If you're looking for some tangible evidence of the recession, it's all around -- especially at the supermarket, where prices are going up and the net weight of the products is going down.
But if you have kids and order off the kids' menu when dining out, you've got proof right on your child's plate, where the recession and narrowing margins are making their mark, causing food to vanish.
I first started noticing these changes when Pizzeria Piccola cut the kids pizza in half. I tried to tell them that just making a smaller pizza might be a better idea. Maybe people wouldn't even really notice it was smaller. After all, it's not like we carry tape measures with us. And, if it got a little smaller, most would understand why. Times are tough.
But faced with a half moon of dough, sauce and cheese my kid asks every time, "where's the other half of my pizza?" And I see other kids asking the same question of their parents, too.
At Culver's, kids' meals come in a paper bag with a coupon for a free scoop of custard and another token. These tokens could be redeemed for little gifts or free kids meals (which is what we used them for).
On a visit there a few weeks ago, we found that the two tokens have been downsized to just one (the scoop of ice cream one).
At Alterra at the Lake last week, we ordered the kids' grilled cheese and found that the half a cookie that is part of the meal has itself been cut in half. Kids now get a quarter of a cookie with their meals, despite the fact that menu claims the meal comes with "a cookie" (which is only 25 percent true). Of course, I'm not sure I want my kid to have an entire cookie, anyway.
But again, why not make a smaller cookie and give the kid the whole thing?
My co-worker Maureen Post also has noticed that Alterra now only offers skim milk and half and half at its condiment stations. So, I guess that's the way in which adults -- or at least the adults who want 2 percent milk -- are paying the price.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
