broaden the search?
Personally, I'm happy without chains and drive throughs, despite rare urges for grabbing something fast, cheap, decadently full of transfats and who knows what other horrors, without having to get out of my pajamas ;-)
But the other 99.9% of the time, I relish the absence of national chains -- and the resulting beautiful variety of local mom and pop businesses -- as a huge part of what makes South Walton so special; so appealing to tourists of significantly higher demographic profile than those who visit our neighboring counties; and such a big reason why I live here rather than any geography-of-nowhere town, USA.
National chains suck money out of local economies at dizzying rates, siphoning our cash into the pockets of folks who have no accountability to us or to their employees,nd no interest in our community other than how much profit they can extract. Local mom and pops keep the money in the community where it undergoes a multiplier effect of great benefit to the local economy. (I majored in English, and withdrew in disgrace from Economics 101; otherwise I'd explain this in more detail.)
Besides that, when you go in a restaurant where the owner is your neighbor, there is far greater accountability than with a chain. If you don't like their food or the way their servers act, you let the proprietor know, and if desired changes don't come, you can take your business elsewhere. With chains, the employees most often don't care (it's just a thankless job paying awful wages, after all). Any suggestions or complaints you offer most likely end up in File 13; the best you could hope for is a generic form letter thanking you for your interest in MacDoodles.
I could go on and on about that, but I want to look at this food thing from another angle. What about cooking our own food and picnicking, brown bagging, etc.? I know we're all busy and on the go, but is it that hard to make a big casserole or pot of soup, or prep veggies for quick steaming, for the week, so there's something in the fridge handy to heat up when you're too rushed or too tired to cook or go out?
Okay, if that's too hard, then what a bout a co-op? Maybe you poll your neighbors to find out who likes what sort of food, and have a few potlucks together to check out each other's cooking. Then the folks with similar tastes (or similar health issues, like cholesterol, diabetes, food allergies) could form a cooking co-op, and take turns cooking for the group, organized to meet the needs and schedules of those in the group.
Maybe on Sunday afternoons, a different member delivers a set amount of servings of a main dish to each member -- or members pick up at a set time. Or maybe the group prefers individual meals frozen like homemade TV dinners. (I used to make these as part of my postpartum doula service for new mothers, and they were a huge hit; one former client still gets glassy-eyed when recalling the meals I filled her freezer with, and that baby is now a teenager.) Someone who loves to cook might become the group chef, with members paying food costs and some kind of compensation for the cook's time and effort. A more economical, egalitarian "personal chef" service, if you will.
I'm sure there are gazillions of variations on this theme (for instance, monthly or weekly group cookathons -- at a church kitchen maybe, or local restaurant on their closed day? -- where neighbors gather and make big batches of dishes for members to take home in their own containers and freeze or whatever). Does anybody besides me think this could be a workable way to meet our affordable/easy/fast food needs, and maybe get to know some neighbors better while we're at it?
I'm not for fast food on 98 but I don't think a McD hamburger can really hurt you if you have one in a blue moon! I will enjoy one every 6 months to a year. I also love to get a baked potato from Wendy's when I'm on a road trip.
A High School too!!!!
