Fast Food

这篇paper讲诉了，快餐,最初出现在德国和推广在1950年代的美国,因为它方便,是这个快节奏的现代社会的象征。刚刚开始出现的时候,只有几个选项供公众选择哪一个适合他们的饮食习惯。然而,随着经济、贸易和文化全球化,现在有广泛的食品类型,例如汉堡包,薯条和披萨等。更重要的是,这种多元化世界各地不尽相同。例如,快餐文化与中国传统饮食文化合并,这将创建一个全新的中国风格快餐。同样,世界其他地区都有自己的解释关于快餐。

Fast food, which was originally emerged in Germany and popularized in the 1950s in the United States because of its convenience, is a symbol of this fast-paced modern society. At the moment when it appeared, there were only several options for the public to choose which one suits their appetite. However, with economic, trade, and culture globalization, it is now composed of a wide range of food types such as hamburgers, French fries and pizza, etc. What is more, this diversification varies throughout the world. For example, the fast food culture merged with traditional Chinese food culture, which creates a wholly new style of fast food in China. Similarly, other parts of the world all have their own explanations about fast food.

  When it comes to a new food product, there is always one aspect to contemplate: how the producers sell their product with maximum profit? That will largely depend on food advertising that people use some methods to advertise those foods in a delicious and attractive way. However, this situation makes me wonder that if food advertising really carries beneficial influences on the public, especially our youngsters. “They also are right to be concerned about the message most food advertising sends to our young people and try to counter that with nutrition education and some modicum of control over what foods our kids can buy while they are in the hands of out educators.”(King) Those effects food advertising brings to our young generation can be vicious. Advertisers could make fake images and lie to the public with such statement that fast food contains the daily necessary nutrition that one person needs in order to be healthy. It will be difficult for the young to distinguish whether advertising is giving the correct or just misleading information. Therefore, it is significant that parents should keep an eye on these various food advertisements.
  Apart from its vicious advertisement effects, why fast food became so popular among many countries? “With efficient service, low prices, and casual atmosphere, fast food seems like the ideal ‘all-American’ choice. In fact, over 25 percent of Americans consume fast food every day.” (Ransohoff) According to this statement, some obvious merits such as high efficiency, suitable price, and casual atmosphere account for the popularity of fast food. In addition, if you are looking for a quick, easy meal to grab on the go, fast food is the common solution. An ever-decreasing period of time is a usual thing for young workers particularly white collars. They have less and less time spent on commuting and foods. Under this circumstance, the high-calories and inexpensive fast food will cater for their situation. What is more, almost every fast food chain provides consumers with take-out service, which even eases the burden of modern citizens.
  Although fast food is popular in our community, most people do not consider it as their healthiest option. Because there are many disadvantages of fast food including potential heart or weight issues that can permanently damage your health. The risks brought by eating fast food include diabetes, obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke and negative effects on children. In fact, those significant health effects are often more pronounced in children. “Today, almost one in four kids is obese, putting them at risk for, among other things, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.” (Rahul K.Parikh) This also shows obesity problem will no longer only be the adults’ issue. Take children obesity as an example: at their young ages, the consumption of fast food on a daily basis could result in hypertension, high cholesterol, and asthma. Furthermore, many fast foods actually lack nutrition, which causes possible impaired growth and development. All of these diseases could be deadly detrimental to our young generation. 
  Dated back to the moment when fast food was originally produced. At first, the whole industry had the same operation standards to produce fast food. However, as time went by, some profit-driven producers started to add addicting ingredient to make it more attractive. After this procedure, fast food even became more irresistible to the consumer. By doing that, some producers made a big fortune, which became the negative example within the fast food industry. Nowadays, there is no guarantee that our fast food is one hundred percent safe. That is the reason why more concerns related to fast food are emerging.
  On account of these facts, how to address these fast food-related problems has become principal issue. Firstly, for the consumers, moderation becomes the key, and it is acceptable to indulge a craving for French fries every now and then, but to stay healthy, it is wise not to make it a regular habit. Only make a balance between fast food and traditional nutritious food, can we enjoy the fabulous taste and keep health simultaneously. In addition, from the government’s point of view, some legislation must be introduced in order to enhance entire industry’s food quality. For example, the law related to addicting ingredient should be introduced, and the proportion of addicting ingredient must be settled, which means producers could only add a certain percentage of addictive things to make sure consumers will not have an addiction. Last but not least, slowing down your pace of life, taking more time to choose when you are in a fast food chain. “The Slow Food movement is a worldwide organization of ‘food eaters.’ It is committed to promoting the diversity of local and regional quality food, produced and marketed in ways that guarantees farmers a fair price and protects the environment and the natural landscape.” (Ikerd) Through this movement, producers actually are capable of balancing quality food and the protection of environment.
  Above all, there are various types of fast food. Therefore, some regulations are needed to make this fast food industry standardized. When it comes to modern healthy lifestyle, fast food caters for the fast-paced society. Only if you choose the correct and reasonable food, can it be nutritious and healthy as well. Under this circumstance, there is no need to prohibit fast foods, and it can still exist as the symbol of our communities.
  Work cited:
1. “Healthy fast food: Tips for Making Healthier Fast Food Choices” [Online] Available: http://www.helpguide.org/life/fast_food_nutrition.htm (April 29,2014)
2. “Disadvantages of Fast Food” [Online] Available:
http://www.md-health.com/Disadvantages-Of-Fast-Food.html (April 29, 2014)

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