Fast Food

Fast Food

Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with low quality preparation and served to the customer in a packaged form for take-out/take-away. The term "fast food" was recognized in a dictionary by Merriam-Webster in 1951. Outlets may be stands or kiosks, which may provide no shelter or seating, or fast food restaurants (also known as quick service restaurants). Franchise operations which are part of restaurant chains have standardized foodstuffs shipped to each restaurant from central locations.
The capital requirements involved in opening up a fast food restaurant are relatively low. Smaller, individually-owned fast food restaurants are becoming much more common throughout the world. Restaurants with much higher sit-in ratios, where customers tend to sit and have their orders brought to them in a seemingly more upscale atmosphere, are known as fast casual restaurants.
HistoryAlthough fast food restaurants are often viewed as a representation of modern technology, the concept of "ready-cooked food to go" is as old as cities themselves; unique variations are historical in various cultures. Ancient Roman cities had bread-and-olive stands, East Asian cultures feature noodle shops. Flatbread and falafel are ubiquitous in the Middle East. Popular Indian "fast" food delicacies include Vada pav, Papri chaat, Bhelpuri, Panipuri and Dahi vada. In the French-speaking nations of West Africa, meanwhile, roadside stands in and around the larger cities continue to sell—as they have done for generations—a range of ready-to-eat, char-grilled meat sticks known locally as "brochettes" (not to be confused with the bread snack of the same name found in Europe).
The advantages of consuming fast food, they are: fistly, we can find fast food restaurants easily around us. There are so many kind of menus available and offered. We can go to mall and choose which fast food restaurant that we want. Secondly, fast food restaurants serve the food easily and fast. Modern people are looking for something that is easy and fast to be found. Indonesian people who recently live in modern way like to eat fast food. This means fast food is a part of modern life. Finally, according to research in Sweden by Dr. Nystrom, consuming more fast food is good for health especially food containing fat. Fat in fast food contains collesterol HDL which cleanses wall of artery reduces bad collesterol causing the hardening of artery as heart attack triger. The research make fastfood restaurants change the menu into healthty meal. Mc Donald and Burger King for examples, promote low fat product and salad, besides burger and cola. They also offer balance diet menu and healthy life style.
Trans fats which are commonly found in fast food have been shown in many tests to have a negative health effect on the body. A 2006 study fed monkeys a diet consisting of a similar level of trans fats as what a person who ate fast food regularly would consume. Both diets contained the same overall number of calories. It was found that the monkeys who consumed higher level of trans fat developed more abdominal fat than those fed a diet rich in unsaturated fats. They also developed signs of insulin resistance, which is an early indicator of diabetes.
The director of the obesity program for the Children's Hospital Boston, David Ludwig, claims that "fast food consumption has been shown to increase calorie intake, promote weight gain, and elevate risk for diabetes".The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranked obesity as the number one health threat for Americans in 2004. Health issues associated with obesity causes economic despair regarding health care.
Excessive calories are another issue with fast food. A regular but not overly filling meal at McDonald's of a Big Mac, large fries, and a large Coca-Cola drink amounts to 1430 calories. A diet of approximately 2000 calories is considered a healthy amount of calories for an entire day (which is different depending on several factors such as weight, height, physical activity and gender).
In brief fast food is a one of advantages from modern restaurant. Has give offered more fast the other advantages is that fast food more cheaper, practise, fast and can take away, if we cannot have no more time. Disadvantage from fast food is sometimes we have to offered the fast food so we not see ingredient and the diet has need our body. One oh composisi the fast food is the high fat, this fat can make we obese and more easy to sick. If we want still healthy, more better if we avoid the fast food and we prepared our food self, so the diet in the food can garanted.