No more roadside tables? That's sad. I never thought of that before but yes, growing up we always packed food for road trips. I did it with my own kids too. I think we still have roadside tables here in VT.

I still take food with me most of the time, although more often than not, we'll stop at a fast food place or grocery store, and sit in the car in the parking lot to eat.

There are still a few roadside tables here and there, but they're very difficult to find. Most of them I've seen in the last couple decades are located at state welcome centers or rest areas along interstates - which doesn't exactly make them typical roadside picnic tables, but at least it helps you find those. There are some along Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway in Va, but those are mountaintop scenic routes (not something you'd be likely to travel on a daily basis), rather than typical state roads.

The rare ones along a typical state road are much more difficult to find, as most of those have been removed over the years. I'm sure that the proliferation of fast food places has had a lot to do with it, as well as convenience stores such as Sheetz and Royal Farms, which have food counters, with indoor and/or outdoor tables on site. But I'm also sure other factors have led to the demise of the roadside picnic table, such as widening roads, which gobbled up too much of the area between the road and nearby private property to retain the picnic areas, and the cost of maintaining the tables, emptying trash cans, grass cutting, etc.

We still have the usual number here in MI. They're well maintained too. I'm often stopping at them to walk my dog, if not to go to the bathroom and they seem to be frequented by others for those reasons. I see people eating at the bigger ones too; perhaps not as much as I used to. For my family growing up, my mother hated picnics because they were just more work for her, but for us kids it was fun, not least of which because we had picnic food. We usually went to a lake park too where we would swim. Perhaps also eating outside doesn't have the same appeal as more people have decks? They were rare back in the day - in our socioeconomic class anyway.

Decades ago when I went out West I was shocked at the lack of rest areas in other states, and they were dreary affairs too. No trees, no landscaping to speak of, maybe just a cement roof over a table. Come to MI for the beautiful and plentiful rest areas! Especially on the big lakes.

I remember the mid-1970's debate by the restaurant industry regarding their doubling portions.

That's the way I grew up in the '60s. Even well into the '70s my dad wouldn't buy coffee. He took his propane camp stove & a cooler of food on any long trip. If he wanted coffee, he'd stop at a rest area & set up his stove.

I did that & then made the mistake of marrying someone who didn't like camping & thought eating at restaurants was easier. So 30 years of arguments & compromises. Tho now that I'm low carb, he doesn't have as much of a problem with me packing food. It's just too hard to find real food on the Interstates. I did find out that if I take care & make it a bit fancy, he's quite appreciative.

When we had cookouts my father would have us children gather kindling instead of using lighter fluid to start the fire on the grill (no gas grills in those days, just simple metal affairs). Stopping by the roadside and buying food was not part of our life back then in the 50's and 60's. Either we brought it along or we didn't have it. If nothing else it saves money. I make my own coffee, almost never buy any. My 3 cup a day habit would be too expensive if I relied on store made coffee especially since I am a bit of a coffee snob.

I remember putting a metal grill over the rocks surrounding a wood fire. Once the wood turned to coals or embers, we'd cook what we had, and it tasted great. Matter of fact, I've done that in the past 5 years when out west, as dried sage brush makes a great fire for cooking.

I know of one—ONE—roadside table on Hwy 101 going up the coast. Most of the Interstate rest stops in California have been closed because they are dangerous places these days. Sad.

It has been my belief—from what I have read—that obesity levels skyrocketed in the early 80s when the “fat free food” craze began. It was touted that you could eat as much as you wanted of, say Snackwells cookies, because there was no fat in them. Remember fat free margarine? Ghastly stuff, but I put it on my fat free popcorn!

Microwave ovens were introduced in the mid-70s, maybe we should blame that...

So I didn't believe it and looked it up. They really do have fat free margarine. But check out the ingredients...mono and di-glycerides...do those not count as fat? Is there some kind of loophole that lets them not count them or their calories on labels?



Are they even safe? Do they occur in natural foods? I can't see much danger except for maybe increased gluconeogenesis as the body tries to get rid of the higher ratio of glycerols...

Don't know about safe, but I know it isn't food. Before I stopped eating bread, I would eat it margarine-less at church functions - I Can't Believe It's Not Butter was on all the tables. It tastes nasty - really nasty. I don't know how anyone could mistake it for butter.

There won't be a whole lot of glycerol in a serving. If glycerol is 1/10th of the average triglyceride in grams, then if the fatty acid chain length was about the same, it'd be 1/7th in di-and 1/4 in monoglyceride. This is basically a tiny amount of fat emulsified to give it some substance.

I'd guess that these fats being less hydrophobic vs. triglyceride is probably a factor in their use here.

Ah, the fat-free margarine. 1990's for me. On my homemade whole wheat bread. Trust me, I could believe it's not butter. It's too bad about that bread not turning out to be so good for me. Fresh homemade bread was so tasty. And addictive. And...okay, diabetes just doesn't suit me, and the hundred percent whole wheat stuff sent my blood sugar way too high, so no more bread.

In the mid 1990's my sheep shearer said margarine was bad, so I switched to butter. Just took a couple more years to meet DANDR,then dropped the bread, and stopped making homemade bread : hot and steaming loaves now a thing of the past.

In the 80s I remember all my aunts switching to margarine from butter because it was supposedly healthier. In the 90s all my uncles had heart attacks.