Fast Food Today
Davey Hogan
What is termed 嚙踝蕭fast food嚙踝蕭 in the United States today most commonly
consists of hot, freshly prepared, and wrapped food items, served
to customers across a counter or through a drive-up window. Known
as both 嚙踝蕭fast food嚙踝蕭 and 嚙踝蕭quick-service food嚙踝蕭 in the restaurant
industry, these items are routinely sold and delivered in an amount
of time ranging from a few seconds to several minutes; they now
vary widely in food type, encompassing virtually all kinds of
meats, preparation methods, and ethnic cuisines. Inexpensive
hamburgers and french fried potatoes are still the products most
readily identified as fast food, but the list of items sold in the
format continually increases. Fried fish and shellfish, hot dogs,
chicken, pizza, roast beef, and pasta are commonly sold at
quick-service outlets. In addition to these staples, many
quick-service restaurants sell a broad menu of Americanized
Mexican, Greek, and Chinese foods. Some fast-food outlets offer
specialty items, such as sushi, clams, or ribs, and others even
sell complete 嚙踝蕭home-cooked嚙踝蕭 meals over their counters. Though menus
and delivery formats vary greatly, fast food嚙踝蕭s chief common
denominators include immediate customer service, packaging 嚙踝蕭to go,嚙踝蕭
and inexpensive pricing. The precise origins of fast food are
vague, probably predating written history. Hungry people are as old
as civilization itself, as are entrepreneurs eager to satisfy their
hunger. Food vendors in ancient cities sold prepared items to
passersby on the street. The actual foods varied greatly, depending
on period and culture, but they generally comprised simple,
inexpensive fare sold to people of modest means. Immigrants brought
a variety of food styles to America, often preserving these for
decades as a comforting connection with their ethnic past. Though
many immigrant foodways were elaborate and ritualistic, most groups
had one or two simple items that they consumed on a daily basis. As
a rule, immigrant groups preferred their indigenous grains: corn
from the Americas, rice from Asia, and wheat from Europe. Often
these served as the basis for the 嚙踝蕭peasant嚙踝蕭 foods of their
homelands. Pasta and flat breads came over with Italians;
tortillas, beans, and tamales arrived with northbound Mexicans; and
Germans brought dark breads, along with a variety of fatty sausages
(which later mutated into the hot dog). Asian immigrants continued
to eat rice as the basis of their diet.
In the early twentieth century fast food remained primarily the
fare of the masses. Vendors wheeled their pushcarts daily to
factory gates, selling their wares to hungry workers. Often
catering to the tastes of the particular factory嚙踝蕭s dominant ethnic
group, they charged customers pennies for basic items such as
sausages, meatballs, or stew. Though popular among male industrial
workers, this pushcart version of fast food never became mainstream
cuisine.
The urban diner was the transitional phase between the vendor嚙踝蕭s
pushcart and modern fast food. Most early diners were small
restaurants, with limited seating, sometimes constructed out of
converted railway carriages or streetcars. They served simple foods
to working-class customers on a 嚙踝蕭short-order嚙踝蕭 basis, usually
cooking each meal individually when ordered. Menus varied, but
fried foods were common. Though diners often emphasized speed in
delivering food, customers routinely lingered before and after
eating.
The hamburger still stands out as the single most important
American fast food, though the precise origin of this meat sandwich
is the subject of historical disagreement. People have eaten
chopped beef throughout the ages, and it was long a fixture in many
world cultures. The lineage of the American hamburger seems to
point directly, as its name indicates, back to the German city of
Hamburg. First appearing on American restaurant menus in the
mid-nineteenth century, ground beef patties bore the title 嚙踝蕭hamburg
steak.嚙踝蕭 By the century嚙踝蕭s close, vendors regularly sold meatballs
wrapped in slices of bread at county fairs and summer festivals.
Regional legends attribute the invention of this snack to several
different individuals, but its true originator remains a mystery.
The Rise of Modern Fast Food Our modern image of the fast-food
restaurant dates back to 1916, when Walt Anderson began selling
嚙踝蕭hamburger sandwiches嚙踝蕭 from an outdoor stand on a Wichita street
corner. Anderson simply flattened a meatball and placed it between
two halves of a bun. His sandwich quickly became popular,
attracting long lines of hungry buyers. By 1921, Anderson had
joined local insurance broker Edgar 嚙踝蕭Billy嚙踝蕭 Ingram to form the
White Castle System. After opening several identical restaurants in
Wichita during their first year, the partners quickly spread their
business to neighboring cities, then to nine major urban areas
throughout the Midwest and on the East Coast. What separated the
White Castle System from earlier shortorder restaurants was its
very streamlined menu, comprising only hamburgers, coffee,
Coca-Cola, and pie; a uniform architectural style; and strict
standardization of food quality, preparation methods, and employee
performance. By the close of the 1920s, White Castle嚙踝蕭s agaggressive
marketing and rapid spread had made the hamburger one of the most
popular foods in America.
Other entrepreneurs soon noticed White Castle嚙踝蕭s success in the
hamburger business. Very closely copying White Castle嚙踝蕭s products,
architecture, and company name, competing new chains also thrived,
carrying the hamburger craze across the nation to smaller cities
and towns. The White Tower chain appeared in 1925, eventually
challenging White Castle嚙踝蕭s dominance in several northern cities.
Krystal嚙踝蕭s, opened in 1929 in Chattanooga, soon became the hamburger
powerhouse of the southeastern states. White Castle嚙踝蕭s hamburger
sandwich, along with its many imitators, became a daily staple for
many working-class Americans. It proved so successful, in fact,
that by 1930 the president of the American Restaurant Association
identified the fast-food hamburger as the most important food item
in the nation.
Hamburgers became even more a mainstream food during the 1930s. The
larger restaurant chains began marketing their products to
middle-class buyers, and even more Americans became burger lovers.
Despite the harsh economy of the Great Depression, most fast-food
chains continued to thrive, and in many cases grew considerably.
Most continued selling the White Castle嚙碾style hamburger, but late
in the decade the Big Boy chain spread east from California,
introducing its new doubledecker hamburger sandwich along the way.
By the end of the Depression, America was a solidly
hamburger-eating culture.
After prospering in the Depression, however, the fast-food industry
suffered a serious setback during World War II. Shortages of
necessary foodstuffs, such as meat, sugar, tomatoes, and coffee,
meant limited menu offerings and often a significant loss of
business. Attempting to continue providing meals to their
customers, fast-food restaurants experimented with different items
that were still in abundance, including soy patties, chili, and
french fried potatoes. Even more damaging than commodity shortages
was the very low unemployment rate, which meant that most workers
bypassed the restaurant industry in favor of higher-paying work.
Adjusting to this labor shortage, chains soon replaced their
all-male workforce with women and teenagers, two groups who would
become their most common employees. Despite attempts to find
palatable alternative foods, and despite the shifts in workforce,
much of the fast-food industry was a casualty of the war; by 1945,
more than half of America嚙踝蕭s restaurants had closed down, including
several of the major fast-food chains.
Rebuilding the fast-food industry after the war proved a slow
process. No single chain emerged to claim dominance, and little
innovation occurred. Individual companies struggled to restore
their prewar prosperity, and new regional chains tried to gain a
foothold. Suffering the effects of escalating costs and still under
the threat of continued shortages due to unstable food supplies in
war-torn countries, fast-food restaurants often had to double
prices to remain in business.
As population shifted from America嚙踝蕭s cities to suburbia during the
1950s, the fast-food industry quickly followed. Early chains such
as White Castle and White Tower, resisting moving to the suburbs,
were quickly eclipsed by upstart franchised chains. Burger King and
McDonald嚙踝蕭s outlets became common fixtures at suburban crossroads,
selling burgers, fries, and shakes to hungry families. Burger
King嚙踝蕭s Jim McLamore and McDonald嚙踝蕭s Ray Kroc each sought to build
one of his restaurants in every American town, and they opened
hundreds of new Burger Kings and McDonald嚙踝蕭s each year in the 1960s.
To accomplish this rapid expansion, they relied heavily on
franchise investors, enforced strict product uniformity throughout
their chains, and aggressively advertised in every newly opened
territory. With Mc- Donald嚙踝蕭s and Burger King嚙踝蕭s success, Burger Chef
outlets soon appeared nearby. Arby嚙踝蕭s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and
Taco Bell were not far behind. By the late 1960s, fast food no
longer meant just hamburger restaurants, but had diversified to
include quick-service pizza, roast beef, chicken, and tacos. To
give an idea of the dimensions to which the fast-food industry has
grown, in 1999 Americans consumed over 26 billion pounds of beef,
much of it as hamburgers. In that year McDonald嚙踝蕭s alone had more
than ten thousand restaurants in the United States, from which it
grossed in excess of $13 billion in revenue.
Criticism of Fast Food
Despite the widespread popularity of fast food in modern American
culture, critics abound. Since the 1930s, articles and books have
condemned the industry, exposing allegedly poor sanitary
conditions, unhealthy food products, related environmental
problems, and unfair working working conditions. Whether it
warrants the attention or not, the fast-food industry is still
regularly cited for exploiting young workers, polluting, and
contributing to obesity and other serious health problems among
American consumers. American beef consumption, and more
specifically the fast-food hamburger industry, is often blamed for
the burning of the Amazon rain forests to make way for more grazing
lands for beef cattle. Early foes of fast food cited the deplorable
filth of many hamburger stands, in addition to claiming that the
beef ground for their sandwiches was either spoiled, diseased, or
simply of low quality. In fact, many critics maintained that much
of the meat used in fast-food hamburgers came from horse carcasses.
The high fat content of fast food was also controversial. Despite
deceptive industry claims about the high quality and the health
benefits of their products, in the 1920s and 1930s concerned
nutritionists warned the public about the medical dangers of
regular burger consumption. This distrust and criticism of fast
food continue today, extending even further to include dire
warnings about the industry嚙踝蕭s use of genetically modified and
antibiotic-laden beef products. Most major chains have responded to
recent attacks by prominently posting calorie and nutritional
charts in their restaurants, advertising fresh ingredients, and
offering alternatives to their fried foods. Despite a few more
health-conscious items on the menu, fast-food chains now
aggressively advertise the concept that bigger is better, offering
large 嚙踝蕭super-size嚙踝蕭 or 嚙踝蕭biggie嚙踝蕭 portions of french fries, soft
drinks, and milkshakes. Critics point to this marketing emphasis as
a reason for an excessive and greatly increasing per-capita caloric
intake among fast-food consumers, resulting in fast-growing rates
of obesity in the United States.
Increased litter is another problem that critics have blamed on the
fast-food industry. Selling their products in paper wrappings and
paper bags, early outlets created a source of litter that had not
previously existed. Wrappers strewn about city streets, especially
those close to fast-food restaurants, brought harsh criticism, and
often inspired new local ordinances to address the problem. Some
municipalities actually forced chains to clean up litter that was
imprinted with their logos, but such sanctions were rare. Fast-food
wrappers became part of the urban, and later suburban, landscape.
Since bags and wrappers were crucial in the delivery of fast food,
the industry as a whole continued to use disposable packaging,
superficially assuaging public criticism by providing outside trash
receptacles for the discarded paper. Years later, environmentalists
again attacked the industry for excessive packaging litter,
criticizing both the volume and the content of the refuse. By the
early 1970s, the harshest criticisms focused more on the synthetic
materials used in packaging, and less on the carelessly discarded
paper. Critics derided the industry嚙踝蕭s use of styrofoam sandwich
containers and soda cups, claiming that these products were not
sufficiently biodegradable and were clogging landfills. Facing
mounting opposition from a growing environmental movement, most of
the major chains returned to packaging food in paper wrappings or
small cardboard boxes. Labor activists have criticized fast-food
chains嚙踝蕭 tendency to employ inexpensive teenage workers. Usually
offering the lowest possible wages, with no health or retirement
benefits, these restaurants often find it difficult hiring adults
for stressful, fast-paced jobs. Many critics claim that the
industry preys on teenagers, who will work for less pay and are
less likely to organize. Though these accusations may have merit,
the industry嚙踝蕭s reliance on teenage labor also has inherent
liabilities, such as a high employee turnover rate, which result in
substantial recruiting and training costs. Companies have countered
criticism about their use of teenage workers with the rationale
that they offer young people entry-level work experience, teaching
them: both skills and responsibility.
Despite the relentless attacks, hundreds of millions of hungry
customers eat fast food daily. The media constantly remind American
consumers about its supposed evils. Most are conscious of the
health risks from fatty, greasy meals; most realize that they are
being served by a poorly paid young worker; and if they choose to
ponder it, most are aware that the excessive packaging causes
millions of tons of trash each year. But they continue to purchase
and eat fast food on a regular basis. Fast food remains central to
the American diet because it is inexpensive, quick, convenient, and
predictable, and because it tastes good. Even more important,
Americans eat fast food because it is now a cultural norm. As
American culture homogenized and became distinctively 嚙踝蕭American嚙踝蕭 in
the second half of the twentieth century, fast food, and especially
the hamburger, emerged as the primary American ethnic food. Just as
the Chinese eat rice and Mexicans eat tamales, Americans eat
burgers.
And fast food has grown even beyond being just a distinctive ethnic
food. Since the 1960s, the concept has extended far beyond the food
itself, with the term becoming a common descriptor for other
quick-service operations, even a metaphor for many of the negative
aspects of mainstream American life. Theorists and pundits
sometimes use the term 嚙踝蕭fast food嚙踝蕭 to denigrate American habits,
institutions, and values, referring to them as elements of a
嚙踝蕭fast food society.嚙踝蕭 In fact, 嚙踝蕭fast-food嚙踝蕭 has become a frequently
used adjective, implying not only ready availability but also
superficiality, mass-produced standardization, lack of
authenticity, or just poor quality.
In the last two decades of the twentieth century, fast food gained
additional economic and cultural significance, becoming a popular
American export to nations around the world. Some detractors claim
that it is even deliberately used by the United States, as a tool
of cultural imperialism. The appearance of a McDonald嚙踝蕭s or Kentucky
Fried Chicken restaurant on the streets of a foreign city signals
to many the demise of indigenous culture, replacing another
country嚙踝蕭s traditional practices and values with American
materialism. In fact, the rapid spread of American fast food is
probably not an organized conspiracy, rather more the result of
aggressive corporate marketing strategies. Consumers in other
countries are willing and able to buy fast-food products, so chains
are quick to accommodate demand. Thought of around the world as
嚙踝蕭American food,嚙踝蕭 fast food continues its rapid international
growth.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boas, Max, and Steve Chain. Big Mac: The Unauthorized Story
of McDonald嚙踝蕭s. New York: Dutton, 1976.
Emerson, Robert, L. Fast Food: The Endless Shakeout. New York:
Lebhar-Friedman, 1979.
Halberstam, David. The Fifties. New York: Villard Books, 1993.
Chapter 11 discusses the origins of the McDonald嚙踝蕭s empire.
Hogan, David Gerard. Selling 嚙踝蕭em by the Sack: White Castle and
the Creation of American Food. New York: New York University
Press, 1997.
Jakle, John A., and Keith A. Sculle. Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants
in the Automobile Age. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1999.
Langdon, Philip. Orange Roofs, Golden Arches: The Architecture of
American Chain Restaurants. New York: Knopf, 1986.
McLamore, James, W. The Burger King: Jim McLamore and the
Building of an Empire. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998.
Mariani, John. America Eats Out. New York: William Morrow,
1991.
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-
American Meal. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin,
2001.
Tennyson, Jeffrey. Hamburger Heaven: The Illustrated History of
the Hamburger. New York: Hyperion, 1993.
Witzel, Michael Karl. The American Drive-In: History and Folklore
of the Drive-In Restaurant in the Car Culture. Osceola,
Wisc.: Motorbooks International, 1994.
David Gerard Hogan