The Origin of Fast Food Restaurants

The phrase fast food was originally part of the title ofsuch as french friesand burgers are deep fried in
a trademagazine called Fountain and Fast Foodpartially hydrogenated oils (alsoknown as trans fats.)
Service. The magazine wasrenamed Fast Food inWhen vegetable oils are hardened intomargarine or
1960. The February issue contained thefollowingshortening, trans fatty acids are formed.
statement: "delicate scallops are reallyTrans fats are found in fast food staples such as
fastfood...because they come ready to cook." And infrench friesand fried chicken. But these fats go
July of the sameyear we find this remark, "Fast foodbeyond just fast foodrestaurants. Processed food
type restaurants do thelion's share of business formanufacturers use trans fats indoughnuts, cookies,
breakfast and noon meals eaten out."crackers, pastries, cereals, and waffles.
White Castle is generally recognized as the very firstTrans fats are cheaper than oil, they extend the shelf
fast foodrestaurant in America. It made its appearancelife ofthe products, can be used over and over again
in 1921. Whiteand they arefrequently used to provide flavor and
Castle started out by selling hamburgers for 5 cents.texture.
Needless tosay it has become very successful, andTrans fatty acids are much more dangerous than the
many competitorsfollowed.saturated fatsthey replaced. They have been found to
The world's largest fast food chain is McDonald's. Itincrease the blood levelsof low density lipoprotein
firstappeared in San Diego, California in 1948. Ray Kroccholesterol (LDL) while at the sametime lowering the
joined theoriginal McDonald's founders in 1954 andlevels of high density lipoprotein (HDL). LDLcholesterol
expanded the franchise.is the 'bad' cholesterol and HDL is the 'good'cholesterol.
He was originally a distributor of an industrial milkshakeTrans fats also clog the arteries, are linked totype 2
mixerthat McDonald's used.diabetes and other serious health problems such as
Wendy's was founded in 1972. It introduced theheartdisease.
'drive-thru'window which is so popular today.Along with high trans fat products such as french fries
The 'fast' in fast food is there for a reason. It isand friedchicken, fast food restaurants also serve high
designed toserve the customer as quickly as possible.sugar contentsodas. And now they don't just serve
In order to do this,fast foods are highly processed (Ithe small standard sizedsoda. You can choose the
view this as tampering withnatural foods) withsuper-sized drinks. One meal from anyone of these
standardized ingredients, cooking andproductionfranchises can provide plenty of empty calories
methods.fromtheir high fat and sugary products. These foods
Fast food franchises' cooking methods are especiallyare engineered totaste good. Fast food franchises
suspect intoday's accelerating obesity rates. Itemshave succeeded because they dosatisfy the palate.