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Fast Food: America’s Favorite Thing to Eat In 1992, a young woman sought to open up a family-owned restaurant which would serve nutritious, homemade meals to their guests. The idea in theory was excellent: people would be able to get meals without consuming the chemicals which so often reside in fast food products and still enjoy a delicious taste. Yet, the execution of the business was anything but excellent. Sadly, the cost of the restaurant’s all organic ingredients, the time spent preparing the different dishes, and the overall inconvenience of its location were enough for the restaurant to be shut down just eight months after opening, The restaurant’s failure was living proof of Americans undying attachment to fast food; or, an attachment to fast food’s inexpensive prices, quick delivery, and nearly addicting taste. According to the Street Magazine, “the majority of US households makes roughly $47,000 a year”. Although this number may seem like quite a lot of money to begin with, it doesn’t take into factor taxes, rent, car payments, and any other utilities and expenses that the average person may encounter in life. In 2018, a study found that the average American family spent nearly $15, 784 on taxes, effectively drying up over 20% of their earnings. (USA Facts). Yet another study, showed that nearly 53% of lower-income US households were unable to pay off all of their bills this past April and that one in six households are having, “major finical issues”. (Burns, Vox). So, when it comes to purchasing healthy food, many Americans find themselves spending their money elsewhere. Productions for nutritious food are “typically higher because of greater labor input and because farmers don’t produce enough of a single product to lower the overall

cost” (Robin, How Organic Food Works). Thus, the prices for nutritious food become higher as well, resulting in only the wealthy being able to afford organic meals. Yet, people need to eat something which is the very reason why fast food is so prominent in American society. Unlike the ever-rising price of a healthy meal, fast food is cheap and offers a price which even the poorest of the poor can afford. Who can’t scrap up one dollar for a McDonalds Big Mac? Or pay a buck for a Nacho Crunch Double-Stacked Taco from Taco Bell? Or even collect three dollars for a Burger King Whopper meal? It doesn’t matter how down on their luck someone might be; one can always walk into the nearest fast-food place and get something to fill their bellies, even when their wallets are empty. Not only is fast food inexpensive, but it’s also remarkably quick to serve as well. Thanks to the vast majority of convenience meals being reheated frozen dishes, the food is able to be prepared and sent out at remarkable speeds, averaging under 220 seconds. Beyond that, fast food employees are specifically trained to move as quickly as possible in the work environment. They are given two minutes to successfully serve each person in the drive through before they get a citation and are required to memorize each dish’s different ingredients in order to be able to prep them faster. Often, fast food chains will also employ an assembly line in their restaurants and staff up to eight or nine people to work a shift in order to ensure the lowest food prep time possible. This dedication to quick food is extremely appealing to Americans as most people simply don’t have time to spend on making their own meals. The average American spends roughly around eight hours working, with seventy-five percent of them reporting commitments after work as well (American Time Use Survey). Not only that, but many Americans often have families to feed and simply don’t have the time to cook for them. Whether it’s a son who needs a

quick bite to eat before soccer practice or a wife who needs to stop somewhere before her next book club, fast food will always provide something in a timely manner. And since there are over 200,000 fast food chains in America, any potential customers will have no problem locating somewhere that will serve them quickly, even during a dinner rush. This quick delivery triggers a an ‘instant reward’ system in the brain, which, from a psychological standpoint, is a great motivator in getting people to return back to fast food again and again. Consumers learn that whenever they’re hungry, any local fast-food joint will provide them with a quick meal with barely any effort on the consumer’s part at all. Beyond fast food’s inexpensiveness and quick meal prep time, it appeals to many Americans for another reason; that is, the taste. Fast food companies load their products with saturated fats, salt, chemicals, and an abundant amount of sugar, far above the recommended amount. When one consumes enough of these ingredients, huge sources of dopamine are released in the brain, similar to how the brain reacts to the ingestion of substances like heroin and cocaine (Sugar and Dopamine: The Link Between Sweets and Addiction). So, essentially, fast food is like a drug. And, like most drugs, it ends up causing the consumer to crave more and more and more, until eventually the cravings turn into something irresistible. Not only do the ingredients in fast food make it so hard to stop eating it, but the nostalgia the taste of the food brings, makes it difficult as well. Many people have childhood memories linked to fast food. The taste of a juicy whopper or the touch of a crunchy chicken nugget, may easily pull a person back into the past, back into a simpler time when the most exciting thing in the world was a medium-fries and a large coke. This is why the vast majority of people who ate fast food as a child continue to do so as an adult. Eating fast food brings a sense of comfort to the consumer and allows them to forget for just a moment all the weariness and stress of adult life.

There can be little doubt fast food is unhealthy to the individual. Most Americans are aware of this. Most Americans wish to cut back on fast food and eat healthier instead. Yet despite these good intentions, Americans continue to consume more fast food than any other nationality in the world. Not because they wish to be unhealthy, but because fast foods’ inexpensive prices, quick delivery, and almost addicting taste, are just too tempting to resist....