Yes, if it’s an actual meal at a restaurant. As opposed to two dollar slices eaten at the bus stop.
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Presunto has a great memory.
When I’m in the US, usually 2-3 moths a year, I’m based in Queens where all the great ethnic food is. My daily meal out is either dinner at one of those ethnic restaurants or lunch. Until my most recent trip to NYC (October 2021) those meals cost from $7 to 20 per person.
The rest of the year, I live in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I can do lunch for $1-2. Inflation and the devaluation of the US dollar have increased that cost. When I first got here a typical lunch was less than 50 cents! A typical dinner for two at a mid-priced casual restaurant is about $12. A few times a month we splurge for a high end dinner. That’s $40-60 for two. I could spend a little more but the food is never better.
If I was living in the UK, I’d have to cook more often.
My response was to the OP’s comment that older people don’t go out as often as younger people. if Boomers can’t afford to go out, how is Gen X/Y/Z going to do it? As for fear of Covid, in my circles of friends on two continents, I haven’t seen any difference in habits based on age.
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Yayy! My hometown!
My daughter is moving back to Brooklyn from Queens this week.
Just now reading the rest of the comments here. I didn’t realize my comment about eating out every day would change the direction of this thread.
I rarely do take-away so lunch for me counts. I agree with harters that bringing a sandwich back to your desk shouldn’t. but if someone is going to stand at a counter to eat a slice of pizza, I’m happy to read the review.
ZivBnd, i couldn’t find your review of Khun Yai. Are you somewhere in Thailand? Maybe we can liven up the SE Asia board? I’ve got several favorite Khao Soi places. One is still 35 baht.
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High earners, not rich yet
Often used to describe people who are well paid but spend a lot on things like eating out so that they have no money. 
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Thanks for the explanation, was just going to look it up in Urban Dictionary haha.
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War baby here. Long retired, fortunate to have two houses, and splitting my time between NC mountains and FL east coast. Unfortunately not much in the way of worthy restaurants in either location without a long drive so we eat home pretty much all the time. Also my sweet bride cannot eat gluten so it makes eating out even more challenging. Anyway she’s not into great food as I am (was). I’m the cook and don’t really mind, but don’t get too heavily into highly creative stuff these days; I surely would love to have a great Chinese/other Asian place within driving range but alas the pickings are slim.
My first computer was an IBM 7090 mainframe. Ah those were the days, carrying around card decks and 64k memory was HUGE; probably few if any who will read this will even know what I’m talking about. These days I spend a lot of time on my Mac; the phone is mostly for maps and weather reports (and spam calls), and a 25 inch screen is way better for the old eyes.
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Heh, I was doing work study in the Physics Lab-- High Energy Scanning & was always amused at the notes pinned to the BB as you walked in saying “Dear xxx, I am so sorry but I dropped your card deck.” I was a scanner… not living in vain though.
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Ah yes. That’s why one quickly learned to write a diagonal line (or many, in multiple colors) on one’s card deck – made it so much quicker and easier to re-assemble the cards in the correct sequence.
The memories!!!
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This forum is old, I think most of the people here are from the Chowhound days, and even that was an older crowd. I think I was one of the youngest people on CH back in the day, in my early 20s and I got the sense that most of the people on CH back then were in their 30/40/50s. Fast forward 20 years and you can do the math.
Good to have some fresh blood like @emglow101 and @gcaggiano 
As he mentioned… times are a changing online. These days I spend more time on reddit food subs, but by god is the average level of discourse there pitiful compared to here. I actually really miss the Chowhound days, I think that was peak discourse where certain topics would build and accumulate knowledge over years. Now with the disposable discussion model that’s been adopted everywhere and people seemingly having lost the ability to search, they just keep having the same dumb questions and conversation on repeat at a shallow level.
To be fair there have been some really great new developments in culinary insights over the years, but the disposable platforms that have taken over are really bad for knowledge retention. I love it when I search for a topic now and it brings me to a 10 year old CH discussion that had exactly the answer I was looking for.
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I started out on food forums with Chowhound in around 2006/7 - I found it when I was researching for a trip to the States. I came back in 2008 as “Harters” and stayed arpound for a while.
Then I moved to eGullet and, in particular, its UK/Ireland board. Although with less traffic than the equivalent Chowhound board, it was way, way more interesting and useful. It was a difference in style. The Chowhound board, as generally with its international boards, was all about Americans getting references from other Americans for the same places in London. Whereas egullet contributors were mainly Britons - and we were based all over the country and eating in loads of places.
Then, with the growth of Facebook groups and Twitter, contributors there dried up and I meandered back to Chowhound until the Great Debacle, when I moved here. Still look on CH a couple of times a week and contribute, but I no longer post restaurant reviews there.
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ElJefe, I haven’t been able to travel for the past two years, family events have kept me in the US, between Montana and the Washington DC area. I have a 13 year old dog that is getting along in years and needs care so I seldom leave for more than 4 days at a time. But I definitely have some favorite foods in Chiang Mai! Perhaps not the best that CM has to offer but I did love the place and its food. I liked Khao Soi Samer Jai, but it was way too crowded and the flies were bad the days I went. Lert Ros nearly blew me away with their Nam Tok, I thought my head would melt. Went back for the BBQ fish, outstanding! Kanjana’s Gaeng Hang Laeh Muu is probably one of my favorite dishes in CM. But one of my favorite places in CM is a simple family place on the west end of the old city, Jiang Fish Ball. I have had more very good meals there than anywhere else. Not great food, but nearly everything is very good.
Chiang Mai is a great city for both people and food! And coffee! LOL!
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This is the first food oriented site I’ve joined, but as for others you probably could be right. I’ve heard of Chowhound but have never visited the site so know nothing about it now or then. (Assuming it is still around.)
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Ditto. And the fondness varies a lot.
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I’m Gen X but I have an old soul.
I still post on CH, as well as 2 Chow Expat groups on FB (Chow TO for Toronto, and Chow Home Cooking), a FB cooking group I started for my travelling ski club (165 members!) , on IG and on Twitter.
I used to post on eGullet.
The first place I contributed online was epicurious. I used to post comments after trying recipes.
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You’ve made me think a lot about these types of forums because I do tend to see a trend of several food and cooking forums that skew older, and it’s made me wonder why. From my own experiences and observations, this is what I noticed:
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There are examples of cooking blogs for all audience levels, but the ones I gravitate to are those who are experienced cooks to learn new dishes, recipes and ideas. I seek the same in a forum, so this may be like attracting like. I started cooking in my early teen years, but I never had to cook regularly. Even through college, I cooked because I had to and didn’t appreciate good cooking, techniques or flavors yet. And quite frankly, I was a poor college student when a meal at Chili’s (the fast casual chain) was considered a treat.
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The money and social priority thing. It’s a good challenge to have to cook great meals on a meager budget, but it’s a challenge none the less. As I got older, with more disposable income (and having tasted some really delicious foods), my expectations changed with my cooking. Maybe this is something you really need to grow into. I envy Top Chef Jrs who were exposed to amazing food early in life, but that’s atypical. As a young professional, I was saddled with college debt so good restaurant meals were still far between. My friends and coworkers preferred the after work bar hangout with nachos over the after work 3 course meal, so that was most of my social food experiences.
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Now that I appreciate good cooking and unique food experiences, I’ve noticed some forums aren’t really tolerant of basic cooking questions. I haven’t found those examples here, but I’ve seen elsewhere asking basic 101 questions is met with few answers, or good info mixed with the subset who only ever serves artisanal, high-quality imported, super ethnic and authentic ingredients who eventually overtake the original thread. It doesn’t lend itself to feel helpful or welcoming if I were my Chili-loving 22 year old self trying to learn more about cooking and good eats.
Sorry if I’ve taken us off on a far digression from the main topic. I too came here from the post-chowhound days so I’ve joined a number of different food forums since, and there indeed common themes and dynamics in all of them that I find interesting. Just a note - I no longer love Chilis. Save me from the flames. 
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It was Mark Twain. Or Harry Truman, maybe, who said “never trust a man who doesn’t like chili” or something like that!
I think you’re right on topic.
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Thanks! I gotta tell husband. We are surrounded by young (and not so young) people who live MUCH higher on the hog than we do but/and spend every nickel of every paycheck.
We each have our priorities. I will pay business class international airfare but make my own morning coffee and don’t do take-out.
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The journey is an important part of the holiday indeed.
