Is this normal-looking fast food meal the future of American food?

Here’s my review of a new Portland burger joint called Jackson’s Lite-N-Tasy from today’s Willamette Week.

It’s a pretty cool place, the sort that might influence a lot of food you eat in the future. It’s not particularly local or organic, the bywords of the moment, especially in Portland, but it does manage to deliver something we desperately need: light, cheap food that’s palatable to the American masses.

Everything at Jackson’s looks like your average ‘Merican fast food joint—our intern, John, didn’t notice anything special except all the weird numbers by everything—but it’s actually super, super light.

As in, a quarter-pound burger, fries and a chocolate shake for 660 calories. That’s about half the calories of McDonald’s, Wendy’s or Burger King. As I argued in Chubster (which you can pick up here) the so-called obesity epidemic is actually a bubble caused by changing lifestyle that hasn’t been matched by a changing diet. This could be that change.

Or we could see salad shops selling local, organic fare in Alabama. 

8 months ago  /  5 notes