I revived a dormant post-flight custom and stopped by In-N-Out Burger near Los Angeles International Airport after my last trip. Looking around the dining room reminded me of what a great nation the United States is. Yes, I’m being serious.
In-N-Out LAX: A Great Picture Of America
We hear a lot of bad news each day and I suppose I could have written a post mocking our strange (but understandable if you read Eric Schlosser) habbit of eating junk food with a snide comment about how it is no wonder that there is obesity epedemic in the USA.
But look around the In-N-Out dining room and what do you see?
I see people from “every tribe and tongue” coming together to enjoy some delicious food. And that itself may not be cause for celebration, but rather than always look to what we do wrong or still have to work on, maybe it would help if we once in a while recognized that we have made progress and there is beatuty in that dining room like there is beauty in a rainbow.
I cannot think of anywhere else in the world, except perhaps Canada, where there is such broad (and I said broad, not universal) acceptance of folks based on the content of their character, not their skin color, ethnicity, or religion.
An American friend tried moving to France and even learned the language, but was always considered an outsider: he complained that the same guys would show up for coffee each morning, but no one wanted to talk to him. He moved back to LA.
My former roommate was born in Germany, spoke perfect “high” German, and yet because his family was from Ghana and his skin was black, he was always asked, “Where do you come from?” and I think it’s fair to say that even today most Germans look at him not as a “German” but as an outsider.
Those are two anecdotes not to suggest cultural superiority or even to make a broad generalization, but to invite us (Americans) to reflect. Far too often I hear my fellow Americans flippantly condemn this country and lift up the panacea of Europe when they have never actually lived there and my own time there, beloved as it was, showed me that it is not a paradise.
One reason we cannot talk to each other anymore and are divided into what seems like polar opposite ideological camps in which one side despises the other is that we fail to appreciate the progress that has been made. One side feels that admitting progress is still a tool of white heteronormative hegemony while the other side is so afraid to admit to any sort of progress or statement that America is already great for fear of angering Agent Orange.
But as planes flew over the In-N-Out on Sepulveda Boulevard in Los Angeles, the promise of living in peace with one another was on display. And that made me smile. We’re doing okay. Treat others the way you want to be treated and we’ll do even better.
p.s. I greatly enjoyed all 1050 calories of my 4×4 animal style…
that doesn’t look like animal style to me D:
…….and such positive thoughts were inspired by junk food (^_^)
What a wonderful post and reflection, Matthew – thank you so much!
@Vinod … Whenever I ride from LAX to the hospital , I have the driver stop on Pico at The Apple Pan for a hickory burger to go . Impossible to duplicate .
The Apple Pan is a staple – that place is fantastic
I’ve been missing Matt’s thoughts about burgers!
Great post – really makes one appreciate than In-n-Out is a Christian company. The same could be said of Chick-fil-A or Hobby Lobby. Funny how the Christian companies are the most successful and foster a community reflective of eternity, isn’t it?
Remember when the tonsil jockeys were boycotting all 3 of them? Just like the ones (Bud, Nike, Starbucks) the far right tried to boycott, it never works. There might be a small period where sales decrease but quality products and businesses always weather the storms.
And why? Because of what Matt said, they offer something for everyone, even the ass pirates and crazy evangelicals that say they hate them.
I used to drive OTR for Hobby Lobby. What a great outfit. They really have their act together.
My two favorite things. In N Out and American exceptionalism.
I was just there at LAX In-N-Out 2 months ago and the location seems to contribute to the good vibes. Good food satisfies your appetite, good weather satisfies your health, and screaming jet engines landing on the north runway satisfies your soul and dreams. You can’t help but find something in common with strangers. Every encounter /conversation I’ve had with strangers at that location has been a positive one.
Used to love that location then post COVID went down hill in terms of keeping the dining room clean and unstable people milling around outside occasionally inside.Its been a couple years for me is the dining room back to extra neat and clean the way In n Out used to be?
As I’ve been craving a burger all day, I am doing one, but total meal, no cheese no buns, and 5 olive oil baked steak fries with a glass of Merlot will top out at 600 calories. Actually it would be less but I am planning to eat it bleeding pink. ( I know exactly where our beef lives , is butchered and ground).
Thank you Matthew it was a lovely post.
Great post. Well written and said.
I posted on the “unapologetic American” once with similar tone but I won’t link it as you’ve been too generous to me in allowing already. One link from your site gets me a week’s worth of diverse traffic at my sparsely read blog.
What I’ve learned from traffic I get from your site is how diverse your audience truly is. You draw readers from all over the world. Your message must be resonating well universally.
Good job.
Yea, Europeans are quick to label other racists but they basically sweep anything under the rug – we don’t talk about it so it’s ALL GREAT while Americans might have a solid 23% outright racists in this country but we talk about it OUT LOUD and out in the open. Just like we’ll discuss everything LOUDLY and out in the open …
Re: the African born in Germany. That’s true because America is a melting pot, literally nowhere else would someone be considered a local. IF you were born in China, would anyone say you are Chinese, if you are born in Japan, would anyone consider you Japanese, if you were born in Africa would Africans consider you one of their native African people, if you moved to Hawaii, would locals consider you a native Hawaiian? No the wouldn’t. And to put the cherry on the top, since you were born in America, would the native Americans consider you on of theirs, nope. And are they wrong Just? Not really. Just food for thought.
Hello Matt. Consider that in-person interactions are limited in a public restaurant. You don’t interact with other people on a personal basis aside from staying in line and paying for food. One can experience an equal amount of diversity in FRA, CDG, or LHR. I love the song “common people” because I get what the sculpture art student was trying to convey: Live in a society where you try to chat up people who are taking a break from their work, chat with them at the supermarket, and then you experience a culture in a different way than at the airport or in a hotel lounge.
In major cities around the world, there are plenty of places to mingle with different ethnicities and cultures. I chuckled at the German of Ghana ancestry who was asked where he was from in that Germany now has millions of non-native legal citizens living there. America is a diverse place because it’s a land of immigrants. What makes Germany, Japan, Tibet, Norway interesting is that they are native cultures. I observe that American culture is atomized. People who live in a ‘diverse” mindset tend to have fewer friends, typically of their own ethnicity or political tendencies (although they’ll have a few who don’t conform to that), while in native cultures people are more social altogether although culturally insular. It’s 1/2 dozen and 6 of the other.
The USA is under continual ethnic tension similar to that of the middle east. It’s all well-and-good, I suppose, for those who are into individualism but I found myself feeling much more accepted when I was in Poland or Europe than in the “diverse” and “inclusive” USA. When I was in Mexico, I certainly felt like an outsider there but I expected that was the case, but when I was “introduced” to people there through friends they were far more emotionally welcoming than I think Americans are.
Poles have an expression: Coconuts versus Peaches. Coconuts are hard on the outside, soft on the inside. Strong native cultures will be wary of others but quickly soften up after getting to know you. The opposite with peaches: seemingly friendly and chatty to everyone, but hard on the inside and not very intimate with too many.
It’s what makes travel so wonderful in understanding one’s own culture better and that some concepts about humanity are universal “hardware” or cultural “software”.
My personal experience has been that I now tend to associate more with foreigners from all around the world or Americans who are married to them than regular Americans even from my own ethnicity who consider me “strange”. I don’t follow American sports nor make the same kind of chit-chat.
Can’t help but wonder how many are here legally. Legal immigration is great. Disregarding our laws, and especially demanding things of legal citizens not so much. I once over stayed my Ethiopian visa by 1-day. Had to apply and pay for a new visa plus a penalty.
I am not really a fan of In n Out – but that location and property is truly special. How many times have I been early for a flight and sat outside along the runway to plane spot? It’s such a unique place. It reminds me of the start to Love Actually when it focuses on the airport arrivals hall. So many lives intersecting. And with the planes coming in virtually over your head it provides a truly magical setting.
Great post, Matthew. For Av Geeks it must be one of the most iconic spots in the world.
American “culture” is strip malls, urban sprawl, fast food and trash TV.
Let the French stay French, the Germans be German, the Japanese be Japanese. They all have real culture and a true sense of cultural and national identity. Sadly though, even in Germany, Sweden, France, and many more, their culture and identity are dying, due to hordes of immigrants who don’t assimilate and dilute those nation’s “true” peoples.
More and more of the world is becoming a great melting pot. While the US, Canada and the UK have been ahead of the curve in becoming a great global melting pot in our lifetime, it’s increasingly common to see much more diverse groups of people hitting a restaurant in Nairobi, in Delhi, in Stockholm, in Tokyo, in Buenos Aires, and in Jakarta nowadays than during the Cold War or ever before. But at the same time, there are also reactionary elements that are deeply uncomfortable with the globalization and diversity that is getting more and more settled in a world where information seeks to be free and people want freedom of mobility and opportunity for themselves but aren’t necessarily comfortable with it in their own backyard for “the other”.
Patties are so thin a Double Double is always a necessity.
Blah burgers and inferior fries passed off as something magnificent by the La La Cognoscenti. The Left Coasters are almost as bad as Noo Yawkers when it comes to cultural hegemony and expectations that everyone in Flyover Country will follow them.
I lived on the left coast for a decade and never got into Inn-N-Out but I did like 5 Guys before it cost 5X as much as any other burger. I’m not a fan of Inn-N-Out’s sauce. New Yorkers make a big deal about their pizza but I find “classic” NY style to be like burnt cardboard. My wife prefers Chicago style. Nathan’s hot dogs are NOT overrated. Most underrated chain is Arby’s. That stuff is amazing although they make a huge mistake not serving coffee or having drive-thru.
KFC is hugely popular overseas and I gave a Popeye’s chicken sandwich to a Pole and he agreed it was a sandwich good enough to get stabbed waiting in line for.
Brazil is likely ahead of everyone else in terms of racial integration- the biggest ethnic group is the mixed race one and, in addition to the ‘expected’ white, black, and indigenous, there’s no shortage of people with roots in Arabia, Japan etc. Probably not as linguistically diverse as the USA though.
for me the best example of the US melting pot is comparing our Olympic team to most others as they walk in during the opening ceremonies