Fast foods Fast food

Fast foods


Fast food, mass-produced food product designed for quick and efficient preparation and distribution that is sold by certain restaurants, concession stands, and convenience stores. Fast food is perhaps most associated with chain restaurants—including such prominent brands as McDonald’s, Burger King, and Taco Bell—that typically offer take-out and drive-through services, as convenience and speed are prioritized. Common fast foods include hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, pizza, burritos, and sandwiches.
Critics say the production of fast food often subordinates quality to efficiency, affordability, and profit. Fast-food products are often highly processed and precooked or frozen and may contain artificial preservatives in addition to high levels of sodium, cholesterol, saturated fats, and refined grains and sugars. Thus, the term fast food has come to carry negative connotations regarding health, and it raises ethical issues in the fields of agriculture and labour. However polarizing, fast food remains highly popular internationally for its convenience and flavour.
History
The concept of quick ready-to-eat meals dates back millennia. Evidence that people have been eating food on the go can be found as far back as Pompeii before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Throughout the early 20th century, self-serve food establishments known as Automats and “smash-and-grabs” gained popularity with busy customers who sought a quick meal. In 1921 the first White Castle—often considered the original American fast-food chain—opened in Wichita, Kansas. Known for its five-cent burgers, it paved the way for the fast-food chains of the future with an assembly line that allowed for efficient service and consistent output.
The fast-food industry flourished after World War II with the rise of suburbia, interstate highways, and other car-forward infrastructure. The drive-through model was a natural successor of the drive-in restaurants that had materialized across the United States in the decades before the war. Drive-throughs, which required fewer employees than drive-ins, were more financially lucrative for fast-food businesses and catered to traveling customers and those who did not want to stop for a sit-down meal. The California-based chain In-N-Out Burger is generally credited as the first to implement the modern drive-through—which features two-way speakers—in 1948. The fast-food industry expanded rapidly in the latter half of the 20th century. In the early 21st century there were nearly 200,000 fast-food restaurants in the United States alone, and corporations such as McDonald’s, Subway, and Starbucks had thousands of international locations. In 2021 American fast-food restaurants collectively generated more than $250 billion in revenue.
As technology evolved, so did the convenience and efficiency of the fast-food experience. Implementation of self-order kiosks in various restaurants allow customers to order and pay for their food on a screen, while increasing sales and decreasing labour. The rise of third-party delivery services such as Uber Eats, Grubhub, and DoorDash allows for even greater convenience than the drive-through.