FAST FOOD

                             ABOUT FAST FOOD

Fast food as the term itself is self-explanatory (food that can be prepared quickly and served)

The History of Fast Food: Restaurants have always been existed in some or other form since ancient Greece and Rome; they were called Inns and usually catered to the Travelers.  Coffee houses were more popular places to gather and share beverages in the 17th century, the idea of eating out for fun started in the late 18^th Century in the West.

Ever since its emergence, there’s no look-back for the Fast food chains, consistency has been the hallmark for fast food-in chain, restaurants have the same look and taste of the meals too remain the same and few reasons behind this:

·         The food is produced in large quantities in a factory and then frozen. Restaurants store this frozen food in very large walk-in freezers and the cooks reheat the same rather than preparing from the scratch.

·         The factory adds artificial and natural flavors to the food to make sure the taste remains the same.

·         The employees in different restaurants follow the same instructions in cooking, dressing and packing the food.

Drive-in-restaurants: The fast food phenomena had evolved from drive-in-restaurants in South California in the early 1940s. Restaurateurs observed the rising popularity of Cars and hence designed restaurants that let people to order and eat without leaving their vehicles and drive-in-restaurants turned out to be busy and successful in no time.

Although fast-food restaurants are often considered as a representation of a day by day family outing, the concept of “ready-cooked food to go” is ages old.

Types of fast foods in various Countries:

Roman cities are famous for bread-and-olive stands.

East Asian Countries are famous for Noodles.

Flat bread and falalfel are most common in the Middle East.

Famous Indian fast food delicacies include Vada pav, Papri Chat, Bhelpuri, Pani puri and Dhai Vada.

Reason for instant success:  The main essence of fast food lies in it’s quick service. As the urban development has become a phenomenon in the 20^th century and people got so busy in their works and the culture of eating out in restaurants gained immense popularity.

Advantages of fast food: The main advantage of fast food is that it saves time as in today’s fast-paced life, there’s nothing better than getting a ready meal. It takes huge amount of labor and consumes lots of time to prepare your meal after back from work, as it requires a trip to the Supermarket for the ingredients for the dish and besides the time an individual has to spend in the kitchen for cooking meal and there’s an added effort always required for peeling the vegetable and cleaning the utensils.

If one lives alone, then it’s much cheaper to finish off the meal at a restaurant rather than preparing a meal.

As everything changes with time, fast food is the modern-day’s invention and the ready-made food served is like a blessing after a day’s hard work.

Citing few points of the advantages of fast food, doesn’t mean it has no drawbacks. Like everything it has its own pros and cons as these fast foods are high on fat and calories which might lead to obesity. However, by making some smart choices while choosing the food and maintain active life style, the drawbacks can surely be minimized.