W:5 Our Fast Food Nation

It is no question that fast food is associated with American culture and society. It is hard to pinpoint the exact reason behind this, but there is much room for speculation. For starters, in an earlier reading, we read that, although the hamburger patty was not invented in America, the concept was adopted and the idea of putting the patty in between two buns is American. Nowadays, and for some time now, the burger is probably the most common of all fast food items. Another reason that fast food is so American is that a substantial portion of our population is always on the move and is looking for quick and easy food options. In addition, many of the fast food chains prevalent in our society today, such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, and Taco Bell, are all multi-billion dollar conglomerates. For as far back as I can remember I have seen far more commercials from the major fast food corporations on TV more than commercials for anything else. This is on display in the film Super Size Me, as well, when the kids are able to identify images of Ronald McDonald and Wendy over images of George Washington and other notable figures throughout our country’s history and in our society today. The images of different fast food “mascots,” if you may, are ingrained into the minds of youth in our society. Our youth, just as was the case with me, are brought up eating fast food and believing that it is healthy and should be apart of the weekly (or even daily) diet. It is not until we grow up that we realize that it unhealthy, for all intensive purposes, and not something that we should consume regularly.

Furthermore, the only time that I have been outside of the country was a family trip to Canada when I was 5 years old, so I am very limited with what I remember. However, from what I hear, in Europe, fast food is not nearly as customary and prevalent as it is in America. What’s more, the menus at European fast food joints, which are much less a regularity than in America, are very different from those at American fast food establishments. They offer healthier options such as “deli choices,” and carrot sticks, and do not feature the gigantic hamburgers that our menus do. The biggest sandwich on the menu is the Big Mac, which appears, in photo, to be far inferior, in terms of size, to the American Big Mac. It seems as if Europeans are much more intelligent than us in certain aspects, this being one of them.