The Frequency of Fast Food
And our insatiable cravings for more
All food is fast food, isn’t it?
It sure seems that way, with the proliferation of restaurants and food establishments that cater to those who have to budget their time. And let’s not forget about food trucks. Heck — there’s even a whole TV industry built up around this recent phenomenon.
Just decades previously, there were two kinds of dining out establishments: the ones where you drove up — literally — and ordered your food and very quickly, it would be served to you, or you’d take it “to go,” end of story. In this category were the tried and true “fast food” classics: the McDonalds, the Burger Kings, the Dominos.
The other type of food establishment was a bit more upscale, ranging from casually family style to all-the-way chi-chi, requiring one to put on their finest just to get through the door.
This dichotomy of eating establishments was appreciated by all, as it allowed us to separate our food choices and excursions into binary elements. You either grabbed some fries and a burger and called it a day, a la “fast food,” or you put on your pearls, your hoop skirt and your most ingratiating smile and walked elegantly into the new, tony restaurant. No takeout at the latter; you were expected to clean your plate while there.
Sometime over the last 40 years or so, the range of food options for busy diners expanded. Families found themselves having less time to have dinner together (perhaps to women’s increasing move to working outside the home as well as inside), and wanting places where they could replicate dinner at the family table. These middle-of-the-road restaurants filled a need that busy parents had: to feed their families quickly and inexpensively, and to give themselves a break from the drudgery of cooking every day.
Enter the fast-paced, digital world that we have surprisingly embraced in the past 20 years. With the advent of the Internet, digital communications and the 24/7 news cycle, the pressure was on. “Work” no longer meant nine-to-five, not when we were all accessible around the…
