountain drinks are a lot cheaper than canned or bottled of the same drink. For example 24oz bottle for $2-3 or a 48-64oz fountain for the same price or less. People are traveling when they come through here, or stopping by to grab stuff on their way to work for the whole day. So the idea is the drink is to have on hand for hours if not most of the day. The styrofoam cups are junk but a lot of people transfer to a more practical container, or some stations chains would sell their own fancy insulated cups and allow discounted refills in their cup.

      How is this so cheap? Gas station food, man! Doesn’t mean it’s any good! I just covered the soda portion for pricing and a slice of pizza (breakfast or normal pepperoni) is usually only like $2. So the pricing advertised here makes sense.

      Midwest is a kind of marketing thing with many layers or points. The midwest region of the States is the massive, wide-open middle section where there’s usually cattle ranching, farming and a lot of nothing. So this can be spun in a lot of ways- farmers/ranchers allegedly eat big (unhealthy) food and drinks, the midwest is big, things are cheap because nothing and no one is out there, etc. Also this gas station is likely located in the midwest and targeted towards people that are traveling through, so it’s got that “tourist” hook to it.

      I think that about covers it?

      • Seabazz@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The gas station is Casey’s, I’d recognize their breakfast pizza anywhere. It’s the best I’ve ever had.

      • eric@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        There are a few bits wrong here. First off, the Midwest is not simply a massive wide open cattle ranching area with little else around. That’s really the Great Plains area, which is partially in the Midwest but also partially in the West and Southwest. The Midwest is not mostly made up of ranchers or farmers. There are definitely some in various parts, but other parts have none at all.

        Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota are all part of the Midwest, and your summary doesn’t really describe them well at all. I think you may be doing what I see a lot of coastal Americans do which is to confuse the Midwest with the West or the Southwest because the names are much less intuitive than they seem. These terms rose to prominence in the 19th century before “manifest destiny” colonized the entire continent, so they’re all incredibly East coast-centric. The Midwest is in the mideast, the South is in the southeast, the Southwest is in the south, and the West is the whole western half of the country.

        And while cola for breakfast might seem a bit off even to most Americans, it’s not at all uncommon in the Midwest, but what’s weird is that it’s Pepsi in this ad because almost all prefer coke in the Midwest. When I moved out of the Midwest, it took me a while to break the disgusting coke for breakfast habit, but it definitely rings true to me to be characteristic of a Midwest breakfast.

        Also, this looks like a regular sized gas station anywhere in the central US. It’s definitely not an area for truckers to fill up their big rigs because there is clearly unleaded at those pumps.

        And to back it all up, here is the location map for Casey’s (that made this ad) where it’s clear that they are mostly in the Midwest states I mentioned as well as the Great Plains Midwest states of the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas.

      • bi_tux@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, makes sense.

        However, where I live everything at gas stations is really expensive (like 3 times the super market price), because they don’t make a lot of profit with gasoline. Most of their profits likely come from car services and selling stuff 24/7. I don’t know how it’s in the states, but most shops here open at 7-8am and close at 7-8pm and are closed on sundays, so if you need something late at night or on sun-/holidays you drive to the gas station.

        Tbh, the only things I ever buy there when every shop is closed are alcohol and tabacco (and some times paper and filters for weed)

        • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          However, where I live everything at gas stations is really expensive (like 3 times the super market price)

          There’s been some brilliant competition in the US by some gas station chains to raise the bar for quality and lower prices inside the convenience stores, to the point where some regional chains have become part of the regional identity as they’re actually worth stopping into

          • averagedrunk@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            Buc-ees (a Texas gas station chain) has been expanding beyond Texas recently. I’ve driven all over the US and have never seen anything quite like them anywhere else. The gas is cheap, they have their worker salaries posted (and are way above what other similar places pay), they’re incredibly clean, their bathrooms are huge and immaculate, they have restaurant quality food, halfway decent barbecue, a whole home goods/apparel section, a huge variety of snacks, and a load of merchandise (from rocking chairs to roto molded coolers to huge grills and smokers).

            It is part of the state identity. With the expansion I bet it will become part of the southeastern regional identity. And if you’re near one it’s worth stopping at.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Yeah, people seem to think Wawa is the best thing ever. One opened near here and people were acting like it was the second coming.

      • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Midwest is much more corn and bean farming, not cattle ranching. That’s more west rather than Midwest. There’s some dairy farms, but those are more north usually.

    • xX_fnord_Xx@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      In America, sometimes you have to park two tanks.

      Pizza slices are easy to shove into your face while you drive for an hour to your job.

      Driving is boring and sipping on a huge soft drink gets some people through it.

      It is cheap because over the years the government had bailed out farmers/producers making corn, cheese, wheat, etc very cheap.

      It is a breakfast pizza, I’m guessing a crap load of ‘cheese’ with some specks of something that could have once been called Ham. Maybe some egg product mixed in.

      Generally, things are cheaper in the Midwest, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this ad came from the deep south.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’m guessing a crap load of ‘cheese’ with some specks of something that could have once been called Ham. Maybe some egg product mixed in.

        You’re guessing wrong.

        It’s usually loaded with bacon, sausage, veggies or some combination of those. And not “egg product,” just scrambled eggs. It’s breakfast on a flatbread. I’m not sure why that’s so hard to comprehend for so many people.

    • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Ill answer all of your questions by order.

      Its so big for trucks trailers, and even RVs and Semis(Lories?) this is probably a gas station by a freeway. A lot of local stations are smaller, atleast where I am.

      Because its cheap as shit.

      You’ll usually get one and drink it over the day, especially if my freeway gas station hypothesis is correct, there are a long stretches of american highway with fuck all.

      Their probably banking on you grabbing one or two more items to help even out the loss and turn it into a profit. Also government subsidies may be a factor.

      I cant Identify what type of pizza that is, maybe cheese if not IDFK.

      This station is probably is in the midwest and their taking the piss a bit. Ive personally come across “middle of nowhere lunch” advertisements while driving through eastern Nevada so I assume this is a similar situation.

      • risottinopazzesco@feddit.it
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        1 year ago

        Man those long stretches of nothing sound amazing. Where I live towns bleed into one another pretty much. You gotta really move a lot to find somewhere relatively untouched.

        • SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml
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          Loads of north America is just fuckin empty. Canada’s population density is around 4 people per km², and 99% of us are crammed up against the 49th parallel(the border) as most of the rest of the country is a frozen wasteland.
          When I was living in London, my wife and I decided to rent a car and drive up to Edinburgh for our yearly visit to her friends. Told my coworkers that we were driving and they couldn’t believe it.
          ISN’T THAT LIKE A 7 HOUR DRIVE?!
          Motherfucker, back home you do a 7hr drive to go camping on a regular weekend…

        • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          It can be pretty neat during the day, but man does it fuck with your senses at night. If youre lucky youll have the full moon and/or the milky way. Also it can be anxiety inducing if you didnt realize how big itd be and youre gas starts getting uncomfortably low.

          • H1jAcK@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Driving through Wyoming on a mostly moonless night along an empty highway was one of the best driving experiences I’ve ever had.

        • Apollo@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          Empty doesn’t necessarily mean untouched. Replace towns bleeding into each other with industrial farms.

    • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      Why is this petrol station so big? I could park 2 tanks between the petrol pumps.

      Caseys has gas stations in extremely small towns so something they have to space the pumps for is farmers coming to fill up their tractors. It is also common practice 'round here to put 3 car widths of space between pumps to allow vehicles to drive between those that are filling. Obviously in larger cities where land is a premium they’ll have fewer pumps closer together

    • kn33@lemmy.world
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      Why is this petrol station so big? I could park 2 tanks between the petrol pumps.

      People drive large vehicles here, and are often bad at it. It’s necessary.

      Why would you eat pizza for breakfast?

      It doesn’t require utensils, can be eaten while driving to work; It somewhere between 2 and 4 different food groups. Lots of advantages.

      Why would you drink so much cola (this looks like 1l-1.5l to me)?

      That’s kinda weird, gotta admit. I much prefer coffee in the morning. It is probably the 32oz, which is a little under a liter.

      How is this so cheap? They charge 4€ at my local petrol station for 0.5l of pepsi alone.

      Things are cheaper in the US in general. In the Midwest especially so.

      What kind of pizza is this?

      There’s 3 variants of the Casey’s Breakfast Pizza. See here for more info.

      Is midwest some kind of common marketing?

      In the US, anything can be marketing. Midwest is common enough that it doesn’t really stand out.

    • theragu40@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Why would you eat pizza for breakfast

      ???

      Please tell me this isn’t an Americans-only thing. I don’t understand how it could be. Do you mean to tell me when you have leftover pizza in your fridge you don’t sneak a piece in the morning? What do you do? Save it for later? I don’t believe you. You’ve never, out of curiosity, just taken a bite straight out of the fridge? At which point you’d have discovered that it is positively sublime?

      Cold pizza for breakfast is one of my favorite parts about eating pizza for dinner. If this is somehow not a thing outside America, it needs to be. For once this isn’t something fatter or grosser, it’s just eating it at a different time of day and at a different temperature and it’s life changing.

    • DreBeast@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It’s what the people want. Mega slices of pizza and giant medium sized sodas for breakfast for 4 bucks.

  • Seabazz@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    To answer most of your questions, it’s Casey’s breakfast pizza (bacon/sausage, egg, and cheese), it’s delicious. No, soda (some of us call it pop) for breakfast is weird even for us. The lot is huge cuz a ton of people here have large trucks, RV’s, etc. And yes that medium soda is huge

    • kn33@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, would’ve made a lot more sense for that to be a coffee, not a pop.

    • pimeys@lemmy.nauk.io
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      1 year ago

      But, at least you can compensate the amount of sugar you drink by filling the cup with a ton of ice!

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, I don’t drink a lot of soda, but I love the big 32 oz cups, especially if the ice is very small or chipped. You fill it all the way with ice, then put in some lemonade or fruit punch, if it collapses any ice refill with more ice then continental filling. You now have a drink that will last you the whole day, with like 7 oz of sugar water in it.

        • pimeys@lemmy.nauk.io
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, I’m from EU but love to do that when visiting family in US (in midwest…). The best is the ice from Sonic. Combine that with a corn dog, and you can again have hundreds of upvotes with a picture showing something Europeans don’t understand.

          My diabetes forces me to drink the sugar free options though, drinks with sugar are the worst poison for my body. Dr Pepper Zero was the best when I visited this autumn. And, to be honest, I never drink soft drinks when I’m back in EU…

    • JRush@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Maybe invite your cigarette outside for espresso und watch the street life

  • xX_fnord_Xx@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The hardest part to wrap your European head around would be four servings of sugary soda for breakfast, but how many people do you know that drink cups and cups of builders tea that is more sugar and milk than tea?

    Neither side is right, humans can just be gross dopamine chasers in different ways. Compare the ‘pizza’ to a sausage roll, or whatever buttery monstrosity the French enjoy.