“Mummy, I’m hungry. I want Mc Donald’s.” The plump girl seems sleepy but her determined voice is enough to catch her mother’s attention.
“Yes sweetheart, I know you’re hungry. Charlie, can you look for somewhere to stop please? Daddy will find a place soon sweety.”
“I want Mc Donald’s now. I want Mc Donald’s now.” She bounces up and down in the seat, repeating the four words endlessly.
This was my first time in USA. I sit in the front seat next to Charlie on my way from Detroit to The Fowler Center outside Mayville, where I will spend the summer as a Camp Counselor, working with kids and adults with special needs.
“I’m hungry mummy.” Charlie’s daughter looks out the window.
“I know honey. Daddy will stop somewhere. Next exit is a Wendy’s…how about that? And I know there’s a Taco Bell within a few minutes.”
The light voice is impatient. “Mummy, I said I wanted Mc Donald’s! I want Mc Donald’s mum!”
I rest my head against the window and stare at the dark flat landscape. The fast food chains rectangular neon signs shine luminously along the highway. In a country where numerous people suffer from obesity I find it perplexing to see how so many can indulge in Big Mac’s, super sized sodas, fries and other obvious unhealthy meals.
Charlie skids into the next exit and stops in front of a Mexican restaurant. His daughter doesn’t say a word about Mc Donald’s. By the entrance, two plastic men with bushy eyebrows clad in gaudy costumes and sombreros welcome us.
I order a vegetarian tortilla plate, expecting two filled tortillas with salad on the side. Ten minutes later, the waiter serves me a meal enough for two grown-ups. Four filled tortillas, a big portion of rice that covers a vegetarian mince and melted cheese on top of everything. No salad. I manage to eat almost half of it until I am full.
“Don’t you want a doggy bag?” The mother holds up one of the four boxes and highs a questioning eyebrow.
What is a doggy bag?
My puzzled look tells her I don’t get it.
“For your food, so you can eat it later,” she says, as if it is the most natural thing to bring your remaining food home in a take away box.
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“To-Go Box” is a more polite permutation of the idea. Definitely not as common outside the US…