"The problem with eating out in America today is that it’s making us fat."

"Studies done at my laboratory at Tufts University showed that the relationship between eating out and weight gain is very straightforward: The more frequently you eat out the more likely you are to carry excess pounds.... Our metabolism, hunger, and even the synthesis of addiction neurochemicals like dopamine are controlled by our environment.... When we see, smell, or taste something good, the sensory signals that get into our brain through our eyes, nose, and mouth activate what is known as the cephalic (preparatory) phase of digestion. Our saliva secretion increases; our blood glucose drops; our stomach muscles relax (so we have a larger stomach that needs more food in it to feel full); and our digestion accelerates (so we can put away that food more quickly to get ready for more)....."

From "Why Restaurants Make You Fat/Restaurant Syndrome: 1. Eat out. 2. Eat too much. 3. Feel bad. 4. Repeat" by Susan B. Roberts (The Daily Beast).

By chance, last night, I was watching a movie where there were characters who regarded a restaurant as a strange new form of business that was going to wreck the good thing that they had going (a saloon). 

Dialogue: 

"Have you ever seen a restaurant? They serve food. Next, the church will open up again...."

"The Judge is losing his grip. He's afraid of a place that sells vittles. Vittles and a pack of calf-faced girls...."

The "calf-faced girls" were the wholesome women who were coming to town to work in the restaurant — so different from the saloon women. 

Here's the Wikipedia article about the restaurant business depicted in that movie: "Fred Harvey Company."

Fred Harvey is credited with creating the first restaurant chain in the U.S. Harvey and his company also became leaders in promoting tourism in the American Southwest in the late 19th century. Harvey promoted the region by inspiring the "Indian curio" (native memento) shop, as well as guided tours through the American southwest called "Indian Detours." The company, with its employees including renowned waitresses later known as Harvey Girls, successfully brought higher standards of food service and cuisine to a region then mainly known as "the Wild West."... 

In 1883, Harvey... placed ads in newspapers throughout the East Coast and Midwest for "white, young women, 18–30 years of age, of good character, attractive and intelligent." The girls were paid $18.50 a month, plus room and board, a generous income by the standards of the time.

The women were subjected to a strict 10 p.m. curfew, administered by a senior Harvey Girl who assumed the role and responsibilities of house mother....

The restrictions maintained the clean-cut reputation of the Harvey Girls, and made them even more marriageable. Cowboy philosopher Will Rogers once said, “In the early days the traveler fed on the buffalo. For doing so, the buffalo got his picture on the nickel. Well, Fred Harvey should have his picture on one side of the dime, and one of his waitresses with her arms full of delicious ham and eggs on the other side, ‘cause they have kept the West supplied with food and wives.” However, just the opportunity to leave their homes, enjoy travel, have new experiences, and work outside the home was very liberating for thousands of young women.

So significant was the impact of the Harvey Houses and Harvey Girls that their female employees are said to have helped to "civilize the American Southwest." This legend found expression in The Harvey Girls, a 1942 novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams and in the 1946 MGM musical film of the same name which was inspired by it, starring Judy Garland.

Not to be confused with the Madison restaurant called The Harvey House. There's no Judy Garland movie about that.

At this point, you may be thinking, in the old days, people just weren't fat like we are today, and Judy Garland was never fat... was she? But that's a sad story:

“Most of her teen and adult life, she had been on either Benzedrine or a diet or both,” [her third husband, Sid Luft] wrote, explaining how Garland attempted to manage her weight. “Unlike other actresses, she could not successfully camouflage extra weight, especially because she was dancing and singing in revealing costumes. Just 4 feet 11½ inches, she could be underweight and still appear heavy or out of proportion onscreen.”..

Adding to the pressure surrounding food, the press often grilled Garland about her weight. In an interview in 1951, Luft wrote that she told reporters “I may be awfully fat, but I feel good.” (She was actually pregnant, and would later have an abortion).... 

Luft and Garland, who married in 1952, were living “virtually separate lives” a decade later. He said the constant struggle to diet caused her to descend further and drove them further apart. “If I were to show concern, she’d abruptly tell me to ‘f— off.’ ” he wrote.... 

She died in 1969 [at age 47] from an accidental overdose. “She couldn’t have weighed more than ninety pounds,” he wrote. “She was totally burned out. Destroyed. I couldn’t save her.”