fast food
All such food is categorized as fast food which can be prepared and served quickly. Restaurants and kiosks provide fast food with precooked or preheated ingredients and usually served at a packaged form (Pollan, 2009). In the beginning, American hamburger and fries was considered as the traditional fast food but now the field has been widely diversified and food like pizzas, fish and chips, burgers from McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken etc. are all considered fast food.
Fast food market has shown an enormous and steady growth. In 2006 alone the market has reached to $102.4 billion with an annual growth rate of 4.8% (Adams, 2007). Fast food chains like McDonalds operate in more than 126 countries in six continents having more than 31,000 restaurants globally (Arndt, 2007). Burger King, another worldwide fast food chain, has operations in more than 65 countries of the world; KFC restaurants located over 25 countries, Subways is present in 90 countries with total 39,129 restaurants and so and so forth (Buthrie, Lin & Frazao, 2002). However, according to most of researches, fast food is not at all fit for health and can cause serious problems. According to Marion Nestle, Chair of New York University’s Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, “the increased calories in American diets come from eating more food in general, but especially more of foods high in fat (meat, dairy, fried foods, grain dishes with added fat), sugar (soft drinks, juice drinks, desserts), and salt (snack foods)” (Nestle, 2002; p. 10). This report discusses some positive as well as negative points of taking fast food.
Reasons for popularity
Before delving into the positive and negative aspects of fast food, it seems appropriate if we discuss the reasons of fast food popularity.
The question is what compels the Americans to eat such poorly balanced food? The answer of the question is not simple and involves many factors. First of all, every culture has its own values,
Fast food market has shown an enormous and steady growth. In 2006 alone the market has reached to $102.4 billion with an annual growth rate of 4.8% (Adams, 2007). Fast food chains like McDonalds operate in more than 126 countries in six continents having more than 31,000 restaurants globally (Arndt, 2007). Burger King, another worldwide fast food chain, has operations in more than 65 countries of the world; KFC restaurants located over 25 countries, Subways is present in 90 countries with total 39,129 restaurants and so and so forth (Buthrie, Lin & Frazao, 2002). However, according to most of researches, fast food is not at all fit for health and can cause serious problems. According to Marion Nestle, Chair of New York University’s Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, “the increased calories in American diets come from eating more food in general, but especially more of foods high in fat (meat, dairy, fried foods, grain dishes with added fat), sugar (soft drinks, juice drinks, desserts), and salt (snack foods)” (Nestle, 2002; p. 10). This report discusses some positive as well as negative points of taking fast food.
Reasons for popularity
Before delving into the positive and negative aspects of fast food, it seems appropriate if we discuss the reasons of fast food popularity.
The question is what compels the Americans to eat such poorly balanced food? The answer of the question is not simple and involves many factors. First of all, every culture has its own values,