Editing 1940: The Food Size Cycle

Jump to: navigation, search

Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.

The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision Your text
Line 8: Line 8:
  
 
==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
−
This comic illustrates the evolution of the size of food items over time, using the example of a sandwich. It starts with a regular sandwich at the beginning. As the sandwich became more popular, sandwich makers had an {{w|arms race}} concerning sandwich size as they competed for customers. Eventually, these sandwiches became too big to eat comfortably. At this point (according to Randall) some smart guy invented the panini, a small sandwich, to cater to those who couldn't find a sandwich small enough for their needs. Eventually, the panini itself will begin to grow, and either displace or become indistinguishable from the existing giant sandwiches, and the cycle will repeat. This is similar to Clayton Christensen's theory of disruption, where products keep adding features beyond what is needed by customers, and is then resolved by cheaper products with adequate features.
+
{{incomplete|Created by a PANINI - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
 +
This is a table comparing time to size of a sandwich. It starts with a regular sandwich at the beginning. As the sandwich became more popular, sandwich makers had an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/arms-race]] concerning sandwich size. Eventually, sandwiches will become too big to eat. At this point, some smart guy invents the panini, a small sandwich. Eventually, the same thing will happen.  
  
−
The title text suggests that the same cycle may be applicable to the depth of pizza crust, with thin crusts being replaced with deeper and deeper ones, eventually necessitating a resurgence in thin crust. Randall laments that despite seeking funding to conduct experiments to test that hypothesis, he keeps getting turned down, probably because it sounds suspiciously like he wants to be paid for eating pizza.
+
The title text suggests that the same table can be applied to thin crust and deep dish pizza. Randall laments that despite seeking funding to conduct experiments to test that hypothesis, he keeps getting turned down, probably because it sounds suspiciously like he wants to be paid for having pizza delivered to his house.
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
−
:[There is a chart with the x-axis shown on top labeled "Food item size" and the y-axis labeled "Time". There are arrows pointing away from the top left corner on both axis.]
+
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
 +
The food size cycle.
  
−
:'''The food size cycle'''
+
[There is a chart, with the x axis labeled Food item size, and y labeled time.]
−
:[A normal sandwich is shown high up the chart. The text on the right reads:]
 
−
:Initial normal-sized food (sandwich, burger, burrito, taco, etc)
 
  
−
:[The next part below, further in time, has no pictured item but the text reads:]
+
[A normal sandwich is shown high up the chart.]
−
:Food becomes more popular
 
  
−
:[Next below a larger sandwich is shown.]
+
Initial normal-sized food. (sandwich, burger, burrito, taco, etc)
  
−
:[And below again an even larger sandwich is shown. The text to the right is:]
+
Food becomes popular
−
:Size arms race: average item grows as restaurants compete to offer the largest version to hungry customers
 
  
−
:[On the left side, representing small food sizes, the text embedded in arrows pointing to every direction is:]
+
[A larger sandwich is shown]
−
:Void
 
  
−
:[Below of that an enormously large sandwich is shown. The text is:]
+
[An even larger sandwich is shown.]
−
:Food gets too large to eat comfortably
 
  
−
:[More below a new row on the left for small sizes comes up, inside is a panini. The text reads:]
+
Size arms race: average item grows as restaurants compete to offer the largest version to hungry customers
−
:New format appears and fills the void (panini, burrito bowl, taquito, slider, etc)
 
  
−
:[Below of all the two paths may converge, indicated by two arrows pointing downwards and slightly together. The final text reads:]
+
[A ridiculously sized sandwich is shown]
−
:Merger or replacement
+
 
 +
Food gets too large to eat comfortably
 +
 
 +
[A new row comes up, inside is a panini]
 +
 
 +
New format appears and fills the void.
 +
 
 +
[the two roads are converging]
 +
 
 +
Merger or replacement
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
−
 
−
[[Category:Charts]]
 
−
[[Category:Food]]
 

Please note that all contributions to explain xkcd may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see explain xkcd:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!

To protect the wiki against automated edit spam, we kindly ask you to solve the following CAPTCHA:

Cancel | Editing help (opens in new window)

Templates used on this page:

Retrieved from "https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1940:_The_Food_Size_Cycle"