Teylor Waldrup
Prof. Nyland
ENGL 101 sec. 75
April/20/2015
Fast
Food: Aiding the United States
What did you have for lunch today? Was it a peanut butter
and jelly sandwich? Or was it a juicy quarter pounder from McDonald’s? Which
one would you enjoy more? The cheeseburger, I’m sure. Fast food is looked down
upon more often than not. When really there is no need for such negativity.
Fast food is a good thing in many ways. Now of course, like everything else,
there are some downfalls such as calories. But there are ways around that. Many
people will argue that ‘fast food is bad for us’ and it ‘makes us fat’. I
understand your argument, and to a certain extent I agree. It’s obvious that it
could make an individual gain weight, if they are not careful. Fast food has
extreme amount of calories when purchased as a large meal and with fries and a
soda. Just watch what you order. McDonald’s was founded in 1940 by Richard and
Maurice McDonald. This was not the first ‘fast food’ restaurant though; white
castle was. But now, places like McDonald’s and KFC are multinational. The
industry of fast food is growing like crazy. It saves people time which in the
end saves money which is very important in America today. Fast food is a
positive thing because it doesn’t have to be unhealthy, it saves money and
time, and it tastes amazing.
The
most successful way to show new products or food to the public is through
advertisement. Especially TV. Fast food places realized their approach to kids
was unhealthy and setting bad examples for the new generation. As Bernhardt
explains, “McDonald’s and Burger King . . . agreed to show meals . . .
healthier side options of apples and milk” (Bernhardt). This showed the kids
that it is possible to eat at a McDonald’s/Burger King, stay healthy and enjoy
the food. They started showing Ronald McDonald on commercials exercising with
children to get them active at home and up off of the couch. This was also a
big influence to help kids get active because they all looked up to Ronald
McDonald not only because he was on TV, but also because he was at their
favorite place to eat.
It
has now become a requirement for high school students to watch the movie
“Super-size Me” during their health education class. The movie shows what
happened to an average American male that ate McDonald’s breakfast, lunch, and
dinner for 30 days. Along with agreeing to ‘super size’ his meal each time. I’m
sure you can infer the end results. But what the underlying idea that most
people overlook is that eating anything with massive calorie intake will make
you fat. So yes, for all of the people that are against fast food restaurants
and eating at them, I see your point. Fast food can potentially be very
unhealthy. But I ask you to see mine. There are many more contributors to
gaining weight than just eating unhealthy. Most people that eat the extreme
amount of calories that they do, do not exercise what so ever. And they
probably make the meal ‘large’ most of the time. So, there are ways around
gaining weight. People could exercise more, or something even easier called
substituting. There are many options such as a salad or fruit instead of French
fries, water or unsweetened tea instead of sodas or even getting grilled
chicken instead of fried. These options will knock down the calorie count by a
good amount. And of course, you could order the large meal eat some of it and
save the rest for the next day. Along with saving calories, you will be saving
time and money by already having your lunch for the next day.
An
old saying goes something like ‘Time is money’. Most people in America are
always in a rush, never wanting to waste time. They may be classified as
“goers”. Lucky for these goers, fast food in America has their back. But not
only them. Fast food drive-thru’s have been helping the people that are late to
work and haven’t had breakfast, people with a short lunch break, college
students, parents on the go and many more for years. McDonald’s decided to
challenge themselves one year by handing each costumer a timer during their
busiest rush; lunch. Business Insider reported back from an interview with a
McDonald’s employee, “If costumers don’t get their food within sixty seconds of
ordering, then they will get a coupon for a free lunch item” (Peterson). In
this case, either way the costumer is winning. They either get a free meal
coupon or extremely fast service. When someone is rushing for any reason, they
don’t have time to sit down, order drinks, wait for their server to finally
return, order and then wait 15-20 minutes for their food to arrive. They more
realistically have 5-10 minutes to order and go. This is where Chick Fil A,
Wendys, and other drive-thru’s come into play. QSR magazine performed a
‘drive-thru performance study’ on different fast food restaurants. The
following data from QSR Magazine states how long, on average it took for people
to order and get their food. Chick Fil A: 203.88 seconds, Taco Bell: 158.03
seconds, and Wendy’s: 133.63 seconds. All of which between 2-4 minutes. Very
speedy if you ask me. Now a days, fast food places may be a little more
expensively priced, but that is just because of the economy and what it needs
to be, but to most people, if they can get their food in just a few minutes it
saves them the time of making dinner, cleaning it up and then not having much
time left in their day because they just got done work and picking up their
kids. So this way they have more time to spend as a family which is much more
valuable than wasting time on cooking dinner every now and then.
For
a family of four a dinner at Texas Roadhouse could get a little expensive.
Roughly $50-$60 dollars. When you’re trying to save money but still enjoy a
night of eating out, fast food restaurants are the best option. The menu is
full of selections that will fill you up just as well. And if you needed to
know the menu prices before you went out, check on fastfoodmenuprices.com. They
show that cheeseburgers are $1.00, apple slices are two for $1.00 and a sausage
biscuit is only $1.19. These are just a few examples. The average price for a
family of four at McDonald’s would be about $25-$30 dollars. Half the price.
And don’t forget the tip when you go to Texas Roadhouse, making it $60-$72
dollars. OUTRAGEOUS. The pricing at fast food restaurants are just another
convenience. It is quick and easy for families on the run to a sporting event
or even going home from a sporting event. Now compared to the prices of eating
at home, it might be just a few dollars more expensive. But when going through
a drive thru saves you time, it is also saving you money and from slaving over
a stove for hours. For just a few dollars more, you get more free time to relax
and do what you like. To some people it is worth it.
Fast
food chains are big industries for a reason. No one would eat at them if the
food wasn’t tasty. This would cause them to close down. But instead they are
all franchising like crazy. If that isn’t enough proof that fast food is
delicious to the majority of Americans, then this should be. When Consumer
Reports asked randomly selected people to rate the taste of a selected fast
food restaurants food on a scale from one to ten, one being the least Chick Fil
A received an 8.1 and Popeyes received a 7.7. Now of course fast food burgers
are no comparison to the taste of fillet mignon or lobster tail, but realistically
for 2-5 minutes, the food is delicious. Also, a study done on people to see if
when they ate something that was supposed to be more expensive than the other,
if it actually tasted better. The kick to the experiment is that both of the
food was the exact same thing. People naturally reported back that the more
expensive option did in fact taste better. This shows that when anyone has an
idea in their head such as that, it is hard to change it unless it is proved
wrong. Which it was, so the fact that something is more expensive absolutely
does not mean that it has better taste.
SpongeBob
Squarepants, an animated, fictional character is a cook for the Krusty Krab
restaurant. In the TV series, many episodes show Plankton, the owner’s arch
nemesis, attempting to steal the Krabby Patty formula. The reason being, the
Krabby Patties are such a success and no one knows what’s in them that makes
them so special. Just like in real life, every fast food place has their own
secret ingredient or sauce. This makes it fun, and competitive within the fast
food chains. For example, Roy Rogers has chicken Gold Rush sauce, Chick Fil A
has Chick Fil A sauce (not very original but super tasty), and of course
McDonald’s has their famous Big Mac sauce. This past February Time newspaper
did an article on McDonald’s. But not the norm about how fast food is bad for
us and should be looked into more, but about something a little more
fascinating, “McDonald’s Australia is auctioning off one 500ml bottle of its
secret Big Mac sauce on EBay . . . almost up to $18,000” (Stamper). Now of
course the proceeds went to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. But if it
didn’t taste good, people wouldn’t be spending money on that for a charity,
they would find something more appealing to their interests. Some people might
think it’s not that good. Well, everyone has different taste buds. But think
about the effort and heart and soul put into making that special sauce that
sets the big mac away from any regular burger. Someone worked long and hard to
get the taste just right.
There
are many ways to get the quick, cheap, and tasty food the way you want it
without wearing it the next day. Watch the amount of calories of what you’re
eating, enjoy the taste and timely manner, and fast food restaurants are doing
the work for you. Try to not be as harsh on these restaurants, try substituting
items for your fries and observe the amount of time you save and get to spend
with your friends and family. The fast food restaurants we pass daily are
beneficial due to the convenience with time and money, deliciousness, and the
healthy options they provide for everyone.
Works Cited
Bernhardt, Amy M. "Testing the adequancy of food marketing
regulation." Public Library of
Science. PLOS, 4 Mar. 2015. Web. 13 Apr. 2015. <http://plos.org>.
"best and worst fast food restaurants in america." consumer reports. N.p., July 2014. Web.
13 Apr. 2015. <http://consumerreports.org>.
"the drive-thru performance study: average service
time." QSR Magazine.
journalistic inc., 2015. Web. 13 Apr. 2015. <http://qsrmagazine.com>.
King, Susan. "student rely more on convenience, price when
considering food options." Florala.
N.p., 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 13 Apr. 2015. <http://FLORALA.NET>.
"mcdonalds prices." fast
food menu prices. N.p., 2015. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
<http://fastfoodmenuprices.com>.
Muntel, Sarah. "Fast Food- is it the enemy?" OAC. OAC, 2015. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
<http://obesityaction.org>.
Peterson, Haley. "mcdonalds test program that could improve
drive-thru wait times." business insider.
business insider inc., 5 Aug. 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
<http://businessinsider.com>.
Rhoden, Maya. "burgerking quietly drops sugary soft drinks
from kids menu." time. time
inc., 10 Mar. 2015. Web. 13 Apr. 2015. <http://time.com>.
Stampler, Laura. "Mcdonalds secret big mac sauce auction
attracts $18,000 bid." time.com.
N.p., 2 Feb. 2015. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. <http://time.com>.
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