Burger King’s delivery service, which was launched in the DC area in the fall of 2011, is currently expanding to the rest of the country. The service slaps a $2 delivery fee onto its regular prices and offers the full range of its menu items to any location within a 10-minute drive of participating stores. Burger King delivery hours vary from store to store, but typically begin after breakfast, from 11am (forget rubbery pancakes at your door) to 10pm (no luck for your late night munchies).

As the world’s second largest hamburger chain, Burger King hopes its delivery service will bump its famous flame-broiled recipe to the forefront of your fast-food cravings. Especially since McDonald’s convenience ends at drive-thrus and an extremely limited delivery service (exclusive to NYC-based business offices).

With a surge of online delivery websites, including GrubHub.com, Delivery.com, and Campusfood.com, offering a wide-variety of restaurants that deliver web orders to your door, why would you choose Burger King delivery? It requires an $8-$10 minimum purchase and an up-to-30 minute delivery wait, the delivery service defeats the whole point of fast food – fast food is supposed to be cheap and fast. Instead, why not order a fresh salad from your neighborhood Italian joint? Support your health, while supporting a local business.

Who knows whether this is a passing fad or the beginning of a major fast food milestone? Domino’s Spokesman Tim McIntyre is skeptical. “We wish them luck,” he says, “There is a reason that not all pizza places deliver: It isn’t easy.”

-A vast expansion in the power of the FDA to regulate food
-Better overall food safety
-Slightly higher food costs

Yahoo! News breaks it down in more detail. I encourage you to give it a read.

I was so excited I made my coworkers stop so I could take a few photos of the fans camping out, eagerly awaiting the grand opening.

I chatted with a few people, some had come as far as Springfield, IL, a few hundred miles away.

It’s a powerful spot, but a little dramatic. However, their point is accurate. We should eat less meat. More fruits and vegetables. It may actually put years on your life.

McDonald’s and Wendy’s top the list, each with Kid’s meals in the 800 calorie range.

Wow. I bet that’s as much as most children need to eat in a day. Parents, take note. Fast food should be treated as an occasional treat, don’t feed this stuff to your kids everyday.

Here are the rules. In honor of my post on the worst fast food restaurants, tell me your least favorite fast food restaurant and why. I’ll mail out the card to a random poster.

Warning: I’ve had this card sitting around for a long time. It doesn’t look to be expired, but I won’t be held responsible if it doesn’t work.

Contest ends next Wednesday. Happy posting!

McDonald’s New Angus Wraps:

Can you say gross? The Mushroom and Swiss looks particularly disgusting. I was hoping the Big Mac Snack Wrap would be the end of the burger wrap, but it must have done better than I predicted.

Cantina Tacos from Taco Bell:

Looks like Taco Bell is trying to copy authentic, taqueria style tacos. Good luck with that. I personally have no desire to order these. Luckily for me, if I want good, authentic tacos I just need to walk out my door in any direction. My neighborhood is packed with good taquerias.

If any one sees commercials for these posted online, let me know.

In Defense of Fast Food?

Finally, in a bit of brain twisting, mind-boggling food irony, UTNE Reader published an article called: In Praise of Fast Food. You know that got my attention.

In short, the article points out that “fast food” has long been an ideal of human kind, and that the current movement back to traditional/slow food is counter to human progress. Check out this excerpt:

For our ancestors, natural was something quite nasty. Natural often tasted bad. Fresh meat was rank and tough, fresh fruits inedibly sour, fresh vegetables bitter. Natural was unreliable. Fresh milk soured; eggs went rotten. Everywhere seasons of plenty were followed by seasons of hunger. Natural was also usually indigestible. Grains, which supplied 50 to 90 percent of the calories in most societies, have to be threshed, ground, and cooked to make them edible.

Excerpt from In Praise of Fast Food
by Rachel Laudan, from the book The Gastronomica Reader

She goes on to explain that industrial food may not be quite as bad as we make it out to be. I’ll save you the full summary, but this is great read for any foodie.

I think she makes valid points. I like natural foods, but there’s no way I’m giving up some of the great canned conveniences of modern times. Just think of Plumpy Nut, basically a mix of peanut butter and powdered milk, a miracle industrial food that is helping eliminate malnutrition and starvation in third world countries.

I wasn’t able to find anything online about this sandwich. It’s obviously a copy of Chick-fil-A’s chicken sandwich formula. White bun, friend chicken breast and pickles. I’m wondering if this is a Chicago area test. Has anyone else heard about this?

Eatocracy.CNN.com – CNN has joined the revolution, the food blog revolution that is. A few weeks back they launched their own food based site, a virtual cornucopia of chow. A little late to the party, but worth checking out.

In-N-Out’s Double Double, Animal Style – Great Serious Eats post about one hungry New Yorker that sets out to make his own Double Double. Good writing and great photos. Check him out.

A Hamburger Today Leftovers – Yes, time for shameless self promotion. If you didn’t get a chance to see it, Fast Food Reviewed was featured on A Hamburger Today’s Leftovers section last week. Pretty cool, I’m jazzed to be mentioned on such a great site.

Cheeseburger found in South Carolina Gas Tank – While America may run on cheeseburgers. Cars don’t.