My friend, the DC restaurant critic Tim Carman, has an interesting theory about why junk food sales are up and it has nothing to do with trading down.

Goes like this. When people get laid off and feel like crap, they eat crap. Which is why McDonald's sales are rising while Starbucks' are falling. Why not Starbucks? Because people don't need a caffeine jolt when they're worried about their job and finances. They want comfort food. Greasy food. Interesting theory. But for my comfort food, I'll take spaghetti carbonara. And no, it ain't junk. (Image from flickr)