Philly: America’s 10th Most Gluttonous City

Tons of fast food is making Philly fat

This morning, foodie website the Daily Meal released a list of America’s 20 Most Gluttonous Cities, and our fair city ranked number 10 with an adult obesity rate of 30.27 percent, second only to Detroit’s 33.7 percent.

The Daily Meal combined data from the Department of Agriculture, Centers for Disease Control, and the Census Bureau to figure out which towns had the most food stores per capita—including grocery stores, fast-food joints, and full-service restaurants—and the highest obesity rates.

While a high number of grocery stores seems like a good thing to me (it means more access to fresh food and healthy cooking options), our supermarket-to-restaurant ratio is conspicuously out of whack. According to DM’s stats, we have only 462 grocery stores, compared to 983 fast food stops and 1,196 full-service eateries.

As a city, we pride ourselves on a thriving dining culture, attracting top restaurateurs like Stephen Starr and Jose Garces, but our obesity rate suggests we’re eating out waaaay too much. Maybe it’s time we start cooking slimmed-down, restaurant-inspired meals at home. We’ll save cash and a few inches around the waist.