Growing Up on Fast Food Essay Example for Free

Growing Up on Fast Food EssayMost Americans pick out buryen at a rally-in restaurant, diner and/or dissolute- nutrient restaurant in their lives. Customers frequent these establishments for its convenience and affordability. Part of the fast-food lure is to satisfy the body an otherwise disrupt is a family baitting down and enjoying a meal together.Many volume natural covering in the 1950s and 1960s did not understand food prophylactic and its dangers. Food was cooked in neverthelesster or lard instead of Trans oils, vegetable oil or margarine that ar used today. Foods in the past were irritated with fat and cholesterol, which made consumers early candidates for cardiovascular diseases, stroke and other health issues. Food may have tasted delicious, but that came with a heavy price.Consumers of today argon more educated concerning the risks and rewards of fertiliseing out and how food is prepared. They still face similar obstacles as their parents and grandparents di d generations ago. How is the food made? What ingredients are used in devising the selected dish? Is the blank space where the food is grown/processed/made reputable? Any of the aforementioned questions that are answered in the prohibit should be cause for concern. youthful examples in the U.S. include the peanut recall. In that case, the product was tainted at the manufacturing plant. The items were put out for mass consumption, and that decision lead to umteen race acquiring sick and others dying. The Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) voluntarily recalled peanuts that were manufactured in either Georgia or Texas for fear that consumers would be exposed to Salmonella poisoning. (FDA, p.1)Although the outbreak did not affect jars or peanut butter commonly found in supermarkets, the tainted supply went to institutions and other establishments. (MSNBC,Fast Food 2p.1) This meant restaurants could have acquire the contaminated peanut butter. Where hundred of people were injured and a half-dozen people died from Salmonella poisoning, this could have been even more tragic if not for the recall. (1)The news becomes important since many restaurants offer peanut and jelly sandwiches on their kids menu. It is a comfort food for many peoplefor the young and young-at-heart. (Phantom Gourmet, 2009) Having that survival snapn away would have been lubber for restaurant owners who would have removed that item off its menu and the patrons who would have commited the sandwich. (Phantom Gourmet, 2009)This is where the fast food industry can either be a friend or foe. They offer many choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Items range from bacon and eggs in the morning to prime rib in the evening. Many places like diners are open 24 hours, so people can get what they are craving any time. Being able to order what customers want when they want entices people to eat out.Another reason people go out to eat is the restaurants atmosphere. Certainly a fast-food facility su ch as McDonalds go out have a different motif than a diner, which impart have a more distinctive ambiance than a mom-and-pop restaurant. The Golden Arches typically serves hamburgers, fast sandwiches with French fries and soft drinks. Kids are usually seen playing in a designated area. Not a place for people without kids who want to sit down to a quiet meal.The problem comes as much of the food is either fatty to begin with or comes with condiments that are also high in fat, calories and other things that can expand a waistline or harden an artery. Fast food companies are adapting to the way Americans eat by offering salads, parfaits and other healthier choices. McDonalds has spent billions of dollars in advertising these menu changes (McDonalds Corporate, p.1)Fast Food 3Diners have been around this country for decades. Most people have one either in or near their town. These establishments offer good food and reasonable prices. That is often not the primary reason patrons go to the diner, however. The restaurant located up is the main attraction. Some places have rally nights featuring vintage cars and motorcycles from the 1950s and 1960s.Other places house 50s-era memorabilia with photos of Singer/ proletarian Elvis Presley, Actress Marilyn Monroe, Actor James Dean and advertisements for Coke products that were very inexpensive in those days. Try getting a bottle of coke for a nickel todayit will not happen because of the cost of making the item and most companies use plastic instead of glass. There is less of a safety risk elusive with plastic and it is cheaper to produce.Then there is the modern convenience of take-out or drive through. Being able to take home a bag from a fast-food place is certainly convenient and one does not mean unloading the family of the car. A menu is set up outside where people can give their orders, drive up to the window, pay the server, get their food and drive off to their next destination.Sounds easy in that the food sti ll comes out fast (and correctly, one hopes), but what the experience lacks is people enjoying the food. Sure, the family sits in the car eating their hamburgers and French fries, but at the cost of getting the car dirty, having to throw out the garbage after(prenominal)ward and being cramped in a car seat without the benefits of stretching or using the restroom if needed.That type of convenience may be to a fault much for some people. There is no wrong answer to how people dine. Time, the order itself, and other circumstances dictate if and when a person of family sits inside the restaurant, takes it out, or drives through. The bottom line for the restaurants is making sure the food is properly served to its customers so they return.Fast Food 4This paper also hopes to debunk the myths surrounding fast food, how people who grew up eating at such places have adapted with the times, and how the restaurant industry has attempted to enlighten its customers about the choices they have .Iconic restaurants such as McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken (A.K.A. KFC) had a formula for encouraging return visitors. Offer customers good food at reasonable prices and they may come back again and bring friends. Both franchises have been going strong for more than five decades because their philosophy has not changed much during that time.Healthy Does Not Bad savourOne problem fast food companies had to address is the quality of the ingredients used to make their trademark dishes. Is the meat for the burgers made at McDonalds or Burger index the best quality they can find? Are the chickens raised for use at Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fed a solid diet of nutrients?Those questions and answers outcome to a point. Everyone will demonstrate the excellence of their products to show they care about their customers. If they fail, then actions such as recalls (for peanuts as previously mentioned) happen. This puts the industry under negative light and those working within the in dustry must work harder to regain the customers trust. Restaurants that did not have any trouble with the recalled product will be challenged to make their products better or fall behind in the marketplace.McDonalds has been proactive over the past three decades in educating consumers about their foods and profit (McDonalds, p.1). They began printing up nutrition information for their customers to read if they wish. They might not like the fact a Big Mac sandwich has 50 pct of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of saturated fat. (1)Fast Food 5Or, a McRib sandwich has 48 percent of the RDA of saturated fat. (1) Clearly, these are not choices for people looking at to either lose weight or remain physically fit. Their nutritional information may be found either by accessing the company website at www.mcdonalds.com or stopping in any one of their restaurants and picking up a brochure.Eating at McDonaldsor any fast food placefor a prolonged period of time can have detrimental conseq uences. Morgan Spurlock wrote and directed a 2004 painting about the fast-food industry, Supersize Me The plot was simple Spurlock would eat nothing but the contents of the McDonalds menu for 30 consecutive days. He had to order everything off the menu at least once and had to supersize his order if asked. He would also refrain from exercising during the one-month period. (Spurlock, p.1)His point was to demonstrate the hazardous effects of eating out at fast food restaurants. Watching the film makes people cringe as he begins to gain too much weight, lose energy in wanting to do any real activities. Because of his McDonalds diet and his lack of exercise, Spurlock not only gained a whopping 24 pounds in 30 days, consumed a pound of sugar a day on average and his cholesterol rose an unbelievable 65 points from when this experiment started. (Spurlock Quotes, p.1)Besides the obvious physical ailments that befell Spurlock during his thirty days, there were also the psychological aspects . He utter during the movieI nearly doubled my risk of coronary heart disease, making myself twice as likely to have heart failure. I felt up depressed and exhausted most of the time, my mood swung on a dime and my sex life was non existent. I craved this food more and more when I ate it, and got massive headaches when I didnt. In my finalThe movie was nominated for an Academy Award had had quite the reaction from moviegoers. Although McDonalds officials denied the moved at the time, they scrapped the supersize option several weeks after the movie was released. (Wikipedia, p.1) They also offered its customers healthier alternatives such as salads. Spurlock said those choices contained more sugar than a bag of cookies. (1)Spurlock accomplished what he set out to do find the causes of overweight people in the US and the bigger problem of obesity in this country. McDonalds and the rest of the fast-food industry had to take note that their foods, if taken as much as Spurlock had, woul d have devastating effects on peoples health and well being. Nobody suggested that families eat every meal at restaurants. That logic would be expensive as well and unhealthy and would not make much sense.His body changed for the worse after his 30-day McDonalds binge. It took five months for Spurlock to lose the weight he gained during that period (Spurlock Quotes, p.1). He suffered from liver damage, high blood pressure and other damaging ailments while perform this experiment. Moderation for anything is the best course of action when attempting to so something. That McDonalds food was not healthy struck a chord, that Spurlock damaged his body making a point struck an even louder chord.