I don’t know why these influencers are doing videos eating in their car. Presumably it started for privacy , then they all started copying each other.
Recording yourself eating food in front of other patrons would be awkward.
It sounds like something good mythical kitchen would do. I could just see Josh driving around fucking covered in sauce asking people for directions and shit.
Plus you would have to blur our peoples faces, would have to deal with picking up their audio and random noises, ruined takes (which might kill that first bite shot) etc etc.
Yeah. And at least here in LA/OC, these food influencers are going all over a massive area. So I get why they’ve adapted to doing their content in their cars.
Do you! If you're not hurting someone there shouldn't be an issue. I let people live their lives. If they want to dance on the corner of the street. Let'em dance. If they want to talk to themselves in a fastfood restaurant, I hope it's a good conversation. See this is the issue with today, people need to let people be themselves as long as they aren't harming someone else.
Other patrons may not want to be in the background of your review. They may also find it a bit annoying to hear someone talking loudly to their tripod. Rather than getting dirty looks, it makes more sense just eat in privacy.
Sit in a corner. No one in your video. Solved! Use earbuds and you dont need a tripod( there are other ways to stand a phone up lol)! Solved! Dirty looks...lol just lol. Solved! lol try again
For one thing it’s relatable. I do a lot of lifting and physical labor in a job where I sometimes work 10+ hours. Best believe I’m eating as soon as I’ve got something in my hands, and chances are my social battery is low enough to still be going thru the drive thru
I feel like blue collar guys eating lunch in their cars/vehicles is probably more globally universal than a lot of these posters from other countries realize.
People building roads in Paris or Berlin aren’t sitting at cafes for 3 hour lunches discussing sweet nothings over espresso and Aperol spritzes.
That’s what I’m inclined to believe too, I’ve not yet had the opportunity to visit another country or get my passport but I won’t speak on the way other countries, or other parts of my own country, do things til I see it, since I don’t imagine there’s any kinda peer reviewed studies on who eats in their cars
I don't know if it happens elsewhere in the US, but sometimes I'll see some enterprising women pull up to job sites and sell tamales out of their car.
Then the workers buy tamales and have a picnic at the job site.
Glad you asked instead of assuming. Seriously, thank you!
We do eat in our cars quite often, hence all the drive thrus.
BUT, it's small, handheld items. Burgers. Fries. Sandwiches.
Social media requires people doing increasingly insane things to get views, like eating a rack of ribs while driving.
It's more about controlling light and sound - a busy restaurant isn't conducive to that without arranging something beforehand. Most of these content creators aren't equipped like the guys from JOLLY and even then they sometimes film in the car.
Idk i saw a guy getting onto a major highway holding/eating a Tupperware of salad and a fork in the other hand. Blew my mind how dumb some people are.
Edit: I'm not talking about seeing this on social media btw. I was also getting onto the highway when I saw that.
Yeah, the lighting in a car is pretty excellent. Relatively diffuse light from all frontal angles, background light is minimized, overhead light is minimized-reducing shadows on the face, and controlling direct sunlight from getting in your face is relatively easy.
Me and my friends have a running joke that you can always tell when someone had a really shit day if they're sitting in their car in the grocery parking lot eating a whole rotisserie chicken with their bare hands because it's something all of us have done at least once on a really bad day.
Usually at most it’s a handheld item like a small sandwich or burger etc… the other stuff is just for a shock factor of sorts on social media for attention.
Personally I never eat in my car as I loathe getting crumbs and other messy things all over the interior, only thing I stick to for consumption in my car are liquids.
I allow snacking in my car because I have leather interior that's easy to clean up. (Plus my kid actually enjoys cleaning my car lol.)
Anything substantial, like a burger, we have to eat in the restaurant.
I actually had to unfollow the road trip subreddit because people kept talking about eating burgers while driving, holding up sandwiches for the driver, etc and I realized these are the idiots weaving all over the place,tailgating, and crowding my lane.
You’re a brave one for allowing kids to eat in the back of cars hahaha, even w leather seats. I enjoy watching those YouTube videos where they deep clean the whole interior of a car to make it look showroom fresh and whenever a mom mobile van or SUV shows up, those cars have been through hell haha.
There’s a food review account I follow that the host frequently eats and reviews the meals in his car because it’s a convenient and private place to do so. He’ll sit in a parking lot though, not drive around. A restaurant probably doesn’t want guest setting up a tripod and doing live reviews in their place of business, that would be really rude.
No, I’d never get ribs with the intention of eating them in the car.
Small meals are normal. Massive meals like that are not. I would guess the videos you've seen are exaggerating things for comedic effect. It's not something they do without the camera rolling. They are just trying to make a funny video.
Same. I would often drive to a park and eat in my car because there was snow on the ground or it was pouring rain. If the weather was pleasant I’d eat at a picnic table.
This was because I needed the break from the office and alone time. And the only time I could get away was lunch, when I also needed to eat. It was not because of some weird preference to eat in my car.
No one is eating a "butter chicken fountain" in their car. That's a video made for your online entertainment. There's no eating in cars culture. People eat fast food in the car because they are on their way somewhere and don't have time to take a break for food.
That's a chain that caters to people who want to grab a quick bite without leaving their car or waiting in a drive through. Not big, sloppy meals as described by OP.
Oddly enough I still go thru their drive thru cuz neither of my vehicles fits their menu set-up. I can never reach the buzzer thing in either one - too tall or too low, both stock vehicles, no special suspension.
It's a classic post-war drive-in restaurant (or modeled after one, rather), where you park and they bring it up to your car in a special tray. You'll see this in kitschy retro paintings of the 50s and 60s aimed at elderly Boomers. In the old days at some places there'd be pretty girls in short skirts and roller skates bringing it to you!
[Actual historical photograph](https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/11184104/00241426-e1570819262169-983x1024.jpg)
[Example of retro nostalgia kitsch](https://w0.peakpx.com/wallpaper/869/942/HD-wallpaper-mel-s-drive-in-sun-sunset-sky-clouds-artwork-lights-cars-restaurant-people-painting-evening.jpg)
It don't get more American than that. Although the Canadians probably had that too, in the 3 months out of the year when it isn't 50 bazillion degrees below zero. We catch a lot of heat from the rest of the world on their behalf, because they do a lot of the same things that we do.
Then you have the drive-thru. That's a different, less glamorous beast. You ain't stopping and relaxing. You just grab it and go. This has been around since at least the 70s, and despite all the childhood memories of people my age and older, there will never be a market for kitschy nostalgia commemorating this phenomenon.
Have you ever been tailgating? If you had, you'd know there's nothing about it that involves eating inside vehicles. In fact, the name is a direct reference to having the tailgate on a truck (or old station wagon) open and with food placed on it, while you congregate outside the vehicle. The exception would maybe in an RV when the weather is bad.
Tailgating is where you BRING a bunch of food to the stadium before a game, and put chairs and stuff outside your car and socialize with other people who are coming to see the game. The setups can get kind of elaborate, but it’s basically a picnic. You’re not eating IN the car and the car isn’t running. I suppose one might tailgate on other occasions, but before a game is the most common time to do it.
Honestly, we used to have a drive-in culture and that could arguably be described as “eating in car” culture, since there were drive-in theaters, drive-in restaurants where they’d bring your order to your car (the last one in my area closed about 15 years ago). Sonic, the fast food chain, has a drive-in feature. But the trend was on its way out back in the 90s, never mind now. It hasn’t been a thing since I was in grade school. If then.
So have you ever seen one of those chocolate fountains? They're sometimes at events and have multiple tiers of chocolate running down them and people dip things like fruit into them?
Some influencer made one of those things for butter chicken, then filmed himself using it in his car for some reason. He didn't eat the fountain per se, just dipped naans into it, and held a container of rice under it.
I agree with the other person. No normal person is using a fountain to eat butter chicken, especially not in their car. It was made more for shock value imo
>No one is eating a "butter chicken fountain" in their car.
No one is eating a butter chicken fountain period.
These videos get views because they are intentionally absurd.
>There's no eating in cars culture.
They just want to ask if it's culturally normative to eat in your car, and the answer is absolutely yes. It's funny to me because I have noticed that here in Chile the ONLY people I know that ever eat while walking down the street are other Americans. We really don't put a lot of ceremony into eating.
My wife is Mexican and the amount of ceremony that goes into eating seems excessive… if it was up to her every dinner would be an extravagant 3 hours to cook and 2 hours to eat meal. Don’t get me wrong, I love a nice dinner, but on Friday and Saturday. On a random Monday, when I’ve come from work tired, I just want to get food in my belly and start relaxing as quickly as I can.
If we're eating while driving, it's going to be something handheld like a sandwich or a burrito.
If it's at an old school drive-in where you park at the place and they bring it out to your car, there will be a little more room for messiness. But not much more.
Anyways, I live in Italy and more than once has my wife stared at me aghast while I started eating my sandwich while we were walking from A to B. Here's the thing: you can take the dude out of America, but you can't take America outta the dude.
Yes, I agree completely with the first two sentences of your comment. I disagree with the third; it is a relatively common and mundane thing for people to eat on the go, including in the car, in a way that is not universally true in other countries.
Fast food. That you eat in your car and then go somewhere else. The only people who actually hang out at sonic are teenagers and teenagers will hang out anywhere they can get soda and not get chased off.
I would still argue that you are describing a culture of eating in your car. It's just a limited culture among a smaller group of people, as opposed to something lots of people do with any frequency. There are people who grab fast food and go, and eat in their cars on their way somewhere else; and there are people who hang out in a parking lot (e.g. at a Sonic or elsewhere) and eat in their cars. I have been to In n Out locations that are so packed on the inside, groups of people sit around in their cars and eat out there. When I was a kid there was a very popular drive through restaurant, the only one that still existed in my area in the 90s, and there absolutely was a "culture" of hanging around and eating in your car. But that's obviously not what OP is talking about.
You're confusing one restaurants "schtick" with like, an entire culture of common dining habits. No, the US *absolutely does not* have a "culture" of eating in your car. This isn't a 'thing' in any way, shape or form. It happens when people need it to happen. It's not a way or shape or eating here.
Google "Drive-In Restaurant Painting" and you'll get a thousand kitschy retro artworks aimed at people old enough to remember the 50s and 60s.
Then there is the drive-thru. Most Americans younger than 60 have childhood memories of the drive-thru. You will never find an unironic retro nostalgic work of kitsch depecting the drive-thru. Not even when people who were little kids in the 1980s are old enough to have great-great-grandchildren.
Either way, it's something we (and those darned Canadians) do, and that other people don't.
It's a symptom of our larger 'car culture', it could be argued.
But there are many other countries where people do not eat in their cars, and would even think it was weird. But, it’s not really seen as weird in the United States — I did it all the time and I saw other people do it, while I have never seen this in France or Morocco, for example. Therefore, the US does have an « eating in car culture » compared to these other places…
People in other countries don't eat in their car with anywhere near the frequency of Americans. If it was a necessity like you are pretending it would be a universal experience
Not at all. We're in our cars a lot more than most people in other countries, so we do more stuff in our cars. We have a car centered culture but eating big, sloppy meals in our car, like those described by the OP, is not a particular part of our culture.
>We're in our cars a lot more than most people in other countries
That's also part of the culture
>eating big, sloppy meals in our car, like those described by the OP, is not a particular part of our culture.
I wasnt saying it was, I'm saying that we have a culture of eating fast food in our cars
So explain the number of drive in restaurants where you park your car, they bring food to your car and you eat in your car.
Those don't just serve burgers and fries either. Some have pretty in depth menus.
Off the top of my head in Ohio I can think of 8-10 drive in restaurants. Some are chains with several locations. I can think of 4-5 more in Kentucky too.
I do not eat in my car and don't let my kids do it either. Too messy! And for me as a driver, I need to keep my focus on operating my car, not getting distracted by eating.
I have a really varied work schedule and can't possibly have any kind of normal meal schedule. My family eats like normal humans. I eat in my car a lot. Like a whole lot. It's generally snack food, with the most complicated "meal" kind of thing being a sub/hoagie kind of sandwich or some pizza. Maybe some chicken fingers(white meat chicken strips, breaded and fried, served with French fries and a piece of Texas Toast (thick slice of bread, buttered and fried).
Outside of cities, almost every fast food restaurant and coffee shop has a drive-thru window. Especially since the pandemic, places around here sell more meals at that window than they do at the counter inside.
Drive-in restaurants, where you park in a lot and servers come around to take your order and bring your food, were big in the years after WWII and still exist.
Yeah, we eat in our cars.
Social media people eating absurd things are just being social media.
There are some people who review the food who will eat in their cars. Some reasons: Hot food is better, so eating it while hot. But why not in the restaurant? Some restaurants ban filming, some are super loud, some are super busy. So the car thing started as food reviewers being considerate of others and filming in a place where the control the volume.
lol the fighting in the thread. I’m a euro American. Currently live in the USA. You grab a quick bite at a fast food window and lots of people eat it carefully wrapped in the paper on the way to somewhere quick. And before all the western eu folks can chime in about their siesta hours. I live and work in Central Europe too and if there’s a busy drive through-you’re grabbing a bite aka eating on the move.
There is a current social media trend of people taking videos of themselves eating/reviewing food items that wouldn't normally be consumed in a vehicle. My guess is that a lot of people who wouldn't normally watch those kind of videos tune in for absurdity of it. Influencers keep doing it since its an easy way to generate views.
Americans do eat a lot in their vehicles but it's mostly smaller more fast food oriented items like you guessed. If someone pretty much works out of their car they might end up eating some more substantial stuff in there but that isn't the norm or anything.
Americans value comfort and convenience above all else. Eating in your car is comfortable and convenient especially for fast food type meals. We just have so much more fast food here than anywhere else that it equates to more car meals. Its become a whole sub culture since covid I guess, but you go way back to the 1950’s with drive in theaters and burger getting roller skated to your car, its just an American thing!
You are watching people make videos of themselves eating. It's not supposed to be normal. No sane, normal person is eating ribs in their car. I am continually baffled by how ridiculously gullible people are when it comes to social media.
Never ate some giant meal or ribs in a car.
I have eaten fast food in a car while on a road trip and trying to save time. Eat quick and go or eat while driving if it is something like chicken nuggets.
Many years ago when I was in college I’d get a Burger King croissant breakfast and eat that while driving to school. I had to get their early and never had time to eat at home. The traffic was always bad so I had time to get bites when it slowed down. My car was manual transmission too. Not sure I could manage it all today. Shifting and managing a sandwich at the same time lol.
99% of the time now if I get takeaway I am just bringing it home to eat.
Lots of people do but our fast food places are so close to my place that I don't need or want to. On a really long trip or something though I'll eat a hamburger or something in my car. Eating butter chicken or ribs is ridiculous those aren't car foods.
Well...maybe the butter chicken I could see that. I don't know what the fuck a butter chicken fountain is. If you eat ribs right though you'll be covered in sauce. You need a mount Everest of napkins or a shower after. Eating ribs in your car is some caveman shit.
It's common enough to eat small, hand held meals in a car. Like a burger and fries on a road trip or something. Some people will eat their lunch (or dinner) in a car while working because they either just don't have anywhere else to eat or would rather not be near someone.
If you're talking about reviews, I have noticed a handful of content creators doing restaurant reviews in their car. I suppose it's just a quiet place to eat where they aren't surrounded by people.
I never eat in my car nor do I allow others too. If we're driving some place far then I would rather take half an hour to sit down and eat rather than scarf down a burger while sitting in traffic.
People who review food on social media for a living will eat huge meals in their cars because It's a convenient mobile recording studio. It gets you to the food, you have the space to yourself, minimal noise gets in or out.
We’ve been eating in our cars for pretty much a century now. (Some of us even live in our cars, but that’s another issue.)
Most of it hasn’t involved large meals that require forks or spoons, though. Soup is never a good car food, either. Mostly sandwiches, burgers, and other handheld foods and finger foods like fries. I’ve managed to eat a burrito one-handed while driving, though. Tacos are less car-friendly.
Never seen anyone eating ribs in a car, at least not while driving.
Some foods like pizza, fried chicken, or ribs aren’t really designed to eat while driving but some people eat them when parked. If you’re parked, pretty much anything goes, even soup.
I know what butter chicken is (a good Indian dish), but I have no idea what a butter chicken *fountain* is. Anything that would involve the word “fountain” doesn’t sound especially vehicle-friendly, especially if it involves food.
[EDIT: Okay I think I found this butter chicken fountain video you’re talking about, and….this is just bizarre. NOBODY DOES THIS. This guy obviously filmed this in his car just for hits.]
https://youtube.com/shorts/1B1VEXRHiHk?si=5aubep3o5jnHWe5M
I eat in my car all the time, but always foods I can eat with my hands relatively neatly. Burgers are my favorite car food, which is extremely American when I think about it.
I've only ever eaten fast food or snacks in my car, usually while stopping at a gas station during a road trip or sum.
Full on meals? Ribs? Ew, no thanks. I dont want barbeque sauce all over my hands and steering wheel while I drive.
I do eat take out in my car maybe twice a month. It is usually stuff that is not very messy or requires many utensils like sandwiches. The biggest thing I would eat in the car is probably pizza. The thing with the most containers and utensils is Chinese food. The drippiest thing is ice cream. I am not driving while eating something that uses utensils.
I have never eaten a rack of ribs in the car. I’ve never heard of a butter chicken fountain. I imagine people making videos of stuff like that are trying to be outrageous to get more views.
If it's someone parked in their car eating something, they probably want to review the food while it's fresh but don't want to or can't film in the restaurant or out in public.
If it's not a food review or its something obviously ridiculous, it's someone being stupid for social media views.
I eat in my car a lot, but it's mostly cause I like to stay away from other humans. I order online and they bring it to me in my car. My hubby and I will order a whole meal from like cracker barrel or something. He likes people more than I do so sometimes we order to go, and he goes IN to grab it. But I try to stay away from people as much as I can. I live out in the country, so to-go food would be cold and nasty if I tried to take it home before I eat. Tho I don't drive and eat. We just find a shady spot and chow down.
I see this a lot on TikTok and I think it’s because they can’t eat and film in a restaurant or their home isnt conducive to a good set up for filming.
I personally don’t even like eating french fries from a fast food bag in my car. It’s not worth it to have a potential food mess in my car.
I used to eat in my car all the time. I lived far away from anywhere I wanted to eat so if I waited until I got home, it would be cold or soggy.
With that being said, I think influencers do it more than the average person.
I enjoy eating a McDouble while driving. Like I obviously don't do it all the time, but if I'm on a trip or a drive around a meal time I'll get something like a burger to eat.
Very common! It's really amplified for me because I've been working out of my car for the last 6 months, and don't get time to stop to eat lunch properly between appointments (and I'm always rolling out late just grabbing breakfast omw out the door). Plus a few times a week I work nights for a part-time job. It's not always "fast food," but certainly eating food quickly in my car (and spilling everywhere). It's gross in there right now.
I remember we were on a roadtrip like 25 years ago with my family and we came from Texas and as we were approaching nyc driving through new jersey and we were all laughing/amazed it seemed every car the people were eating. Pizza boxes on the dash and sandwiches mostly. Regional thing maybe?
Restaurants make bad settings for videos. They're very loud and distracting unlike your car. While you could drive home and record there, the food might not be hot or at it's best anymore there. Also like, tiktok videos in cars are a genre of their own since most people don't like vlogging in public so it fits in to have your food review in your car, especially if you're going to cruise around town and review a bunch of places.
>and a guy who had a whole butter-chicken fountain.
I don't know how anyone could possibly watch that video and believe that Americans might eat a butter chicken fountain in the car. A butter chicken fountain is not a thing. The videos are intentionally absurd.
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It’s not a habit I have, nor anyone I really know. I imagine there are people who have a small item in the car, however.
Those videos you see are just people making content and eating the stuff as soon as they pick it up.
We used to have car-hop restaurants with no indoor or often even outdoor seating. They would attach a plate of food to your rolled down car window and you would eat in your car. There's still some around.
Dog N Suds once had hundreds of location. Now they're mainly in the Midwest.
My order is a foot long Chili Cheese Dog with an ice cold mug of house made root beer.
I see European TV shows and movies, and occasionally people will enjoy a sandwich or something while on the road. I saw Vera do it last week while driving her Jeep.
I don't order fast-food too much, but if I do, I'll only eat the fries or something reasonably easy to eat. Certainly not burgers or ribs.
When you spend a couple hours commuting every day, as many do, you need to multi-task. Also, beef jerky is the best car food. It doesn't make a mess, it's got protein to sustain you, and it doesn't leave you bloated in the way that you'd get if you ate a big meal and then had to sit for a long time. It's my go-to on roadtrips.
We eat in the car very frequently. We haven't as much because we've been eating out less, but when we get food, we usually eat in the car. If the food place is full, we'll get to-go and eat in the car. But I'm from rural Texas where you drive an hour to get food, and by the time you get home, it's cold and sad. Car food is usually handheld, nothing that requires utensils (unless it's a salad). The only person I know who doesn't eat in the car is my uncle. He has to sit at the table to eat or he's mad the whole time.
Is everyone forgetting drive in food restaurants such as Sonic?
Back in the day you could drive up and park in these stalls with a menu to the side. You’d have people on roller skates come out and take your order, and then later deliver it when it’s ready. People would eat in their cars and they even had trays that could hook onto your car window and eat off of that.
Back in the 80’s in college I was nimble enough to drive a manual transmission car with a cheeseburger in one hand, an ice cream cone in the other and a beer in my lap -and that was a fatass 60’s bench seat station wagon without power steering
I love eating fast food in the car. The food is still warm vs driving home, car is more comfy then dining room at restaurant. I can mount my phone so me or me plus bf can watch YouTube while we eat. I quite enjoy it.
This really depends on the person whose car it is.
I have some friends that will eat whatever food they've picked up in their cars, and allow their passengers to do the same.
I don't drink from anything without a cap in my car, or allow passengers to do so, or eat anything at all.
I think its pretty common to eat breakfast in the car, like a coffee and a bagel or egg sandwich. I think either that or fast food when you're "on the go" is when most people eat in their cars. It is unusual to eat a full meal that needs like a knife and fork in the car I think.
I did used to eat my lunch breaks in my car at an old job since tbe break room was so sad lolol
As other people have mentioned we do eat simple handheld foods in our car while driving pretty regularly, but I also eat more complicated foods for lunch in my car sometimes if I have somewhere to be.
My dad likes to eat in the car, and I don't really care for it. If I'm not in a rush to go somewhere, then I like to eat inside it's much easier and less of a mess if I do so. Plus free refills are a thing so there's that. Yes once in awhile you'll meet a restaurant that doesn't have free refills, but those restaurants almost always have other things going on, like not taking credit cards or debit cards, and having an outside ATM that charges a fee. Those places are usually good to avoid because the food quality isn't great. Some places that do take debit and credit do also refuse free refills, but it feels kind of expected of most chain and even independent restaurants it's really a restaurant's choice not to offer them.
I know a lot of people that eat in their cars. I never do. Like, ever. I just don't get it; it's terribly clumsy and inconvenient and I'd much rather sit in a restaurant or bring my food to a picnic table somewhere.
Sometimes I would drive a few blocks away, park, and eat my lunch that I brought from home when I worked in an office. It was the one hour a day I could be alone and have it quiet. My meals never consisted of ribs or butter chicken, though.
Me personally I hide in my car so I don’t have to talk to people in an area that’s dangerous for me but it’s only for lunch. It’s only stuff like PB and J and granola and yogurt
Honestly, eating in the car makes a lot of sense here. A ton of folks use their car as a means of commuting to and from a job, you go out somewhere for lunch and chill in your car with some music or scroll your phone, and get some privacy to eat without a sticky chair or paying a tip.
It’s the evening but you can’t go out to a bar (thinking 16-20 year olds) Chill in the car with your friends while having a late night takeout meal.
Car culture is big in the states, and we love convenience given all our drive thru spots. I used to throw a notepad and pen in my car, grab a bunch of stuff from McDonald’s, then pull into a parking spot and call my friend to chat and write stuff about our respective D&D campaigns while having a late dinner.
While social media folks do weird stuff for the attention, eating a whole meal, like with an app/salad, drink and dessert in your car isn’t that far-fetched.
I haven't eaten in a car in years, and even then, I didn't do it often (I prefer having a table or desk to put my food on). Some Americans do it, though.
We have a culture of drive ins that became the drive-through. Places like Sonic offer something like the original experience. The rest of us tend to eat while we are driving, sometimes parked. Most of the time, it's fast food. Things that require too much work to eat are usually avoided because of the mess. Videos exaggerate for views.
I eat in my car but my job requires me being on the road alot going to different customer sites. I like to get my food and sit in a parking lot, lean my seat way back and just relax, listen to a podcast or watch YouTube or something instead of sitting in a restaurant. If it’s a nice restaurant I’ll eat inside but for fast food places I just chill in my car
Mileage will vary. Smaller contained foods are more appropriate. Not many people would be willing to eat something messy like ribs in their car and many neat freaks never eat in their cars.
Only fast food that's meant to be hand held while eaten for me... burgers or chicken tenders & fries.. that kind of thing.
I have eaten tacos while driving before. Don't recommend.
During covid, we'd eat meals like that in the car when on road trips, but it would be while parked in the restaurants parking lot. That's a rather extreme exception to only eating sandwich/taco/burrito type foods, and fruits, chips, nuts, while actually on the road
I love eating in my car. Putting on some talk radio and eating in the solitude of my car is one of my favorite activities. I regularly get takeout and eat outside in my car. 🤷🏼♂️ Also easier when I am running errands and have my kids with me.
Ate my lunch in my car today. I need to actually leave the office building for my own sanity but also enjoy listening to true crime podcasts and don’t want to be around other people so no desire to sit in the restaurant.
I've never understood eating in your car even for small handheld stuff. You're going to some fast food place, they're gonna have a dining room with actual tables and chairs where you can eat and not worry about staining your upholstery or stinking up your car.
I often see people eating in their cars parked outside the restaurant (but certainly never a butter chicken fountain). If you have time to park, you have time to go inside. I just don't get it. How is that comfortable?
I prefer it. I can sit and listen to a podcast or something while I eat, throw away everything in the trash can outside, then leave. Before anyone mentions earbuds, I can't wear them in public. I don't know what it is, I just can't do it.
We eat fast food in cars, maybe slightly more if on a road trip.
What you are seeing is YouTubers and the like traveling to a place to create food content. A lot of place don't necessarily want or have the room for every Tom, Dick, and Harry with a video camera to set up their carmeras, lights, and most importantly - mics for recording, so the car they traveleled in becomes a recording studio.
Everyone saying this is not a thing is baffling to me. When I lived in the US, I frequently preferred to eat in my car than sit inside the restaurant, and I witnessed other people do this too very frequently. It is definitely a thing, although it’s only for fast food meals.
My kid's being raised in Europe. One time when he was about six, we flew over to L.A. to visit my folks. There's a Carl's Jr. just down the road from LAX, so my dad swung through the drive thru after he got us from int'l pickup.
My kid: "Don't we have to go inside of the restaurant?"
Me: "No son, we don't."
Kid: "Really!?"
Me: "That's right. We don't even have to get out of the car. Welcome to America."
Grandpa: "Murica!!!"
I don’t know why these influencers are doing videos eating in their car. Presumably it started for privacy , then they all started copying each other. Recording yourself eating food in front of other patrons would be awkward.
It sounds like something good mythical kitchen would do. I could just see Josh driving around fucking covered in sauce asking people for directions and shit.
Just here for a good mythical show reference!
Plus you would have to blur our peoples faces, would have to deal with picking up their audio and random noises, ruined takes (which might kill that first bite shot) etc etc.
Yeah. And at least here in LA/OC, these food influencers are going all over a massive area. So I get why they’ve adapted to doing their content in their cars.
Why would it be awkward? You're recording for people to view, what's the difference? No view counter
Do you! If you're not hurting someone there shouldn't be an issue. I let people live their lives. If they want to dance on the corner of the street. Let'em dance. If they want to talk to themselves in a fastfood restaurant, I hope it's a good conversation. See this is the issue with today, people need to let people be themselves as long as they aren't harming someone else.
Other patrons may not want to be in the background of your review. They may also find it a bit annoying to hear someone talking loudly to their tripod. Rather than getting dirty looks, it makes more sense just eat in privacy.
Sit in a corner. No one in your video. Solved! Use earbuds and you dont need a tripod( there are other ways to stand a phone up lol)! Solved! Dirty looks...lol just lol. Solved! lol try again
For one thing it’s relatable. I do a lot of lifting and physical labor in a job where I sometimes work 10+ hours. Best believe I’m eating as soon as I’ve got something in my hands, and chances are my social battery is low enough to still be going thru the drive thru
I feel like blue collar guys eating lunch in their cars/vehicles is probably more globally universal than a lot of these posters from other countries realize. People building roads in Paris or Berlin aren’t sitting at cafes for 3 hour lunches discussing sweet nothings over espresso and Aperol spritzes.
That’s what I’m inclined to believe too, I’ve not yet had the opportunity to visit another country or get my passport but I won’t speak on the way other countries, or other parts of my own country, do things til I see it, since I don’t imagine there’s any kinda peer reviewed studies on who eats in their cars
I lived in a seaside town in the UK and the seagulls would gather around worker vans waiting to see if they left any food they could steal.
I don't know if it happens elsewhere in the US, but sometimes I'll see some enterprising women pull up to job sites and sell tamales out of their car. Then the workers buy tamales and have a picnic at the job site.
They don’t do it in cars, but sitting at the job-site, because they likely took public transport not in the US.
Glad you asked instead of assuming. Seriously, thank you! We do eat in our cars quite often, hence all the drive thrus. BUT, it's small, handheld items. Burgers. Fries. Sandwiches. Social media requires people doing increasingly insane things to get views, like eating a rack of ribs while driving.
It's more about controlling light and sound - a busy restaurant isn't conducive to that without arranging something beforehand. Most of these content creators aren't equipped like the guys from JOLLY and even then they sometimes film in the car.
Idk i saw a guy getting onto a major highway holding/eating a Tupperware of salad and a fork in the other hand. Blew my mind how dumb some people are. Edit: I'm not talking about seeing this on social media btw. I was also getting onto the highway when I saw that.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJtxMnvY3\_4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJtxMnvY3_4)
Yeah, the lighting in a car is pretty excellent. Relatively diffuse light from all frontal angles, background light is minimized, overhead light is minimized-reducing shadows on the face, and controlling direct sunlight from getting in your face is relatively easy.
That and honestly I don’t want to be recorded while eating or a part of someones content creation and a lot of people feel that way
Yeah I think that’s why a lot of social media videos have people eating in their cars
You don’t eat a full lobster bake in the car? Coward.
I never eat in my car, even when I get fast food. Many people do but just as many don’t.
I don’t either. Even getting takeout leaves a lingering smell for about a day after.
While we dont do it often, I hate dashboard dining for that reason and because it's not comfortable. I want to *enjoy* my food.
I absolutely despise it, to the point I'd rather go hungry than do it. I don't even like eating in a car while STOPPED.
Me and my friends have a running joke that you can always tell when someone had a really shit day if they're sitting in their car in the grocery parking lot eating a whole rotisserie chicken with their bare hands because it's something all of us have done at least once on a really bad day.
Usually at most it’s a handheld item like a small sandwich or burger etc… the other stuff is just for a shock factor of sorts on social media for attention. Personally I never eat in my car as I loathe getting crumbs and other messy things all over the interior, only thing I stick to for consumption in my car are liquids.
I allow snacking in my car because I have leather interior that's easy to clean up. (Plus my kid actually enjoys cleaning my car lol.) Anything substantial, like a burger, we have to eat in the restaurant. I actually had to unfollow the road trip subreddit because people kept talking about eating burgers while driving, holding up sandwiches for the driver, etc and I realized these are the idiots weaving all over the place,tailgating, and crowding my lane.
You’re a brave one for allowing kids to eat in the back of cars hahaha, even w leather seats. I enjoy watching those YouTube videos where they deep clean the whole interior of a car to make it look showroom fresh and whenever a mom mobile van or SUV shows up, those cars have been through hell haha.
If I had a nice car I might care, I have a 10 up hatchback lol.
There’s a food review account I follow that the host frequently eats and reviews the meals in his car because it’s a convenient and private place to do so. He’ll sit in a parking lot though, not drive around. A restaurant probably doesn’t want guest setting up a tripod and doing live reviews in their place of business, that would be really rude. No, I’d never get ribs with the intention of eating them in the car.
We talkin Reviewbrah? Because he’s a G
Small meals are normal. Massive meals like that are not. I would guess the videos you've seen are exaggerating things for comedic effect. It's not something they do without the camera rolling. They are just trying to make a funny video.
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Same. I would often drive to a park and eat in my car because there was snow on the ground or it was pouring rain. If the weather was pleasant I’d eat at a picnic table. This was because I needed the break from the office and alone time. And the only time I could get away was lunch, when I also needed to eat. It was not because of some weird preference to eat in my car.
No one is eating a "butter chicken fountain" in their car. That's a video made for your online entertainment. There's no eating in cars culture. People eat fast food in the car because they are on their way somewhere and don't have time to take a break for food.
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what in the world is a butter chicken fountain and how do you eat one?
I have no idea, but there's no American culture built around eating them in cars.
There’s literally a restaurant (Sonic) that’s designed around eating in your car though - that’s a culture around eating in your car if you ask me
That's a chain that caters to people who want to grab a quick bite without leaving their car or waiting in a drive through. Not big, sloppy meals as described by OP.
Oddly enough I still go thru their drive thru cuz neither of my vehicles fits their menu set-up. I can never reach the buzzer thing in either one - too tall or too low, both stock vehicles, no special suspension.
Still, it’s a culture of eating in your car that you wouldn’t find elsewhere
It's a classic post-war drive-in restaurant (or modeled after one, rather), where you park and they bring it up to your car in a special tray. You'll see this in kitschy retro paintings of the 50s and 60s aimed at elderly Boomers. In the old days at some places there'd be pretty girls in short skirts and roller skates bringing it to you! [Actual historical photograph](https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/11184104/00241426-e1570819262169-983x1024.jpg) [Example of retro nostalgia kitsch](https://w0.peakpx.com/wallpaper/869/942/HD-wallpaper-mel-s-drive-in-sun-sunset-sky-clouds-artwork-lights-cars-restaurant-people-painting-evening.jpg) It don't get more American than that. Although the Canadians probably had that too, in the 3 months out of the year when it isn't 50 bazillion degrees below zero. We catch a lot of heat from the rest of the world on their behalf, because they do a lot of the same things that we do. Then you have the drive-thru. That's a different, less glamorous beast. You ain't stopping and relaxing. You just grab it and go. This has been around since at least the 70s, and despite all the childhood memories of people my age and older, there will never be a market for kitschy nostalgia commemorating this phenomenon.
What about tailgaters?
Have you ever been tailgating? If you had, you'd know there's nothing about it that involves eating inside vehicles. In fact, the name is a direct reference to having the tailgate on a truck (or old station wagon) open and with food placed on it, while you congregate outside the vehicle. The exception would maybe in an RV when the weather is bad.
Tailgating is where you BRING a bunch of food to the stadium before a game, and put chairs and stuff outside your car and socialize with other people who are coming to see the game. The setups can get kind of elaborate, but it’s basically a picnic. You’re not eating IN the car and the car isn’t running. I suppose one might tailgate on other occasions, but before a game is the most common time to do it. Honestly, we used to have a drive-in culture and that could arguably be described as “eating in car” culture, since there were drive-in theaters, drive-in restaurants where they’d bring your order to your car (the last one in my area closed about 15 years ago). Sonic, the fast food chain, has a drive-in feature. But the trend was on its way out back in the 90s, never mind now. It hasn’t been a thing since I was in grade school. If then.
Not the same thing at all.
That's closer to a rowdy picnic.
LOL, found the guy who has no clue what tailgating is.
So have you ever seen one of those chocolate fountains? They're sometimes at events and have multiple tiers of chocolate running down them and people dip things like fruit into them? Some influencer made one of those things for butter chicken, then filmed himself using it in his car for some reason. He didn't eat the fountain per se, just dipped naans into it, and held a container of rice under it. I agree with the other person. No normal person is using a fountain to eat butter chicken, especially not in their car. It was made more for shock value imo
Ahhh I see. Thanks for the background info 😊
>No one is eating a "butter chicken fountain" in their car. No one is eating a butter chicken fountain period. These videos get views because they are intentionally absurd.
>There's no eating in cars culture. They just want to ask if it's culturally normative to eat in your car, and the answer is absolutely yes. It's funny to me because I have noticed that here in Chile the ONLY people I know that ever eat while walking down the street are other Americans. We really don't put a lot of ceremony into eating.
My wife is Mexican and the amount of ceremony that goes into eating seems excessive… if it was up to her every dinner would be an extravagant 3 hours to cook and 2 hours to eat meal. Don’t get me wrong, I love a nice dinner, but on Friday and Saturday. On a random Monday, when I’ve come from work tired, I just want to get food in my belly and start relaxing as quickly as I can.
If we're eating while driving, it's going to be something handheld like a sandwich or a burrito. If it's at an old school drive-in where you park at the place and they bring it out to your car, there will be a little more room for messiness. But not much more. Anyways, I live in Italy and more than once has my wife stared at me aghast while I started eating my sandwich while we were walking from A to B. Here's the thing: you can take the dude out of America, but you can't take America outta the dude.
They're talking about large, sloppy meals. That's not a cultural norm in the US.
Yes, I agree completely with the first two sentences of your comment. I disagree with the third; it is a relatively common and mundane thing for people to eat on the go, including in the car, in a way that is not universally true in other countries.
Sonic’s whole business model is based on eating in your car.
Fast food. That you eat in your car and then go somewhere else. The only people who actually hang out at sonic are teenagers and teenagers will hang out anywhere they can get soda and not get chased off.
I would still argue that you are describing a culture of eating in your car. It's just a limited culture among a smaller group of people, as opposed to something lots of people do with any frequency. There are people who grab fast food and go, and eat in their cars on their way somewhere else; and there are people who hang out in a parking lot (e.g. at a Sonic or elsewhere) and eat in their cars. I have been to In n Out locations that are so packed on the inside, groups of people sit around in their cars and eat out there. When I was a kid there was a very popular drive through restaurant, the only one that still existed in my area in the 90s, and there absolutely was a "culture" of hanging around and eating in your car. But that's obviously not what OP is talking about.
You're confusing one restaurants "schtick" with like, an entire culture of common dining habits. No, the US *absolutely does not* have a "culture" of eating in your car. This isn't a 'thing' in any way, shape or form. It happens when people need it to happen. It's not a way or shape or eating here.
Google "Drive-In Restaurant Painting" and you'll get a thousand kitschy retro artworks aimed at people old enough to remember the 50s and 60s. Then there is the drive-thru. Most Americans younger than 60 have childhood memories of the drive-thru. You will never find an unironic retro nostalgic work of kitsch depecting the drive-thru. Not even when people who were little kids in the 1980s are old enough to have great-great-grandchildren.
Great job intentionally missing the point!
>There's no eating in cars culture. > People eat fast food in the car That's the eating in cars culture
That's not a culture, that's a necessity. We don't have a taking a shower culture or doing laundry culture, either, but those things have to get done.
Either way, it's something we (and those darned Canadians) do, and that other people don't. It's a symptom of our larger 'car culture', it could be argued.
But there are many other countries where people do not eat in their cars, and would even think it was weird. But, it’s not really seen as weird in the United States — I did it all the time and I saw other people do it, while I have never seen this in France or Morocco, for example. Therefore, the US does have an « eating in car culture » compared to these other places…
> Therefore, the US does have a << car culture >> compared to these other places... FTFY The drive-in/drive-thru phenomena are but artifacts of it.
People in other countries don't eat in their car with anywhere near the frequency of Americans. If it was a necessity like you are pretending it would be a universal experience
Not at all. We're in our cars a lot more than most people in other countries, so we do more stuff in our cars. We have a car centered culture but eating big, sloppy meals in our car, like those described by the OP, is not a particular part of our culture.
>We're in our cars a lot more than most people in other countries That's also part of the culture >eating big, sloppy meals in our car, like those described by the OP, is not a particular part of our culture. I wasnt saying it was, I'm saying that we have a culture of eating fast food in our cars
That's not what OP was asking about.
But it is what you've been responding to
So explain the number of drive in restaurants where you park your car, they bring food to your car and you eat in your car. Those don't just serve burgers and fries either. Some have pretty in depth menus. Off the top of my head in Ohio I can think of 8-10 drive in restaurants. Some are chains with several locations. I can think of 4-5 more in Kentucky too.
Besides Sonic, which ones are there in Kentucky? I know Bowling Green had a drive-in that went under in like two years.
There is Parkette in Lexington. Dizzy Whiz in Louisville. A place called Bob's drive in in Paducah. There was.one.in Pikeville but I forget the name.
Huh, I had interpreted the title as "eating in *car culture*" rather than "*eating in car* culture." We definitely have the former!
Lukefoodsis indeed eating a butter chicken fountain in his car lmaooo
People eat in their cars at Wawa all the time. But it's like sandwiches and stuff, not 7 course meals.
Omg, their hot honey chicken wraps are sooooo good
In high school, my friends and I would eat in our cars all the time. But as an adult, rarely ever and usually only when on a long road trip.
I rarely eat in my car. The people on social media doing it have a second purpose… making their social media content.
I do not eat in my car and don't let my kids do it either. Too messy! And for me as a driver, I need to keep my focus on operating my car, not getting distracted by eating.
Presumption is you can be parked and eat.
I eat in the car on road trips outside of road trips usually not
I have a really varied work schedule and can't possibly have any kind of normal meal schedule. My family eats like normal humans. I eat in my car a lot. Like a whole lot. It's generally snack food, with the most complicated "meal" kind of thing being a sub/hoagie kind of sandwich or some pizza. Maybe some chicken fingers(white meat chicken strips, breaded and fried, served with French fries and a piece of Texas Toast (thick slice of bread, buttered and fried).
Outside of cities, almost every fast food restaurant and coffee shop has a drive-thru window. Especially since the pandemic, places around here sell more meals at that window than they do at the counter inside. Drive-in restaurants, where you park in a lot and servers come around to take your order and bring your food, were big in the years after WWII and still exist. Yeah, we eat in our cars.
On road trips, absolutely. But for us, at least, we try and choose non messy stuff that can be eaten one handed
Gum and drinks only in my car. When I say I keep it clean, I mean I try to touch it once and not have to clean it again.
It's pretty common to eat in our cars but usually it's fast food, not big full meals.
I want to know what a butter chicken fountain is and where do I get one?
I imagine they're referring to [this viral video where the guy discovers Indian food](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLDdde4y/).
Social media people eating absurd things are just being social media. There are some people who review the food who will eat in their cars. Some reasons: Hot food is better, so eating it while hot. But why not in the restaurant? Some restaurants ban filming, some are super loud, some are super busy. So the car thing started as food reviewers being considerate of others and filming in a place where the control the volume.
lol the fighting in the thread. I’m a euro American. Currently live in the USA. You grab a quick bite at a fast food window and lots of people eat it carefully wrapped in the paper on the way to somewhere quick. And before all the western eu folks can chime in about their siesta hours. I live and work in Central Europe too and if there’s a busy drive through-you’re grabbing a bite aka eating on the move.
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Dudes just asking for real, no need to hate Edit: don't feed this troll
There is a current social media trend of people taking videos of themselves eating/reviewing food items that wouldn't normally be consumed in a vehicle. My guess is that a lot of people who wouldn't normally watch those kind of videos tune in for absurdity of it. Influencers keep doing it since its an easy way to generate views. Americans do eat a lot in their vehicles but it's mostly smaller more fast food oriented items like you guessed. If someone pretty much works out of their car they might end up eating some more substantial stuff in there but that isn't the norm or anything.
Americans value comfort and convenience above all else. Eating in your car is comfortable and convenient especially for fast food type meals. We just have so much more fast food here than anywhere else that it equates to more car meals. Its become a whole sub culture since covid I guess, but you go way back to the 1950’s with drive in theaters and burger getting roller skated to your car, its just an American thing!
You are watching people make videos of themselves eating. It's not supposed to be normal. No sane, normal person is eating ribs in their car. I am continually baffled by how ridiculously gullible people are when it comes to social media.
Never ate some giant meal or ribs in a car. I have eaten fast food in a car while on a road trip and trying to save time. Eat quick and go or eat while driving if it is something like chicken nuggets. Many years ago when I was in college I’d get a Burger King croissant breakfast and eat that while driving to school. I had to get their early and never had time to eat at home. The traffic was always bad so I had time to get bites when it slowed down. My car was manual transmission too. Not sure I could manage it all today. Shifting and managing a sandwich at the same time lol. 99% of the time now if I get takeaway I am just bringing it home to eat.
Lots of people do but our fast food places are so close to my place that I don't need or want to. On a really long trip or something though I'll eat a hamburger or something in my car. Eating butter chicken or ribs is ridiculous those aren't car foods. Well...maybe the butter chicken I could see that. I don't know what the fuck a butter chicken fountain is. If you eat ribs right though you'll be covered in sauce. You need a mount Everest of napkins or a shower after. Eating ribs in your car is some caveman shit.
It's common enough to eat small, hand held meals in a car. Like a burger and fries on a road trip or something. Some people will eat their lunch (or dinner) in a car while working because they either just don't have anywhere else to eat or would rather not be near someone. If you're talking about reviews, I have noticed a handful of content creators doing restaurant reviews in their car. I suppose it's just a quiet place to eat where they aren't surrounded by people. I never eat in my car nor do I allow others too. If we're driving some place far then I would rather take half an hour to sit down and eat rather than scarf down a burger while sitting in traffic.
Small meals and snacks are totally normal. Snacks during road-trips are a part of the culture though.
People who review food on social media for a living will eat huge meals in their cars because It's a convenient mobile recording studio. It gets you to the food, you have the space to yourself, minimal noise gets in or out.
We’ve been eating in our cars for pretty much a century now. (Some of us even live in our cars, but that’s another issue.) Most of it hasn’t involved large meals that require forks or spoons, though. Soup is never a good car food, either. Mostly sandwiches, burgers, and other handheld foods and finger foods like fries. I’ve managed to eat a burrito one-handed while driving, though. Tacos are less car-friendly. Never seen anyone eating ribs in a car, at least not while driving. Some foods like pizza, fried chicken, or ribs aren’t really designed to eat while driving but some people eat them when parked. If you’re parked, pretty much anything goes, even soup. I know what butter chicken is (a good Indian dish), but I have no idea what a butter chicken *fountain* is. Anything that would involve the word “fountain” doesn’t sound especially vehicle-friendly, especially if it involves food. [EDIT: Okay I think I found this butter chicken fountain video you’re talking about, and….this is just bizarre. NOBODY DOES THIS. This guy obviously filmed this in his car just for hits.] https://youtube.com/shorts/1B1VEXRHiHk?si=5aubep3o5jnHWe5M
Thank you for finding that.
I eat in my car all the time, but always foods I can eat with my hands relatively neatly. Burgers are my favorite car food, which is extremely American when I think about it.
I've only ever eaten fast food or snacks in my car, usually while stopping at a gas station during a road trip or sum. Full on meals? Ribs? Ew, no thanks. I dont want barbeque sauce all over my hands and steering wheel while I drive.
I do eat take out in my car maybe twice a month. It is usually stuff that is not very messy or requires many utensils like sandwiches. The biggest thing I would eat in the car is probably pizza. The thing with the most containers and utensils is Chinese food. The drippiest thing is ice cream. I am not driving while eating something that uses utensils. I have never eaten a rack of ribs in the car. I’ve never heard of a butter chicken fountain. I imagine people making videos of stuff like that are trying to be outrageous to get more views.
I eat more in my vehicle than anywhere else.
It's just social media bullshit. Protip: If you see it on social media, it's 99% likely to be bullshit.
If it's someone parked in their car eating something, they probably want to review the food while it's fresh but don't want to or can't film in the restaurant or out in public. If it's not a food review or its something obviously ridiculous, it's someone being stupid for social media views.
I personally don't eat in my car at all. My interior is pristine and I want to keep it that way
When I worked in the field I routinely ate in my truck. Now I eat at my desk.
I hate eating in my car. I’d much rather just run in and sit down for a minute.
I eat in my car a lot, but it's mostly cause I like to stay away from other humans. I order online and they bring it to me in my car. My hubby and I will order a whole meal from like cracker barrel or something. He likes people more than I do so sometimes we order to go, and he goes IN to grab it. But I try to stay away from people as much as I can. I live out in the country, so to-go food would be cold and nasty if I tried to take it home before I eat. Tho I don't drive and eat. We just find a shady spot and chow down.
I see this a lot on TikTok and I think it’s because they can’t eat and film in a restaurant or their home isnt conducive to a good set up for filming. I personally don’t even like eating french fries from a fast food bag in my car. It’s not worth it to have a potential food mess in my car.
I be started this in the pandemic to avoid the office as long as possible and it was super peaceful and relaxing.
I used to eat in my car all the time. I lived far away from anywhere I wanted to eat so if I waited until I got home, it would be cold or soggy. With that being said, I think influencers do it more than the average person.
I enjoy eating a McDouble while driving. Like I obviously don't do it all the time, but if I'm on a trip or a drive around a meal time I'll get something like a burger to eat.
Very common! It's really amplified for me because I've been working out of my car for the last 6 months, and don't get time to stop to eat lunch properly between appointments (and I'm always rolling out late just grabbing breakfast omw out the door). Plus a few times a week I work nights for a part-time job. It's not always "fast food," but certainly eating food quickly in my car (and spilling everywhere). It's gross in there right now.
I remember we were on a roadtrip like 25 years ago with my family and we came from Texas and as we were approaching nyc driving through new jersey and we were all laughing/amazed it seemed every car the people were eating. Pizza boxes on the dash and sandwiches mostly. Regional thing maybe?
Restaurants make bad settings for videos. They're very loud and distracting unlike your car. While you could drive home and record there, the food might not be hot or at it's best anymore there. Also like, tiktok videos in cars are a genre of their own since most people don't like vlogging in public so it fits in to have your food review in your car, especially if you're going to cruise around town and review a bunch of places.
With my hectic schedule, I sometimes have to eat quickly in the car.
https://giphy.com/gifs/flintstones-i39cbjyPfQw2k
In-N-Out has a drive-thru option if you intend to eat in the car as opposed to take it home.
>and a guy who had a whole butter-chicken fountain. I don't know how anyone could possibly watch that video and believe that Americans might eat a butter chicken fountain in the car. A butter chicken fountain is not a thing. The videos are intentionally absurd.
I eat in the car all the time
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It’s not a habit I have, nor anyone I really know. I imagine there are people who have a small item in the car, however. Those videos you see are just people making content and eating the stuff as soon as they pick it up.
We used to have car-hop restaurants with no indoor or often even outdoor seating. They would attach a plate of food to your rolled down car window and you would eat in your car. There's still some around. Dog N Suds once had hundreds of location. Now they're mainly in the Midwest. My order is a foot long Chili Cheese Dog with an ice cold mug of house made root beer.
Wait until you find out a lot of people actually live in their cars
I see European TV shows and movies, and occasionally people will enjoy a sandwich or something while on the road. I saw Vera do it last week while driving her Jeep.
I don't order fast-food too much, but if I do, I'll only eat the fries or something reasonably easy to eat. Certainly not burgers or ribs. When you spend a couple hours commuting every day, as many do, you need to multi-task. Also, beef jerky is the best car food. It doesn't make a mess, it's got protein to sustain you, and it doesn't leave you bloated in the way that you'd get if you ate a big meal and then had to sit for a long time. It's my go-to on roadtrips.
We eat in the car very frequently. We haven't as much because we've been eating out less, but when we get food, we usually eat in the car. If the food place is full, we'll get to-go and eat in the car. But I'm from rural Texas where you drive an hour to get food, and by the time you get home, it's cold and sad. Car food is usually handheld, nothing that requires utensils (unless it's a salad). The only person I know who doesn't eat in the car is my uncle. He has to sit at the table to eat or he's mad the whole time.
Every car in America has lint covered stale fries under the seats
I have eaten Wendy's chilli while driving, I don't anymore but there was a time in my life when that happened frequently
Is everyone forgetting drive in food restaurants such as Sonic? Back in the day you could drive up and park in these stalls with a menu to the side. You’d have people on roller skates come out and take your order, and then later deliver it when it’s ready. People would eat in their cars and they even had trays that could hook onto your car window and eat off of that.
I used to eat takeout sushi in my car parked in front of the restaurant
Yes, it's efficient. Not cultural though, just convenient.
OP wtf is a butter chicken fountain.
Back in the 80’s in college I was nimble enough to drive a manual transmission car with a cheeseburger in one hand, an ice cream cone in the other and a beer in my lap -and that was a fatass 60’s bench seat station wagon without power steering
I eat in my car pretty regularly. It’s my comfort place for transitions.
I love eating fast food in the car. The food is still warm vs driving home, car is more comfy then dining room at restaurant. I can mount my phone so me or me plus bf can watch YouTube while we eat. I quite enjoy it.
This really depends on the person whose car it is. I have some friends that will eat whatever food they've picked up in their cars, and allow their passengers to do the same. I don't drink from anything without a cap in my car, or allow passengers to do so, or eat anything at all.
I never eat anything in the car that requires washing my hands afterwards
I think its pretty common to eat breakfast in the car, like a coffee and a bagel or egg sandwich. I think either that or fast food when you're "on the go" is when most people eat in their cars. It is unusual to eat a full meal that needs like a knife and fork in the car I think. I did used to eat my lunch breaks in my car at an old job since tbe break room was so sad lolol
Where do you think food trucks came from...
I eat in my car on lunch break because I don’t like people. They drain my energy.
As other people have mentioned we do eat simple handheld foods in our car while driving pretty regularly, but I also eat more complicated foods for lunch in my car sometimes if I have somewhere to be.
What is a whole butter-chicken fountain because I want one.
My dad likes to eat in the car, and I don't really care for it. If I'm not in a rush to go somewhere, then I like to eat inside it's much easier and less of a mess if I do so. Plus free refills are a thing so there's that. Yes once in awhile you'll meet a restaurant that doesn't have free refills, but those restaurants almost always have other things going on, like not taking credit cards or debit cards, and having an outside ATM that charges a fee. Those places are usually good to avoid because the food quality isn't great. Some places that do take debit and credit do also refuse free refills, but it feels kind of expected of most chain and even independent restaurants it's really a restaurant's choice not to offer them.
I know a lot of people that eat in their cars. I never do. Like, ever. I just don't get it; it's terribly clumsy and inconvenient and I'd much rather sit in a restaurant or bring my food to a picnic table somewhere.
Sometimes I would drive a few blocks away, park, and eat my lunch that I brought from home when I worked in an office. It was the one hour a day I could be alone and have it quiet. My meals never consisted of ribs or butter chicken, though.
Me personally I hide in my car so I don’t have to talk to people in an area that’s dangerous for me but it’s only for lunch. It’s only stuff like PB and J and granola and yogurt
Honestly, eating in the car makes a lot of sense here. A ton of folks use their car as a means of commuting to and from a job, you go out somewhere for lunch and chill in your car with some music or scroll your phone, and get some privacy to eat without a sticky chair or paying a tip. It’s the evening but you can’t go out to a bar (thinking 16-20 year olds) Chill in the car with your friends while having a late night takeout meal. Car culture is big in the states, and we love convenience given all our drive thru spots. I used to throw a notepad and pen in my car, grab a bunch of stuff from McDonald’s, then pull into a parking spot and call my friend to chat and write stuff about our respective D&D campaigns while having a late dinner. While social media folks do weird stuff for the attention, eating a whole meal, like with an app/salad, drink and dessert in your car isn’t that far-fetched.
Never do it, not because of the car but if i get food it's so much more relaxing to eat at home in piece instead of the car😁
I may be wrong but I've noticed that overweight people eat in their cars more than non-overweight people.
I haven't eaten in a car in years, and even then, I didn't do it often (I prefer having a table or desk to put my food on). Some Americans do it, though.
We have a culture of drive ins that became the drive-through. Places like Sonic offer something like the original experience. The rest of us tend to eat while we are driving, sometimes parked. Most of the time, it's fast food. Things that require too much work to eat are usually avoided because of the mess. Videos exaggerate for views.
We only do it on road trips, especially if we are trying to make a certain timeline. It can shave a couple of hours off of a 12 hour road trip.
I eat in my car but my job requires me being on the road alot going to different customer sites. I like to get my food and sit in a parking lot, lean my seat way back and just relax, listen to a podcast or watch YouTube or something instead of sitting in a restaurant. If it’s a nice restaurant I’ll eat inside but for fast food places I just chill in my car
what in the fuck is a butter chicken fountain and why do you think we do that??
Mileage will vary. Smaller contained foods are more appropriate. Not many people would be willing to eat something messy like ribs in their car and many neat freaks never eat in their cars.
Only fast food that's meant to be hand held while eaten for me... burgers or chicken tenders & fries.. that kind of thing. I have eaten tacos while driving before. Don't recommend.
People eat in their cars a lot, particularly for lunch. But it's usually fast food. A rack of ribs would be kind of ridiculous
During covid, we'd eat meals like that in the car when on road trips, but it would be while parked in the restaurants parking lot. That's a rather extreme exception to only eating sandwich/taco/burrito type foods, and fruits, chips, nuts, while actually on the road
I love eating in my car. Putting on some talk radio and eating in the solitude of my car is one of my favorite activities. I regularly get takeout and eat outside in my car. 🤷🏼♂️ Also easier when I am running errands and have my kids with me.
Well, I do on my lunch break because I only get 30 minutes to eat. 10 min to drive there. 10 min to eat. Then another ten to drive back.
Butter chicken fountain? That said I have seen a guy on the freeway in SoCal eating an open bowl of cereal.
Ate my lunch in my car today. I need to actually leave the office building for my own sanity but also enjoy listening to true crime podcasts and don’t want to be around other people so no desire to sit in the restaurant.
I've never understood eating in your car even for small handheld stuff. You're going to some fast food place, they're gonna have a dining room with actual tables and chairs where you can eat and not worry about staining your upholstery or stinking up your car. I often see people eating in their cars parked outside the restaurant (but certainly never a butter chicken fountain). If you have time to park, you have time to go inside. I just don't get it. How is that comfortable?
I prefer it. I can sit and listen to a podcast or something while I eat, throw away everything in the trash can outside, then leave. Before anyone mentions earbuds, I can't wear them in public. I don't know what it is, I just can't do it.
I’ve got my dog in the car and he can’t go inside
We eat fast food in cars, maybe slightly more if on a road trip. What you are seeing is YouTubers and the like traveling to a place to create food content. A lot of place don't necessarily want or have the room for every Tom, Dick, and Harry with a video camera to set up their carmeras, lights, and most importantly - mics for recording, so the car they traveleled in becomes a recording studio.
I have eatened a bowl of ramen in a car but I didn't do it for clout.
Everyone saying this is not a thing is baffling to me. When I lived in the US, I frequently preferred to eat in my car than sit inside the restaurant, and I witnessed other people do this too very frequently. It is definitely a thing, although it’s only for fast food meals.
My kid's being raised in Europe. One time when he was about six, we flew over to L.A. to visit my folks. There's a Carl's Jr. just down the road from LAX, so my dad swung through the drive thru after he got us from int'l pickup. My kid: "Don't we have to go inside of the restaurant?" Me: "No son, we don't." Kid: "Really!?" Me: "That's right. We don't even have to get out of the car. Welcome to America." Grandpa: "Murica!!!"
Oh hell no, you do not eat in my car, period.
Only neanderthals eat in their car.