Fast food utensils - before plastic

[Stephen Tashiro]

There are various news stories about bans on "single use" plastic utensils and straws. That makes me try to remember what utensils came with fast food when I was a kid. I remember wax paper straws. I'm tempted to say that there were wooden knives, forks, and spoons because this seems logical. However, I can't honestly say I remember them. Were they ever common? Or was it assumed that people would not need utensils? (I remember the days when hamburgers were more stoutly constructed. It was safe to assume you'd only need your hands.)

[Curt Harms]

I don't remember a time when plastic wasn't common. I wonder if we'll see more biodegradable plastic-like materials going forward.

[Lee Schierer]

There were little flat wooden spoons when you got individual containers of ice cream.

[Jim Becker]

A lot of "fast food" didn't even exist "back in the day" and the menus were not as diverse earlier on...no real need for "utensils" and as someone noted, straws may have been the waxed paper type. Today, there's a lot more things like salads and other items that are no longer "finger food", so more use of plastic utensils. And even when you can eat most of something with your hands (think Taco Bell), there's that stuff that drops out that you don't want to waste. So you grab a plastic spork from the bin and clean up every last drop. :)


There's some validity to the concerns about these plastic based products, both in sheer volume as well as the damage they bring to the environment and biosphere. We don't have to "eliminate" some of these things so much as we need to change our usage patterns and also adopt newer bio-degradable materials to make them. It can be done. But do we want to?

[Bill Dufour]

Chopsticks used to be a single piece of wood that you split apart on a scored line to split into two separate pieces.
Bill D

[Pat Barry]

I believe it was common for folks to carry their own spork with them to deal with this situation.

[John K Jordan]

When I was a kid my family never traveled without knives, forks and spoons from the kitchen, a cutting board, and food and drink in a cooler. Of course, there was no such thing as fast food and we didn't go to restaurants so I have no idea if takeout existed. (Imagine taking seven kids to a restaurant!) We would stop at a grocery store for bread and cheese and such if needed. I still travel like that at times since I hate to spend the ridiculous amounts for junky food.

JKJ

[Bob Turkovich]

I can't remember what we used for utensils before plastic but I know what may replace it.

Corn starch.

Don't laugh. My environmental-friendly local golf course has been using corn starch tees for years. (They also used goats for addressing evasive species plants but that's another story.) They look and feel like plastic but are bio-degradable. They're preferred over wood as they don't damage mower blades.

[Roger Nair]

As I remember the fifties before McDonalds and such, whether carry out or drive-in, it was all finger food fries, hamburgers, wieners and chicken in a basket. If you went inside and sat down, the culinary world opened up and you ate biscuits and gravy, fries and gravy and mashed potatoes and gravy on thick white plates with stainless utensils in hand.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

I remember well the little flat wooden "spoons" that came with small cups of ice cream. I just saw them recently somewhere, individually wrapped in paper and in a long roll. A stand at a nearby farmer's market sells large cups of mushrooms simmered in butter. Each cup comes with a wooden thing that resembles a large toothpick to skewer the mushrooms and eat them.

Back in the 1960's fast food was indeed all finger food. And of course the original ice cream cone is a sort of edible container that replaced bowls and dishes. There were tiny little stamped metal spoons 125 yrs ago that were given with ice cream in a dish. Frankly, other than hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, funnel cake and ice cream, I don't remember any other fast food. Hot dog buns were the original fast food container. Before that, vendors provided a pair of clean gloves to eat a sausage/wurst. One vendor got tired of folks walking off with the gloves, so he developed the bun.

My wife thinks that broccoli cheese soup served in a small hollowed out loaf of bread is the cat's meow. Ever winter fair and carnival, I know what she will be eating.

[Dennis Peacock]

I love a good broccoli and cheese soup! :)

[Andrew Joiner]

I remember well the little flat wooden "spoons" that came with small cups of ice cream.

There coming back and affordable. We're ordering some for a yearly banquet we have.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071CTQYJN...753643755&th=1 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071CTQYJN/ref=asc_df_B06VXKDFP55495543/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=395033&creativeASIN=B06VXKDFP5&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198056903981&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15916776955131726166&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032850&hvtargid=pla-323753643755&th=1)

[roger wiegand]

"Soon, where Toontown once stood will be a string of gas stations, inexpensive motels, restaurants that serve rapidly prepared food. Tire salons, automobile dealerships and wonderful, wonderful billboards reaching as far as the eye can see. My God, it'll be beautiful."

Yup, no rapidly prepared food when I was very young. My family was in the picnic/catering business and we used paper straws in our returnable pop bottles and wooden sporks and flat spoons on occasion. Most foods were wrapped in a tissue and eaten out of hand. If you went to a restaurant you sat down and ate with metal utensils.

I look forward to the demise of much of our throwaway plastics, especially unnecessary packaging. Since plastic bags got banned I can now get a paper bag that doesn't rip and leave my purchases trailed across the parking lot at the Home Depot. Now that's progress!

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I can't remember what we used for utensils before plastic but I know what may replace it.

Corn starch.

Don't laugh. My environmental-friendly local golf course has been using corn starch tees for years. (They also used goats for addressing evasive species plants but that's another story.) They look and feel like plastic but are bio-degradable. They're preferred over wood as they don't damage mower blades.

So the environmentalists opted to replace a naturally biodegradable wood product with processed bi-product of Monsanto's GMO corn??? That's kinda funny! Seriously though, corn starch products do have merit for some things.

[Jim Koepke]

So the environmentalists opted to replace a naturally biodegradable wood product with processed bi-product of Monsanto's GMO corn??? That's kinda funny! Seriously though, corn starch products do have merit for some things.

The little wooden spoons and forks may take years to biodegrade. A corn starch spoon would likely biodegrade much quicker.

Making wooden utensils likely takes more resources and energy than popping corn starch out of a mold.

When it comes down to it, which is cheaper to make? That is the one that will be used by the fast food industry.

jtk

[Patrick Walsh]

I have noticed in my area many smaller buisness using biodegradable forks and knifes..

No idea what’s they are made of “maybe the corn starch suggested above”?

Whatever the case I’m all for it. Plastic is evil. As a woodworker I despise the stuff across the board..

I also am loving the paper bags at Home Depot.

[Bruce Wrenn]

How does that paper bag hold up when it's pouring rain? I'm not a fan of plastic bags for everything. Somehow, baggers think your groceries get lighter if you use more bags, especially if you are on the north side of seventy.

[Lee Schierer]

How does that paper bag hold up when it's pouring rain? I'm not a fan of plastic bags for everything. Somehow, baggers think your groceries get lighter if you use more bags, especially if you are on the north side of seventy.

Spain was way ahead of us back in 1960, when you went shopping there you used net shopping bags like these.
387063

[Bill Jobe]

There are various news stories about bans on "single use" plastic utensils and straws. That makes me try to remember what utensils came with fast food when I was a kid. I remember wax paper straws. I'm tempted to say that there were wooden knives, forks, and spoons because this seems logical. However, I can't honestly say I remember them. Were they ever common? Or was it assumed that people would not need utensils? (I remember the days when hamburgers were more stoutly constructed. It was safe to assume you'd only need your hands.)

I think the idea was a concerted effort to help people eat less.

[Rick Potter]

"Invasion of the Sporks!".

Coming to your town soon.

[Mac McQuinn]

On my trips to see my Grandkids, I stop at a regional coffee shop in Ohio, they use compostable cups and lids, I like them, feel good in the hand, transfer less heat and no plastic aftertaste. On grocery bags we purchased bags that are woven fabric, take to market and reuse, some even have zippers and are insulated. Chuck a bag of ice on top and it keeps everything cool if you have a ways to travel. Seafood department supply's the ice gratis. We've been using the same bags for years as they're stronger than plastic or paper.
Mac



I have noticed in my area many smaller buisness using biodegradable forks and knifes..

No idea what’s they are made of “maybe the corn starch suggested above”?

Whatever the case I’m all for it. Plastic is evil. As a woodworker I despise the stuff across the board..

I also am loving the paper bags at Home Depot.

[James Pallas]

I can remember getting shrimp or oysters at the beach in the summer. You were given a paper cup of shrimp or oysters a little paper cup of cocktail sauce and a small 2 prong wooden fork. It was longer than the ice cream spoons. It may have been only at that one place we used to go tho. I loved the oysters. It wasn't until I was older that I realized they they were canned oysters and not fresh. Shrimp or oysters and a cold orange Nehi, I was good to go at 8 years old until the sunburn got more than I could take. I'm guessing that those wooden forks were meant to get the olive out of adult beverages.
Jim

[Patrick Walsh]

I’m more than willing to have my purchases strewn all over the parking lot if I can help just one bag from contributing the the messes like the link below popping up all over out oceans..

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/10/30/a-giant-patch-of-plastic-garbage-discovered-floating-off-the-coast-of-caribbean-coastline/


How does that paper bag hold up when it's pouring rain? I'm not a fan of plastic bags for everything. Somehow, baggers think your groceries get lighter if you use more bags, especially if you are on the north side of seventy.

[Jim Koepke]

"Invasion of the Sporks!".

Coming to your town soon.

How about some of these:

"Sporknado"

"Night of the Living Spork"

"Sporkerman"

"Sporkenstein"

Or for the travel oriented:

"Sporks Ahoy"

"Sporks to Alaska"

"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Around the old Spork Tree"

Okay, that last one is a bit much and should be a musical.

jtk

[Bill Jobe]

Our local drive in movie sold fast food on paper plates. You could even order a pizza.

[James Pallas]

Our local drive in movie sold fast food on paper plates. You could even order a pizza.
Is that the pizza that was "baked" under the heat lamps?:)
Jim

[Bill Dufour]

I hear tell of a new network it will an all sporks format.
My local newspaper has a good "sporks" section.
This reminds me of a Monty Python skit about news for 'STORAGE JARS"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjiR2GkXK2Q

BILL D

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I love a good broccoli and cheese soup! :)

The soup part is difficult, at best, to consume with those small flat wooden spoons being discussed so a person would probably have to resort to drinking from the bowl?

[Bill Jobe]

Is that the pizza that was "baked" under the heat lamps?:)
Jim

I think it was some kind of a toaster oven, if I recall correctly. The "red bulb" devices that resembled a microwave came a little later on, at least in our area. These machines sat next to a vending machine that had premade, and probably pre-cooked, sandwiches in a special crinklely celephane pouch. A Phillips 66 had one in my hometown.
At the time there were no pizza places anywhere near us.
At some point in the early to mid 60s a pizza spot opened up downtown.
We always had a great time when we'd get hungry for pizza at home. Mom would lay out every kind of cheese and meat, onions and so forth, in a line that covered the entire kitchen counters. She'd stir up a big bowl of dough and each of us made our own crust and went down the line adding whatever looked good.
It was quite a special event for me and my siblings.
For a long time prior to pizza chains forming you could buy pizza kits in grocery stores. Came with a can of sause, dough mix and, I think, a packet of dried cheese.
Perhaps they still do?

[John Sanford]

Waxed paper straws. I hated them. I despise the notion of them making a comeback.

[Kev Williams]

Waxed paper straws- anyone besides me that used to ram them thru raw potatoes? Very hard to do with plastic straws, need that wax!

wood stick spoons-
387267
I just finished eating the one in front there ;) -- these things are like Dreamcicle's in a cup, which BTW along with Fudgecicle, Popcicles and even the high-end Magnums all come attached to a stick!

---And, you guys who say you grew up with no fast food-- ? I'm 64, and back in the 50's we had FrostStops, Hires, and several family owned burger joints, the one near us was the Auntie-Freeze, they sold burgers, fries, hot dogs and fish n' chips... 25c got you an actual LARGE order of fries, a paper bag (1 size up from a lunch sack) about 2/3 full.. Once a week my old man would buy us dinner there, a dozen burgers and a bag o' fries, I think the bill was less than $3...

And then there were these--
387268
-I guess those aluminum trays weren't exactly 'utinsels', but haven't seen one of those in awhile-

[Bill Dufour]

I do remember Slim Pickens last movie where he was trying to sell folks a franchise to "Spaghetti in a sack". yes it would fall through the sack but that is what it fun and exciting to the customers.
Bil lD

[Bill Jobe]

I do remember Slim Pickens last movie where he was trying to sell folks a franchise to "Spaghetti in a sack". yes it would fall through the sack but that is what it fun and exciting to the customers.
Bil lD

Was that before or after riding and atomic bomb like it was a bucking bronco?

[andrew whicker]

I'm pretty libertarian, but banning plastic bags in my area would be awesome.

There are just problems that individuals can't solve very well, but collections of people can solve. Maybe we could tax them out of existence vs outright banning. Either way, whales dying after ingesting pounds of plastic is not acceptable.

[Brian Elfert]

I've read that landfills are so compacted these days that biodegradable products don't really degrade due to lack of oxygen.

[Bill Dufour]

This was a much later movie. You are thinking of Dr. Strangelove or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snTaSJk0n_Y
Bill d

[Bill Dufour]

This thread made me look it up. Those Chinese food paper boxes are an American invention. they are called oyster boxes. Invented around 1880 when people bought lots of fresh shucked oysters to take home and cook until overfishing and pollution destroyed the harvest.
Bill D.

[Jim Koepke]

-I guess those aluminum trays weren't exactly 'utinsels', but haven't seen one of those in awhile-

You can thank the microwave oven for that.

As technology evolves, it can displace other technologies.

jtk