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In UK areas with access to coastal or tidal waters, 'fast food' frequently included local shellfish or seafood, such as oysters or, as in London, eels. Often this seafood was cooked directly on the quay or close by.[1] The content of fast food pies has varied, with poultry (such as chickens) or wildfowl commonly being used.

As automobiles became popular and more affordable following World War I, drive-in restaurants were introduced in the US. The United States has the largest fast food industry in the world, and American fast food restaurants are located in over 100 countries. Approximately 4.1 million U.S. workers are employed in the areas of food preparation and food servicing, including fast food in the USA.[2] Convenience stores located within many petrol/gas stations sell pre-packaged sandwiches, doughnuts, and hot food. Many gas stations in the United States and Europe also sell frozen foods, and have microwave ovens on the premises in which to prepare them.

Modern commercial fast food is often highly processed and prepared in an industrial fashion, i.e., on a large scale with standard ingredients and standardized cooking and production methods. It is usually rapidly served in cartons or bags or in a plastic wrapping, in a fashion that minimizes cost. In most fast food operations, menu items are generally made from processed ingredients prepared at a central supply facility and then shipped to individual outlets where they are reheated, cooked (usually by microwave or deep frying) or assembled in a short amount of time. This process ensures a consistent level of product quality, and is key to being able to deliver the order quickly to the customer and eliminate labor and equipment costs in the individual stores.

Chinese takeaways/takeout restaurants are particularly popular[where?]. Sushi has seen rapidly rising popularity in recent times [where?]. Pizza is a common fast food category in the United States. Kebab houses are a form of fast food restaurant from the Middle East, especially Turkey and Lebanon. Fish and chip shops are a form of fast food popular in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Fish is battered and then deep fried, and served with deep fried potato strips. The Dutch have their own types of fast food. A Dutch fast food meal often consists of a portion of french fries (called friet or patat) with a sauce and a meat product. In Portugal, there are some varieties of local fast-food and restaurants specialized in this type of local cuisine. Some of the most popular foods include frango assado (Piri-piri grilled chicken previously marinated), francesinha, francesinha poveira, espetada (turkey or pork meat on two sticks) and bifanas (pork cutlets in a specific sauce served as a sandwich). A fixture of East Asian cities is the noodle shop. Flatbread and falafel are today ubiquitous in the Middle East. Popular Indian fast food dishes include vada pav, panipuri and dahi vada. In the French-speaking nations of West Africa, 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).

Business

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In the United States, consumers spent $160 billion on fast food in 2012 (up from $6 billion in 1970).[3][4] In total the US restaurant industry had projected sales of $660.5 billion in 2013.[5] Fast food has been losing market share to fast casual dining restaurants, which offer more robust and expensive cuisines.[6]

In contrast to the rest of the world, American citizens spend a much smaller amount of their income on food — largely due to various government subsidies that make fast food cheap and easily accessible.[7] Calorie for calorie, foods sold in fast food restaurants, costs less and is more energy-dense, and is made mostly of products that the government subsidizes heavily: corn, soy, and beef.[8]

Employment

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According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 4.1 million U.S. workers are employed in food preparation and serving (including fast food) as of 2010.[2] The BLS's projected job outlook expects average growth and excellent opportunity as a result of high turnover. However, in April 2011, McDonald's hired approximately 62,000 new workers and received a million applications for those positions—an acceptance rate of 6.2%.[9] The median age of workers in the industry in 2013 was 28.[10]

Globalization

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McDonald's in Moscow

In 2006, the global fast food market grew by 4.8% and reached a value of £102.4 billion and a volume of 80.3 billion transactions.[11] Global fast food sales are projected to reach $239.7 billion in 2014.[12] In India alone the fast food industry is growing by 41% a year.[13]

McDonald's is located in 126 countries on 6 continents and operates over 31,000 restaurants worldwide.[14] On January 31, 1990 McDonald’s opened a restaurant in Moscow, and broke opening day records for customers served. The Moscow restaurant is the busiest in the world. The largest McDonald’s in the world, with 25,000 feet of play tubes, an arcade and play center, is located in Orlando, Florida, USA[15][clarification needed]

There are numerous other fast food restaurants located all over the world. Burger King has more than 11,100 restaurants in more than 65 countries.[16] KFC is located in 25 countries.[17] Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with approximately 39,129 restaurants in 90 countries as of May 2009,[18] the first non-US location opening in December 1984 in Bahrain.[19] Pizza Hut is located in 97 countries, with 100 locations in China.[20] Taco Bell has 278 restaurants located in 14 countries besides the United States.[21]

Criticism

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Further information: Criticism of fast food
Further information: Fast food worker strikes

Fast food chains have come under criticism over concerns ranging from claimed negative health effects, alleged animal cruelty, cases of worker exploitation, and claims of cultural degradation via shifts in people's eating patterns away from traditional foods.[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] [36][37]

The intake of fast food is increasing worldwide. A study done in Jeddah has shown that current fast food habits are related to the increase of overweight and obesity among adolescents in Saudi Arabia. [38] In 2014, the World Health Organization published a study which claims that deregulated food markets are largely to blame for the obesity crisis, and suggested tighter regulations to reverse the trend.[39]

  1. ^ BBC (August 31, 2006). "Eel and pie shop". BBC. Retrieved November 24, 2007.
  2. ^ a b "BLS.gov: Food and Beverage Serving and Related Workers"
  3. ^ http://www.franchisehelp.com/industry-reports/fast-food-industry-report
  4. ^ Schlosser, Eric (2001). Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Houghton Mifflin Books. ISBN 0-395-97789-4.
  5. ^ http://www.restaurant.org/Downloads/PDFs/News-Research/Factbook2013_LetterSize.pdf
  6. ^ John Eligon (January 13, 2008). "Where to Eat? A New Restaurant Genre Offers Manhattan More Choices". The New York Times. Retrieved December 30, 2008. Though still a relatively small sector within the nation's $350 billion restaurant industry, several fast-casual chains are showing success and growth in Manhattan, and industry experts say it could be a sign of the sector's maturity and sustainability nationwide.
  7. ^ "Commodity Policy and Agricultural Subsidies." Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. Rudd Center, 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 18 Aug. 2014.
  8. ^ Parker-Pope, Tara. "A High Price for Healthy Food." The New York Times, 5 Dec. 2007. Web. 17 Aug. 2014.
  9. ^ "It's harder to get a job at McDonalds's than to get into Harvard"
  10. ^ Christian Owens, "Trying to Raise a Family on a Fast Food Salary". August 29, 2013. http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2013/08/28/trying-to-raise-a-family-on-a-fast-food-salary/
  11. ^ "Our Life Policy Research Notes on takeaways - The UK fast-food market" (PDF). Retrieved July 28, 2012.
  12. ^ http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/12/17/3-reasons-the-fast-food-nation-will-rule-the-world.aspx
  13. ^ "Worldwatch Institute".
  14. ^ "The Fast Food Factory".
  15. ^ [1]
  16. ^ "Burger King".
  17. ^ "KFC".
  18. ^ Subway publication (2008). "Official SUBWAY Restaurants Web Site". Subway Restaurants. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
  19. ^ "Subway".
  20. ^ "Yum! Brands".
  21. ^ "Taco Bell".
  22. ^ Jeffery, Robert, Baxter, Judy, McGuire, Mauree, Linde, Jennifer. "Are fast food restaurants an environmental risk factor for obesity?". International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. Published: January 25, 2006. http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/3/1/2
  23. ^ Freeman, Andrea. "Fast Food: Oppression through Poor Nutrition". California Law Review. Vol. 95, No. 6 (Dec. 2007), pp. 2221-2259. California Law Review, Inc. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20439143
  24. ^ Adams, Ronald. "Fast Food and Animal Rights: An Examination and Assessment of the Industry's Response to Social Pressure". Business and Society Review. Volume 113, Issue 3, pages 301–328, September 2008. Article first published online: Sep 8, 2008. First published online: Sep 8, 2008. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8594.2008.00322.x/full
  25. ^ Singer, Peter and Mason, Jim. "The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter". Holtzbrink Publishers. 2006.
  26. ^ Singer, Peter. "Animal Liberation". HarperCollins. 1975. http://www.cabdirect.org/abstracts/19772200848.html
  27. ^ Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Harper Collins Publishers. 2001
  28. ^ Smith, Vickie. "The Fractured World of the Temporary Worker: Power, Participation, and Fragmentation in the Contemporary Workplace". Social Problems Vol. 45, No. 4 (Nov. 1998), pp. 411-430 Published by: University of California Press Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3097205.
  29. ^ Kiyah J Duffey, Penny Gordon-Larsen, David R Jacobs Jr, O Dale Williams, and Barry M Popkin. "Differential associations of fast food and restaurant food consumption with 3-y change in body mass index: the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study1,2,3". 2007 American Society for Clinical Nutrition. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/85/1/201.full.pdf+html.
  30. ^ Simone A French Mary Story and Robert W Jeffery. "ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ON EATING AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY". Annual Review of Public Health Vol. 22: 309-335 (Volume publication date May 2001). Division of Epidemiology, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55454. http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.22.1.309
  31. ^ James F. Sallis, Karen Glanz. "The Role of Built Environments in Physical Activity, Eating, and Obesity in Childhood". The Future of Children Volume 16, Number 1, Spring 2006 pp. 89-108 | 10.1353/foc.2006.0009. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/foc/summary/v016/16.1sallis.html
  32. ^ Nell Cassey. "Wage Theft and New York City's Fast Food Workers: New York City's Hidden Crime Wave". Fast Food Foreword. April 2013. http://www.scribd.com/doc/141919700/wage-theft-report
  33. ^ "Fast Food" Food Empowerment Project. 2013. http://www.foodispower.org/fast-food/
  34. ^ Walshe, Sadhbh. "How America's fast food industry makes a quick buck, The gulf between CEO pay and staff McWages is shockingly wide: a strike serves this system of super-exploitation right". April 10, 2013 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/10/america-fast-food-industry-quick-buck
  35. ^ Michelle M. Mello, Eric B. Rimm and David M. Studdert. "The McLawsuit: The Fast-Food Industry And Legal Accountability For Obesity". Health Affairs. November 2003. vol.22 no. 6 207-216. http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/22/6/207.long.
  36. ^ Shanthy A. Bowman, PhD*, Steven L. Gortmaker, PhD‡, Cara B. Ebbeling, PhD§, Mark A. Pereira, PhD§, David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD§. "Effects of Fast-Food Consumption on Energy Intake and Diet Quality Among Children in a National Household Survey". PEDIATRICS Vol. 113 No. 1 January 1, 2004 pp. 112 -118 http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/113/1/112.short
  37. ^ Mohammad Hossein Rouhani,1,2 Maryam Mirseifinezhad,1,2 Nasrin Omrani,1,2 Ahmad Esmaillzadeh,1,2 and Leila Azadbakht1,2. "Fast Food Consumption, Quality of Diet, and Obesity among Isfahanian Adolescent Girls". 1.Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran 2.Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. Journal of Obesity Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 597924, 8 pages. Received January 2, 2012; Revised March 11, 2012; Accepted March 19, 2012. http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jobes/2012/597924/
  38. ^ A. Washi, Sidiga; Maha B. Ageib (2010). "Poor diet quality and food habits are related to impaired nutritional status in 13- to 18-year-old adolescents in Jeddah". Nutrition Research. 30: 8. doi:10.1016/j.nutres.2010.07.002.
  39. ^ Study finds deregulation fuelling obesity epidemic. Reuters. February 2, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
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