I’m 60 now and am literally a Boomer; fast food has definitely gotten worse. Especially in the last 10 years or so. The foods and processes have been tweaked and tuned to the point that the value of the food hovers just barely above the price and not a tick more.

Health concerns also play a role. McDonald’s fries are a good example. When I was young they were cooked in beef tallow and they were so good they would roll your eyes back in your head in in ecstacy (not kidding). They switched to vegetable oil due to health concerns over saturated fats and they’ve just never been the same.

We sense less and less as we get older. I’ve learned this from observing my kids and seeing them react to things like needles and spicy food with such greater sensitivity than me. I can remember being like them, too. But I just plow through experiences now with less sensation of them. Part of it is that my senses are physically more dull, but also important: my cognitive filters are much more established and sensations that are outside of them get little notice. Meanwhile my kids are like raw nerves at the mercy of every experience that comes their way. Bubble gum probably doesn’t blow your hair back anymore either but I bet it was awesome when you were a kid.

29 and it’s worse now

I used to actively enjoy Carl’s Jr, they made good burgers, especially for a fast food place

Starting 2022ish they started all tasting… Bland? Like no matter what’s put on it there’s a never-ending bland flavorless ness underneath it all and it sucks

Basically everywhere else too but that’s the one I noticed

Maybe folks have just grown out of most fast food. It is generally too greasy for my stomach now. Most candy feels so sweet to me now that it makes me a little nauseous.

KFC has gotten shittier chicken. I don’t even eat there anymore. I would rather get a rotisserie from a food library.

Wendy’s has gotten worse with their ‘sauced nuggets’. I’m 100% convinced the quality of meat in their chicken nuggets got worse and the new CEO is trying to cover it up by adding sauces as a gimmick.

It has gone to shit.

In some cases like McDonald’s, the ingredients have been on par while the cooking quality has tanked.

For a lot of other places, both the cooking and ingredient quality tanked.

Taco Bell is probably one of the few major chains I still eat at because their ingredients are hard to fuck up cooking and putting it together isn’t that difficult.

27 years old here, its gone to complete shit. Last mcdonalds I tried was just weirdly uniform mush with barely any discernable flavour.

I think it was always shit, you and your taste buds just grew up.

At the time I ate lots of fast-food I also liked to drink lots of soda and ice tea, like 2 liters in one sitting when hung over. Now I puke a little in my mouth just thinking of that garbage.

As far as I can tell, Wendy’s took a dive after the founder passed away, and Pizza Hut took a dive at least 20 years ago.

The rest it seems dependent on location. I often wonder how much of the variable issues of quality I see are result of continued pressure on the workers as capitalism continues to grind them down.

It doesn’t pay a living wage so the people working there don’t give a shit about anything

I think enshittification is hitting everything, but it’s probably also that you are old. I find that I just can’t eat the same way that I could 20 years ago.

Both?

Yes it has gotten worse and time is a relentless asshole.

I work at McDonald’s, it is not good and is best avoided.

I’m in my 40s, and I’ve found that fast food quality varies up and down from year to year and location to location.

Brand names have gotten worse, that’s not you. Cost saving measures upon making sizes smaller while still raising prices. I swear, KFC mid-2000’s was amazing compared to the bland oily ones of today. That said, you probably have gotten desensitized to them in general as you grew older too.

Local fast food is still really good for me, but I’d just avoid major brands like Mcdonalds. They’ve become synonymous with trash food.