In April 2001, a joint resolution passed the Texas House and Senate that declared Whataburger, the nation’s loved speedy-meals chain, to be a “Texas Treasure.” In the most Texan style possible, the invoice honoring the burger institution was introduced by using the country chair of the Texas Public Health Committee. “They deserve credit for shooting the hearts — and taste buds — of hundreds of thousands of Texans, including many inside the House of Representatives,” Rep. Jaime Capelo said inside the preamble to the vote. (The degree exceeded with a bipartisan guide.)
Nearly twenty years later, it stays authentic that Whataburger may be the most effective element that Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke could admit to loving throughout Texas’ politically disparate spectrum. But the country’s devotion to Whataburger got under serious strain late last week. At the same time, the 69-year-old circle of the relatives-owned company sold its controlling interest to a Chicago-based investment company.
The news stimulated all measures of betrayal-themed responses. “Whataburger’s been bought to the Yanks,” Texas Monthly provided. “What a disaster,” read one Houston-area headline. On Twitter, Houston Texans celebrity J.J. Watt advised that fans suffering from the sale unite to buy the franchise again and to add kolaches to the menu. (Texas Governor Greg Abbott answered Watt by tweeting a picture of George W. Bush riding a select-up truck with the caption, “Get in J.J., We’re saving Whataburger.”) Elsewhere, memes depicting heartbreak and offense had been circulated. “182 men didn’t die at The Alamo simply, so we ought to provide @Whataburger over to Chicago,” went every other consultant tweet.
This ferocious show of grief shouldn’t be sudden. Though Texan satisfaction can be notorious and severe, I strongly feel that the ardor for local fast food is almost a nationwide ceremony. After all, regional chains are the unsung heroes of the fast-food enterprise; they live in semi-obscurity nationally, shooting the quirks and particularities of a place. They don’t seek out mass enchantment in the manner a country-wide chain like McDonald’s or Burger King does. Instead, a 3-way mishmash of chili, spaghetti, and cheese at Skyline Chili makes experience to an Ohioan in the way that a blueberry biscuit at Bojangles makes feel to a person from the Southeast.
One overarching irony is that rapid-meal chains are often characterized as corporate and impersonal. But what their ubiquity breeds is familiarity, and what their all-hours accessibility creates is the opportunity for ritual. Growing up in Texas, my Whataburger ritual occurred in excessive college while, almost without fail, my pals and I might pile into our motors and force to Whataburger each weekend night. We’d arrive at eleven p.m. when the chain could start serving breakfast and order taquitos — stunning, eggy, cheesy concoctions wrapped in heat tortillas and served with branded Picante sauce that’s so correct it’s offered in local grocery shops.
If we had enough time to spare before our curfews, my pals and I might pass internal to devour them. The cashier might hand us small numbered plastic desk tents to preserve while we waited for our orders, markers that, in case you have been sixteen, you may sneak into your pocket to enhance your room with later. Then we’d all jam right into a booth and consume our taquitos and talk about the otherworldly basketball exploits of Hakeem Olajuwon or the unremarkable drama of our romantic lives. If we were strolling not on time, there was constant drive-via. Suppose the power-through line turned packed because of a live performance, an excessive school soccer sport, the rodeo, or the frequent 11 p.m. Weigh-down. In that case, we’d get simple velocity in the direction of the following Whataburger, which changed into never more than an eight-minute pressure away.
This ceremony strikes at some other glory of nearby fast food: how an enjoyer can simultaneously experience each unique and general. As a Texas kid, I felt the way Whataburger, a kid within the Midwest, might have felt approximately Steak ‘n Shake as a child in North Carolina, might have felt about Cook Out as a kid in California, may have felt approximately In-N-Out as a kid in Wisconsin might have felt about Culver’s, and so on.
